KIDS

New York 1900

Chapter One

I might as well say right here and now that there was never really a leader among us. We were all just friends, all together, all the same and yet very different. We did what we felt we had to do as one, not as a group of kids playing follow the leader. It was me (Tex), King, Blue, Winks, and Bolt; and we were all kids.

We were crawling in the damp grass on our hands and knees, hoping and praying that the lights would remain off at St. Paul's Boarding School for Boys. Once we had passed the entrance gates, I looked over my shoulder at the brick lade building. Only a few more meters and we were free. The cobblestone road was right in front of our noses. It was almost too good to be true. I placed my hand on the wet cement and stated,

"Now or never,"

"Pipe down Tex!" hissed King. I could here the nervous adrenalin in his voice. "Right, so on the count of three..."

"One....two...." counted Winks, squinting down the road to where the lights from the houses shone down upon the way.

"Three!" I forget who shouted it. Maybe it was me and I had ever even noticed. We sprang up like grasshoppers and ran as fast as our legs could carry us. We only stopped after we couldn't see any trace of the school (if you could call it that) behind us. My breath was coming out in gasps. I kept looking back, half expecting to see Mr. Patch standing there, feet planted firmly, with his ruler in his hand.

"Whaddia lookin' so funny for huh? They ain't gonna come runnin' after us now," Bolt turned his head to me. He wasn't out of breath at all; hence how he acquired his nick-name. He was able to run fast for ever without even breaking a sweat.

"Nothin'. I'm not chicken if that's what's yous is sayin'" I defended myself.

"I didn't say you was a chicken. I says you just lookin' funny s'all,"

"Yeah, funny lookin' is right," muttered Blue under his breath. I heard him and gave him a good slap upside the head.

"I know what ya mean, Tex," said Winks, walking forward down the road again. The odd lights from the houses above us guided our way. "This sure is somthin' if we can pull it off. I mean, I say the same as Bolt. No teacher is gonna come runnin' after us now. They hated our guts anyway, so why would they want us back? What I'm sayin' is we're in the middle of nowhere in one of the biggest cities in the USA," that was indeed a reality check.

"Thanks, Winks, for sayin' that," King sighed. He was always the one to be strong. He won all the fights. He had his doubts about this as well.

"So what do yous gonna do now, just stand here?" Blue adjusted his patched hat.

"Not for very much longer," King replied, holding out his hand. "It's startin' to rain again," In a matter of moments the rain went from drizzling to a downpour. We were drenched in under thirty seconds.

"Wonderful!" I spat. We were silent for God knows how long until we heard a faint call from down the road.

"Hitch?!" somebody was calling. We began to walk towards the voice. King looked at me and I shrugged. "Hiiiitch?!" the voice was getting louder. I heard footsteps from not to far away and saw a dark figure approaching us with hast. They must have not been looking at where they were running 'cause they ran into me before I could move out of the way. I stumbled back and refocussed my eyes to see no one in front of me. At first I thought I had gone completely insane, until I noticed a body lying just a few feet away from me. Blue and King were kneeling beside whoever it was.

"You alright?" King asked concerned. There was no answer. I bent over the body as well, beside Blue, who seemed stunned. The body was lying face down. Their hat was still on their head but their pants and coat were now just like ours: drenched and filthy. I shook the person's shoulder and made the observation that they were a kid; just like us. They shifted.

"Where'd you come from?" asked Bolt who was right beside the kids head. At first there was no answer again but then there came a faint whisper.

"Down that way....behind that there store,"

"I think he means behind there," replied Blue quickly, pointing to the old bakery. "Here, I take his arms," King grabbed hold of the guys legs while Bolt, Winks and I ran ahead. Sure enough behind the boarded up bakery there was a little shack, also boarded up. I looked back at King.

"Must be the place," he looked just about as confused as I felt. Winks looked in between the wooden boards and knocked gingerly.

"There's a goil sittin' there...oh I thinks she heard me knockin'," The door opened a crack. A dim light shone through revealing a girl, just as Winks had told us . She looked at me a moment with suspicion, then at Winks, then at King, at which time her eyes traveled to the boy who King and Blue were still supporting. She gasped, opening the door all the way.

"In," she spoke abruptly. King stepped forward with the guy and we followed. I was shocked to see the inside of the shack to be tidy. In fact, it was more then just tidy; it was lovely. The walls were covered in scattered papers with sketches and paintings on them. There were so many pictures you could not see any trace of wood anymore. In front of me was a roaring fireplace and simple black wood-burning stove beside that. I took in everything slowly. I had never seen such a place before. "Sit," the girl told us, directing at the cushions and pillows strewn across the floor. "There," she lead King and Blue to a patched up sofa in beside the stove. They gently put the kid down there. The girl pushed them aside and examined who seemed to be her friend. We all sat down and glanced at each other puzzled. We caught a few words of what the girl was telling the boy.

"Stupid," we heard. "...always so self centered, you'll drive me to my grave I swear to God," In the light we could see she was wearing a long purple skirt and a brown blouse. She was clean and had her hair up in a knot. "Don't cha every think?...You got no brains," we heard bits and pieces of her muttering. She looked back at us. "Pass me that cloth would ya," I looked on the ground beside me and saw a bucket of water with a rag in it. I wrung out the rag slightly and tossed it to her. She gently washed the kids' face while still muttering under her breath. After she was done she moved aside and stood to face us. She was somthin' else. She looked at us differently then before. Her eyes were gentle, like they'd never hurt a person in the world. I had long ago come to the conclusion that before a person strikes you, they'll do damage in looking at you in the eyes. Her eyes showed emotion. They told a story, displayed wisdom and above all else, beauty.

My focus then went to the kid on the sofa who the girl had cleaned up with the rag just moments before. I took a double take. I looked at the others, who seemed stunned. The cap which had at one time been on their head was gone, revealing a knotted mess of dirty blonde matted hair barley going past their ears. Their eyes were something completely different. She was awake and looked like she might through something. Thats when it hit me. She. All along I thought we were helping out a boy. They way she sat, I could have sworn she was, but her face said it all, even despite her trying to look as mean as possible.

"You're nothin' but trouble Sophie, you are," the girl standing glared down at the other.

"Don't call me that or I swear I soak ya but good," she didn't move. She didn't have to, to get her point across. Her voice was shockingly intimidating. "It's Sock,"

"Shut it,"

"You shut it, I told ya, I was tryin' to find Hitch all day,"

"Gimmie a break..." the girl standing was clearly not amused.

"I warned ya!"

"You've soaked enough people to last you a lifetime today,"

"Shut you're trap, Vanessa Jane!" their eyes bore into each other. I was still staring wide eyed at the kid, now identified at Sock.

"Waddaya lookin' at bud!?" I quickly looked away. She had a thick Brooklyn accent. "You make like you've never seen someone beat up before! So where youse all from then," I sighed. I hated being asked that question. Somehow, I just never had the right answer for it. I know I was born in New York, same as all of us, and that I had lived in Manhatten till I was about four. After that I only knew the school and that's it. King knew a lot more about the world. He'd been there and seen it. "Well, let's here it," Sock sat up.

"I ain't got no story to tell," I said honestly.

"Course you do, everyone does,"

"Well not everyone wants to share their stories with perfect strangers," Winks defended me. Sock stretched her legs out in front of her and pulled a match and cigarette out from her pants pocket. She lit it up quickly and took a long drag, held it in for a brief moment, leaned over to where Winks was sitting and blew the smoke in his face.

"What are you, some kinda walkin' mouth?"

"Look who's talkin'," shot Vanessa. Her tone had changed. I had a sneaking feeling that maybe she wasn't the best fighter, and maybe she didn't act as tough as Sock did, but that she could do an awful a lot of harm with words.

"We're all from New York," stated King plainly.

"Came from the school back there..." Blue pointed to the back window. Vanessa nodded. Blue's answer didn't satisfy Sock though. She put the cigarette between her lips and mumbled,

"Came from the school..." she chuckled, "I is bettin' money youse all ran away,"

"Waddya read minds too?" Winks rolled his eyes. I winced. He really needed to learn to shut his mouth some times. He winked at Sock. Another bad move; I figured Sock wasn't the type to fall for his angel face.

"Watch it," she hissed. "If I wasn't in the shape I'm in, I'd soak ya so fast it would make your head spin," I didn't doubt it either. Her hands were clenched so hard into fists, that her knuckles were white. She had some kinda temper.

"We don't know much about ourselves really," I said earnestly. It was true. I didn't remember my parents. None of us did. All we knew was each other and the brick jail we were forced to call are home at one time.

"We ain't got nobody tuckin' us in at night that's for sure," I could detect a hint of sadness behind Bolt's voice.

"Neither do we--" began Vanessa sympathetically. I knew she had the best of intentions.

"An' we're survivin'. We ain't bickerin' and lookin' for sympathy," I was about to give Sock a piece of my mind when she suddenly sprang up and ran out the back door. She left the door open and I could see her sitting on the steps, the smoke from her cigarette whirling around her. There was a long, heavy silence.

"Youse can stay here tonight if yous likes," Vanessa bent down and pulled out a few blankets from under the sofa.

"Much appreciated," I heard King say.

"We've got some tea and left over fish..." she pointed to the stove. Everyone leapt up. We never got enough to eat at the boarding school. I took that opportunity to sneak past everyone else and walk towards where Sock was still sitting. She was blowing smoke ring, I thing I could never do, and was humming a tune under her breath.

"Sophie?" I asked gingerly. I half expected her to spin around and punch me square in the face, but she didn't. She moved over to right of the steps and patted the space now to the left of her. I was caught be surprise. Slowly I lowered myself to her level and sat down. Her head was facing the other way. She tossed the cigarette butt at my feet and sniffed.

"You, what's your name again?" it seemed more like command then a question.

"M'names Tex," I said looking straight ahead.

"Do me a favor and don't go callin' me Sophie like Vanessa do,"

"Sure thing Sock," I was going to add onto that when I head her sniff again. It then occurred to me that she could be crying. "You doin' alight?" I asked concerned. There was no response. "I didn't think..." I stopped.

"What? What don't ya think?" I hesitated.

"Nothin'," She whipped her head around to face me. Her eyes were red and puffy.

"Shoot nothin'," This time a turned my head away from her.

"I jus'...I thought...ya know, that goils like you...that they don't..." my voice trailed off to a whisper. "Cry,"

"Well you is thinkin' wrong," she started to fidget. "I wasn't crying though," I snorted.

"Sure," I said. I could be a jerk too if I wanted to.

"It's from this," she said reaching into her pants pocket again, and taking out a eye dropper.

"S'that?"

"Supposed to help," this time we both looked at each other. "To get me seein' again," I felt a sudden wash of guilt.

"You're blind?"

"Almost. I can still make out some stuff, but it has to be real close and real bright," I tried to figure out something to say.

"Can you see me?" I frowned.

"Enough that I can tell I don't like what I'm seein'," I was confused. She got up and looked up at the sky. "I don't need no ones sympathy an' pitty! I'm jus' fine the way I am!" By the way her face was contorted I knew better than to stay where I was. I headed back inside to where everyone seemed to be asleep on the floor with the pillows. I found a spot next to Blue and covered myself in a nearby blanket.

"S'all that 'bout?" I heard Blue mumble into the darkness.

"Nothin'," I debating telling him the whole story right then and there but was stopped by my own eyes lids shutting and my breathing becoming steady.