Disclaimer: I of course own none of the Newsies and only own the plot and
some minor more secondary characters. I greatly hope that no one is
offended by any of this story's content as it is written purely for your
enjoyment......so please enjoy it!
Spot's POV
I didn't sleep that night. It wasn't like a bad dream like most would say. But I wished it were, that would more than likely be less terrifying. And the memories of that man's voice in my head were locked in a silver box under my bed.
No one heard me come in that morning. It was better that way. I felt different now that I had witnessed what I had. Not lucky and certainly not special, yet I felt that if I were to lie to my parent's faces about how I slept that night I would feel like I was lying to myself.
For once in a long time my sister nor my mother or father were the first to get up that morning. I had taken five showers from the time I got home to the time my mother opened her door. She knew I was already awake but she didn't know that there had been no waking.
The warmth of the water had diminished after the second shower and had only gotten colder since. I stepped shivering out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist. As I started to slip on a pair of black slacks and a gray shirt I caught sight of Skittery's jacket that I had forgotten to return to him. I couldn't stop thinking about whether he was all right or not. Then I realized it would've been a riot if I walked up to him and said "Hey I was thinking about you when I got out of the shower this morning." Yeah.....that would be awkward.
Using all of my self control I slipped into my black boots and slid on my jacket from the other day without looking under my bed. It was a good thing the shirt was gray or I'd never hear the end of it from Jack when I got to school.
Grabbing my bag I emptied its contents onto the floor and slid the box into its place. After getting over the initial shock of what we'd seen, Skittery and I had lain in his car for what seemed like hours discussing what we should do. Yet by the time we reached my house we were discussing a random musician on the radio.
We did, however, come to the conclusion that we should bring the mystery box to school and have it stored in one of our lockers. We were slightly afraid of someone in our families stumbling across it and decided to keep it out of our houses to be sure that wouldn't happen.
I turned my head at a sudden honk coming from my family's lawn. Sprinting over to my window I was pleasantly surprised to see a busted up Volvo sitting in my driveway. This didn't seem like something I would normally say. However my life in the past day and a half hadn't felt quite normal and I supposed I had decided to jump on the bandwagon.
Leaping into action I heaved my bag onto my shoulder, grabbed Skittery's leather brown jacket and ran out of my room. I slid down the banister for the second time that week.
Yet this time I was greeted by my mother's squeal of, "My goodness Spot! Who is that freakishly handsome young man who is banging ever so impatiently on our door?" She shot me a grin and I groaned.
"No one mom," I told her, "Just a friend and besides he's too young for you." She glared and my dad laughed getting a pillow in his face.
"Well invite him on in dear we'd," she motioned between her and my father who was seated with Lexis on the couch, "would love to meet him."
"Yeah," my dad added, "I'd love to hear all about his CRIMINAL RECORD!" he shouted towards the door which earned a pillow in the face from both my mother and Lexis.
I walked over to the door and opened it sighing when Skittery popped his head in to say Hello. "Hi," he started and my father opened his mouth to say something but was silenced by my mother's hand over his parted lips.
"Oooh, cool piercings," Lexis said further adding to my embarrassment, "Do you have any tattoos?" she asked and I was shocked to see Skittery nod.
Pulling up the bottom of his dark, surprisingly red, pants he showed her the inside of his right ankle where a black indention of a heart being pierced by a sword vertically and I wondered briefly what it meant. I'd ask him later.
Grabbing his arm I grinned at my family. "Now that we're all done embarrassing me I think we should go!" I said dragging Skittery out of the doorway. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.
"Sorry about that they tend to be a little...eccentric." I apologized to him and he let out a laugh and shook his head as if I were relaying to him wrong information.
"No," he started, "They seem nice....and funny, Much more lively than my family." I grinned at him. Go figures he wouldn't mind. I handed him his jacket as he opened the door to the passenger side of his car for me. I could never get over how polite he was.
"How lucky for you," I told him with a smile and he shrugged. Hopping into the driver's seat he buckled his seat belt and started the car. I glanced at him for a moment.
"So why'd you come and pick me up?" I asked casually wondering if he was still nervous about last night. He seemed to speak honestly.
"Well after what happened I just didn't want you walking around you know." He said distractedly, "Manhattan is a dangerous place."
I rolled my eyes. "Geez Skitts you sound like my mother." I told him and he laughed again. But I wasn't sure if it was because of what I said or if it was the fact that I had started calling him Skitts since the surprisingly normal drive home. Hmm nice laugh.
""Well that can't be too bad eh Spotty? Now that we're using nicknames." He smirked at me. I responded by sticking out my tongue. He sobered up a little.
"It's just that...." He paused searching for words, "You'd be surprised at how well you feel like you know someone after you share that kind of....experience."
I smiled at him, "I know better than you think." I told him which caused him to look at me before smiling. There might be an upside to all this shit that's been happening. Just maybe.
We decided to store the box in my locker. The suggestion to which I interrogated Skittery about why it had to be my locker. He just felt, apparently, that no one would think to look for anything in my locker like they would in his. And as true as that may be it didn't make me feel too much better.
After meeting between class periods at Skittery's locker, and snickering when Oscar Delancy walked by with a bandaged nose, I was surprised when he told me he wanted to continue doing a story about it.
"What?" I hissed to him in a disbelieving tone as we walked to Newspaper together. I was shocked it was only our second day of knowing each other because it felt like so much longer.
"Well why not?" he asked pierced eyebrows rose in a slightly pleading expression. I looked at him my mouth agape I'm sure.
"Because Skittery," I started shooting glances around the hall as we stopped in front of the door. I lowered my voice and whispered as David walked into the classroom with a small, "Hey."
We waved and waited until he was inside. I turned back to Skittery. "Skittery whatever is in that box cost a man his life last night! Do we really need to paint target signs on our heads by writing a story about it!" I demanded.
"Well they already have our fingerprints!" he said sounding slightly panicked, "What if they already know who we are?" I sighed.
"Thanks a lot!" I told him. "Now we have something else to worry about!" Groaning I slammed my head onto a nearby locker and heard Skittery chuckle nervously as Jack and Blink walked by.
"Look," Skittery said to me voice quiet and I could see him out of the corner of my eye, "I just think we should give it some consideration. I mean we have no idea what is in that box." He told me as he opened the door.
I sighed, "That's exactly what worries me." I told him earnestly.
That day Denton let us take random, stupid pictures of each other so we could learn how to develop pictures with the old cameras in the dark room. We had all preferred just using the digital cameras but he felt it was necessary for us to know how to develop pictures.
"Specs don't do that!" I shrieked as I somehow wound up falling backwards as a result of another one of Specs clumsy accidents. Luckily I didn't hit the floor due to the fact that both Racetrack and Skittery, who were oh so strategically placed on either side of me, grabbed me before I fell. And the moment they caught me Jack had snapped a picture causing David to laugh at the apparently funny sight.
"Hey Spot!" Skittery called to me quietly and I looked to him just in time to catch the note he was tossing to me. I unfold folded the note and it read simply,
"Meet up with me at the mall later to discuss about what we need to do, okay?"-Skittery.
I looked to him and nodded. Glancing over to where Dutchy was holding a camera and forcing David to take a picture with Jack, though he didn't look too bothered, I noticed a new newspaper clip on the board behind them.
I stood slowly and moved to the board after the others had left. Closing in on the newspaper I read the headline.
-Transport truck hijacked on way to Jenkins Laboratory. Two drivers and a Russian scientist named Woodhaven were found dead in a dumpster. The truck wasn't recovered.-
It was as if every little thing I'd heard the other day had suddenly smacked into my conscious and I began to piece things together.
"Where's dad at? Work?" "Oh you know that shipment your father's been working on? Well it seems there was an accident and he has to work late to fix it."
"But...we hijacked the truck...." He's been working with out of country scientists.
Oh my God. I searched frantically for a date on the article. There was none. I snatched the article off the board and quickly went over to Denton.
"When was this written?" I asked him in a rush. He pursed his lips together. "Yesterday." He said finally, "It's today's issue. Don't you read the newspaper?" he asked jokingly and I shot him a nervous smile.
"Not enough I suppose. Do you mind if I keep this?" I asked him holding up the article and he shook his head. "All yours." He said and I nodded him my thanks.
Walking over to where Skittery was talking to Snitch I tapped his shoulder. He turned to look behind him and I felt for some reason triumphant when a smile broke onto his face.
"Spot," he said as if he hadn't seen me for some time. I motioned to an empty corner of the classroom.
"Can I... err... talk to you privately?" I asked trying to ignore the irritated look on Snitch's face and I was surprisingly scared at the fact that Skittery's best friend might not like me. He nodded and I led him to the isolated corner and showed him the article.
I watched as his forehead creased in contemplation. He looked at me slowly. "This is it?" he asked referring to the truck. I nodded.
"Skittery that's not all," I whispered, "My dad works at Jenkins lab, with some out of country scientist on this project and they had a problem with and important shipment yesterday and he had to work late.....this box has to be what they needed."
"But then who were the people that hijacked the truck?" he asked and I shook my head.
"I don't know but that Jareth guy said something about some guy named Pulitzer...and how he didn't allow mistakes." I reminded him and looked at him for a moment.
"Well we can give this...cargo... back to your dad right?" he asked hopefully. I thought for a moment. It wouldn't be that simple I knew, but it was worth a try.
"He won't be happy...and he may be very happy." I said confusing even myself. My father would want to know where and how we had gotten it. But I figured that it was much better to get in trouble with my father than those mystery people.
I felt Skittery's hand on my shoulder and noticed he was looking at me intently waiting for me to say something. I nodded, "We can do that."
He nodded back, "Okay. So scratch the mall idea. Yours' is better anyway." He informed me with a fake pout on and I gave him a small punch in the ribs, "Damn right it is." I told him as he rubbed his ribs.
"Why do you always hit me?" he asked laughing and I shrugged as Racetrack opened the door next to us and walked in with a new pot of coffee as he saw me and Skittery.
Suddenly Race "tripped" and wound up spilling burning hot coffee all over Skittery. Oh Jesus.....
"Ow... goddamnit Racetrack!" Skittery swore as he began to grab his now soaking shirt and pull it over his head to wring it out wincing as he did so.
"Oh... sorry." Racetrack said not sounding all that sorry and Skittery glared at him. I momentarily feared that Racetrack was going to get his ass kicked, but then the bell rang signaling that we could head to lunch.
Racetrack looked over at me for a moment, "Hey Spot, do you want to go to the-" but Skittery who still seemed a teensy-weensy bit upset with Race grabbed my wrist and spun me around right into his bare chest.
"Sorry Race, Spot and I were just about to go to lunch! Bye!" And with that dragged me outside and away from Racetrack. I looked at him incredulously.
"That was rude," I told him and he gave me a look as if to ask whether or not I was joking.
"He spilt coffee all over me!" he declared which brought me back to the attention of a shitless Skittery, which I didn't need to think about right now. Seeing as my head was occupied enough with the article and Race's strange behavior since I had met Skittery.
"Put a shirt on weirdo, people are staring at you." I told him as if it weren't a normal thing. He sighed and pulled on the wet shirt.
"You do know he likes you right?" he asked me curiously. I glanced at him shocked. "Who?" I asked and Skittery rolled his eyes at me.
"Racetrack." He stated simply.......I looked at him......since when?........."How do you know?" I asked him and he shook his head. "Nevermind." He began, "It's probably why he fucking hates me."
"Well if it's any consolation I don't think Snitch likes me very much either." I told him dryly. He shook his head at me.
"Not the same reason." He said stubbornly, "Snitch thinks you're a "fuckin' goody two shoes."
I stopped and gaped at him. "He SAID that!" I squeaked shocked. Skittery laughed sheepishly at me. I glared.
"What else did he say?" I asked haughtily, Skittery covered his hands above his ears and I wound up chasing him all the way to his car.
He smiled, "Oh well look now you have to go to lunch with me. Too bad." I glared as he opened the door for me.
Buckling up he began to drive, going out the exit where they didn't check cars. We sat silent for a couple of moments.
"So...what else did he say?" "Argh! NOTHING!"
I snickered and turned on the radio forgetting all about the article in my pocket. And the box in my locker.
I decided to walk home for real that day and declined Skittery's offer for a ride home. I had come to the decision that I would tell my father where the box was and not risk walking around with it.
I smiled as I approached my house thinking about the day. You know, minus the Newspaper class incident and opened the unlocked door. I should've none something was wrong. My mother never leaves the door unlocked.
The moment I walked in I saw something that almost made me fucking scream. In my living room were to of the heavily armed men from last night. Soon there were two machine guns trained on me.
"Where's they fucking box, Kid!" one of the men screamed and I wondered how he could be so sure it was I who took it.
"Spot!" a voice screamed and I looked over to see my mom at the top of the stairs holding a shotgun. The guards must not have known she was there because they to looked over at her.
That was when bullets started to fly. I ducked as my mom shot a bullet into one of the men's shoulder's causing the other man to turn an open fire towards my mother.
"Shit!" I screamed and leaped to the ground as the injured man began to shoot anywhere and everywhere as he fell to the ground.
I slid forward to the man on the floor and kicked him directly in the face and knocking him out surprisingly. Crawling forward I took his now empty gun.
"Fucking piece of shit!" I muttered as I swung the butt of the gun into the back of the other man's head while he wasn't looking. He too slumped unconsciously to the floor and I dropped the gun to the ground.
Yet I had seen enough action movies to know not to leave an unconscious person lying alone without either tying them up or taking a gun.
So leaning over I took to identical Magsecs (handguns) from the mens' belts. I turned and ran quickly to the stairs and sprinted to the top. "Mom! Are you alright! Mom!" I shouted and sighed when my mother came rushing out of her room with a bag in her hand.
She thrust the bag at me. "This has clothes, money and a cell phone it. Now take your sister and get out of here before they get here." She told me frantically.
"Who? Mom where's dad?" I asked. She ushered me into my room where Lexis stood biting her lip and there were no tears in her eyes.
"He safe." She promised. "What about-", I began but she hugged me quickly and whispered softly into my ear, "I'll be okay." She promised.
How? How had they gotten here so soon. Just on fingerprints...unless they knew who my father was.
I looked at my mother, my breathing hard as I took the duffel bag and lifted it onto my shoulder.
"Mom," I said slowly sweaty hands gripping both guns that I didn't really know how to use before I put them on safety and into the bag, "Do you know what's going on?" I asked her.
She picked Lexis up and put her into my arms. "It looks like you father's work has finally caught up to him....and his family." She whispered.
We walked do the door and I was about to tell her. I was going to tell her how stupid Skittery and I were. But suddenly voices filled downstairs and my mother locked my bedroom door. She reloaded her shotgun and opened my bedroom window.
"Hurry up!" she urged hugging me again. Suddenly a fire sprung up outside and I could see smoke coming in under my door.
"Mom," I began but she practically shoved me out of the window and I had to grab a hold of a tree branch and slide down.
Glancing back at the house I picked up Lexis and slid behind a car just as the house began to catch on fire and the sounds of a fire truck whistled in my ears.
I swallowed hard and noticed that the firemen were being ordered around by a familiar looking man in sunglasses. I growled.
Those sons of bitches were trying to make this look like an accident! I watched helplessly as my mom was dragged out and put into an "ambulance" and the only hope I had was that they were taking her alive for ransom. This meant we still had a chance.
I looked down at my little sister who looked scared beyond anyone I had ever seen. I couldn't get her caught up in this. I quickly thought of the closet person I knew who lived nearby... Racetrack.
Standing up I put Lexis onto my back and sprinted like mad towards Races' house. When I reached his street, I was running out of breath and my legs were sore.
I ran up to the front door of the house and began to bang wildly at the front door before simply pushing the doorbell. Suddenly the door opened and I was surprised to see that it was Race. He seemed just as surprised to see me.
"Spot?" he asked looking at my torn shirt and panting state, "What's wrong? Are you okay?" he asked frantically and I nodded despite the fact that I most certainly wasn't. That's wasn't what mattered right now. Lexis mattered. Skittery mattered.
I swallowed, "Racetrack I need you to take care of Lexis okay?" I asked him and he nodded taking Lexis, who adored him, into his arms.
He opened his mouth but I held up a hand to silence him. "Please don't ask questions," I told him, "Just trust me."
He nodded his face full of concern and I reached into the duffle bag and pulled out some of Lexis's clothes and handed them to him. I gave him one last look before I took off for the main street. I prayed to God that no one would find her there.
As I got to the main street I tried to think of what to do next. What if the same thing happened to Skittery? Making up my mind I held up my hand and called a taxi.
Jumping into the taxi I pulled out my mother's cell phone and tried to remember Skittery's number, while wishing I had my own. Finally I dialed Skittery's cell.
"Hello?" came his voice heavy and quick. Something had definitely happened.
"Skittery?" I asked to see if he was still there. He was. "Spot? Is that you? Jesus Spot they were at my fucking apartment!" he said frantically.
"I know!" I told him urgently as the taxi driver waited for me to state my destination. "Go to the school." I told him.
"The school?" Both Skittery and he asked at the same time. "Yeah," I said nodding.
"Alright." The driver said.
I turned my attention back to the phone. "We have to get that fucking box, Skittery." I whispered, "I think I know what it is that's in it."
"Fine," he said sounding weary, "be careful. I'll see you soon okay?" he asked.
"Yeah you too. Bye."
"Bye."
We had to get there as soon as humanly possibly. Who knew if they knew where it was or not. We had to get the thing to my dad. And we'd have to find him before we could do that.
And I still didn't know who the fuck anyone was.
DigitalAngel4U: Hey sorry I didn't update sooner for those of you who are interested. And I want you to know that Racetrack isn't a mean guy! He's just a little jealous. And I'm not quite sure how much of the Newsies other than theses two we'll see later on. But the next chapter may hopefully clear up some things so we'll see. I hope you enjoyed it! Please tell me what you think, good or bad! Sorry once again if it's moving kind of fast!
Spot's POV
I didn't sleep that night. It wasn't like a bad dream like most would say. But I wished it were, that would more than likely be less terrifying. And the memories of that man's voice in my head were locked in a silver box under my bed.
No one heard me come in that morning. It was better that way. I felt different now that I had witnessed what I had. Not lucky and certainly not special, yet I felt that if I were to lie to my parent's faces about how I slept that night I would feel like I was lying to myself.
For once in a long time my sister nor my mother or father were the first to get up that morning. I had taken five showers from the time I got home to the time my mother opened her door. She knew I was already awake but she didn't know that there had been no waking.
The warmth of the water had diminished after the second shower and had only gotten colder since. I stepped shivering out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist. As I started to slip on a pair of black slacks and a gray shirt I caught sight of Skittery's jacket that I had forgotten to return to him. I couldn't stop thinking about whether he was all right or not. Then I realized it would've been a riot if I walked up to him and said "Hey I was thinking about you when I got out of the shower this morning." Yeah.....that would be awkward.
Using all of my self control I slipped into my black boots and slid on my jacket from the other day without looking under my bed. It was a good thing the shirt was gray or I'd never hear the end of it from Jack when I got to school.
Grabbing my bag I emptied its contents onto the floor and slid the box into its place. After getting over the initial shock of what we'd seen, Skittery and I had lain in his car for what seemed like hours discussing what we should do. Yet by the time we reached my house we were discussing a random musician on the radio.
We did, however, come to the conclusion that we should bring the mystery box to school and have it stored in one of our lockers. We were slightly afraid of someone in our families stumbling across it and decided to keep it out of our houses to be sure that wouldn't happen.
I turned my head at a sudden honk coming from my family's lawn. Sprinting over to my window I was pleasantly surprised to see a busted up Volvo sitting in my driveway. This didn't seem like something I would normally say. However my life in the past day and a half hadn't felt quite normal and I supposed I had decided to jump on the bandwagon.
Leaping into action I heaved my bag onto my shoulder, grabbed Skittery's leather brown jacket and ran out of my room. I slid down the banister for the second time that week.
Yet this time I was greeted by my mother's squeal of, "My goodness Spot! Who is that freakishly handsome young man who is banging ever so impatiently on our door?" She shot me a grin and I groaned.
"No one mom," I told her, "Just a friend and besides he's too young for you." She glared and my dad laughed getting a pillow in his face.
"Well invite him on in dear we'd," she motioned between her and my father who was seated with Lexis on the couch, "would love to meet him."
"Yeah," my dad added, "I'd love to hear all about his CRIMINAL RECORD!" he shouted towards the door which earned a pillow in the face from both my mother and Lexis.
I walked over to the door and opened it sighing when Skittery popped his head in to say Hello. "Hi," he started and my father opened his mouth to say something but was silenced by my mother's hand over his parted lips.
"Oooh, cool piercings," Lexis said further adding to my embarrassment, "Do you have any tattoos?" she asked and I was shocked to see Skittery nod.
Pulling up the bottom of his dark, surprisingly red, pants he showed her the inside of his right ankle where a black indention of a heart being pierced by a sword vertically and I wondered briefly what it meant. I'd ask him later.
Grabbing his arm I grinned at my family. "Now that we're all done embarrassing me I think we should go!" I said dragging Skittery out of the doorway. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.
"Sorry about that they tend to be a little...eccentric." I apologized to him and he let out a laugh and shook his head as if I were relaying to him wrong information.
"No," he started, "They seem nice....and funny, Much more lively than my family." I grinned at him. Go figures he wouldn't mind. I handed him his jacket as he opened the door to the passenger side of his car for me. I could never get over how polite he was.
"How lucky for you," I told him with a smile and he shrugged. Hopping into the driver's seat he buckled his seat belt and started the car. I glanced at him for a moment.
"So why'd you come and pick me up?" I asked casually wondering if he was still nervous about last night. He seemed to speak honestly.
"Well after what happened I just didn't want you walking around you know." He said distractedly, "Manhattan is a dangerous place."
I rolled my eyes. "Geez Skitts you sound like my mother." I told him and he laughed again. But I wasn't sure if it was because of what I said or if it was the fact that I had started calling him Skitts since the surprisingly normal drive home. Hmm nice laugh.
""Well that can't be too bad eh Spotty? Now that we're using nicknames." He smirked at me. I responded by sticking out my tongue. He sobered up a little.
"It's just that...." He paused searching for words, "You'd be surprised at how well you feel like you know someone after you share that kind of....experience."
I smiled at him, "I know better than you think." I told him which caused him to look at me before smiling. There might be an upside to all this shit that's been happening. Just maybe.
We decided to store the box in my locker. The suggestion to which I interrogated Skittery about why it had to be my locker. He just felt, apparently, that no one would think to look for anything in my locker like they would in his. And as true as that may be it didn't make me feel too much better.
After meeting between class periods at Skittery's locker, and snickering when Oscar Delancy walked by with a bandaged nose, I was surprised when he told me he wanted to continue doing a story about it.
"What?" I hissed to him in a disbelieving tone as we walked to Newspaper together. I was shocked it was only our second day of knowing each other because it felt like so much longer.
"Well why not?" he asked pierced eyebrows rose in a slightly pleading expression. I looked at him my mouth agape I'm sure.
"Because Skittery," I started shooting glances around the hall as we stopped in front of the door. I lowered my voice and whispered as David walked into the classroom with a small, "Hey."
We waved and waited until he was inside. I turned back to Skittery. "Skittery whatever is in that box cost a man his life last night! Do we really need to paint target signs on our heads by writing a story about it!" I demanded.
"Well they already have our fingerprints!" he said sounding slightly panicked, "What if they already know who we are?" I sighed.
"Thanks a lot!" I told him. "Now we have something else to worry about!" Groaning I slammed my head onto a nearby locker and heard Skittery chuckle nervously as Jack and Blink walked by.
"Look," Skittery said to me voice quiet and I could see him out of the corner of my eye, "I just think we should give it some consideration. I mean we have no idea what is in that box." He told me as he opened the door.
I sighed, "That's exactly what worries me." I told him earnestly.
That day Denton let us take random, stupid pictures of each other so we could learn how to develop pictures with the old cameras in the dark room. We had all preferred just using the digital cameras but he felt it was necessary for us to know how to develop pictures.
"Specs don't do that!" I shrieked as I somehow wound up falling backwards as a result of another one of Specs clumsy accidents. Luckily I didn't hit the floor due to the fact that both Racetrack and Skittery, who were oh so strategically placed on either side of me, grabbed me before I fell. And the moment they caught me Jack had snapped a picture causing David to laugh at the apparently funny sight.
"Hey Spot!" Skittery called to me quietly and I looked to him just in time to catch the note he was tossing to me. I unfold folded the note and it read simply,
"Meet up with me at the mall later to discuss about what we need to do, okay?"-Skittery.
I looked to him and nodded. Glancing over to where Dutchy was holding a camera and forcing David to take a picture with Jack, though he didn't look too bothered, I noticed a new newspaper clip on the board behind them.
I stood slowly and moved to the board after the others had left. Closing in on the newspaper I read the headline.
-Transport truck hijacked on way to Jenkins Laboratory. Two drivers and a Russian scientist named Woodhaven were found dead in a dumpster. The truck wasn't recovered.-
It was as if every little thing I'd heard the other day had suddenly smacked into my conscious and I began to piece things together.
"Where's dad at? Work?" "Oh you know that shipment your father's been working on? Well it seems there was an accident and he has to work late to fix it."
"But...we hijacked the truck...." He's been working with out of country scientists.
Oh my God. I searched frantically for a date on the article. There was none. I snatched the article off the board and quickly went over to Denton.
"When was this written?" I asked him in a rush. He pursed his lips together. "Yesterday." He said finally, "It's today's issue. Don't you read the newspaper?" he asked jokingly and I shot him a nervous smile.
"Not enough I suppose. Do you mind if I keep this?" I asked him holding up the article and he shook his head. "All yours." He said and I nodded him my thanks.
Walking over to where Skittery was talking to Snitch I tapped his shoulder. He turned to look behind him and I felt for some reason triumphant when a smile broke onto his face.
"Spot," he said as if he hadn't seen me for some time. I motioned to an empty corner of the classroom.
"Can I... err... talk to you privately?" I asked trying to ignore the irritated look on Snitch's face and I was surprisingly scared at the fact that Skittery's best friend might not like me. He nodded and I led him to the isolated corner and showed him the article.
I watched as his forehead creased in contemplation. He looked at me slowly. "This is it?" he asked referring to the truck. I nodded.
"Skittery that's not all," I whispered, "My dad works at Jenkins lab, with some out of country scientist on this project and they had a problem with and important shipment yesterday and he had to work late.....this box has to be what they needed."
"But then who were the people that hijacked the truck?" he asked and I shook my head.
"I don't know but that Jareth guy said something about some guy named Pulitzer...and how he didn't allow mistakes." I reminded him and looked at him for a moment.
"Well we can give this...cargo... back to your dad right?" he asked hopefully. I thought for a moment. It wouldn't be that simple I knew, but it was worth a try.
"He won't be happy...and he may be very happy." I said confusing even myself. My father would want to know where and how we had gotten it. But I figured that it was much better to get in trouble with my father than those mystery people.
I felt Skittery's hand on my shoulder and noticed he was looking at me intently waiting for me to say something. I nodded, "We can do that."
He nodded back, "Okay. So scratch the mall idea. Yours' is better anyway." He informed me with a fake pout on and I gave him a small punch in the ribs, "Damn right it is." I told him as he rubbed his ribs.
"Why do you always hit me?" he asked laughing and I shrugged as Racetrack opened the door next to us and walked in with a new pot of coffee as he saw me and Skittery.
Suddenly Race "tripped" and wound up spilling burning hot coffee all over Skittery. Oh Jesus.....
"Ow... goddamnit Racetrack!" Skittery swore as he began to grab his now soaking shirt and pull it over his head to wring it out wincing as he did so.
"Oh... sorry." Racetrack said not sounding all that sorry and Skittery glared at him. I momentarily feared that Racetrack was going to get his ass kicked, but then the bell rang signaling that we could head to lunch.
Racetrack looked over at me for a moment, "Hey Spot, do you want to go to the-" but Skittery who still seemed a teensy-weensy bit upset with Race grabbed my wrist and spun me around right into his bare chest.
"Sorry Race, Spot and I were just about to go to lunch! Bye!" And with that dragged me outside and away from Racetrack. I looked at him incredulously.
"That was rude," I told him and he gave me a look as if to ask whether or not I was joking.
"He spilt coffee all over me!" he declared which brought me back to the attention of a shitless Skittery, which I didn't need to think about right now. Seeing as my head was occupied enough with the article and Race's strange behavior since I had met Skittery.
"Put a shirt on weirdo, people are staring at you." I told him as if it weren't a normal thing. He sighed and pulled on the wet shirt.
"You do know he likes you right?" he asked me curiously. I glanced at him shocked. "Who?" I asked and Skittery rolled his eyes at me.
"Racetrack." He stated simply.......I looked at him......since when?........."How do you know?" I asked him and he shook his head. "Nevermind." He began, "It's probably why he fucking hates me."
"Well if it's any consolation I don't think Snitch likes me very much either." I told him dryly. He shook his head at me.
"Not the same reason." He said stubbornly, "Snitch thinks you're a "fuckin' goody two shoes."
I stopped and gaped at him. "He SAID that!" I squeaked shocked. Skittery laughed sheepishly at me. I glared.
"What else did he say?" I asked haughtily, Skittery covered his hands above his ears and I wound up chasing him all the way to his car.
He smiled, "Oh well look now you have to go to lunch with me. Too bad." I glared as he opened the door for me.
Buckling up he began to drive, going out the exit where they didn't check cars. We sat silent for a couple of moments.
"So...what else did he say?" "Argh! NOTHING!"
I snickered and turned on the radio forgetting all about the article in my pocket. And the box in my locker.
I decided to walk home for real that day and declined Skittery's offer for a ride home. I had come to the decision that I would tell my father where the box was and not risk walking around with it.
I smiled as I approached my house thinking about the day. You know, minus the Newspaper class incident and opened the unlocked door. I should've none something was wrong. My mother never leaves the door unlocked.
The moment I walked in I saw something that almost made me fucking scream. In my living room were to of the heavily armed men from last night. Soon there were two machine guns trained on me.
"Where's they fucking box, Kid!" one of the men screamed and I wondered how he could be so sure it was I who took it.
"Spot!" a voice screamed and I looked over to see my mom at the top of the stairs holding a shotgun. The guards must not have known she was there because they to looked over at her.
That was when bullets started to fly. I ducked as my mom shot a bullet into one of the men's shoulder's causing the other man to turn an open fire towards my mother.
"Shit!" I screamed and leaped to the ground as the injured man began to shoot anywhere and everywhere as he fell to the ground.
I slid forward to the man on the floor and kicked him directly in the face and knocking him out surprisingly. Crawling forward I took his now empty gun.
"Fucking piece of shit!" I muttered as I swung the butt of the gun into the back of the other man's head while he wasn't looking. He too slumped unconsciously to the floor and I dropped the gun to the ground.
Yet I had seen enough action movies to know not to leave an unconscious person lying alone without either tying them up or taking a gun.
So leaning over I took to identical Magsecs (handguns) from the mens' belts. I turned and ran quickly to the stairs and sprinted to the top. "Mom! Are you alright! Mom!" I shouted and sighed when my mother came rushing out of her room with a bag in her hand.
She thrust the bag at me. "This has clothes, money and a cell phone it. Now take your sister and get out of here before they get here." She told me frantically.
"Who? Mom where's dad?" I asked. She ushered me into my room where Lexis stood biting her lip and there were no tears in her eyes.
"He safe." She promised. "What about-", I began but she hugged me quickly and whispered softly into my ear, "I'll be okay." She promised.
How? How had they gotten here so soon. Just on fingerprints...unless they knew who my father was.
I looked at my mother, my breathing hard as I took the duffel bag and lifted it onto my shoulder.
"Mom," I said slowly sweaty hands gripping both guns that I didn't really know how to use before I put them on safety and into the bag, "Do you know what's going on?" I asked her.
She picked Lexis up and put her into my arms. "It looks like you father's work has finally caught up to him....and his family." She whispered.
We walked do the door and I was about to tell her. I was going to tell her how stupid Skittery and I were. But suddenly voices filled downstairs and my mother locked my bedroom door. She reloaded her shotgun and opened my bedroom window.
"Hurry up!" she urged hugging me again. Suddenly a fire sprung up outside and I could see smoke coming in under my door.
"Mom," I began but she practically shoved me out of the window and I had to grab a hold of a tree branch and slide down.
Glancing back at the house I picked up Lexis and slid behind a car just as the house began to catch on fire and the sounds of a fire truck whistled in my ears.
I swallowed hard and noticed that the firemen were being ordered around by a familiar looking man in sunglasses. I growled.
Those sons of bitches were trying to make this look like an accident! I watched helplessly as my mom was dragged out and put into an "ambulance" and the only hope I had was that they were taking her alive for ransom. This meant we still had a chance.
I looked down at my little sister who looked scared beyond anyone I had ever seen. I couldn't get her caught up in this. I quickly thought of the closet person I knew who lived nearby... Racetrack.
Standing up I put Lexis onto my back and sprinted like mad towards Races' house. When I reached his street, I was running out of breath and my legs were sore.
I ran up to the front door of the house and began to bang wildly at the front door before simply pushing the doorbell. Suddenly the door opened and I was surprised to see that it was Race. He seemed just as surprised to see me.
"Spot?" he asked looking at my torn shirt and panting state, "What's wrong? Are you okay?" he asked frantically and I nodded despite the fact that I most certainly wasn't. That's wasn't what mattered right now. Lexis mattered. Skittery mattered.
I swallowed, "Racetrack I need you to take care of Lexis okay?" I asked him and he nodded taking Lexis, who adored him, into his arms.
He opened his mouth but I held up a hand to silence him. "Please don't ask questions," I told him, "Just trust me."
He nodded his face full of concern and I reached into the duffle bag and pulled out some of Lexis's clothes and handed them to him. I gave him one last look before I took off for the main street. I prayed to God that no one would find her there.
As I got to the main street I tried to think of what to do next. What if the same thing happened to Skittery? Making up my mind I held up my hand and called a taxi.
Jumping into the taxi I pulled out my mother's cell phone and tried to remember Skittery's number, while wishing I had my own. Finally I dialed Skittery's cell.
"Hello?" came his voice heavy and quick. Something had definitely happened.
"Skittery?" I asked to see if he was still there. He was. "Spot? Is that you? Jesus Spot they were at my fucking apartment!" he said frantically.
"I know!" I told him urgently as the taxi driver waited for me to state my destination. "Go to the school." I told him.
"The school?" Both Skittery and he asked at the same time. "Yeah," I said nodding.
"Alright." The driver said.
I turned my attention back to the phone. "We have to get that fucking box, Skittery." I whispered, "I think I know what it is that's in it."
"Fine," he said sounding weary, "be careful. I'll see you soon okay?" he asked.
"Yeah you too. Bye."
"Bye."
We had to get there as soon as humanly possibly. Who knew if they knew where it was or not. We had to get the thing to my dad. And we'd have to find him before we could do that.
And I still didn't know who the fuck anyone was.
DigitalAngel4U: Hey sorry I didn't update sooner for those of you who are interested. And I want you to know that Racetrack isn't a mean guy! He's just a little jealous. And I'm not quite sure how much of the Newsies other than theses two we'll see later on. But the next chapter may hopefully clear up some things so we'll see. I hope you enjoyed it! Please tell me what you think, good or bad! Sorry once again if it's moving kind of fast!