Stories For the Papes -Newsies Imagines and Drabbles (CLOSED!!!)

Nightmares of the Past

This one was requested by LoverOfLegolas. As per usual, this is a 1992 and Broadway imagine but, there will definitely be characters from both in it this time. :)

Charlotte awakes with a start. She looks around and rubs at her eyes. What a terrible nightmare! The strike that was clearly in the past seemed so real in her mind just a few short minutes ago. All of that had happened months ago. Charlotte or Charlie as the Newsies called her, hated being on strike. Now, that was all over. Long gone and over with. Charlie had thought that Racetrack, her best friend, was going to die. When all of the boys got shipped off to the Refuge, Charlie gives a shiver just thinking about it. It all seems so real and yet here she is. Alive and well and all of the boys are too. Charlotte can see the morning beginning to rise bright and early over the tall buildings of New York City. She stretches her arms over her head and hops down to the ground, her tan skin and long light brown hair shimmering in the morning light. She is the only female Newsie, so she has her own room for privacy. Charlotte remembers the day when she moved in and she found that she had a room mostly to herself. Charlie enjoys those memories. They are some of the happiest ones she has. For as confident and cocky as she may seem to the other boys, Charlotte can be a very shy person. At one point, there was a time when there was another girl that lived in this bunkroom. She had been much older and became very close to Charlotte. Almost as close as Racetrack was to her, but not quite that close.

Charlotte never truly understood what had happened to this young woman because she was very young when it occurred. The young woman was of French descent, her mother having been from France and her father having been from New York City. Her name was Genevieve and she was sweet, maybe not the prettiest girl anyone ever saw, but she was pretty. Charlotte adored her even though she was often disregarded by society. Genevive or Genie as Charlotte used to call her, would calm Charlotte's nightmares whenever she had them, which was quite often at the time. Until Genevive disappeared and then the Delanceys, out of the goodness of their hearts(they were honestly just trying to help at this point, Charlotte, Race, and the other Newsies were terrified for Genie), told them that they had found her dead. Little did the Newsies know that their older female Newsie had been sneaking out to hang out with a dangerous gangster. Someone got jealous because Genie was beginning to take up more and more of the gangster's time. The Delanceys were friends with these gangsters and they told the Newsies everything. Charlotte was absolutely crushed. A couple of years later, Racetrack told her the whole story. Genie was shot because she was getting in the way of a pretty big operation and one of the gangsters had had enough, so he killed her. During her disappearance, Genie had written a letter and given it to Racetrack to give to Charlotte. Charlotte reaches under her pillow and feels the letter still there. She grabs it out and begins to read it. The familiar handwriting is forever burned into her brain. The words are loving and motherly just like Genie used to be like.

Just like the young woman that Charlotte is becoming. After reading over the letter a couple of times, Charlotte feels sleep beginning to overtake her. She falls asleep and the next time she wakes up, Kloppman is shouting for the Newsies to get out of bed. Charlie dresses for the day and is just about to open her door to leave when a familiar knock pattern rings out on the door. There's only one person it could be...

Racetrack Higgins leans against the door frame with his arms crossed.

"You ready?" he asks, "You look like you ain't slept in weeks. What's going on?" Charlie shyly brushes past him and continues about her morning. She walks out of the room and smiles to the other boys as she walks out confidently onto the street. Race chases after her quickly. 

"Race, please don't ask any questions. I don't really want to talk about it," Charlie says in a motherly tone. She can already see the question forming on Race's face.