Aja Baker stood outside in the pouring rain, waiting for her younger brother. He should have been home an hour ago, she thought. Where is he?
Aja was a poor orphan girl living in Chicago in 1899. She was almost fifteen-she would be in the summer. Her younger brother Camreon was eleven, and her younger sister Wren was thirteen. They all lived in an apartment with a surprisingly nice guy, but when Aja got suspicious, they all ran off, planning on going to New York, where Aja had relatives. Not the kindest relatives, but they were relatives.
A shadow appeared off in the distance. Aja ran towards the shadow, which happened to be Camreon. "Camreon!" she yelled, trying to speak over the rain. "Where've ya been! I've been waitin' for ya!"
"Sorry!" he yelled back.
Aja yelled, "Cmon, we gotta go! Wren's waiting for us!"
Aja lead her brother to a train station, planning on sleeping in a cargo car on a train heading to New York. If that didn't work, they'd have to hitchhike to New York. They had to hurry, though, because it was going to snow soon. Snow wasn't a good thing.
Aja and Camreon ran towards the trainyards and hopped into a car, where Wren was waiting.
"Where've you guys been? I've been waiting for... 45 minutes!" Wren said.
"Blame Camreon," Aja said, catching her breath. "I'm gonna get some sleep. See ya guys in da morning."
* * *
Aja awoke to the train, which was now moving. She looked over to see her siblings still asleep.
Aja then walked over to the door, and with her unusual boyish strength, she pulled the door open to see they were almost in a city. She wasn't exactly sure where they were, but cities were good. Oh yes, very good. They could get cleaned up and get something to eat, and then get on a different train. But they had to watch out for the bulls; the trainyard cops. They didn't want to get sent to jail or an orphanage for hopping trains. That was a bad thing.
The train soon stopped, waking Camreon and Wren up. Camreon scratched his head. "Where are we?" he asked.
"Somewhere between Chicago and New York," she answered from the other side of the car.
"Thanks, that was very helpful Aja."
"Ya welcome."
"How far do ya think we are from New York?" Wren asked.
"I dunno..." Aja replied.
"Ask someone!" Camreon said.
"Who should I ask?" Aja asked him, giving her brother a Think-About-What-You-Just-Said look.
"Well," this time it was Wren, "there are some guys in the car in front of us...go ask them."
Aja shook her head. "Like they'd know...oh well, Ill give it a try, I guess."
Aja jumped out of the stopped train and walked to the car in front of theirs. She pulled open the door and found six sleeping boys, ages of nine and sixteen.
"WAKE UP!" she yelled. The boys jumped, and awoke.
"Why da hell are ya wakin' us up?" a smaller boy asked her.
"Well," she said. "do ya knows where we is?" She was trying to use her accent, which she was born with. It had slowly faded in the last few years, but it was still there.
"New Yawk." It was the same small boy.
"Not New Yawk City, right?"
"Well, no. Not New Yawk City. I bet wes almost dere, though." The small boy seemed to be the only one talking out of the six. The rest were trying to go back to sleep.
"Thanks. Im Aja."
"Snipeshooter, but call me Snipes."
"Alright den, Snipes...you goin' tah New Yawk too?"
"Yeah, wid me friends...deys sleepin, so I can't indroduce ya."
"Where are ya from?" Aja asked.
"New Yawk. I left tah find dese guys and take 'em back home. Jack Kelly sent me," he answered.
"Jack Kelly?"
"Oh yeah. He's kinda like the leadah of da Manhattan Newsies or somethin'. Always tellin' us what tah do. But he's nice, an' he's always savin' us from guys who wanna soak us, so that's good."
"Yeah it is. Maybe I'll be a newsie in New York," Aja said.
"Probly not; da goils place is shuttin down."
Aja said, seeing that Snipeshooter wanted to sleep, "I'll, uh, see ya in New Yawk."
"See ya dere."
* * *
"Hurry up!" Aja yelled back to Wren and Camreon, who were just jumping off of the train car. Aja caught a glimpse of Snipeshooter and his friends also running from the trainyards. The train had stopped just five minutes ago, and Aja, Camreon, and Wren found this a good time to run before the bulls found out they'd been riding in the storage cars.
"I'm comin'!" Camreon yelled back. He tripped on a rock, but caught himself and kept running. He was trying to find a comfortable place to hold his small bag of clothing and belongings, but found he just had to fling it over his shoulder.
Wren and Aja didn't seem to be having any trouble. They ran from the trainyards quickly, and followed Snipeshooter and the rest of his bunch to a neighborhood that didn't look too scary. Aja saw them run into a building with a sign. NEWSBOYS LODGING HOUSE.
So that's where they stay, Camreon thought. He'd always wanted to be a
newsie, even though it was hard work, and usually you worked all day. But he liked being out on the streets by himself during the day, and then going home and sleeping. Maybe staying out at night just to watch the stars. When he thought about it, he hoped it wasn't girly or anything. That would be a bad thing.
"So, uh, can I go in?" Camreon asked his sisters after a small period of silence.
"What? Go in?" Wren asked.
"Yeah, to be a newsie. I'll get some money and by tomorrow, maybe today, we could get some food without putting ourselves in the danger of being chased around the city by cops," he answered. "Now can I go in?"
Aja thought for a moment. "All right," she said. "Wren and I'll go find a place to stay...well meet you back here at sundown."
"Got it!" Camreon exclaimed happily. He ran in the door, and Wren and
Aja walked off.
"Maybe we could be chimneysweeps," Wren said.
"Okay, I always liked dirty places," Aja answered.
"Dirty places? You mean chimneys, right?"
"A'course."
Chapter Two
*Six Weeks Later*
Sweeper knocked on the door of the Newsboys Lodging House. It opened slowly. "Hello, would you like your chimney cleaned? Only five cents-" She said to the boy at the door. Then she noticed. "Oh my god, Camreon!"
"Wren? Is dat you?" Reon said. He hadn't seen his sister in weeks.
"Yeah!"
"Where's Aja?"
"Soot? She's...uh...places, I guess. I don't really know."
"Oh...ya wanna come in or somethin'?" Camreon/Reon asked. It was beginning to snow and he saw his sister had no shoes on. Her skirt was torn on the bottom, and where it had gotten wet, it was beginning to freeze. Her shirt, which would have beet white, was a blackish/gray color.
"Alroight."
Wren/Sweeper walked in the door and set her sweeping stuff on the ground to the side. To her right was a desk, and an office. To her left, a couple of chairs and a stair case. There was a storage room in front of her.
"Not too shabby, for a guys' place, dat is." she said. Her brother led her upstairs, and into a room with many bunkbeds. She saw a washroom and a restroom. Yay newsies.
I have it on good authority that Pixie is not only a lazy fanfic writer but a pain as a sister. Kathryn, I will take your word for it. ~Penny
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