Libertà
Freedom
Prologue
Mornings
along the eastern coast of the USA were peaceful, to say something about them.
The gulls flew overhead, calling to eachother in their warbly, throaty
voices. The towns stirred early,
before the sun rose, but as the golden shafts of light illuminated the sky, it
crowned the bustling streets with new hope, new glory.
The people disregarded it usually, probably because it happened every
day. But some never missed it.
To those few, it was a breathtaking sight every time.
It was the base of life as anyone knew it, the one stable thing one could
turn to if all else failed. Most of
all, it was a link to what was so familiar, yet still unknown.
Few
managed to find much in the daily rise of the sun. Perhaps only two in the world.
But those two would eventually find eachother. Even at the worst possible time, they would find eachother.
And they would live in eternity.
The two groups had been feuding forever, or
longer than any living witness had been alive.
The reason why they fought had long-earlier been buried under the tumulus
the strife they put themselves under. No
one seemed to care anymore about the truth. The fighting was just a way of life. The Bronx newsies and the New Jersey newsies, referred to as
the Bronxes and the Jersies. It is
within these two societies that we lay our scene.
***
“Ah, the Jerseys are
at it again!” Blade exclaimed as he entered the restaurant the Bronxes met at
every night. Freedom rolled her
eyes and put her hands on his broad shoulders, shoving him down into a seat.
“Tell me, dearest.
What’s happened tonight?” He looked up at her, sighing.
“There’ve been
attacks on the riverfront. Big
Shot! You were there.
How many of them were there again?”
He looked over to a tall boy, his mop of brown, stringy hair bent over a
hand of cards, his green eyes penetrating into the poor lad who had accepted his
poker challenge. He looked up momentarily at Blade.
“Six, I believe.
Against just me an Action. Ain’t
that right, Action? We were just
sluggin’ em out.”
“Yeah.” The short,
wide-set Italian responded from his booth in the corner.
“Six, an we beat em all. They’re
easy to bring down, but they just keep coming back.”
Blade laughed.
Then he turned serious. “I
wanna get this all settled.” he exclaimed, slamming his fist on the table so
that the cups and plates rattled.
“Seriously, boys.”
Free said, standing to get their attention.
“You all are just gonna cool it. I’ve
had enough talk of those horrible Jersies.
For Christ’s sake, let’s eat.”
“Amen to that.” A
few of the other girls muttered. They
offered slight smiles to their boys before turning their attention to the food
in front of them.
Chapter walked into
the stuffy, crowded restaurant hesitantly. She longed for her rooftop, but she had been ordered to come
to dinner by her over-protective brother, Blade, who had insisted that she eat.
Big Shot looked up as she entered and grinned inwardly.
He rose from his table, allowing the boy he had been playing with to
finally run free. He approached her
quickly.
“Heya.” He said in
a low voice.
“Hey, Big Shot.”
She said, disinterested. He came up
behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders, massaging them slowly and
inhaling the scent of her fair skin.
“I missed you
today.” He said, not loosing the lowness in his voice.
He breathed on her neck, snickering when the tiny hairs along her neck
stood up. She stiffened under him
and shook off his hands.
“Yeah, well I wanted
to be alone. I can’t be with you
every second you’re alive.” She said, still not making eye contact with him.
Again, he snickered.
“Wish you could.”
He whispered. “Come on, Chapter.
You’re my girl. You gotta love me.” He
slowly put his hands around her waist. “You
know I love you.” He laid his
lips on her ear as he whispered it.
“Big Shot, stop
it.” He did not.
He chuckled and held her tighter to him.
“Stop!” She shoved his head away and squirmed out of his arms.
Big Shot snickered and gave in, taking a seat across from her at a booth.
He did not move his eyes from her. She
sat under his penetrating gaze uncomfortably and consumed her food as quickly as
possible. Then she rose.
“I’ve eaten, oh
wise and older brother.” She said to Blade, rolling her eyes.
“I’m gonna go home now.” He
sighed as all big brothers do.
“Alright…but you
go straight home. I can’t believe
I’m letting you out on da streets without an escort or something.”
Chapter rolled her eyes.
“I’m not a baby
anymore, Blade. I can see my own
way home.” She huffed and left,
still clutching the notebook she had been holding throughout her short dinner.
She carried it everywhere as sort of a shield.
She took off at a run
as soon as her feet touched the street outside. She ran and ran until she reached home. Then she headed up to her roof.
Everyone called it her roof. It
was where she spent the most of her time and she was the only one that went up
there.
She folded her arms
and placed them on the waist-high wall surrounding the roof.
Tears came to her eyes, but she swallowed them back.
She hated her life. Thoughts
of freedom continually filled her mind. The
only way to freedom it seemed was through death.
She gulped. Death terrified
her. She wanted to be free from
many things. Big Shot was the
person she was dying to be free from. He
loved her deeply, and that was obvious. She
could not find it in her to love him back, though.
He wanted something she had never felt comfortable giving anyone.
She regretted the day she had agreed to be his girl, but there was no way
for her to take it back. Everything
in her life was pointless. She
enjoyed nothing in her life. She
was never happy. Crying at night
and writing were her two outlets, and that was no life for anyone to suffer
through.
The night eventually
grew pitch black and the stars dotted the sky like millions of sparkling dreams.
Everyone came back soon enough and Chapter was forced inside.
Blade claimed that she would ‘catch her death of cold.’ Blade. That was
another person she wanted to be free of. But
she loved and adored Blade as any younger sister would.
It was so hard to run an entire group of newsies AND look after a sister.
Chapter didn’t feel she needed looking after, but she took all his
petty commands in her stride.
“What were you doing
up there?” Free asked when she came back into the bunkroom.
All the guys had left and Chapter was immensely pleased that Big Shot
wasn’t in the room.
“Just the usual.
Thinking an such.” She replied. Free
nodded.
“Well, g’night,
pumpkin. See you in the morning.”
She moved off into the washroom.
Chapter climbed two
flights of stairs, passing the boy’s open door, her head bowed, hoping Big
Shot wouldn’t notice. He didn’t
and she raced up another to the attic. The
attic was a small, tiny room that she had claimed for herself with the
permission of Blade. No one else
had their own room, and it set her even more apart, but it gave her a slight
comfort and a promise of privacy.
The room was furnished
with next to nothing. A small table
stood at the center of the room, covered with papers, books and the like.
A washstand stood in the corner and held on it a cracked porcelain
washbowl and a rag. Her bed was a
bottom of a broken bunk from one of the bigger rooms and held on it two pillows
and a few blankets. The room also
held a small wooden chair from the lobby.
She fell down on her
bed, sighing outwardly. Freedom!
She had to be free. She
couldn’t take living like she was. She
needed out, soon.
It slowly came to her.
It was so possible! She
would flee. That’s it. She
would run away and never come back. She
didn’t have anything to stay for, did she?
Well…there was Free and Dance and Sassy and Keys and all them… And
little Flame adored her.
But oh, to be free
from Blade and Big Shot! That alone
captured her into thinking that this was an okay idea.
She would run. She would escape. That
very night.
When the lodging house
had grown silent, Chapter made her escape. She took the staircase to the lobby and left, with nothing
more than the few dollars she had saved up and her notebook.
Where she would go, she had no idea, so she just started walking.
Who knew where she would end up?
She took off at a run
and fled towards the south, oblivious as to where she was headed.
All she knew was that the moon shone brilliantly overhead, illuminating a
path seemingly meant for her to take. She
wandered aimlessly. For how long,
she didn’t even know. Her body
didn’t tire from the long, difficult run she placed upon it.
She seemed invincible that night. She
would not fall, for she would not allow herself to fall.
But she finally
stopped and looked around, gasping when she found herself.
She was on a dock, and she most definitely wasn’t in the Bronx.
Glancing around, everything was foreign.
Nothing had anything to do with anything she knew.
And she was alone.
She presently fell to
the ground, her legs having given out under her. She soaked up the sleep, in a heavy unconsciousness.
Her sleep was undisturbed and dreamless, for which she was grateful.