Warning: Violence and death

Ash's POV

I sit at under the dinner table. It's my only safe place before Luis gets home. I've been trapped here for three weeks, or a month.

It's always quiet here. The only thing I could do at first was scream, scream and pray for someone to hear. No one ever came. So now I just cry. I don't even know if Jackie deciphered my letters.

Maybe he did and I didn't give him enough descriptions for him to find me. But I'm just scared. I'm scared of everything. He hurts me and I'm scared.

Knock Knock Knock!!!

The irregular sound of knocking at the door breaks me from my thoughts. They're quick, like they're looking for someone.

"Help!! Please!!!" I yell, trying to get someone to hear me. I stand up and bang on the door, and anything I can do to escape. The knocking on the door quickly changes to banging, like someone's trying to knock down the door.

"Ash! Don't worry! Jack and da gang ah comin'!!" I hear the long lost voice of Spot yell from the other side of the door. After about five more minutes, he stops banging on the door. "It's too secure. But it won't be up for long, the boys will all come and break down the door with ease." There's silence. "Ash? Can I please hear your voice?"

"Help. He'll be back in an hour, and if I'm not out by then, he'll hurt me," I whimper out. I can hear him hit the door one last time, even though it doesn't do anything.

"I promise, once da boys show up, you'll be out in an instant. And Luis is gonna pay. You ain't gonna be huit anymore," he says. More silence.

"Did you get my ciphers?" I ask, knowing that it's a high probability.

"They was the numba one thing dat traced us to ya location. You'se real smart, y'know?" Spot says, which makes me laugh.

"You guys are the smart ones for decoding it, all I could do was pray that you guys could solve it. Every week I was worried that no one could decipher it, that I'd be trapped here forever. Luis... He's the devil. Every night he... I hate him," I cry out.

"I'se so sorry. I wish we found out sooner. I wish we could've made sure he couldn't hoit you. I wish I didn't hoit you too," he says. I slightly freeze up, remembering the whole reason I had left, it was to come see him. He was sorry, and I was going to make up with him. But then everything went wrong.

"I forgive you. A month ago, I left the lodging house to forgive you. I've missed you for about five months. I realized in all those months, that I can't live without you. I need you," I say, admitting how weak I am.

"Yeah, I haven't been able tah live again. I was fine before ya came. When ya came my heart needed yis around me... And when you was gone, I was broken. I would give you all of Brooklyn just tah keep you around," he says.

"You don't need to do that. All you have to do is love me," I say, feeling myself starting to cry again.

"I already do," he says. As soon as he finishes talking, I hear the screaming of boys. Dozens of boys. My boys.

They all begin running up to the door, pounding on it. I get back as far as I can to avoid being hurt. In a matter of minutes, I hear the door starting to crack and crumble.

"You guys are doing it!" I yell as encouragement, even though they probably can't hear me. They begin hitting the door harder, and more in sync.

About three minutes later, the door comes crashing down. I look out from my hiding spot and see Jackie. He looks more worried than I've ever seen him, which make me cry even more. I quickly jump up and run towards him, quickly embracing him in a hug.

He hugs me tighter than he did in the Refuge. All I can do is sob into his chest while he rubs my back to calm me down. In an instant, every other boy is hugging me too.

"Hey, you'se safe now. Ya fine. I'se got you. Jackie's got you. We'se got you," Jackie whispers in my ear to calm me down, but I don't stop sobbing.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you! You guys saved me!" I sob out, still emotionally wrecked.

"You saved yaself. With your codes and da capitalized letters. God, you'se so smart," Jackie says. I can't stop crying.

I look over to Spot, who looks both worried and happy all together. I practically jump on him. I quickly, without any forethought, pull him into a passionate kiss. He quickly kisses back with the same amount of love and passion with each second. My tears that are running down my face don't seem to bother him, as he just brushes them aside with his thumb.

Jackie looks down at me with a smile, before pushing Spot aside and hugging me again, before holding my cheeks like I'll slip away if he doesn't.

"Ash, I thought I lost ya. God, I don't know what I'd do without-"

Bang

The loud sound of a gunshot pierces through the air, making my ears ring. I can't hear anything, but I feel someone shaking my arm. I didn't realize I had closed my eyes until I open them to see red. Crimson, bloody red. I'm not sure where it's come from until I feel Jackie's grip on my face fall limp.

"Jackie?" I ask, starting to hear my own voice through the ringing. Looking down at him, I watch him cough up blood, his eyes frantically searching mine to see if I'm alright. "Jackie, no!"

He looks down, lifting his hand up to stare down at the blood that dripped from his mouth. He looks back up at me, "Y/n." He lets out a single sob, his face scrunching up as tear begin to flood his eyes. "I'm so sorry."

It only takes a second for the light to leave his eyes.

"I thought I hoid some rats around 'ere," a voice says from behind us. We all turn our heads to the voice, and who's standing there but none other than Luis, with his revolver still aimed at Jackie and me. "I tot I told you all, she's mine. You can't take 'er from me."

"You... you killed him," I say shakily, barely above a whisper. Spot rushes to my side, trying to take Jackie's body away from me, but I push him off and cling to Jackie, hoping this this is all some nightmare. That I'm back in the Lodging House, about to wake up and go carry the banner.

"I've been waitin' tah kill that bastard since yis all got outta the Refuge, this is all ya fault Spot, if you didn't leave me, none ah this would've happened," Luis shouts, flailing his hands around, gun still in hand.

"You madman! Ya insane! None ah this woulda happened if you hadn't been a goddamn rapist!" Spot yelled, his voice breaking. It's only now that I look up and see how much he's crying now.

"We could go on fah hours about who's fault this is, but I'll tell ya this. If you don't hand her over right now, I'll kill all a yis, don't think I can't, I'll fire at each and every one of ya heads, startin' with her pretty little puss," Luis screeches, pointing the gun at me, but Spot steps in the way.

"If you want to have 'er, you'll have to go through me," Spot yells.

"And me!" I hear Mush yell. Soon enough, all the boys are agreeing, saying they'd rather die.

"Wait, stop! No one else is dying today!" I try to yell over the boys.

"You see, she's got da right idea!" Luis says. I get an idea and stand up, leaning into Spot to whisper that it'll be okay.

I saunter over to him, a few boys try to hold me back, but fail as I force myself forward. As soon as I'm in arms length, he grabs me, pulling my body against his.

"Ya see, brudda, I'll always be bettah than yis. I got a nice job, I was ma's favorite kid, and now, I've got ya little bitch..." Luis starts to rant, yelling at Spot and the other Newsies about what a genius he is.

While he's distracted, I use the skills I learned as A.K. to sneakily make my hand into his pocket, searching for anything I can find. I suddenly feel something cold and slightly metallic. I look at it sneakily and see that it's a revolver.

Without any other thought, I pull out the gun and shoot him directly in the chest. I close my eyes while doing so as to see the action, but when I open my eyes, I see him lying on the floor, clearly in pain. I shot him once more in the chest, making sure that his wounds will kill him. I quickly kick his hand and get him to release his other gun.

"You... Son of a bitch... Should'a killed you when I had the chance..." Luis musters out as I watch the life drain from his eyes. Blink quickly runs over and buries my face in his chest to block my vision.

"Goodbye, Luis. See you in hell," Spot says and spits on him.

In a few minutes, the police come. The look at the body, then at me, because I'm holding a gun.

"What happened, lady?" The policeman asks me.

"Well, I was kidnapped about a month ago, and these boys eventually found me, but Luis came too and threatened to kill everyone and he had a gun and shot it as a warning. He then grabbed me and in self defense I took one of his guns and shot him, sir. If I have to be sentenced to death, that's alright," I say, feeling too guilty for killing someone. But the man just shakes his head.

"If it was in self defense, you'd get off scot free. Plus, you're a kid, so that's double no punishment. You're all free to go, I guess," the officer says, clearly drunk. But he has a point, I wouldn't be punished.

We all begin walking back home, and just walking down the street gives me memories of what feels like years ago, when I could go outside. My head start to hurt, most likely a headache from not having any fresh air for a month. The pain in my chest can only be from one thing, however, and that's knowing that my big brother is now gone, despite everything he's done to be our courageous leader, and the best brother imaginable, he's dead.

I can hardly feel my legs, though whether that's the physical pain or emotional pain is anybody's guess. Eventually, I practically collapse on the ground, which is when Spot had to carry me on his back.

I nestle my face into his neck, getting reminded of the smell that I've longed for months. He chuckles, making me feel a bit self conscious.

After a bit of walking, we reach the lodging home, which is when I jumped off Spot's back and booked it back to my bed, where I hide myself under the covers. I've seen far too much in the past month. Things that my brain won't stop replaying.

"Ash? You alright?" I hear Mush's voice ask, so gentle and caring.

"I'm so scared. I didn't want to kill him, hell, anyone. You have no idea the kind of cruel things he did to me. How much everything hurt. He never stopped," I say through sobs. I don't want anyone to look at me. See me weak again. "Watching him kill the person I cared about the most..."

"I know we don't know your pain... But... Jack got letters from him. Luis would go into as much detail as possible just to get to Jack. And he had no choice but to read them. He scanned through every paragraph at least three times just to get a single unintentional clue to where you were. At one point, he had to leave any room we were in, because he was so horrified by what he did. I want you tah you know that seeing you again was the first time Jack smiled after you were gone," Mush says.

"Crutchie scanned through the letters to see how bad it was. We found him crying under his bunk. We're so sorry you went through that," Snipeshooter says.

"God, I shouldn't have left the lodge that day, none of this would have happened if I wasn't such an idiot," I say through sniffles.

"He would have found a way to take you anyways. Whether it be on the way to school or back, he would've found a way. We're just glad we have you back right now," Blink says. I smile.

"Ash? Is that you?" A small voice asks. I look up to see the small girl, Anna, standing in the doorway. She instantly runs up to me and hugs me. "Ash! We were so worried! You're okay!"

"Yeah, how ya doin' kid?" I ask her, trying my best to put on a smile. She smiles gleefully and sits in my lap like I'm a parent.

"Well, I went to Brooklyn on accident once! I met these nice newsies who led me to their leader, and I became friends with his little brother. And I snuck out at night to try and find you! And now you're back!" She yells, hugging me again. This makes me laugh.

"Wait, Leo?" I ask her. She nods with a big smile.

"Yeah! You know him?" She asks.

"I'm the one who brought him home in the first place," I say. She looks shocked.

"Wait! So you're the girl he said saved him! Spot and him would not stop talking about you. They really really like you," she says, which makes me smile.

"Yeah, they do. Can you maybe just go play with someone else right now? I need a bit of alone time," I say. She whines but gets off my lap, running off into another room.

I go back to shoving my face in my pillow. But every time I close my eyes, I see his body, both from when he was dead, and when he was forcing me down and making sure I was looking at him while he tortured me with his body.

I hear the familiar sound of a door opening and closing. Which just reminds me of when Luis would come home. He'd come home and if I didn't make him dinner, which I didn't do on the first day, he'd hurt me. Not with knives or anything. But make it so I couldn't walk. The pain was unbearable. I can still feel slight pain there right now.

"Ash? Ash! You'se home!" I hear the soft and gentle voice of Crutchie call out. I look up and see him wobbling over to me as fast as he can, which isn't very fast because of his crutch. It suddenly hits me that he wasn't there to help me. He probably wouldn't have been too much help, though.

"Hey, Crutchie," I say, trying to use a smile to hide my pain. But Crutchie, sweetest boy Crutchie, sees right through my lies and takes a seat next to me, holding out his hand for me to take instead of just placing a hand on me. Most boys still do that, even though it scared me so much when people would touch me. Crutchie never did that, though.

"How ya doin'? It's perfectly fine if you says you're not doin' well, it's fine," he says with a smile. I can't help but chuckle at his kindness. I end up taking his hand, resting it on his leg as to not put pressure on his hand.

"You always read me like a book. I can't stop think of... What he did. It hurts. Both psychically and mentally," I say. I feel his thumb rubbing my hand to calm me down.

"I can see why. He's a cruel man. How'd you get back?" He asks. I just look to the floor and think for a moment. Trying to push the awful thoughts out of my head.

"They deciphered my codes to my location. Broke down the door. But then Luis showed up.... He's dead now. I killed him," I say. My tears still haven't stopped pouring.

"Oh, Ash. That musta been awful. I'se so sorry dat you had tah go through somethin' that awful. I promise, no one'll evah hoit you like dat again. I promise you dat. Okay?" He asks, making sure I understand. I want to tell him he's wrong. But looking at his empathetic face, I can see he's not just trying to make me happy, he knows I won't be hurt. I trust him.

"I believe you, Crutchie," I say. I then lean on his shoulder and start crying, while he pats my back, letting me sob it out.

After about 10 minutes, someone comes in, creating that dreadful noise. Without thinking, I hide behind Crutchie, even though he could never do anything to protect me from that man. Looking up, I see that it's Spot. I get out from behind Crutchie and run to Spot, throwing my arms around him.

"Hey, Ash. How ya doin'?" He asks. All I do is wrap my entire body around him, becoming a human koala. I don't want to let him go. Not ever again.

"IloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyou..." I just can't stop crying those words. I hate myself for being so weak. I need to be strong. But I'm not.

"Hey, shhhh, I love you too, and you know dat. I'se so sorry. I fucked up. I love you too much to lose you again," he whispers. His encouraging words slowly turns to sweet nothings. After about two minutes of me clinging to him, I finally get down. "Listen, I knows I hurt you, believe me, I think about it every day. What I did was dumb, and cruel, and I hurt you so bad, hell I don't knows why I even did dat. What I'm tryin' tah say is... you can hate me, I coitenly wouldn't blame ya, but I want ya tah know that no mattah what, I'll always love ya."

I think for a moment. He did a pretty fucking scummy thing, but I know he's changed. I don't really have any evidence, but I feel it. I know he's going to be better.

"Yeah, what you did was... unbearable. It broke my heart to see that not only were you stringing me along, but Sofie too. But I know that with Jackie... gone... I need you here with me," I say. He laughs.

"God, you'se so perfect. Why didn't I meet ya sooner?" He asks.

"I really don't know. I went to the Brooklyn docks almost every day before we met, so why didn't you?" I ask him. He looks confused for a minute.

"I have no idea. It's almost like there's someone out there making sure that we met at a perfect time, at the perfect moment," he says, which makes me smile.

"God?" I ask, he shrugs.

"Something like that," he says, looking me in my eyes. He then pulls me into a sweet and delicate kiss. Once we pull away, he brushes a stray strand of hair out of my face. "God, I love you."

"You have no idea," I say with a laugh, before pulling him into another kiss.

"Damn, I need tah get me ten cents from Pie Eater, 'cause I just won our bet," I hear the voice of Racetrack say from the door. I quickly look at him and shoot him a dirty glare.

"What bet?" I ask him, knowing that it has something to do with me.

"Oh, you know, I said dat you two would be back tagetha within' the foist day, he said afta. Now he owes me ten cents," Racetrack says. I just sigh.

"You disappoint me, child," I say. He just shrugs and sticks his cigar in his mouth.

"You do know dat I'se olda than you by two years, right?" Race says with a smirky questioning look. I roll my eyes.

"Which I don't like one bit, because we're both small," I say. He shrugs again.

"Pubatey's jus' hittin' late, I'll be a foot tallah den you in 'bout a yeah," he says. I quickly bury my face in to Spot's chest.

"He's an idiot, I tell you, a complete and udder idiot," I say, Spot just pats my back and nods. This makes Racetrack get upset, but in the playful way.

"Hey!"

Max Casella was 24 when he played Racetrack in newsies 1992. He was 5'5" tall, looks like a literal child, and was shorter than literal children, like Gabriel Damon who played Spot and was 15. I don't understand how puberty can delay that much, because he's now 5'9" tall.

Hey, author from the future here! I made a couple changes to the ending. Well, one change, and that was that Jack's dead. Yay. But seriously, it felt like this whole Luis storyline felt incomplete with only him dead, so I thought "who would be better dead too?" And it hit me, the person he was trying to kill the whole time: Jack. Anyways sorry for the pain I've caused. Peace out!✌️