Disclaimer:I do not own Newsies. I take all claims to Liz, Hoodlie, Chicken Wing and Josh. I do not own Christina, she's owned by Blue Boxer; I do not own Tag Along, she's owned by Tag Along.

I apologize for this chapter being out like fifty months late. I was taking a writing break for a while. When I finally got inspired to write again, I wrote this. So I just wanted to apologize for the lateness of this chapter.

"It's like the loosening of da ankle shackles dat have been binding you tah dis earth. I just fly away into a new world; I can see my new image, my new identity. I'll leave dis image behind, I shall no longer be a beautiful girl trapped in a cage dying of a broken heart."

Three Years Later:

Liz was kicking stones along the road. She didn't sell newspapers anymore; she basically gave that up, along with many other things. Oscar was no longer her worry, he was locked up. It wasn't because of her, he had committed a different crime and they locked him up for that.

"What are you doin'?" Snitch asked as he walked over to her. Their relationship died during the last three years. She pulled away from him, which was expected. He tried to make her confide in him, but it didn't work.

"Thinkin'." She said.

"About what?"

"Oh, I don't know. Goin' away." She smiled at the thought.

"You're leavin'? When?"

She looked at him and shrugged. "I don't know. Sometime. I'm gonna be free. I mean really free." Liz was so excited to be leaving New York. She had waited all her life to be free from this filthy city. "I'm not goin' tah be livin' here no more. No more sellin' newspapers."

"Where are ya plannin' on goin'?"

"California." She nodded and smiled.

"What's dere?"

Liz just looked at him and shook her head. "Nothin'."

Snitch nodded. He didn't want her to leave. Not yet anyway. He feared that she wasn't ready to leave. Oscar hadn't even been in jail for a year, but he knew she wasn't at peace with what happened. She didn't talk about it, in fact, to his knowledge it was like she had forgotten the whole thing.

Liz was still different. She kept to herself. She wasn't close to anyone, and after three years of trying to find out what happened, they gave up on her. Everyone else had found their new lives somewhere else. Some left New York to start a new life, some got married and left, some just left suddenly without warning. They were all free in Liz's mind. Anywhere away from New York was ultimate freedom. That is what she wanted. She wanted to go somewhere where she wouldn't have to deal with seeing the same faces every single day, the one person that is keeping her in New York: Snitch.

Snitch walked over to the edge of the sidewalk and sat down. He, too, was different, he was older. Snitch had just turned nineteen last month and he definitely looked it. This whole ordeal took a lot out of him, and he changed a bit. Everyone changes over time, whether it is for the better or for the worse. Time is the reason for change. When the heart has gone through so much trauma and pain, it tends to slowly break, and once it has broken, things can never be the same again. From the day you were born until the day you die, your heart slowly starts to break, and that's what causes loss of innocence. You could see it in his face. His hazel eyes were cold and icy, yet they still held kindness. His hands were bigger, yet thinner. The ridges in his skin were more noticeable and also the veins. Of all the times he held his hands to his face and cried it was as if his veins had absorbed the many tears.

The wrinkles in his forehead had become more visible; it almost looked like he was too old for his age. His eyes were a bluish-green pool of hope and inspiration. The wisdom he had gained over the years was phenomenal; the experiences he had earned himself were too many for him to possibly nineteen. He felt old, even though he wasn't. He knew there was so much more out there than this and he knew if he just left he could get it. But he couldn't leave, at least her.

He patted beside him telling her to sit down. She reluctantly obeyed and sat a few inches away from him. "Are you gonna be okay tah go out dere?" He asked concerned.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" She told him, a little skeptical. "I'm fine, Snitch. You know dat." She said, increasing her tone.

"I know, but I want tah be sure. I mean if you want tah be free, I mean really free, in here," he said as he put his hand on his chest. "Den I think we need tah tackle somethin' first."

"I'm not stayin' here, Snitch."

"I never said you would."

"Don't even talk about me not leavin'. I am not stayin' here, do you understand? You're not gonna keep me here, alright?"

"Alright, Liz, hang on, let me talk tah you." He said, defending himself.

"I don't wanna talk." She said as she stood up and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Listen tah me, Liz. I know what I'm talkin' about, please, listen tah me. Alright, we need tah talk about dis. I mean, we need tah talk about dis."

"Talk about what?"

"Oscar, we need tah talk about what happened with Oscar." He said.

Liz's heart dropped. She turned and slowly walked away, shaking her head.

"Liz? Liz, please, don't do dis." Snitch said as he got up after her.

"I don't want tah talk about him."

"Liz, we have tah. I know dat it's hard, but it something dat needs tah be done. I mean, what if you get into da real world and…"

"When I'm in da real world, da past won't matter anymore, okay? It's not gonna matter any other way!" She yelled at him.

"Okay, but I think dat it would be best if we talked about dis."

"I'm not talkin' about him." Liz told him.

"When? When will you talk about it?"

"I don't know. Just not now, okay."

"Before you leave, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"No, you promise." Snitch nodded his head.

"Yeah, I guess." She nodded as she looked down at her feet. "Hey. Do you ever dream, Snitch?"

Snitch shrugged his shoulders. "Do you?"

Liz shook her head. "No. At least not about him."

"You know, dreams are our mind's way of trying to resolve the unresolved issues."

"Oh yeah? I dream a lot, just not about dat."

"What do you see in your dreams?" Snitch asked.

"I don't know. I see a bird, I see a horse, I see anything dat's free."

"Are you free?"

"No. Not here. You know what is so enlightening?" Liz asked as she closed her eyes.

"What?"

"Death. Everyone thinks dat it's dis horrible thing, but dey're wrong. I mean, da physical part of it is kind of gruesome, but if you look at da bigger picture you'll see what I'm sayin'."

"What are ya sayin'?"

"Death is an escape. Most people fear it for more reasons den one. I don't. It's so light, so free, so inspiring. It's like another journey into a world unknown tah man. It can be long and painful or it can be over in a flash."

"What's your view of it?"

"For me it is an adventure. A feeling of complete purity. All da evils of this world have been ended in a single second. It's like the loosening of da ankle shackles dat have been binding you tah dis earth. I just fly away into a new world; I can see my new image, my new identity. I'll leave dis image behind, I shall no longer be a beautiful girl trapped in a cage dying of a broken heart. I'll be anything I want. I'll be a bird and fly tah far and distant lands. I'll be a horse and run as fast as I can away from all da walls closing in on me. I'll be a fish and I'll swim away in the silky, comforting, surrounding water dat will never enclose me into its dark wrath. It's nothing like what we're living now. Dat is what makes it mysterious. Dat is what gives it its mystique."

"And you think it's beautiful?"

"I do. I do." Liz nodded. "Do you?"

"I don't know. I've never really thought about it in dat sense."

"You fear it."

"Yes I do. I believe dat da life we're living right now is going tah set da stage of what is tah come. I don't believe dat da actions taken upon us are necessarily a hurting of what will happen when we die; we are da victims of a much bigger monster than we'd expect. I think dat what actions dat are being thrust upon us now are just preparing for da grateful and painless actions dat will be thrust upon us in da future. It is all preparing us and making us ready for such an 'adventure' as you call it." Liz nodded. "But I don't want tah die. And you shouldn't either. You have so much more life tah live. You're young, enjoy it, y'know."

"I know. I have tah enjoy it. It's hard sometimes but when I go tah California, I will be living. Not here, not like this."

Snitch nodded. "Yeah. Not like this."

I just want to thank everyone who has been following this story thus far. It has been a very hard year for me, and this story but I have not abandoned it. In the hard times, I find it inspiration to write down the pains that I am feeling and my pain evokes character pain, as sick as that sounds, that's the kind of writer I am. So my pain can be seen in Liz's, just so you know that.