The review thing stands for the rest of the story.
GN-yes it is. and don't argue with me. you'll never win.
madmbutterfly-Torch would never tell...this was probably the best way
Everyone-thanks for reading and reviewing and this shall end...uhh...i dunno when...couple more chapters?
Thank you!
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Earlier that day
Torch slowly gained consciousness. What? I'm warm? What's dis? A blanket? She mentally checked her body. So, let's see. I'm in a warm place dat's as silent as a tomb, lying on sumptin soft. And someone's fixed me up. She forced her eyes open.
She looked up, found a ceiling, and figured she was in a bed. She let her eyes wander around the room, where the door and the windows were. The walls were a dingy white, and the room saw full of bunk beds and normal beds. She finally figured she was in the Manhattan Newsies Boarding House. She grinned. Dis place is a sty! Glad I dinna come heah oiler. Then she heard voices. She quickly shut her eyes again and wiped the smile off her face.
"…so, Jack, Torch is really a goil." Torch had to contain her scream of indignation.
"No way." A tone of disbelief.
"Yeah. I tink Spot knows da story, or at least part o' it." The voices lingered over her, and it took all her power to act like she was sleeping. "Eh, she's still out o' it." A cool cloth touched her forehead. It felt like heaven. "Yeah, she's got a fevah too." The voices drifted away again. "Bettah ta leave her alone right now." The voices drifted down the hall, and she could hear them no more. She fell back to sleep.
A while later, Torch woke again, the first thought going through her mind as, Great. Blink AND Jack know I'm a goil. What's Jack gonna do ta me? Like Snyda? Great. I gotta get outta heah. She opened her eyes again and slowly sat up, so she wouldn't get dizzy. She swung her legs over the side, flinching when the bed squeaked, and trying not to groan as her body told her that she really needed to stay still. She ignored it. Her shoes were right by the bed, so she picked them up and found her way to the door. Without her shoes on she wouldn't make more noise than she had to.
She stuck her head out the door. No one. She stepped out of the room and slowly started down the hall. But before she could make it to the steps, Kid Blink came up them. She froze, like a deer caught in headlights.
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Blink froze, like a deer caught in headlights. Nothing had prepared him for the seeing formerly unconscious Torch walking down the hallway with her shoes in her hand.
After the moment of shock passed, Blink started towards Torch. He saw a glimmer of fear in her face, but that quickly disappeared as she immediately tried to get around him to the stairs. He blocked her path. She tried again. He got in the way. Her face was made up of dogged determination. This went on until Blink was tired of blocking her path and just pinned her to the floor. He pressed his face close to hers and whispered. She started to shake. No. Not again. Dis can't be happenin' again. Please, Lord!
"Now you lissen heah, Torch, or whateva ya name is. Ya pass off as a boy, fool evrybody 'cept da Delancys and Spot, I befriend ya, den ya get soaked by da Delancys, and I fix ya up, getting da shock o' my life seein' you'se was a goil, and you'se tryin' ta leave witout a single gabye?" He stopped to take a breath. " 'Sides, ya ain't in no shape ta be runnin' round New Yawk in da heat…cold…whateva it is…of winta." As Kid spoke, his voice rose from a whisper to an almost shout. His face was contorted in a way only angry people could. Torch knew that face too well. She was scared out of her wits, her only thoughts as fervent prayers. What's he gonna do now? Please, Lord, not like before. Please, not again!
Torch fought to get away as Kid picked her up and carried her back into the ward, locked the door behind them then set her back down on the bed. He sat a chair that was beside the bed backwards. She tried to get away again, but only to be foiled in the attempt. He dumped her back on the bed, on her back, and held down her shoulders. He could see she was terrified and in pain, but wanted answers first. "Now, you'se ain't leavin' dis room till I get da rest o' da story, what I didn't heah from Spot. An' if ya try ta run, I'll jist pin ya agin." Blink finally let her go, seeing that she would stay still, and sat down, straddling the chair. He started staring her down with his one good eye. And believe you me, Blink has one intimidating stare.
Torch broke eye contact first and instead concentrated on relaxing her muscles, closing her eyes as she did so. She sighed, opened her eyes, and finally began.
"Dere really ain't much else ta tell ya. Me real name is Theresa Lynne O'Bryan, also known as Torii, also know as Torch." Her voice was almost lifeless. "Me ma was dead, no olda sibs, and I was livin' wit me dad." She shuddered, but pressed on. "He would, uh, beat me." Admitting that seemed to release the dam of secrets held in her being. "Sometimes he raped me too, when I was olda and less cute. I ran away at 10, dressed as a boy. Snyda found me soon afta. When he found I was a goil, he became like a second faddah to me. Like me original faddah, who died witout me ta provide kale fo' 'im. Few years lata, I broke out, set da place on fiar, and lef'." She stopped. "I was 13 at da time. Dat was t'ree years ago." She paused again. "Dat's all of it." She let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding since Blink pinned her in the hallway. She hadn't looked over at Blink once during the recitation, and only now chanced a peek at his reaction.
"Wha' were ya doin' da las' t'ree years?" He had worked to keep his features unreadable, using his years of acting as a newsie, and had been able to pull it off. He had been shocked at what he heard her speak of, almost offhandedly.
"Beggin'. Sellin' papes where I could. Betta dan sellin my soul ta earn me keep." She chanced another peek at Blink. "I've neva tol' anybody all dat."
Blink just sat back and stared. This girl had gone through more than he thought possibly could happen to a girl. And she didn't deserve a bit of it. Torch spoke again, breaking into his thoughts.
"I'm pretty shoah I desoived most of it, tho. Cuz of me mule-headed, Irish stubbornness. Me mudda used ta say I was strong-willed since birth." She closed her eyes, a smile teasing the corner of her lips. Blink wondered if she was thinking of her family. Suddenly it disappeared. "I gotta get outta heah."
Blink finally spoke. "Why?"
"Da Delancys are gonna get me agin. Snyda. Dey'll kill me. Eida one or da udda. And de rest of da newsies won't take it lightly ta bein' fooled by a goil." What'm I gonna do? Thoughts ran through her head at the speed of light. Suddenly she sat up, a slight sparkle in her eye, ignoring all bodily screams for her to lay back down. "Hey, Brooklyn is da toughest borough, right?"
"Yeh." Kid became uneasy. What's her crazy mind cookin' up now?
"Spot tol' me if I needed help, ta come ova da bridge. Dat'll woirk." She sank back down, nodding her head, the smile back teasing her lips. "Dat'll woirk jist fine."
"What? Are ya crazy? What 'bout da Brooklyn newsies?" Blink almost shouted.
"Yah, I'm crazy, and what 'bout da Brooklyn newsies? Dey kin probly protect me from Snyda and da Delancys jist fine. Plus, only Spot knows me ova dere. I'm da poifect stranger. Jist get da newsies ta accept me ova dere, and its poifect." Torch's voice was perfectly calm, which was good at convincing people to her plans.
Kid blinked at her logic. "We betta clear it up wit Spot foist. He jist left. I'll run an' get 'im."
Torch blinked. "He was heah? Why?"
"He hoird da news from Jacky-boy." Blink smiled at the look of shock on her face, then almost flew out of the room, and in less than 10 minutes was back with Spot.
Spot stopped at the sight of Torch sitting up in bed. She had no idea that he'd just sat by her bed for the last few hours, wondering if she would ever wake up. He had taken a brotherly liking to this (at times) spit-fired redhead. He took off his hat.
"Ya said ya'd help if I eva needed it, right, Spot?" He nodded, his hair falling over one eye. "Well, would dis woirk?" Torch started talking. As she spoke, a smile grew over Spot's face.
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Back to the evening
"Wheah's Torch!" Jack yelled over the hubbub. Everyone went silent in an instant. "Blink!" Jack shouted, walking slowly through the crowd. "Blink! Get ya cowardly behind out heah so I can soak it!"
Blink calmly stepped from behind the bunks. "I ain't no coward, Jack. And dere's a reason Torch ain't heah." He paused.
"Jack…Torch…he's dead." Blink looked utterly crushed.
