Red quietly entered the establishment at dusk. Swiftly, she shut the door behind her, trying to keep the weight of the door off its squeaky hinges. Wooden planks groaned underneath her as she crossed to the staircase. She coughed as quietly as possible, grabbing a cloth she kept in her pocket. She glared at it disapprovingly, shaking her head. She'd never get all the bloodstains out.
She silently mounted the stairs, skipping the third and fifteenth steps that squeaked. As approached the boys' room, she noticed the door ajar, casting a thin ribbon of light onto the floorboards. She rolled her eyes, wishing they just forgot to turn off the light. On fleet feet she passed the door, only to stop and wince when a floorboard creaked underneath her left foot. The door flew open.
She barely had time to sprint up to the attic before several newsies attacked her at once. Just as she had gained her room, the mob tackled her to the ground, causing minor injuries but no broken bones, thank goodness. She reluctantly rose to her feet after legs and arms became disentangled. Tyke groaned in his sleep. Red motioned for everyone to be quiet and that they should talk downstairs, furtively hoping that they hadn't awakened the five-year-old. Jack nodded, grabbed her arm, and pulled her down the flight of steps, Blink closing the door behind them.
They gained the boys' bunkroom; several of the young ones were asleep, but all that wanted to hear what Red had to say were awake. Most perched on their bunks, Red leaning against the wall on a single bed.
Jack paced in front of her. "So, we neva hoid 'bout dis udda fambly of yers. 'Splain me a bit 'o it." He sat down across from her, to the relief of several newsies who couldn't see. (I seriously don't get why, when there's a speaker that doesn't have VA's, people complain that they can't see. What is there to see other than a balding white haired over the hill potbellied professor? Anyway)
Red let out a long sigh, shaking her head with a small smile. "Why'd I have ta land wit you? Ya'll much too curious for your own good."
The boys just stared at her. Jack wondered out loud. "Your accent's disappearin'."
She looked up. "Crud. Yeah, by the way, my step-mom wants me living back wit her. I'll be gone by Monday. I might still sell papes in the evenin', but don't wait up for me."
"Step-mom. Start there. All we eva knew was yo' dad was da only one lef'."
"So he decided to get married again. So what?"
"So what's it like? Ya don't seem too happy bout it."
"And?" She sniffed, indignant.
"So tell. One o' yer infamous stories. Ya know, da scary ones ya always tell late at night, kiddo." Jack glared at her, daring her to change the subject, but obviously seeing she wanted to.
Red grinned. "So, once there was these four boys. They decided to camp out by the bay, cuz it was really hot that day. The night air was stifling. The waves gently lapped the shore. It was dead silent, and a full moon shone its brilliance onto the breakers. The boys had just dozed off when a faint sound came across the water. It was eerie, the kind you thing you hear in the alleyways at night, or in old abandoned buildings."
By now she was standing, walking between the beds. Her face naturally expressed the horror of the boys. Her voice had changed into a lower tenor, making chills run up the boys' backs. This was her time. "They shot out of their covers, the hair on the back of their necks standing straight up." She stopped to run a finger up Mush's neck. He shivered in response.
"The waves became rougher, slapping the shore menacingly." She licked a finger and ran it across Blink's neck. He scowled at her. She grinned and continued. "Soon the haunting noise became discernible as a song. The frightful strains echoed across the bay, gradually gaining volume.
"Cards in day
Plundering at night
Till the coast
Fears the fright
Of the Blood Dread ship
Comin' into port
Death may come
With its men on board
Black Jack our Captain
Go Fish at his side
We're the Blood Dread pirates
And we come for you tonight!"
She half sang, half spoke the chords, a chilling tune that ran shivers up the boys' spines. Her eyes flashed silver as she continued her creeping through the maze of beds.
"We're feared on the seas
Since they heard our roar
Better send a prayer
Cuz we're comin' into shore
Go Fish in the lead
Black's the captain no more
For there's mutiny tonight
And tomorrow, there'll be war
For Black swore revenge
On his trusted first mate
And we know he'll come
It was sworn with hate"
The boys stared, entranced by the captivating words, telling the story of the Blood Dread. Red acted out the story as she continued sing-chanting the lyrics.
"We're the Blood Dread pirates
The ghost pirates of lore
History of terror
Though we pillage no more
Burrow in your covers
Turn on the light
We're the Blood Dread pirates
We come for you tonight!"
Red stopped. The boys drew in a collective breath. She had ceased walking, a queer look on her face. She slowly stepped in front of Jack.
"And you know what happened. The boys looked out over the water. In the path of the moonlight, a ship had appeared. It got closer. A dragon's upper body was crafted as the prow. The sails rippled, tattered and dirty. The singing became louder. The boys continued to watch, entranced, as it approached. It steadily, stealthily got closer. And closer. Until it seemed it would run aground. But it continued to go on, past feasible measures, until it was about three feet from shore. A man hopped out, and walked toward the boys. His peg leg made odd prints in the sand. 'I,' he said, a gold tooth glinting, 'am Captain Black Jack.' A knife blade glinted in the light as the pirate took a step towards them."
Red lightly drew a fingernail over Jack's throat, pausing in her storytelling. She stared in his eyes, but not with her own, as Jack saw. Her eyes had become Black Jack's. Even her speech and walk had become the pirate's.
Suddenly she turned away, towards the boys on the outer bunks. "The next day, the only thing on the beach was the boys' blankets and a single drop of blood, lost between the grains of sand. As the sun came over the horizon, the ship had disappeared, lifting into the sky." She gave a sly grin. "Some say they've seen it. Sailing towards a blood-red sun, with early morning clouds glinting a small reflection of it. And the strains of The Blood Dread Mutiny echo until the sun breaks free of the horizon."
She paused, inwardly snickering at the boys' look of shock. "No one ever saw they newsboys again." One of the younger newsboys gasped. Red hummed a few bars of the ditty, as a few others chuckled nervously. Red threw a haunting grin towards her friends and exited, shutting the door behind her.
With the small slam, the boys were released from their half-hypnotic state. Jack shook his head, clearing his head from his stupor. "Alright, g'nite guys. See ya in da mornin'. Blink," he pulled the one-eyed boy aside, "you see if you kin find anytin' bout da goil. It's buggin' her, so we betta find out what da dang ting is." Blink nodded, heading off to bed. But the story would keep most of them awake for a few good hours, before drifting off into a nightmare-filled sleep.
- - - - - - - -
Thanks for my faithful reviewers. Luv ya'll! And The Blood Dread Mutiny story and song are mine.