I'm sorry if some of the characters are a little OOC, but I tried. Still, hope it's good!
The morning sun shone through the windows, bathing everything in its golden light. Skittery and Mush stood at the foot of Lock's bed, pillows and a glass of water in hand. Mush, the one with the water, climbed up the side of the bunk bed to stare at the sleeping girl in front of him. He looked down at Skittery, who gave him a devilish grin, smiled back, and then dumped the contents of the glass onto the girl in the bed.
A bloodcurdling screech echoed through the lodging house and the two boys ran, half fearing for their lives.
"MUSH! SKITTERY! I will kill you!"
Their laughter filled every room and hallway as they ran from the soaking girl. Mush's smile nearly split his face in two and Skittery couldn't see because of the tears in his eyes. Both were laughing too hard to stop for a while and Skittery, still blind from his tears, fell on top of Mush, causing the pair to tumble down the stairs. As they sat, dazed, at the bottom of the stairs, Lock came up behind them, pillows in hand.
"Ack! Lock! Wha-?"
"Mmmphh! Nmph! NMM!"
Lock kept whacking Skittery with her pillow and smothering Mush's face with the other. Mush flailed his arms, trying to escape, and Skittery took his pillow and attacked Lock in return. Kloppman then walked calmly past the trio, completely ignoring any pleas for help.
The sixteen-year-old finally stopped abusing the two boys and offered a hand up to Mush, who was panting heavily.
"Youse crazy! You could've killed me!"
Lock rolled her eyes playfully, "You gonna take da hand or not?"
Mush reached to grab her hand, but instead, pulled her down and started tickling her sides.
"Mush! Stop- stop it!"
He continued tickling her mercilessly, causing her to laugh harder.
A handful of newsies stood in the background, watching them with interest. Some shook their heads at their antics but some were wondering how he could do that and still be alive.
Bububu
"Massive building takes a fall! Millions killed! Thank you miss, mister. Killer bees on the loose! "
The real story was that an older building was deteriorating and some people got slightly injured. The city was trying to find some way to fix it without paying a huge sum. The other was that a child had gotten stung by some bees near his home. The child's parents found a beehive in their attic. Sometimes Lock wondered how this stuff got in the papes; none of it was interesting or important.
"Mass prison breakout! Murders now on the loose!"
Lock sold one pape with that headline, froze and read the headline again.
~
MARKERS PRISON BREAKOUT
Daniel Brook and Peter Marly are two of the known escapees. A total of seven convicts escaped from Markers Prison on June 17, 1901.
There was more but Lock just saw those words. Everything was in a daze as she repeated those words over and over again in her head.
"No," she whispered to herself, "no, no, no, it can't be-"
"Lock?"
She didn't even acknowledge Spot's presence, continuing to stare at the paper in shock.
"I-"
Spot laid his hand on her arm worriedly; he had never seen her behave in such a way before.
"Lock?"
Suddenly everything came back to her; memories first then the present. Lock was instantly overwhelmed with the sounds and smells that rushed at her like the heat of a fire when the wind blows. She spun on her heels, her hair whipping Spot in the face, and ran blindly down the street.
"Lock!"
Spot rubbed his face where her hair slapped him, then ran after the girl. He ran into people, not bothering to give an apology. He stopped when he realized he couldn't see her anymore and stood there in the middle of the street, staring in the direction she went, completely and utterly confused.
Veveve
"Jack! Where's Jack at?"
Race, Boots, Specs, Jake, Bumlets, and Kid Blink started at the Brooklyn leader's sudden intrusion of their game.
"No, we ain't seen 'er around 'ere. Why? Youse needin' somtin'?"
"Youse woik."
The six boys glanced at each other then back at the Brooklyn leader.
"Woik for what?
"Lock's gone runnin' an' I don' know where she's gone."
"So…"
Spot glared at Jake, as if he expected the Manhattan newsies to already know what was going on.
"Der was somtin' in da pape dat got 'er. She actually looked soita scared."
Race stood up, leaving all his cards on the table, "If she's actually hidin' from us, den she's gonna be at dat ol' run down 'ouse near da bridge."
Lololo
Short, uneven gasps and shuddering sobs all came from the girl huddled in the corner of the old building. She was curled around herself, drawing her knees to her chest as she cried her heart out. All the memories she tried to forget came rushing back every time she thought she was done. She thought she would have had no more tears left by now, but they still kept coming. The knees of her pants were wet with tears, as were the sleeves on her arms. Her blonde hair spilled over her shoulders, looking something like a blanket. It no longer shone like gold, but looked rather like a dull, pale yellow. It was as if all her sorrows fell upon her hair and turned it dark.
"Daddy, no!"
"Leave her alone!"
The gleam of a knife shone in her eyes and she could not look away. The man holding it sliced at the woman in front of him, the one who lay on the floor, broken and bleeding. He lifted the knife then plunged it down, directly-
"Lock! Where youse at?"
"Lock!"
"Yeah, where is you?"
The door to the room she was hiding in slowly creaked open.
"Lock..?"
Lock didn't bother to lift her head; she knew that he would come over anyway. She kept her head in the darkness of her arms as she thought about her mother, sister, and father. Father, hah! He was no longer her father. He no longer deserved to be called that. Not after what he did.
Racetrack looked sadly down at the crying girl in his arms. He could feel her exhaustion as she took shuddering breaths. He could feel the pain and sorrow radiating off of her and he knew that something was very wrong. Blink, Spot, Jake, and the rest of the newsies filed in. All gave sympathetic pats and looks to the girl in his arms. All were confused, but ready to help out in any way they could.
Blink decided to give it a try, "Lock?"
"He's my- he's not me fadder."
"Who's you're fadder?" Boots looked to the other newsies for confirmation, but received nothing.
Lock handed out the paper while drying her eyes with her hands.
"He escaped yesterday. Three days before da anniversery…"
The last part was whispered to herself but some of the boys still caught on.
"Who? Daniel Brook or Peter Marly?"
"Brook."
"Uh," Spot shifted uncomfortably, "what 'appened?"
"He killed me mudder. And left me an' me sister to die. He ain't me fadder."
The newsies could only sit back and stare in shock.