Pieces

Escape

Morris was still in the refuge when he woke up, and nobody had come to get him. He still believed he wasn't supposed to be here. He hadn't done anything wrong. But neither had Crutchie, and he was here as well.

He hadn't paid much attention to the room he was in. He knew there were other kids, but he hadn't seen their faces. He was laying on the bottom bunk, and it wasn't very comfortable, but he didn't care. He heard the window opening and then whispering, and although he wanted to see what was happening, he didn't get up to check.

When the whispering stopped, he did investigate. He got out of bed and climbed up the side of the bunk. His eyes widened when he saw it was Crutchie. He knew he was here, but not in the same room. He lightly tapped his head.

Crutchie looked up. "Oh... Hey, Morris. Um... What're you doing here?" Crutchie had never spoken to Morris. The only experiences he had with him were bad ones, and he didn't expect this to be any different. Crutchie assumed Morris was here as a worker, not a prisoner.

Morris just shrugged. He didn't know why he was here. He did wish he could explain himself better, but he couldn't say anything. He was scared of what would happen if he did. He wished he could at least tell Crutchie he wasn't here to hurt him.

Crutchie didn't say anything else. He didn't know what to say. Morris climbed down and grabbed Crutchie's crutch, which was leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the room. He brought it over to Crutchie. Crutchie took the crutch. Morris realized that bringing it over didn't help much, since Crutchie probably couldn't get down. He climbed up the side of the bunk and held his hand out. Crutchie hesitantly took Morris's hand and climbed down, then pulled the crutch down. "Thanks for helping."

Morris backed up a bit. He didn't want to be close to Crutchie. Crutchie leaned against the bunk. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes. Eventually, Morris broke the silence. "You can hit me if you want."

"Huh?" Crutchie didn't think he heard that right. There was no way he did.

"With the crutch. Because I hit you and take it. So you can hit me. As a punishment."

"Oh... No, that's alright." Crutchie smiled a bit, then tightened his grip on the crutch. "So... Why are you here?"

Morris shrugged. "A mistake, I think. I didn't do anything wrong. But neither did you, and you're here..." He paused to think for a moment. "I think Ossie's gonna come get me out. I can ask him to take you too, but I don't know if he can."

"Oh, that's alright. You don't have to bust me out. I... Can I tell you a secret?" 

Morris smiled and nodded. He usually wasn't trusted with secrets, especially the newsies' secrets. He hoped he'd get a turn at sharing a secret next, maybe he could explain the truth to him.

"Okay." Crutchie took a deep breath. He was nervous, but he felt like he could trust Morris for some reason. He didn't think Morris would stop him, but he wasn't positive he wouldn't tell anyone. "I'm planning to escape." He leaned in a bit. "Tie a sheet to the bed, toss the end out the window. All I gotta do is climb down without someone seeing, then run. But...not now."

"How are you gonna climb and run with the crutch? Doesn't your leg not work?"

"I... I'll figure it out." Crutchie looked down at the crutch. Crutchie knew Morris was different, and he always wondered what exactly made him the way he was. He'd always wanted to talk to him. He was now thinking Morris might be better than he thought, but he couldn't be sure.

Morris went back onto his bed and pulled the blanket over his head. He was starting to wonder if he was meant to be here. If not, they would've gotten him out by now. He must've fallen asleep at some point, because he was awoken by crying. He'd heard that before, it was a constant noise in the refuge. But this time, it sounded like it was much closer than it had been previously. He climbed off the bed and realized it was Crutchie. "Hey, what happened?"

Crutchie shook his head. "It's nothing. Just... Snyder."

Morris was furious. Crutchie didn't deserve this. He was already badly beaten from the rally, why did Snyder have to make it worse? He grabbed Crutchie's crutch, which was laying on the floor, then threw it across the room before running out. He didn't know where he was going, but he wasn't going to stay here.