Newsies 2004

Chapter 4

AN: Whee hoo! I'm back! ((giggles)) Yay! Thanks for the reviews, guys. ((smiles))

The newsies walked, some splitting into twos or going off on their own, hawking the headlines of the evening edition of the Journal. They all stayed close enough to where they could shout back and forth to each other easily. Jack looked up and gazed at the little white stars that were starting to peek their way through and spotted something that looked. . .different, out of place. He nudged David, who was next to him, and David turned and his eyes traveled to where Jack's finger was pointing.

"Whas 'dat, Dave?" Jack asked curiously. David held his gaze on the something in the sky and shrugged.

"I don't know." David said. Bumlets noticed it too and soon, one by one the boys were all starting to stare at the weird thing in the sky. It looked like a wall, not a brick wall and definitely not a thick one, but like a barrier. . .a very fine, thin barrier. Like if someone were to go up and touch it their hand would just go straight through. . .or be electrocuted. At the very top of this barrier, what would normally just be a straight line like any other wall, there was no line. It just smoked upwards, like the smoke from a cigar or cigarette would do. But that wasn't even the strangest part about this barrier. No, the strangest part. . .was that it was pink. Hot pink, magenta even. Which clashed horribly with the blackening sky.

The other strangest part, was that no one else but the boys seem to know it was there. People just sidestepped the gawking boys, and when one of them tried to see what they were looking at and, only to find nothing, they would shake their heads and be on their way.

"Wow. I've nevah seen anythin' like it." Skittery said in total awe.

"It's so pretty," Spot mused and every newsie turned and stared at him. "Wha! It is!"

"I wanna. . .touch it." Mush said, reaching up a tentative hand as if he really could touch it.

"I wouldn't do that, Mush. We don't know what this thing is yet." David warned, but not taking his eyes of the flashing magenta barrier. As if complying to Mush's wish, the barrier seemed to float down, ever so slowly and stop in front of him. In fact, the barrier was so long that is stretched out in front of every single boy. They all looked at each other and seemed to be reading each other. They boys, including a reluctant David, reached out a hand and hesitantly touched the pink barrier.

Memories, the good and the bad ones, seemed to drain away from their minds and were instead replaced with a feeling of warmth and happiness. They felt carefree as they left their worries and troubles behind them and for a split second they were normal boys. Not newsies, not street rats who were always looked down upon, but normal teenage boys. The ones who had families and proper homes and a good education. But those feelings left them and memories came flooding back and, without realizing they had done so, they opened their eyes and stared at one another.

"Wha jus' happened heah?" Race asked quietly. No one said anything and they turned back, eager for more, only to find that the barrier had disappeared as quickly as it had come. Slightly put out, the boys were about to return to selling their newspapers, when the ground beneath them started to shake.

"Earthquake!" Blink shouted.

"No! That's impossible! We can't HAVE earthquakes in New York!" David shouted over the rumbling, but it soon became louder and the last of the people on the street scurried into buildings to try and escape it. The boys tried to stay together so that if anything happened they wouldn't be separated. They looked up and saw another barrier, the same as the last one, only the color was now a deep aqua and seemed to be growing bigger and bigger until the sky was the actual color of the barrier. Just as the earthquake came to a deafening roar, it stopped and the now huge barrier was touching the boys, they all fell unconscious and disappeared. The deep aqua barrier returned to its normal size and disappeared, the earthquake stopped, and life as we knew it resumed its normal pace of 1899.

Back in 2004, however, things were about to be a little bit different. . .

"Ugh. . .shit," I mumbled, my eyes opening to a bright light. I was on my stomach and so I rolled over on to my back, my hand going to the top of my head. My sight coming back into focus, I could see two figures kneeling over me, their expressions worried. "What happened?"

"We had an earthquake and a chunk of the ceiling fell on your head." Jordan explained and her and Erin took my arms and helped me to sit up. I massaged my head and looked around. My room looked like a fucking tornado had ripped through it. My ceiling was missing patches of cement, my wall had cracks that looked like the lines would tell you they were rivers on maps, a few things from my dresser had fallen off and all my books from my bookshelf were scattered on the floor.

"How long was I out?" I asked, attempting to stand up but just falling back down.

"The whole night. Your dad came in and flipped when he saw you unconscious. Here, keep this on your head." Erin said, shoving a freezing cold purple ice pack into my hand and directing my hand to sit on the spot where the ceiling had mutilated my head. While Erin sat with me, Jordan went downstairs and attempted to help dad clean up. Apparently some other stuff was fucked up too. I couldn't let this reality sink in that we'd had an earthquake. I mean, yeah, sure California is notorious for them, but I've never been in one my whole life. So, needless to say I was scared shitless. None of us have and I knew Erin and Jordan felt the same as me but were trying to hide it.

"So. . .does this mean we don't have school?" I asked, laughing a little. I guess I said something to piss Erin off because she turned roughly to me, her eyes narrowed and glaring.

"We could have fucking died last night and all your worried about is if we don't have school?" Erin snapped coldly. I was taken aback, Erin never snapped at me.

"I was just kidding! Calm down!" I said.

"Well I'm not! Damn it, Kay I was so scared last night-"

"-So was I but that doesn't mean you have to go off on me!"

"What the hell am I supposed to say? What the hell am I supposed to do? We've never been in one of these things, something could have happened to you or Jordan or your dad or my dad or Jordan's dad or anyone! GODDAMN IT!" Erin shouted, her body shaking with rage. She stood up and walked over to my window and I could see her shoulders shaking and knew she was crying. Erin cared a lot for her family and us and had told us repeatedly that she would probably die if any of us weren't here. She would risk life and limb for us, she's that loyal. She practically looks at Jordan and I as sisters.

I stood up, wobbling a bit, but worked it out as I walked slowly over to Erin. My hand went out and touched her shoulder and she didn't jerk away.

"I know, Erin. I know." I whispered, she turned and we embraced in a tight hug. She sniffed and we let go and she rubbed away her tears.

"I'm gonna go help Hollywood, okay?" Erin said and I nodded and she left. I sighed and started to pick up my books and stack them back neatly on to the shelf. About an hour later I glanced at the clock. I guess we weren't going to school because we'd already be in second period by now. If there was school anyway. Thinking this I turned on my stereo and tuned it to my favorite station that also gave out flood reports or storm reports when needed. I listened to a couple of songs, bobbing my head to the rhythm, when a commercial came on. That's when they would usually give the reports. I listened closely, finally hearing it:

Last night's unexpected earthquake sent everyone into shock. The seven-point-nine, according to the Richter Scale, quake left major damage to the roads and several landslides occurred. Many local seismologists are baffled at the sudden quake, claiming thatManhattan wasn't due for one like this for at least ten more years. A few of the businesses and schools have shut down and will remain closed until the damage can be repaired. One local man said…

"Well, that's all I need to know." I said, turning off the stereo. So the school was closed. Ultimate score! No more homework, Hall Nazi's, or papers. Just free time, the way it's supposed to be. If school was closed, the restaurant where I work is most likely closed too. That's good and bad. Good because I don't have to deal with my horrific boss and bad because I need the money. Ah well, I'm sure it'll be fine. I shuffled into my bathroom to take a look at the damage on my head.

"Good, God. I look like I have a fucking disease." I muttered. It was true as I had a sickening huge, black bruise on the side of my head that was mixed with dark purple and a disgusting green. It looked swollen and decided to put the ice pack back on it. I was about to leave my bathroom when I heard a loud THUMP issue from my bedroom. The bathroom was right next to my room and the walls weren't soundproof. Had Jordan knocked over some books? I chuckled. It was likely, she was as clumsy as a baby elephant. I sighed and walked out of the bathroom and walked down the hallway and stopped when I heard voices. Male voices, and more than one. Odd. . .I don't have a lattice to my room so I couldn't have a Romeo just climb up it and I didn't have any guy friends who would just come over. A fact that I didn't care about. So what if I had only girlfriends? Boys have cooties anyway, as Erin and I always agree upon. I stopped and listened to the conversation, which was quite amusing.

"Don't touch that, Blink! No, no- OH! Now look what you've done-"

"Relax, Davey, will ya?"

"Relax! How can I relax? We are stranded in GOD knows where, in a room that looks like its been to hell and back and-"

Yada, yada, yada, blah, blah, blah. What the fuck ever. This guy went on and on, complaining. Though he did sound like they were in trouble. Wait, did I REALLY just say that? There are guys, STRANGERS, in my room and God knows how they got there. I was a little ticked that he said my room looked like it'd been to hell and back but I ignored it.

"Aw, geez, Davey would ya shut up? Is 'dat all ya can do is complain?" I raised my eyebrow and silently agreed with him.

"Look, Race if you know how to get us out of this then I'd like to see you try." The guy named Davey huffed.

"Fine! I will!" The guy named Race shouted and before I knew it he had come stalking out of my room and we ran straight into each other. Literally, our foreheads clashed together and we staggered backwards. Shit, there's another bruise to be added to my already decaying one. The Race guy seemed to have come to his senses before I did because he asked, "Who da hell are you?"

"I live here. You the fuck are you?" I asked, gesturing to him and his band of friends. They all looked around my age, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, and man they were dressed WEIRD! Suspenders, vests, weird looking hats, bandannas around their necks, cotton pants instead of jeans, and all of them seemed to be wearing long sleeved shirts. Didn't any of them believe in short sleeved ones? But they all seemed strangely familiar. . .

"Ise Race. 'Dis is Davey," Race said, pointing to the kid sulking in the corner of my room. "Jack, Blink, Mush, Skittery, Pie Eater, Specs, Dutchy, Spot, Jinx and Bumlets. Nice place ya got 'ere, Blue." I blinked. Blue! What the fuck did THAT mean? Man, these guys had really cruel parents.

"Blue?" I asked flatly, raising my eyebrow. Race shrugged.

"Foah ya eyes. Foist thing Ise saw when Ise knocked inta ya. Foist thing 'dat came ta me head." Race said. Dude, these guys talked like they had a speech impediment. Where they hell were they from, New York? I snorted, but luckily none of them noticed.

"Thanks. . .I think. But my real name is Kayla, which you can call me." I added coldly. I know I should be freaking out that twelve guys were standing in my room, having no idea how they got there. But somehow I felt oddly calmed by them. Damn it they looked familiar! My mind wandered, as it usually did (something that I really needed to stop doing), and it drifted back to last night and my History book. No. . .

I heard thumping coming up the stairs and wondered who else was going to randomly show up. Then I remembered that Jordan and Erin were here.

"WHOA! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!" I heard Jordan shout. I turned and saw the two of them, their jaws wide open. Race was about to go into introductions again when Jordan stopped him. "No need, I'm calling the cops."

"NO, NO, NO!" Came the loud plea from the boys. Too late, Jordan was already reaching into the pocket of her jeans, pulled out her cell phone and flipped it open. The guy with the eye patch, Blink or whatever, ran up to her and grabbed the phone from Jordan.

"Hey! Give that back!" Jordan shouted, reaching out toward her phone. Normally this would have been funnier if Jordan was shorter than Blink and had to jump to reach her phone. Only, her and Blink were the exactly the same height and it wasn't as funny. But then Blink turned and threw the phone to the guy named Skittery and he threw it to the Bumlets guy. Jordan went from guy to guy, attempting to retrieve her phone. Now it was funny.

Bumlets threw the phone to the guy named Jack, who threw it to Pie Eater and him and Spot were tossing it back and forth like a hot potato. This was annoying Jordan to no end and finally ended up clobbering Spot. She jerked her phone out of his grasp, along with a long gold cane. The guys had been laughing the whole time, but stopped when Jordan held Spot's cane triumphantly. A cane! Honestly, it was just a stick!

"Come on, give it back." Spot growled. Jordan smirked.

"No. This is what you get for playing keep-away-with-Jordan's-phone." Jordan said, and Spot glared at her. Blink walked up behind Jordan and whispered in her ear.

"Give it back. Trust us on 'dis." Jordan sighed angrily and thrust the cane back at Spot.

"That was so unfair." Jordan grumbled, stuffing her cell phone back into her pocket.

After a few minutes of more introductions and playing another keep away game with some of my stuff, which didn't bother me until they picked up the picture of my mom, I shut them all up and asked them what they were really doing here. David spoke up for the first time that day. He told us about some freaky, and apparently flamboyant, hot pink barrier, some weird feelings they had, then the barrier turning aqua, disappearing and showing up here. The three of us looked at them in shock.

"Oh. My. GOD! You guys time traveled! I KNEW IT WAS POSSIBLE!" Erin crowed joyfully. "Not exactly in a DeLorean, but you're here!" David shrugged.

"If that's what you want to call it. So, where did we end up?"

"In 2004." I said and David's eyes widened as well as the other guys'. David was counting on his fingers and I could practically see the wheels turning in his head.

"That's almost one hundred years into the future!" He exclaimed. We all sat in silence, a very heavy one, until Erin spoke up.

"So where are you guys from, anyway?"

"Manhattan, New York." Pie Eater answered simply. Huh, weird...

OH.

MY.

GOD.

I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! I FUCKING KNEW IT! It was them, they were them, WHATEVER!

I got up, I had sat down because I hate standing so much, and scrambled over to my backpack, zipped it open and lugged out my huge History book. I knew everyone was staring at me but I didn't care. I was flipping through the pages and muttering to myself.

"Come on, come on. Where is it?" THERE! There it was, I finally found it. The picture of the newsies. I picked it up, turned it around and showed it to the guys who all gaped at it. "That's you guys, isn't it?"

"How'd we get in 'dere, when wes out heah?" Mush asked in shock.

"Stupid, Denton took 'dat pictuah! Remembah, after wes clobbered da scabs." Race said in a matter-of-fact tone. I didn't like Race so much.

"I know 'dat! I mean, Denton only took 'dat, what? Two weeks ago? How could he have taken it 'den, and have it be in 'dere?" Mush asked again, pointing to the book. Race was about to answer when he stopped looking confused.

"Well this was taken in your time, and the book was rewritten like four years ago after September eleventh. So maybe someone found the picture and put it in? I don't know!" Erin said with exasperation.

"Calm down, Red, youse don' gotta blow up at us." Jack said, chuckling. Erin raised her eyebrow at the nickname she had just received. Did they like giving out names that were colors or something?

"Wha' happened on Septembah eleventh?" Bumlets asked curiously. Jordan froze and Erin and I looked at her uneasily. Jordan had an uncle who was on one of the planes that had crashed into the World Trade Center. They were really, really close and Jordan would always talk about him when he was alive. But now. . .she never mentions him. I don't even think she thinks about him anymore.

"Jordan-" I started.

"-Something happened that day that cost my uncle his life is all. I'd rather not talk about it, Bumlets." Jordan added quietly. Bumlets nodded in understanding and Jordan looked away. I sighed and turned up my radio a little louder, desperate to turn the conversation away from death. I can't stand talking about it.

"Whas 'dat?" Spot asked, walking up to my stereo and poking it. I rolled my eyes.

"It's called a stereo," I said and turned to Erin and Jordan. "I was checking up on the reports about the quake."

"You had one too?" Skittery asked. We nodded but Erin just kinda looked at me with pity. I hate it when people give me that look.

"Kay, there's something you should know." Erin said slowly.

". . .What?" I asked, just as slowly.

"I'm not sure how much damage you saw but it's pretty bad."

"How bad?"

Erin walked up to me and took my shoulders and led me to the window, where I gasped. I've seen pictures on the web where houses are either completely destroyed after an earthquake, or are either still standing but having chunks missing from it. Well, this looked something like those pictures but worse, if possible. The street was cracked in many different places, and more than a few chunks were missing from the other houses. Pipes stuck out in funny angles from the houses and were coming up through the ground. Our neighborhood is built in front of a pretty steep hill, and the ground shifted so much that huge dirt piles rested on our lawn.

Holy shit. It looked like the end of the world.

AN: Okay, first thing I wanna say is that to please not get offended that I used the September eleventh reference in here. Jordan's uncle is made up and I don't have any part of the 9-11 thing because I live in Texas. I am really, really, really sorry for anyone who read this if they have lost someone due to that. I was in 8th grade when that happened, and I still remember it like it was yesterday. It was horrible and I am truly sorry. So please don't get mad.

Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter. Please ((coughREVIEWcough)) whenever you get the chance. ((beams)) Thanks!

DreamlessMermaid