I'm Fine

You're Safe Now

August 1899

It was a warm and late Summer night. The window was open just a crack to let in a nice cool breeze every now and then, the only sound that filled the air were snores of the sleeping teenage boys in the bunk room. Every now and then there'd be a creek from those who shifted in their sleep. It was a quiet night for the Newsies of New York. Not a sound could be heard from the streets below, something rare for a city that never sleeps.

It was a peaceful and quiet night...until a loud scream was shot through the air. Jolting the sleeping teenage boys awake, and may or may not have made Finch, and Buttons, and Specs fall out of their top bunks. "This better not be one of your stupid pranks Racetrack," Albert groaned. The redheaded newsie rolled to the other side and slammed the pillow over his head to drown out the noise.

"It's not," Race replied groggily.

"I think Feisty's havin' a nightmare!" Mush exclaimed as he jumped down from his bunk and ran over to Feister's room. Once he opened the door Mush saw Feister was in fact having a nightmare. He was afraid this would happen; with the Refuge being a living nightmare, even the toughest girl would end up breaking. So, without giving it a second thought Mush ran over to the bed, where Feister was tossing and turning, and yelling out things that tore his heart up. He then carefully started to shake her awake, but it only seemed to make it worse.

"No, stop it!"

"Feister," Mush said as he shook her awake.

"Let me go!" Feister exclaimed while trying to get away from whoever was holding her. But that didn't stop Mush from shaking her awake. No matter what he did it only seemed to make things worse. "Feister, wake up, yer having a nightmare," Mush said, trying to wake her up. But by the looks of things it was getting worse by the second.

"Don't hurt me, please."

"I'd never hurt ya," he said sweetly. "C'mon Feisty, wake up, it's me Mush." when nothing seemed to work an idea popped into Mush's head. Maybe, just maybe it would work. "Claire," he whispered using her real name. It was weird to be saying it. But Mush has seen the older boys do it when one of the youngers are having a nightmare. So it had to work for Feister. Right? "Listen to me, yer havin' a nightmare. C'mon Claire, wake up."

All of a sudden Feister shot up. She was hyperventilating. Her heart pounding out of her chest. Her face was red, and a little sweaty. There were a few shorter locks of hair that were in front of her face, and her braids were starting to fall out of it's bunches. "Hey, it's ok, just breathe," Mush said quietly while lightly brushing away her hair. His hand then traveled down her face, to her shoulder and then her arm. He then started to lightly trace one of the bruises that were on her forearm. The patch of skin had a dark purple color and felt tender.

Mush didn't even realize what he was doing until Feister put her hand on top of his. He looked into her eyes and was suddenly brought back to the real world."Yer safe now," Mush said in a sweet tone. "The Refuge closed, an' the Spider's in jail remember? Yer the one who handcuffed that sucker." Feister smiled weakly, trying to put on a brave face. But Mush could see right through her.

"Don't do that," he sighed. The face Feister was wearing Mush knew all too well, it was the one she wore when she was convincing herself that nothing was wrong, and that she was fine. When in fact she wasn't.

"Do what?" Feister asked innocently. She was hoping that that just this once Mush wouldn't push the matter any further. But when he sighed she knew it wasn't any use in hoping.

"I've been there before, I know what it's like," Mush replied. "Feisty, you'se can tell me anything."

"I's fine," she replied quietly with a small smile. "Really, I'm perfectly fine." but Feister wasn't if she really believed what she was saying. Then again, she wasn't the best at talking about her more personal feelings. "It's late ya know. Probably should get back to sleep."