Hey everyone, if you haven't read my authors note from Manhattans Queen, I have a legit excuse why I haven't been writing. A few months ago, I got in a really bad accident with my boyfriend. I broke my collar bone, right wrist and got bruised up pretty badly. My boyfriend is okay, just feels terrible. I'm sorry for the wait guys. Hope you keep reading.
Chapter 4: Time Gone By
I slit my eyes open to see a small ray of light come through the window next to where I was laying. It warmed my face, yet, the rest of my body was cold and numb. I reached down to grab my fleece sheets but the blanket, instead of being soft, was scratchy and rough. "Huh?" I said quietly to myself. My throat was dry and my tongue was sticking to the roof of my mouth.
My arm reached out for my water bottle, which usually sat on my bedside table, but it wasn't there. Now I was really confused. I opened my eyes fully to see a room I didn't recognize. There were rafters on the ceiling, instead of my black ceiling covered with stars. There was wood on the floor, instead of my light grey carpet. The walls weren't purple and blue stripes, but a plain white.
When I tried to sit up, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I groaned and layed back down against the pillow. As my head touched the pillow, someone knocked on the door.
"Why did you knock you bonehead?" a thick boy with a think Italian accent yelled from the other side of the door, "She's probably still passed out!
"I know but still its polite…" another voice responded. The door flung open to reveal two teenage boys. One was short with chocolate curly hair, sepia eyes, and he was holding a tray with what looked like bread and a small glass of water. The second boy had light brown curly hair as well but he had deep blue eyes that seemed to go on forever. I know I had never met these boys before, yet something seemed oddly familiar.
The shorter guy rolled his eyes, "Whatever you say." He looked over at me. "Holy smokes!" he yelled.
"Whaaaaaa….!" The blue eyed boy stare joined the shorter guys one.
"HEY FELLAS, GET UP HERE!" They yelled in perfect unison. Their yell was followed by the sound of stomping feet running up a set of stairs. Within seconds, a group of boys piled through the door. They all looked to be my age, however there was something in their eyes that made them look like they all have seen more of this world than me though.
Their jaws hit the floor as they looked over at me. Suddenly they all started speaking at once, running over to my bed side. I tried to scoot towards the wall to try and get as much space as possible between me and them, but the pain in my stomach wouldn't let me. "Fellas, calm down!" a voice said from the doorway. In unison, they all looked over their shoulder and I saw in between cracks of their boys, another taller and somewhat leaner boy, standing the doorway. "Give her room to breathe."
Without another word, they cleared a small path way. The taller boy from the doorway came closer. For the first time, I got a really good look at his face. He had deep mahogany hair with rich, cocoa eyes. Much like the others, he looked strangely familiar.
"Hey 'der," the tall boy said to me. "Would you like some water?" I gave a small nod and he gestured for the guy with the water over to my bedside. I took the cup in both of my hands and gently lifted it to my lips.
It tasted cool going down my throat, all the pain that was once there was gone. Although there were five sets of eyes staring at me while I drank, I didn't care at this point. I am so thirsty, I could drink Lake Erie for all I cared. The water was gone within seconds after the tall boy put it in my hands.
I swallowed the last bit with a small gulp. "Thanks," I spoke with a small rasp in my voice.
"You're welcome," the tall boy said. "And, welcome to the Manhattan lodging house for newsies. My name is Kelly, Jack Kelly. I'm the leader here."
"Kelly? Manhattan lodging house? " I said quietly to myself, "Those sound so familiar."
"Well, Jacky boy here is kinda famous around these parts, helped lead an entire strike against some big shots." The boy with the Italian accent said.
"Strike?" I whispered again. Then, like a bolt of lightning, it hit me. My jaw hit the floor. Inside of my body, my lungs tightened. "No way..." I said in a smaller whisper. I tried to push myself up and all the boys jumped forward to help. Eventually a boy with an eye patch, which if my hunch was right, his name would be Kid Blink, helped me up while the Italian boy, or Racetrack, if my hunch was right of course, put a pillow behind my back.
"Thanks…" I mumbled. They backed away slowly. I turned my attention to Jack, "So you're Jack, right?" He nodded. "Well…would you mind if I asked you a question you're probably going to think is really stupid?"
He nodded again, "Um, well, what year is it?"
"The year?" he said with a small amount of laughter in his voice. All the other boys looked confused. "Um, well, its 1900."
I gasped, This…is…this is impossible! "What…" I said in a raspy voice. "You're kidding right?" By the look on their faces, I could tell that they weren't kidding. I brushed my hair out my face and held my face in my hands. "No, no, no…this isn't possible…" I whispered. I felt sick to my stomach and the room was spinning. I felt this way once before, when I was on the Scrambler in 4th grade, and that event didn't end so well.
"Jack," I heard someone say. By the sound of the voice, it was most likely David. "'Member the doc said she might have a concu…"
And then, for the second time in my life, I passed out.
When I woke up, it was dark on the other side of my window and a soft hand resting on mine. I looked down at it to see it belonged to Rachel. Her blonde hair rested on her back in a ponytail like it did at the time of the accident. When I saw her face, there was a gash above her eye that was stitched shut and her right arm was in a sling.
"Rach," I shook her gently. "Rachel." I said a slight bit louder.
Her head shot up, "I didn't do it!" she said in a dazed state. I cocked my eyebrow at her and her face lit up. "Amy!" She yelled. She jumped over and gave me the largest hug I have ever received. However, she landed on my stomach with her right arm. Immediately, we both jumped winced in pain. She jumped off of me and looked at me, and we burst out laughing.
Another pain went through my stomach as I laughed, which caused me to cringe, but laughter felt good. Like I hadn't laughed in years, even though it was only a few days ago we were in my basement, laughing our butts off to Newsies. As our laughter died down, Rachel asked me if I wanted some water, and I shook my head frantically. This, of course, made her giggle more. She helped me sit up and gave me a cup of water. "Thanks," I whispered. Her response was her famous soft, motherly smile as she brushed my bangs out of my face.
"Geez, your hair is such a rat's nest." She got out of her chair and grabbed a brush from over in the corner. She climbed next to me on the little space left on my bed and began brushing my hair with her good hand. I gently sipped the water. Neither one of us spoke.
When I finished off the last sip, I finally got up the courage to ask the question I was scared of knowing the answer too. "Rachel," I whispered.
"Hm?" she replied sweetly, almost as if in a hum.
"What happened to us?" I asked, biting my lip. Her hand stopped moving on my hair. She took a deep breath and sighed.
"Amy, I-I really don't know. The last thing I remember was getting into my car and then getting knocked off the side of the road and then waking up here with my arm in a sling and you passed out cold." She sounded sad. She came around to sit in front of me and faced me. "Do you remember any of the car crash?"
I thought about it but everything was a giant blur. I shook my head. "Figures, the guys told me that the doc said you might've had a concussion."
"The guys?" I said and then remembered the events of earlier today. "You mean the newsies?" she nodded.
"Yeah, Amy, they were really worried about you." She said looking down. "But now the confusing thing-how in hell did we get to the fricken early 20th century?"
"How am I supposed to know?" I responded. "I just woke up when they walked in and then passed out again."
"I know, I'm sorry- it's just I've been up for a couple days now and I've been so scared." She wiped her nose on her sleeve. "I mean, I'm 111 years in the past with a crap load of people I've never met before and my best friend almost died in my arms.." tears were now falling over her bottom lids and down her cheeks. "And I feel so alone," her lip was trembling. "You scared me shitless, I thought I lost you." She was fighting back the sobs. "And I can't lose you, especially not now!" My throat tightened and my own pair of eyes began to water.
I opened my arms and Rachel climbed into them. "You aren't going to lose me, Chewy. Not now, not ever. I promise." Rachel was now full out sobbing and I squeezed her with as much as I possibly could. I leaned down and kissed the top of her head.
Her sobs slowed down slightly and she sat up. "What are we gonna do Ams?" one last tear fell over her eye lid.
I leaned over and wiped it away with my thumb. "I don't know, Rach, I just don't know."