Author's Note: All the Newsies that are in the movie belong to Disney. Aaron, Dava, and Tomarrow, belong to themsleves. Mr. Smith and Breeze, me, blongs to, who else, ME.

The Hunter was Hunted

By: Breeze Kelly

My dad had lived in Colorado for fourty years. He was born there, raised there, and, well, died there. I could not even stand in the log cabin house that my dad built just twenty years before. I could mot hold the riffle that he had given me for my tenth birthday. And I knew that I would never be able to finish raising Dava, my litle sister, in a place that I had so many fond memories of my parents. Just breathing the clean Colorado air made me remeber the hunting/camping trips, my dad would take me on every fall. I could smell the cookies that my twelve year old sister would bake with Mom every weekend. I was just way too depressed to live in Colorado anymore.

I looked at the spot on the mantill were the gold-rimmed clock that my patents had got on their wedding day should have been. See, a few days back, I was sent to the general store with my little sister. When we got back, the door to the cabin had been busted down, so I told Dava to go back to the store and get the owner, Mr. Smith, known better as Old Man Smith to all the local kids. Mr. Smith, Dava, and a few police men arived at my house about an hour later. The police surched the house and came back with depressed looks on their faces.

"Whats the matter," I demanded. "What happened?!"

One of the policemen took Mr. Smith aside while another one talked to my sister and I.

"Where there any valuables that your parents kept in the house," the man questioned.

"Most of it was kept in storage, but they showed off this gold-rimmed clock that is on the mantill," I told him. The policeman told a fellow worker to go see if it was missing and then asked us if that was all. Dava and I looked at each other and nodded. Mr. Smith and the other policman came back just after we had been informed that the precouse clock had been stolen. Mr. Smith's head was hung low. The policman that had been talking to the store owner wispered something to the man who had been talking to us. That man told an other to go and get the doctor.

"Why do we need a doctor," I asked getting annoyed. Mr. Smith put a hand on my shoulder, but said nothing.

A few hours latter the doctors and police were gone and Dava had fallen asleep on the pourch. Mr. Smith was almost in tears, and I was still confussed about what had happened, but deep down inside I knew what had happened, but wouldn't eccept it.

"Aaron," Mr. Smith started. "Look, I'm really sorry, but um... your parents have um... been killed."

"No," I said calmly, but I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, I wanted my mother and father.

"You can stay with me for a little while, but I think that you'll need to move away from Colorado," Mr. Smith sugested. I thanked him and that's just what we did.

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A week had slowly passed for me and my sister. Soon we were packing a few of our things so that we could move to Manhatton, NY. Mr. Smith was going to sell the cabin for us. All of the sudden Mr.Smith came into the small cabin and said "Are you almost ready? The train's about to leave." I looked around and saw my riffle leaning on the fireplace. I nodded and started to leave the riffle behind, but at the last moment I ran back to get it.

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The train ride took abother two and a half long weeks to pull into the busy New York station. I planned to become a newsboy. I was not going to have Dava working so the day that I started working, I told her to go to school.

I got in line to buy my papers on "Newspaper" Row and looked up at the golden dome on the top of the World building. I stood there quitly as I observed all the other kids in line.Some were beating each other up while others were just talking about how good the headlines were today: LION ON THE LOSE, AT LEAST 10 KILLED!

I even saw a short tuff looking boy with frekles and a slingshot pin a girl up to the wall and kiss her. After they kissed, the girl punched the boy in the stumache.

'Boy, am I glad that I told Dava to go to school and not to follow me,' I thought to myself a moment to soon. I heard a group of newsiboys laughing right behind me. I decided to find out just what was so funny so I turned around and saw Dava telling one of her side-splitting jokes.

"What are you doing here, Dava?!" I shreiked.

"Getting to know these guys," she answered calmly. "Aaron, meet Kid Blink, Racetrack, Dutchy, Specs, Mush, and Cruchy." Dava pointed to a boy with an eye patch( Kid Blink), a short Italian boy holding a score sheet( Racetrack), a blond haired boy with specticals( Dutchy), a brown haired boy with specticals( Specs), a cross eyed boy( Mush), and a boy leaning on a cruch (Cruchy).

"Guys, meet my brother, Aaron. Oh, Aaron, I haven't met him yet, but that's Spot Conlon," Dava said pointing to the boy who had unaporpreatly kissed the girl.

"Dava, I don't want you to hang out around here," I said but soon regreted.

"Why not?" Racetrack glared at me.

"Um... its just that she is a young lady and-"

"We respect goils," Racetrack cut in.

"Is that so? Then why was 'Spot' kissing a girl that didn't want to be kissed?" I folded my arms acrossed my chest as I said this. "Did he kiss a brunet goil wit green eyes and a key around 'er neck?" Kid Blink questioned. I nodded. " Dat's his goil, Breeze Kelly."

"So what da ya say, Hunter, can Pidgion stay?" a boy dressed in a cowboy outfit asked.

"Hunter? Pidgion? And who are you?" I asked getting very confussed.

"I'm Jack Kelly, sometimes called Cowboy Jack." the boy answered. "And your Hunter." He pointed to my riffle. "And dis heya is Pidgion. We'se aw got nicknames and I'se thought dat dese names were poifict fer you and your sis."

"All right. But only because we need the money." I gave in.

"Great, ladder we'se show ya to da Lodgin' House," Jack said.

"Lodging House?" I qustioned.

"Yeah, its kinda like a hotel fer us newsies," he answered.

"Newsies?"

"Oy, ya can tell dis kid is new. Newsboys, newsies, whats dat difference," was Jack's repliy. "Mush, Specs. You'se sellin' parters, right?(they nodded) Well, dan you show Hunter and Pidgion da ropes, kay?" The two nodded again and help me and 'Pidgion' buy our papers, or 'papes' as the 'newsies' liked to call them.

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The next couple of weeks actually went by kind of quikly after that. Our new found friends helped us recover the recent lose of our parents. We learned how to sell newspapers on good and bad headline days. We learned how to play poker and bridge. I think that we learned more in one week on the streets then anyone can learn in twenty years or more of school. Sometimes I think about Colorado and Old Man Smith but then I remember my new friends, my new job, my new name, and my new life and I'm thankful that I still have my life and that my parents did all they could in the little time that they had to raise me and my sister. I love them dearly and will never forget my old life in Colorado but I also love Tomarrow, my new girlfriend.

I am Hunter and this is my story.

~*~ The End~*~

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