"What are we gonna do we can't take care of more goyl newsies. We just can't its to much!" she cried. Trip was still getting over the fact that she had had a baby.

"Don't worry 'bout it okays? Tracks and I'll will watch em." Sassy said patting her on the back.

***********************

"You girls will be staying in a lodging house with the newsboys in Manhattan. They have chosen to girls to watch you. Once your remaining belonging are there we will take you over there in wagons so no one will see your burns." Allison, 15 and Taylor, 7 nodded. Tears floated down Taylor's cheeks. She was in better condition then Allison, and Allison seemed to get weaker and weaker everyday. What would she do with out her? Would she whither away? She didn't want to know. But she wouldn't give up hope.

************

"All right, here we go. This is Allison's bed and this is Taylor's bed." said Kloppman pointing them out. Sassy walked over to Allison's bed. "I'll watch dis one heah. Um, Kloppman, how bad is she? I don't want to be shocked when I see her." Tracks said the sight of her dead sister streaked threw her mind.

"Bad, their bad." said Kloppman, just as a man carried in a thin girl, with blonde hair. Her limbs dangled in the air, her arms covered in burns and blisters. Tracks ran out of the room her hands over her mouth. Sassy ran out after her. She found Tracks in Blink's arms sobbing.

"Oh Sassy she was so hoit! So hoit! Oh God I can't do it Sassy!" she cried. Blink looked concerned.

"I'll take care of Allison, I'll have her put into a separate room with me okays?" Sassy asked. Tracks nodded and she and Sassy walked back to the other room. By then the other girl had come in, she wasn't as bad though.

"Um Kloppman? Can I talk wit youse?" Sassy pulled Kloppman into the washroom and shut the door. "Kloppman, can we move Allison into a different room? Like the spare bedroom connected to the boy's room? Tracks can't stand to see a goyl in so much pain."

"Sure kid, I'll put you in there with her." He said and walked back to the girl's room.

**************

"Jacky-boy, hows me best friend?" asked Spot as he walked along the docks in Brooklyn.

"Fine right now, she's gonna take care of a sick goyl."

"Sick goyl? Why?" asked Spot confused.

"Da fire at da orphanage, left two goyls in perdy bad shape. The hospital is to full to take care of dem, Kloppman offered, so we got them."

"Oh, Jacky boy don't let Sass get over worked okay? Dat's allot of work for someone her age. Cause she ain't a doctor." Said Spot as he threw a rock into the river. Jack smiled at him. Spot and Sassy have been joined at the hip since she came to Brooklyn and Manhattan, and if you saw one of them alone the first thing you would do would be to ask where the other one was.

"All right, I won't." he laughed

"I don't like her, like dat!" he snapped as soon as he realized that Jack was teasing him.

"Yeah I can believe that." Said Jack as he tired to stifle a laugh.

************

The first week went by, and neither of them spoke a word. Allison seemed to grow worse by the day. Sassy refused to let Taylor see her, for Allison was in so much pain. One day Sassy began to get worried.

It was a usual day like any other since they had arrived. Sassy woke up and Blink and her would go to Allison's room to tend to her. This morning Allison was coughing up blood.

"Oh shit Blink." Said Sassy as she walked in. Tears brimmed her eyes.

Allison's bed was soaked around her head in blood. "Go get Kloppman and a doctor." She said. Blink stood there in shock.

"Dammit Blink go!" she screamed as she pushed him out of the room. Blink stumbled out of the room running into Jack and Spot. Sassy heard commotion outside of the room. Then Sassy heard a hoarse voice.

"Am I going to die?" asked the voice. Sassy looked at Allison. "Am I going to die?" she repeated.

"No youse ain't gonna die! I won't let youse." She said threw gritted teeth.

"I want to die." Sassy jumped at that. She bent to her knees next the bed to be even with her face.

"Don't say that." Sassy said.

"I want to die, I hate my life, the horrible life I have had!" she began to cry. Kloppman came in a doctor at his side.

"Everyone please leave me." Said the doctor.

"No don't leave me here! I don't want to be alone!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Tears now rolled down Sassy's cheeks and she ran to Spot's open arms.

The doctor then shut the door. You could hear screaming and crying. Sassy began to bawl and she was shaking fiercely. "Shh... Sassy its gonna be okays." Spot tried to comfort her but didn't have much success. The doctor came out.

"She has an illness that is to late to treat, it is an infection in her throat, it grew rapidly with the fire. Unfortunately only time will tell when she will die. Right before she dies, she will get a high fever and will hallucinate, then come get me okay?" He said and walked down the stairs and Kloppman followed. Everyone stood still as if afraid to move.

"Well we will just have to watch her more closely." Said Blink as he took Sassy's hand and walked back into the room.

*************

The rest of the newsies stood still. Spot began to get nervous, his hands were shaking.

"What if dey gets sick Jacky boy?"

"I dunno Spot, I dunno." Said Jack rubbing his head.

***********

"Allison tell me what happened at the orphanage." Said Sassy as she sat on a chair on Blinks lap. Allison began to talk, as soon as her voice grew hoarse she stopped.

"Okay enough talkin' for da day. Get some rest I'll bring youse dinner as soon as it's made." Sassy said and walked out of the room and went straight to Taylor's room. Tracks was playing with her, they had made puppets out of socks, and Tracks was trying to speak with a British accent, which wasn't going over to well because of her harsh New York one.

"Hey Taylor!" Sassy smiled as she came in.

"Hey Sassy."

"Whatchya doin'?" Sassy asked trying to make conversation and trying to get the guts to ask her a serious question.

"Tracks is trying to teach me how to play with puppets and understand Horse Racing." She laughed.

"That's cool, um listen Taylor I need to ask you a question. Did youse ever see Allison hanging from da ceiling?" I asked as quietly as possible.

"Yeah we were playin' witches and she said witches didn't die if they were hanged, and she hung herself."

"Who cut her down?" Sass asked.

"The teacher at the orphanage, she was really scared, cause Ally turned all blue and pale." She said cheerfully, Sassy thanked god inside her head that Taylor didn't know why she was that pale.

"Okay thanks." Sassy said and went to her bunk in the boy's bunkroom and fell asleep.

Later that night she woke up to coughing and she woke Blink and went into Allison's room. There, Allison was coughing up blood again. Sassy made herself comfortable not thinking that in the next two days she would learn the cruelties of the world, before losing someone again.

************

"Hey Allison!" said Sassy as happy as she could.

Sassy was as tired as you could be, she refused to sleep during the days and at night only to fall asleep in short amounts of time and to wake up with a start two hours later.

"Okay I guess, for someone who is dying." Allison wasn't afraid to talk about death, in fact that and her past was all that she talked about. On Friday morning, she began to explain her past.

"I grew up in Ireland, the suffering of the potato famine was still around just not as much. My father was a farmer. I loved him so much. He would only buy potatoes from the stores. And one day he bought a bad one. It made momma so sick! I was only 12 and Taylor was four. She had someone take care of Taylor and me; we weren't allowed to see her. She was so sick. At school the other kids used to make fun of me, called our mother "potatoes" just to make fun. I would cry and cry. Our grandmother and grandfather were dead; our father became more and more isolated. I wrote to our relatives in America and they responded that they didn't want our Irish filth in their house. We were Christian they were Protestant. So we stayed put in Ireland. Our mother died the next year. My father abandoned us for six months leaving us on the streets. I worked as a whore to get us money to eat each week; Taylor got money by stealing. Our father returned with his savings and a new wife and he took them and us to America. I hope to loose the nickname "Al-Slut", but one of the boys on the lane was on the ship to and he made my life miserable. I wanted to be that odd star, the one that shined brighter then all the others, just not like this odd, like odd as being famous for singing or dancing and everyone would call me Star…" She began to cough up blood again and Sassy cleaned up her face and wiped her brow with a cool washcloth.

"I have a past sorta like youse but not exactly."

"Did you ever try to kill yourself?" she asked as closed her eyes.

"No, I knew dat I had people dere to help me." Sassy said with a yawn.

"Oh I see, was the Spot fellow one of them?" she smiled.

"Yeah, he's me best friend."

"Very handsome, very handsome."

"Yeah I know, great friend to, I don't know what I would do wit out him." Said Sassy. Sassy went to ask another question but she discovered that Allison was asleep.

**********

"Hush little baby don't say a word Tracks gonna buy you a mocking bird; and if that mocking bird won't sing, Tracks will buy you a golden ring; ands if that golden ring won't shine, Tracks gonna sing you a lullaby, if that lullaby doesn't make you sleep Tracks will have to think and if Tracks can't think then little Tylor won't have to sleep."

Taylor laughed and she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Tracks covered her up under her blankets and Mush came in and gave her a hug. "Mush she's almost better, she can walk around da room."

"Dat's great Tracks, listen her sister is worse den before. Sassy's asleep and I refuse to wake her but Blink is in there cleaning up after Allison constantly."

"Mush, Sassy's getting' sick. I hoid her in da bathroom throwing up dis mornin' I'm afraid that she's got what Allison got." Mush grew concerned. "We gotta get her out of there."

"Mush I tried! She won't leave! She's got dis bond and she won't leave 'er! She's gonna die Mush! Dey both will die!" Tracks cried as she ran to her bunk and began to cry. Jack rushed to her side.

"Oh Jack dis ain't good, dis ain't good at all!" she cried. Tracks refused to talk the rest of the night; Race, Bumlets, Boots and Snoddy paced the floor trying to cheer up their friend. Finally Tracks cried herself to sleep.

*************

"Pony is Spot heah?" asked Jack with anxiety.

"No he went to da Bronx dis weekend for da usual poker game. He'll be back tomorrow. Stay heah he gets back around 11 o'clock."

"Okays thanks Pony."

"No problem Jacky-Boy."

************

Sassy's hands were dyed red. She had grown very pale and frail from the lack of sleep and food. But she wouldn't leave Allison's side. Allison slept until late that afternoon and early evening. She was once full of color, know she was as pale as a ghost and she shook with a fever. Sassy rushed between the bathroom and her room. This time it was Sassy who coughing up blood.

*****************

"Spot!" said Jack as he ran towards him.

"Yeah what's up Jacky boy?"

"It's Sassy, she's getting sick." He said. Spot turned and ran towards Manhattan not waiting for Jack to follow.

*************

"Oh Tracks look at my puppet! See! He can sing! She began to sing "Amazing Grace" (I couldn't remember if this song was around then or not) Here voice was so beautiful; it rang out into the evening air, it came to Sassy's ears like an angel singing.

Tracks began to sing

************

Allison began to hallucinate.

"Oh Sassy isn't it beautiful! The Irish land is soft and full of life, the beautiful trees blowing in the wind!" She paused, "The O'Connells horses galloping in the field over the once horrid potato crop, oh look! Angel is jumping the bushes."

Sassy was scared, Allison's eyes were wide open and she pointed at the wall. Sassy began to feel sick again. She ran to the bathroom but a thud made her run back to the room. Allison was on the floor in a weird position; her arms and legs sprawled out.

"Allison!" She screamed as she ran to her. Race, Blink, and Bumlets heard the thud and ran into the room. Race ran back out screaming for Kloppman.

Blink ran to get Tracks and Bumlets came and tried to get Sassy away from her.

"Come on Sassy, youse will get sick. She's gone."

Sassy began to cry; she had failed. First she had failed to protect her brother and now Allison. Spot ran into the room, followed by Kloppman, Jack and the Doctor. Spot pulled Sassy to her feet and held walked her over to a chair where he sat down and held her in his arms, rocking her back and forth. Taylor ran in.

"Ally?" she whispered.

"Come on Ty, let's go back and play with the puppets." Blink said.

"No let me see her!" she yelled. Jack moved out of the way. "Ally?" she asked one more time. The room got real heavy and Sassy began to wheeze her body racked with coldness, and then she stopped and she fell limp in Spots arms.

"Sassy! Sassy!" he cried as he shook her.

************

The world was a thousand shades of gray. Sassy looked down and saw her own body below her in Spots arms. Jack left the room; Tracks began to cry and Spot was shaking. Sassy's body began to turn feel warm and she felt the pain of someone stabbing her.

************

Sassy screamed, loudly. Spot began to laugh with relief then he started to cry. Sassy held onto him and she too began to cry.

"I saw Allison! She's happy now she is riding a white horse and laughing. She didn't have the burn scars on her she didn't she didn't!" sassy cried, "I was dead Spot, I was dead. It was the worst feeling in the world." She sobbed. Sassy grew really tired and in a second she fell asleep.

**********

She awoke to see the faces of Spot, Jack, Mush, Blink, Tracks, and Ty. Ty was the first to notice her awake.

"Sassy! You are awake!" she laughed.

"Hey Angel." Sassy said as Ty came and hugged her.

"Angel, I like that, that will be me name, since I'm gonna be a newsie." She smiled.

"Hey sweetie…" Said Spot, "How youse feelin'?"

"Fine, I feel weak, and tired but fine."

"Da doc said dat youse will be okays, dat youse didn't have anything to worry bout, dat dey caught it in time. Do youse wanna go home?" asked Spot holding out his hand.

"Yeah, Dat would be great, but youse live in Brooklyn and me in Manhattan, it doesn't click." Sassy said, (She was still a little out of it).

"Well…um…" he said rubbing the neck of his neck with his other hand. "Jacky Boy tell her I ain't any good at doing dis."

"Spot likes youse, just go home wit him tonight all right?" Jack said. Sassy caught on.

"I'd be glad to go home wit youse tonight, but youse gotta promise to come to my home every night all rights?" she smiled.

"Of course!" he laughed. Sassy took his hand and pulled him up to him. He pulled too hard, because Sassy came flying into him. Spot blushed and so did Sassy. She kissed him softly, then called to Angel.

"Hey tonight when youse say youse prayers tall Allison, dat me wish came true. Okays?" she asked.

"Sure thing!" she smiled as Spot and Sassy walked out of the building holding hands.

Sassy had one thing she couldn't lose very easily, and it was Spot. She realized that life was precious and not to be wasted. She knew at the moment that certain things happen for certain reasons, things happen for certain reasons, now she realized that some how Allison had pulled Sassy closer to Spot. She looked up into the sky and saw a star twinkling brighter than all the others, she knew Allison was watching.


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