New Kid, New Century • A Newsies Fanfic

chapter twenty-four.

author's note - spring awakening is referenced multiple times in this chapter. the lullaby that gracie sings is from spring awakening, and i'll link the actual song up above.

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chapter twenty-four.
october 18th, 1900.

The rest of that day was a day just like any other in the past week. Or couple of weeks. It flew by in a blur, and Gracie barely noticed the darkening sky. She spent the entire day in the alley, keeping an eye on her little sister. Just the usual. And Gracie was still awaiting for a miracle to happen, as the hours of the day flashed by.

When the sunset of that evening fell upon New York City, Gracie found herself asking the exact same question she'd been asking for days and days by now.

"You feelin' any better?"

And Gracie got the exact same response she'd gotten for days and days.

She felt as though this would happen, expected it, even. It was no surprise to her anymore. But she still prayed for a different response.

"Okay, that's fine," Gracie said, trying not to show how crushed she was by the same generic response. "Just, uh.. let me know when you are. Okay?"

Liv nodded. "Okay," she said emotionlessly, her mind probably already moving on to the next thing.

"Do you wanna sleep?" Gracie asked, placing her hand on top of Liv's. She knew how contagious scarlet fever was, but at this point she didn't care whether or not she caught it. She had to die sometime, after all.

Liv looked over at her and gave her a nod. Gracie could tell that all Liv wanted was sleep, so, even though she was terrified that Liv could die in her sleep, she let Liv sleep. She figured that she should try to sleep too. She knew Liv was concerned about her.

She lay down on her pile of blankets, her sorry excuse for a bed - and just stared out at the few stars she could see. She'd always dreamed of the day when she'd be able to see every single star. Ever since she was little, she'd been obsessed with them. She'd wanted to know everything about them. She'd memorized the names of every constellation, could tell stars apart from planets, and knew all of the different stages of a star. Now all she had to do was run away to a place where she could actually see them. She definitely didn't have the money and she sure as hell couldn't do it with Liv sick. She was probably gonna die before her dream of seeing stars came true. Oh well.

As she was trying to name the three or four stars that were visible from an alleyway in Manhattan, she lost track of time and didn't remember that she was trying to sleep.

"Hey, Gray?" Liv said. She flinched a little, forgetting that she was in a congested alleyway with a sick sister.

"Yeah?" Gracie asked, wondering what Liv was going to say. Her heart pounded, even though there was no reason to be scared. She hoped.

"You don't have to pretend that I'se gonna be okay..." Liv said. Gracie tensed up as she heard those words, biting down on her lip that she didn't even realize was trembling.

"What do you mean?" she half-whispered, half-spoke.

"You know what I-" a coughing fit interrupted her, causing Gracie to spring to her feet and run over to Liv, wrapping her arms around her. She felt the goosebumps and the sweat on Liv's skin, and could feel her trembling against Gracie. Holding her there, Gracie felt so vulnerable, as though her heart were going to snap in half at any moment. Once Liv finally stopped coughing, she continued, her voice raspier this time. "You know what I mean, Gracie. Ya have to listen to me. When I die-"