Beds

[Administrator]

In a small damp room with no windows there sits two narrow cots and a couple of dirty old blankets. You better call dibs...

[clyde]

Clyde sneered as he slammed the door behind him. He hadn't done too bad so far, four kids was a start. He turned before leaving, giving the door a few harsh bangs with his fist. "Now you keep it down in theah! And sleep up, you gonna need it tomorrah!" The factory would finally start running tomorrow, and with free labor and getting supplies in less than ethical ways, well, the profit turned was going to be huge. He just hoped his boss would give him a fair shake, after all, he was the one dealing with the sniveling brats.

He was a newsie back in his day, he knew how they functioned. It was no coincidence that "someone" called a leaders meeting during which some kids got nabbed, it was way easier to sneak around lodging houses without the shepherds guarding their flock.

[pupdawkinseitz]

Pup listened to the echo of the door slam, and the voice that yelled, "Now you keep it down in theah! And sleep up, you gonna need it tomorrah!"

Then the reality of it all really took in, they were trapped, and he just knew there wouldn't be any escaping. He started to tremble, but no tears welled up in his big blue eyes yet. He was terrified, but he was used to many scares. He knew he shouldn't have talked to anyone. He should have just stuck to himself. He should have known that he would just end up trapped again.

It was dim in the small room, and it had that moist drafty smell. There were no windows to give any moonlight. Pup was aware there were three other people, but he was too scared to say anything. All he could do was peer into their faces and know he wasn't the only one going through this to give him the tiniest bit of hope.

He wondered if the other boys and girls, if there were any little like him wished for their mamas at a moment like this. He wished he had something to grip on to like that, somebody to cry out to, but he had nobody, not his father, not his mother, no, she hated him. But What did the man mean by get to sleep, they would need it tomorrow? Whatever he meant, Pup had a feeling it wasn't anything good.

[shiner]

Shiner sat on the bed she had chosen, wrapping her shawl around herself tighter. No so much chosen as braced herself against when that awful man pushed her into the room. She was close to tears as well, but seeing the little boy, thought better of it.

Things had been going so well too. She'd made up with her uncle sometime ago and they were even getting along rather well. And she'd made up with Avalanche...

At least she knew of two people who would know she was missing. Poor Avalanche. She hoped he hadn't thought she had just abandoned him. She sighed a little. Of course not. She had suggested they go out for a soda. Hopefully, though she had been upset, he wouldn't think she would be that cruel to just leave. No, he would be worried. And he would look for her. Unfortunately, Shiner wasn't too sure either Avalanche or her uncle would find her.

Shiner looked to the little boy near her, "I'm Shiner. What about you, kid?" She gave him a bit of a smile.

[pupdawkinseitz]

"I'm Shiner. What about you, kid?"

Pup broke from his worried thoughts and snapped his eyes up to the girl who was talking to him. Her voice was kind, and he saw a small smile on her face. He tugged on his little black cap, figuring he might as well get accustomed to the place he was in and the people he was with. They were in for the night and there was no way they were getting out soon. He had a feeling nobody knew about their abductions quite yet, and even if they did, they weren't going to be found easily.

He opened his mouth to speak, hoping his voice would hold up. "My name i-is Pup," He squeaked slightly and coughed at the dust floating in the air and grimaced. This place was already seeming more awful by the moment. He sighed realizing he hadn't eaten yet before he was taken. All he wanted was his bed back at the lodging House.

[shiner]

"Pup," Shiner nodded and smiled to him, seeing how nervous he was. He couldn't be anymore than eight. She resisted the urge to hug him and tell him everything would be fine. Knowing newsies he probably wouldn't want her to. And knowing that she was abducted in clear daylight, they might not be so 'okay'. "Cute name. Do you have any people who might be looking for you?"

[manhattan]

Manhattan shook her head and sat up against the bunk. Biting back a groan as the room spun she rested her head on the frame stilling the spinning and looked around. Now would the time to break her no "real" swearing oath. She checked her pockets and pulled out her broken pencil, really things just kept getting worse.

"Couldn't possibly have thrown me so it wouldnt have broken could ya?" She yelled at no one. "Bloody shoot!"

[pupdawkinseitz]

"Pup, Cute name. Do you have any people who might be looking for you?"

Pup shrugged a little listlessly and shook his head. He guessed his parents would have sent him here, what with him being on the runaway for four months, his Mother hated him more than anything. But it couldn't be them. He didn't know these other kids at all, so why would they be taken if it were his parents? No, it couldn't be, it was somebody else who was after something bigger. He was the littlest newsie in Manhattan, and quiet at that, well maybe tied with Milo, but still, he certainly wasn't noticed by many. Not many would notice that he was gone.

"Couldn't possibly have thrown me so it wouldnt have broken could ya? Bloody shoot!"


Pup turned to look at Manhattan, she was sitting on the bed, and looked a little dizzy but angrier than ever. He had seen her before, and talked to her even briefly, but he didn't really know her that well. He shook his head a little timidly, he was worried if she kept yelling the mean man would come back and get angry at them. He guessed he would be angry thought too if his head had been hurt, but really, he was too scared to be angry yet. He hoped Manhattan's head wasn't hurt too bad, and after his little stern look at her, he gave her a sorry one. He looked up into Shiner's face and swallowed back some tears, wanting to give her a hug. But that would be cowardly, he could be brave, he had to be. He sighed and sat down on the bunk next to Shiner and sighed, hugging himself, trying to stop his trembling.

[Jem]

Jem was already in the room and had been asleep. When everyone else was talking and rather loudly he woke up. Jem was a rather calm and simple kid. Took a lot to make him upset, he was just a strong boy for his age... and overly curious, but all besides the point. "Oh... Hello there," he said sitting up in a bunk. "I'm sorry... I didn't know other people were here," he rubbed his eyes and yawned. "...when did everyone show up?" They were all kids he didn't know... he wondered who they were, and where they were from... and why they were there. Though he wondered about that himself too. He didn't know what was going on, but didn't really like it, but had decided already there wasn't much he could do about it. He missed his friends from back home, Prince and Dez, and all the other Queens newsies.

[shiner]

"Just now, really." Shiner gave a small sigh, wishing she was as strong as Manhattan or half as tough. Manhattan would be the one to help them escape. Or get herself in serious trouble...

"I suppose more will be arriving... I'm Shiner, that's Manhattan and this is Pup. What's your name?" Shiner asked, but couldn't smile again. She glanced to Pup then moved to sit on his bed, near him, but making it look like she had only moved to hear Jem better.

[Jem]

"My name is Jem... I'm from Queens," he said dangling his legs over the side and looking at all the different people in the room. They were different, he didn't know them. He wondered if he knew anyone they knew. Jem didn't know many people. He sighed a little bit and went quiet to let them continue their conversation. And now, being awake he was happy to listen and help if he could.

[manhattan]

Manhattan looked over when she heard the other voices and grinned crookedly at the kids.

"Sorry bout da language" She looked over them she knew she was the oldest out of them, bloody shoot again, meant she had to watch out for the lot of them until someone better suited came around. Never a good idea to leave her and kids alone together.

"Knew i shouldnt have taken that darkened alley way last night." She muttered evenly knowing full well she had walked down no alley way dark or not. She paused, and winked at the quiet Queens boy in the corner, hoping to give them some comfort and semblance of normality.

[pupdawkinseitz]

Pup watched the other younger boy, Jem, as he said his name was, and Pup looked at him with a look of slight frustration, no, he wasn't angry with him, maybe bewilderment is a better word. How could he be so calm when he was in some awful place with nobody there he knew to comfort him? How could he just sit back like that? Pup realized though there wasn't much else they could do.

Manhattan attempted humor, and in any other circumstances, maybe Pup would have laughed, but he just stared at her blankly, before Shiner came to sit with him, and he looked up at her, deciding he needed that hug after all and wrapped his little arms around her, wishing he could just hide from everything. So much for being brave...

[shiner]

Shiner hugged Pup back, now remembering why his name sounded familiar. Dutchy had told her about running into him. That whole thing with Synder and then meeting Don't Ask...

Shiner rubbed the kid's back like her father used to do for her when she was sick or scared and he would hold her to comfort her. She looked to Manhattan, "You know they'll come looking for us, Manhattan. I'm supposed to be home tonight. Uncle Walter knows I wouldn't take off again... And I suppose Avalanche is looking as we speak... We were separated for just a few moments when that scum grabbed me."

[Milo]

Milo sat on a bed near the corner watching everyone wordlessly. He recognized a few of the people there. Pup, Shiner, Manhattan... but there were many he'd've sworn he'd never seen before in his life. He listened as everybody talked about how they had gotten here. How they had been take, like he had been off the street. There were all kinds of people there, girls, boys, young and old (well, in comparison to him, at least). Some of them looked really scared, others mad, others blank. Personally, he didn't even know how he felt. kind of all of those things but also he partly didn't really care. He didn't think it was right that they could just take all of these people like that an dhe'd heard plenty of stories about people getting sick or getting in accidents and dying working in factories,heck, it had happened to his father and his mother, but that could happen when you were a newsie too. The only really bad differences between this and being free were not being able to see his friends and not being able to go outside.

Gradually, however, as he thought about all of the reasons why he didn't really care about having to be here, he felt a knot growing in his stomach and he felt a tear run down his cheek. All of a sudden, he didn't like it here. He hadn't thought about how dark it was and how he didn't even have any of his things with him except his hat. He took off his hat and clenched it tightly in his lap. It was only then that he noticed he couldn't hear what the others were saying anymore. He couldn't really see what he was looking at either. He didn't care what it was or what they were saying. None of it was fair. They didn't need to say so. everybody knew it except the grownups who did it .

He wished Gwennie or Rhoda were there. They would do something or maybe Jack, he would probably do something too. He wondered if they'd even noticed he was gone. They would eventually. They had to. Maybe if they told the police they'd do something. Somebody had to care somewhere. somebody would find them. He was sure. But for some reason, the tears wouldn't stop coming. The rest of him knew that there was nothing to be done but his eyes just couldn't get the message. Maybe it was just because of all the junk in the air. He placed his hat back on his head and began kicking his legs back and forth. He was still crying but oddly, he really didn't care again.

((Sorry the post's so weird. I'm trying to make him sound sort of intermittantly dissociative as a result of the mental trauma of being kidnapped. It seems like a plausible reaction to me but It sounds kind of freaky written out))