Alice the Newsie

(24) Hello Darkness [1/2]

After closing the door tightly behind me, I try to see in this dark space. I could see from up ahead a faint light. I start to walk toward the light but almost fall. Fun surprise, there was stairs. Stupid darkness. After regaining my balance I quietly go down the stairs, not making any noise. My teeth were chattering with each step. As I got closer to the light I could hear voices talking. "Ruby do not blow the candle out! it took Grace almost a hour  to light it." Staying still on the stairs. I could see faint outlines of people around a small candle, there looked to be about five people. "Well sorry Ivy, but da light hurts me poor eyes!"

"Ruby this is the only thing keeping us warm. I don't care about your dumb eyes."

The two girls start to get louder with their argument, a little girl starts to whine loudly. "STOP IT! BOTH OF YOU, you're making Rose upset." Another girl says, sounding angry. Hold up a minute, how could it be... "Willie?" I whisper into the darkness. Everyone goes silent for a moment, I could feel the fear in the room, someone speaks up. "Who's there?" Nervously I come more into the candle light. The outlines of the girls become a little more clear as I start to see some faces. As I stand there one of them jumps up and almost knocks me over with a hug. "Alice is back! ALICE IS BACK!" Rose cheers, one of the girls stand up, Willie's face becomes clear as she get's closer. "Alice... But I-" 

"Who is that?"

In the faint light I see the girl who spoke, from what I can tell: she has long red hair into a braid, and a pointy nose. Willie gets Rose off of me, then hugs me. She speaks to the group. "Everyone this is my school friend, Alice." I see the girls stare at me with interest in their eyes. Looking at the group reminded me of the newsies. I wonder if everyone is okay. Could something have- "Alice let me show you everyone, this is Grace." Grace looked to be about 16; she was taller than Willie, her skin was a beautiful dark brown, a wide nose, and she was wearing shirt and pants. I give a little wave to her and she waves back. "Don't forgot to tell Alice that she's mute Willie." The red hair girl speaks, Willie sighs and mumbles, "I was going to get to that Ruby." Willie points at Ruby. "This is Ruby, and before she opens her mouth she's blind." Ruby looks at me with her cloudy eyes, "nice to meet ya Alice. Where ever you's are in this room." I could tell that Ruby has most likely been living in New York for a while. Willie points to the last girl. "This is our stubborn Ivy." Ivy's black hair was very messy. But honestly, who's hair in this room isn't messy? her skin is very pale, almost a pure white, and she's wearing what looks like a Brearley uniform. Looking more at her I kind of remember seeing her at Brearley. But not much. Willie sits down and pats the floor right by her, I sit next to her. The floor is like ice. I start to get a little warmer as snow slowly melts off my clothes. "So Alice, where have you been?" 

"Well I-I have been surviving as a n-newsie." 

"Woah, like those people who yell headlines and stuff like that?" Rose asks, I nod my head. "They also lie to people too." Ivy says, I ignore her and put all my attention back on Willie. "W-Willie, what happened to y-you d-during the fire?" Willie cracks her hands. "Well, as soon as I heard the word fire I went to Rose's classroom." She pets Rose's hair like she was a dog, "and we got out as fast as we could. We didn't bother waiting around with everyone else, mostly because I needed to think of a Plan B for us. So we wandered the streets, and we found Ivy. She told us she could help us with a place to stay, and of course I took it. How else were we going to survive? So she showed us this place, met Ruby & Grace, and we have been staying here ever since." After a few moments of thinking about the story I say. "well I t-thought for s-so long you were dead."

"Oh, well I guess I can't really apologize for worrying you." I nod my head, at this point I didn't even care that she worried me. I was just glad to have her back. "I-I do have a question for you." Willie gives me a look to say, go on. "Did you help me out of th-" I couldn't even finish what I was saying because the candle was out.

"RUBY WHAT DID I TELL YOU!"

"I TOLD YOU IVY IT HURT ME EYES!"

I heard both the girls stand up, Ivy continues to yell. "YOU'RE BLIND RUBY, YOU CAN'T SEE-"

"I CAN STILL SEE LIGHT IV-"

A loud clap stops the girls, someone else stands up. I heard the girls mumble, "sorry Grace." Willie, Rose, and I stand up. Willie sighs. "Well, what are we going to do now?"