Newsies everlasting

Chapter5

Jesse waited until he was out of sight of the other newsies before dropping the limp and sprinting towards the theatre. It felt weird to run freely without dragging his leg behind him, to the point where he had almost forgotten how to use it. He stumbled a little at first, however gained his balance in a matter of seconds. Just as he made it to the bottom of the fire escape leading up to the theatre, he winced at the sound of two sickening voices behind him, and instantly returned to his typical limping position.

"Well, well, Well. What do we have here? If it aint the dump crip, where's ya lousy pal, kid? Who's gonna look after you now?" Oscar's voice echoed down the alley way menacingly, as his brother laughed, glaring at Jesse.
"Crutchie, ain't it? What are ya doing this late? Ya ain't sneaking round, are ya, or we'll have good reason to put you back where ya belong!"

Jesse tried fighting the urge to run at the two boys and soak them, as he knew he had to keep his cover. If either of them knew his limp was fake, his entire identity as "crutchie" would be blown. Yet he couldn't give in to them. He couldn't even run very far, as they'd catch up to him in seconds-

His thoughts were cut off as Morris smacked his fist into Jesse's cheek, sending him flying back. As the pair descended upon him, without thinking, Jesse jumped up suddenly and launched himself at them, forgetting to maintain his limp. Within ten seconds, he had them both pinned to the wall, gasping for air, one hand clenched around each of their necks. He was sick of having to let others fight for him, the muscles in his arms shaking violently.

"You're...a....liar..." Oscar managed to sputter, glaring at Jesse with rage and confusion.

"Wait...till...we....tell....ya...pals.." despite the immense pain Morris was in, a sickening grin spread across his bruised face. With that, Jesse held the pair in the air by their necks with extreme strength, and threw them to the far corner or the alley, his breath burning with rage.

"Ya won't tell no one," he muttered as he retrieved his crutch from the dirt encrusted floor, "if ya breath a word of this to anyone, I'll kill ya. That's a promise!"

"Off to see that pretty little bitch we saw ya with this mornin, are ya?" Oscar mocked, "I bet she's excited to see ya, probably just as much of a lying piece of shit as you are!"

That was it.

Jesse hadn't even realised what he had done until it was to late. Beating Oscar with his crutch mercilessly, his face burned with raged, as Morris watch paralysed in horror. It was only when Oscar's body fell limp that Jesse's mind caught up with his actions- he had just killed Oscar Delancey...

He looked over at Morris who was cowering in fear- Jess hated knowing that for once, he was the one that was feared. He was the monster. Without another word, he began making his way up the fire escape, refusing to looks back, his face frozen in a state of disgust. He was Jesse. He was Crutchie. And now he was a killer. When he reached the roof of the theatre, he dissolved into a flood of tears, ashamed of himself of stooping so low. He was no better than the Delancey brothers. He was worse. The Delanceys never killed anyone. He did. And it was something he would have to live with for the rest of eternity...

•••

Winnie could have sworn she had heard crying coming from outside. Maybe she was going mad after all the excitement from that day. After ten minutes, she dragged herself from the comfort of her bed, and opened the window to check. The sobbing grew louder as she stuck her head outside and stepped over the ledge onto the fire escape- it was clearly coming from the roof top. Suddenly, the crying turned into screaming, followed by banging. She ran up to the roof, unsure as to what she was about to witness, and was surprised to find Jesse screaming in frustration, beating himself with his crutch. He hadn't yet noticed her, but he looked like hell. His face burned read, drowning in tears of anger, as he hit himself repeatedly.

"STOP IT!" Winnie screamed, racing towards Jesse and ripping he crutch away from him. By this point, she too was it tears. Jesse collapsed to the ground, crying uncontrollably, as Winnie wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. He cried into her shoulder for around twenty minutes, as Winnie desperately tried to calm him down, rubbing his back and stroking his hair. After a while, Jesse managed to control his tears to the extent where he could finally talk again, and tried to steady his breathing.

"What happened?" Winnie asked soothingly, refusing to break their embrace. Jesse looked up at her with bloodshot eyes, still furious at himself, but calm enough to speak.
"I...I...." He dissolved into tears again as he tried to admit what he had done, failing to register it even to him self.
"I killed Oscar Delancey....." he put his head in his hands in shame, disgusted with him self.
"Don't come near me, Winnie", he sobbed, "I'm a monster, I'm not safe!"
"Jesse, you are not a monster!" Winnie's cried, waterfalls of tears rolling down her cheeks "you are a good person. You are someone that stands up for others. You are someone who is willing to face up to someone who takes joy in hurting your friends!"

"But now I'm the one that's hurting people, Winnie, I'm broken!" He screamed, taking her by surprise.
"I'M BROKEN! I'm a liar, I'm a criminal, I'm a failure to my family! I'm stuck in this world forever, watching people around me die! I can't even feel pain, which at this point sounds like a luxury! I can only see my family every 10 years! No body knows who I am! I can't tell anyone my secret, my life, my story! No one other than you or my family even knows my real name! I live my life under a fake name, a fake voice, a fake limp! My entire life is fake! I am fake! I can't stay in the same place for longer than about 5 years! Every five years I am forced to say goodbye to people I have grown to love, without any explanation! I leave them, and I hurt them! Usually I just don't talk to people for 5 years at a time because it's dangerous to love them! And look what happens when I do! I have to fake a limp! I'm always under the eye of the other boys, because I need to be 'protected'! I can't even run from them, they'd be heartbroken! And, if I didn't already say so, I KILLED someone! I'm a disgrace! I'm broken!"

Jesse began punching the ground ruthlessly with his fists, crying hysterically, trying to punish himself, before Winnie, without another choice, grabbed his face and kissed him. Jesse was taken back in surprise as his mind tried to adapt to the situation. She sure did get his attention, as he froze suddenly, looking into her eyes with shock.

"Better?" She asked.
"Better" he admitted, not breaking eye contact.