Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies. Nor to I claim to. Skittery is property of Disney. However, the ideas and speculations expressed here are of my own thoughts. Eloise is mine.
Chapter 1 - The Past is the Past
Five years ago, his life was normal. Five years ago, Skittery had a family, a name, even a future. Of course that all changed in a single moment. The moment Skittery let go was the moment that she was taken from them. It wasn't even a day, not an hour, not even a minute. It was a single second, a single stitch in time.
The young boy, with his curly brown hair and a happy smile, had been playing in Central Park with his sister. Although they were six years apart, they loved to play and just be together. Laughing the little blonde girl called out to the dark-haired boy. "Skylar! Don pway in fee twees! Mommy says its dangouws," she said, her youthful voice ringing through the trees. Skylar shrugged and perched on a branch. "She only says that because she doesn't want you to climb them Elle," he said. Then Eloise started the cry. Shoot... he thought and climbed down the treet. "It's all better, I'm down now," Skylar said, hugging his little sister.
"YAY!" Eloise cheered, her fair skin lighting up happily. Then they heard the warm voice of their mother called them come along. They needed to get home. The sun was disappearing quickly and their mother and father hated walking home in the dark. The two children raced toward their parents. "It's time to go," she said warmly. Skylar nodded and took the usual position between his mother and Eloise. He took the young girl's hand so her wandering eyes wouldn't separate her from the group. As a family, the four walked out of the park and toward their Manhattan apartment. While they walked, night crept up on them and cast it's eerie darkness over the streets and the family alike.
The moonless black coated the family in dark blankets of night. Skylar grabbed his mother's hand and continued on his way. Suddenly a loud and foreboding clatter sounded from nearby. Spooked, Skylar jumped fifteen feet in the air and clutched onto his mother's arm for dear life. With a kiss on the top of his head, his mother reassured him that everything was going to be all right, and the family started up again. Almost to their home.
It was then that Skylar came to the cold realization. Eloise was no longer holding his hand! "Um, Eloise had gotten distracted again," he lied, knowing full well that the young girl's hand had been dropped when the noise sounded. "I'll be right back, I think she's looking at the bakery again." With that, Skylar raced back the way they came. He skidded to a halt in front of the ally that he'd been spooked at. Skylar walked down it. The utter blackness of the ally swallowed him up.
Skylar felt like he walking for hours and nothing was surfacing when he saw a light flicking ahead. A candle! Skylar raced ahead. He was sprinting toward the light hoping to find Eloise. That's when he saw her. Her little face, filled with fear, expressed sudden hope when she saw Skylar. "Eloise," he started to apologize, but a tall, thin man appeared. The man held what looked like a board and he brought it crashing down on Skylar's head. He fell to the ground and looked up at Eloise and saw her looking at him with utter horror in her brown eyes. I've failed her, Skylar thought and the whole world faded into oblivion.