Tell The Boogeyman I Said Hello

September 1900

Dew drops and the smell of the farm. If anyone were to ask Flash what she missed most about home, that would be her answer. That and a bed of course. Her days of sleeping on the hard ground had taken a toll on her back and there wasn't really an end in sight. She missed the sense of safeness that a bed often provided. She could remember how it felt to curl up under the warm fabric of the blanket, pillow soft and peace surrounding her, hushed whispers through the bedroom that she had shared with her brother. Back before everything got so damn complicated and terrible. Back before her dad turned into the monster that he did. Back when the only tough decision of her day was to pick which pond they were going to swim in and which cow was her favorite.

The harsh bite of reality was that the good times were long gone, just like her Ma and Pa, and things would never be the same. As much as she wanted to hold on to the hope that her life would get back to normal, she knew it never would. Even if she found what she so desperately was looking for, things could never go back. There was too much trauma for all involved.

But she could wish that she had someone to whisper into the night with, just for old times sake. She could pray that she found her brother. And she could hope that she would find her place in this fucked up world, its sense of grandeur long lost in her eyes.

She was alone. Lonely. She had felt that way for a while now, even being surrounded by her could be friends. That's why she didn't mind so much when she saw Racetrack round the corner, almost tripping over a bag of garbage that had been left in the alley way.

Race let out a slew of curses, unaware that he had company in the alley that he was going to have to sleep in. Kloppman was really starting to enforce the curfew that was set for the boys, and anyone that did not come home in time, had to find somewhere else for the night. He stood there for a moment, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. When he was sure he could see and there was nothing else in his way, he walked forward, looking around. His eyes fell on a shadowy figure sat on the ground up against the bricks of the building.

"Sorry man, I'll find somewhere else to crash," he muttered to the figure, trying to think about where else he could go. Not Brooklyn, that's for sure. They didn't have such a strict curfew like the Manhattan Lodging House, but they did have Spot, and Race wasn't up for playing nice and groveling for a place to stay.

"No worries, Racetrack. I don't mind sharing," Flash told him before patting the ground beside her.

"Why am I not surprised that you're here? You're everywhere I go," Racetrack quipped, but made his way to sit down beside her.

"I thought that would take more persuasion," she teased. He couldn't see her face but he could hear the smile in her voice. "I guess you're warming up to me after all."

"Don't count on it," Race retorted. "I just don't feel like walking around all night. I can tolerate one night with you, I guess. We'll be sleeping and not talking for the majority of it anyways."

"I talk in my sleep sometimes."

"Of course you do. That's my luck."

"It only happens sometimes. When I'm having a nightmare mostly," she admitted, tossing him one of her blankets. He took it and grunted, and Flash assumed that was a "thank you" in Race language.

"What do you have to have nightmares about? You grew up on a farm. Do you dream about killer chickens chasing you?" he gibed.

Flash shook her head but realized he couldn't see her. "Not chickens," she said softly.

"Cows then?"

"No."

"So what do you dream about then?"

Flash let out a small sigh. She didn't much feel like getting into this right now, especially not with him. He wouldn't understand. Or worse. He would actually pity her, and she couldn't have that. "Typical stuff. The boogey man. Dying. That sort of thing. You know how it is. I do have this one dream where my teeth fall out though."

Racetrack fiddled with the corner of the blanket, running his fingers over the frayed edges. He hadn't known her for very long, but he was very perceptive. There was something that she wasn't being entirely honest about. Flash had an air of mysteriousness about her. He had a feeling that he hadn't even scratched the surface of who she really was, and he was curious to know just what her deal was. She never really answered personal questions, or any questions at all for that matter. She found a way to deflect, rather masterfully and without the questioner realizing until the subject had completely changed. "Yeah, I get that one too. It apparently has some underlying meaning, like you feel like you're losing control of your life or something."

Flash let out a dry snort, scoffing to herself. "That fucking figures," she muttered under her breath. "Doesn't surprise me."

Race shrugged his shoulders and tried to think of something to say to that. "It's a very common dream. Most people I know have had it a time or two."

"So what do you dream about then, Racetrack?"

Race shifted his body so that he was turned slightly toward her, peering through the darkness to try to make out her face. "You ever get the dream where you're fighting but your punches are landing soft?"

"All the time."

Racetrack nodded his head. "Me too. That happens a lot."

They were silent for a while and Flash thought that Racetrack had fallen asleep. She laid down with her head on the crumpled-up blanket that she was using for a pillow. She would have given her left leg for a real one. It was quiet, only the occasional shout in the distance broke their silence until Racetrack spoke, causing Flash to almost jump out of her skin.

"Why are you here?"

Flash sat back up, pulling her blanket with her. "What do you mean? This is where I sleep sometimes when I don't wanna make my way back to Brooklyn." She gave him a blank stare, but he couldn't see it.

Racetrack shook his head. "Not here, stupid. I mean in New York." He let out a small chuckle before leaning his head back on the wall.

"What's it to you?" she snickered.

"Don't get so defensive. I'm just curious," he shot back. "I just want to get a better understanding about you."

She picked at her thumbnail and brought it to her mouth, biting down on the skin around it. "I don't think it matters. I won't be staying here long anyways. I never do."

"But why here then? It's clear you don't really like it here. You're always going on about how people up here are different than everywhere else you've been." Race stated.

"Why don't I ask you some questions, Racetrack? You're always delving into my life, let me swim in yours for a bit." Flash gave him a sly grin.

Race gave her a half-hearted shrug. "Okay, what do you want to know? I'm an open book."

Flash crossed her arms in front of her chest and moved to directly face him. "Why are you a newsie?"

"Because I need money to eat."

"No, I mean why? Why don't you live with your parents?"

"Because they're dead. I'm an orphan." Race answered.

"Well what happened to them?"

"My mother died giving birth and my father died at work. He worked in the mines and there was an accident. He was trapped and eventually died, I guess," Race said nonchalantly.

Flash wasn't surprised that Racetrack was an orphan. Many of the kids she encountered nowadays had lost their parents to sickness or disease or accidents. It still caused her sadness, because being alone with no one to take care of you was... well sad. Kids weren't supposed to have to take care of themselves.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Flash said quietly.

Racetrack was quiet for a minute before he spoke. "It's alright. I was young when it happened, so I don't really remember much about that day. Mostly just feelings."

"Don't feel bad, I lost my parents too, So I'm an orphan right along with you. You got any kin?" she asked him.

Racetrack gave her a perplexed stare. "Any what?"

"Kin folk," she said in a voice that sounded like she thought it was a stupid question. "Ya know, kin? Siblings? Family?"

"Oh. I thought you were talking about that shit they use to start fires."

Flash laughed. "No, moron, that's kindling. Any brothers or sisters? Or aunts and uncles?"

Racetrack scowled at the name she called him. "No. My mother died giving birth to a little girl. I would say that she was my sister, but she's dead so it doesn't count."

"Yes, it does. She existed, didn't she?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Dead or alive, she was still your sister," Flash stated definitively.

"Okay, then I guess I did have siblings. And I think I have an uncle somewhere, but he's back in Ireland with the rest of my father's family. I think my mother had a sister too, but it's the same case there; back in Italy where my mother is from." Racetrack took out a cigarette and lit it, taking a few drags then passing it to Flash who took it eagerly.

"I knew you had to be Irish," Flash said proudly. "Higgins is a nice Irish name. My ma was a Walsh before she married my Pa, who was a Becker."

"I'm assuming Becker is German."

Flash hit the cigarette and gave it back, blowing the smoke out quickly. "How did you know that?"

Racetrack smiled slyly. "I'm pretty sure you were calling me names in German the second time we met."

Flash let out a low laugh and grinned. "I might have been. I know you don't speak German, but do you remember what it sounded like I said?"

Racetrack thought about what she had said and tried to replicate the sounds, failing miserably. "Gee meer ash diyun aw-geen," he stumbled through the phrase, his mouth getting caught on the wrong syllables.

Flash's face lit up and she let out a cackle, causing Racetrack to scowl again.

"Shut up," he hissed.

"Oh my god, that is the worst pronunciation I have ever heard. But if you are saying what I think you are, then I told you to get out of my sight. What else?"

Racetrack frowned and pulled the blanket up around his shoulders. "No. I'm not trying that again."

"Oh come on, please? I needed the laugh."

Race sighed before trying to stumble through the other thing she said. "Soon eyener whoon den."

Flash stifled her laughter with her hand before shaking her head. "That was a little better? That is kind of like something you say when something isn't going right. You can use it as a name, but I don't think that's what I did. It means Son of a Bitch."

"Classy," he muttered. "You'll have to teach me more sometime. I'd love to curse out people without them knowing what I'm saying."

"Why are you being so nice to me? You're always saying some kind of smartass thing to me usually, but you aren't now," Flash said suspiciously.

Racetrack gave her a shrug. "I don't know. I don't think I'm being nice. Just civil."

Flash laughed. "Well I like it. Better than you being so hostile all the time." She passed his cigarette back to him before letting out a small sigh. "It's getting late. We should go to sleep." Flash laid down and rolled over, gripping her blanket tight up around her shoulders, knowing the inevitable was going to happen.

"Wait a second, I didn't get to ask you anything." Racetrack prodded her shoulder but she didn't budge nor make any sort of noise indicating that she was listening to him. Racetrack groaned. "You do this all the time. Never answer questions. You'd think you were a fugitive or something."

"Technically I am."

"You know what I mean," he grumbled and yanked the blanket off her.

Flash turned to slap his arm lightly. "Cool it. Give me back my blanket you bum."

"Not until you answer my questions."

Flash grunted and snatched the blanket back from him. "Fine, Pony Boy. You get one question, so you better make it a good one."

Racetrack sat back and frowned. There were so many questions he wanted the answers to, it was hard to pick one. He wanted to know where she came from, about her childhood. He wanted to know what happened to her parents and why she was an orphan. He wanted to know why she moved around so much. He wasn't buying the whole wanted fugitive act. He really just wanted to know her and why she was the way she was. They had been around each other every day for almost a month now and he knew absolutely nothing personal about this girl that had managed to traipse her way into the lives of not only himself, but his closest friends too.

"I guess I stick to my original one. Why are you here in New York?"

Flash was quiet for a minute, deciding the best answer that would give him what he wanted without telling him too much about her parentage. "I'm looking for my brother. I got information that he might be in these parts, but I'm not sure."

"Your brother? I didn't know you had a brother."

"Yeah, well Jack is the only one around here that does, and he knows better than to go blabbing his mouth to you guys about it." Flash snorted and laid her head back down on the ground.

Racetrack was confused. That was the big secret? She had a brother and didn't want anyone to know about it? "You could have said something, Flash. Maybe we could help you find him, if he's around here."

Flash sighed and picked at a loose thread on her shirt. "It's not that simple, Higgins. Besides, I doubt he really is here. I haven't seen or heard a thing indicating otherwise. He got adopted from the orphanage or something. He could be anywhere."

"You weren't adopted?"

Flash shrugged and waved a hand. "I ran away. When I came back for him, he was gone. Who would want to adopt twins anyways? That's two more mouths to feed. I wouldn't do it. I've been looking for him for years now. He'd be 17 on October 9th."

Race was overwhelmed. This was the most she had opened up to any of them, besides Jack apparently. Now he knew she had a brother. A twin brother at that. He wasn't sure what to say to that, so he just stayed silent.

Flash took his silence as an ending to their conversation and she mumbled something that Racetrack didn't quite catch.

"What was that?"

"I said good night Pony Boy. May you have the sweetest of dreams," she said sarcastically before letting her mind wander to other things.

Race laid down next to her, careful not to invade her space. He let his head fall onto the makeshift pillow before uttering a response. "Good night, Flash. Tell the boogeyman I said hello."