Chpt. 18

first new chapter inna long time. hope i don't dissapoint!

 It wasn’t until I heaved my sign up over my shoulder that I realized that my hands were shaking in fear. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves; the damp morning air was thick in my lungs. If asked, most people would think that the best time to have a parade or protest would be the middle of the day with the bright sunlight shining like a beacon down on everyone and “interrupting” the work day. But with hard-hearted foremen and bosses who are more then willing to dock someone a full day’s pay for peeking out of the window. Especially if they were looking at a bunch of noisy kids breaking the law. Because in reality, that was all we were. I thought desperately about my poor little Belle, was she happy with Satin? I knew she was safe and well cared for, but did she miss me? The thought that she might not tore at my insides.

Suddenly a lone cry from somewhere at the front of the group jerked me from my thoughts. It wasn’t words, just sound; after a few seconds nearly everyone in the group took up the cry, including myself. I couldn’t hear my own voice as it blended with over a hundred others; voices I knew and ones I didn’t.

Then the wordless cry was cut off as if we’d all been stricken dumb; then we just started chanting our slogans.

“Don’t buy The World!”

“Our cause is just!”

“Don’t buy The Journal!”

“It’s only a penny!” this last one made me pausing in my shouts, he was right, all of this was for a penny here and there. Sad that so many lives were affected by the loss or gain of a penny. Then I noticed that there were whispers around me, and the steps of the very front of the crowd had slowed. I glanced over some of the shorter heads of my fellow strikers; standing in the middle of the bridge was a small gathering of bulls and general thugs.

  “Blink says push forward.” Was the general consensus, so we did.  My stomach had formed such a large knot in my stomach that I had to resist the urge to double over, clutching at my stomach.

The police officers themselves were frightening enough, but hired thugs were a surprise. Most were almost twice as tall as I was and nearly three times as wide, many were carrying clubs or lengths of chain. I felt all the strength leave my legs making them heavy, but the traitorous limbs continued my death march towards the men. The boy next to me whimpered a little, I glanced at him and gave him a half-hearted, reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry kid, maybe we got an escort.” The boy gave me a droll glare and went back to simply looking terrified. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore; we just kept getting closer and closer to certain doom. I ran ahead and started ducking and weaving my way through other strikers, intent on catching the front of the group where I knew Jesse would be, where I knew our fearless leader would be, doing something foolish.

 

It seemed like forever when I finally caught them, we were close to the line now, a few more minutes and we’d be there. I caught site of Jesse and half leapt, half fell at him, grabbing hold of his arm. He jumped about a foot into the air, his face was white and so were Fiction’s and Spit’s. Print looked at me worriedly,

“Is Anna May with you? Is she safe?” I shook my head because I didn’t have time to tell Print that his girl was a w***e and I didn’t even care where she was at the moment. I rounded my marbled blue eyes at Blink,

“What do you propose we do?” I cried, my voice coming out nearly in a shriek.

“We’s gotta keep goin’.” He answered, but I heard the small tremor in his voice, the little b*****d was as frightened as his followers. I felt the deep well of rage that was set aside specifically for Blink start to boil over again, yet a small wall of pity stemmed the flow. I just settled for hanging my head as we got closer and closer to the police.   

“Halt in the name of the New York City police department.” Said a short man with a bald spot that shined in the pale morning sun,

“What have we done?” Blink called back before Fiction kicked him and told him to be silent.

“Demonstrating without a permit, disturbing the peace and general annoyance of the population.” Snapped the man, “Now I’m going to ask you all to disperse immediately, before we’re compelled to use force.” We don’t have to compel them at all; they want to use force, that’s what the hired goons are for. They want to get rid of us. This all hit me straight between the eyes and for a moment I didn’t know what was going on; but apparently something very important happened because just as I grasped my bearings, I was horrified by what I saw.

The bulls had backed off and the goons were amidst our little group and were beating anything within reach. Tiny boys and slight girls screamed as mammoth giants punched and slapped them with huge, meaty hands and lengths of chain. I screamed and threw myself into the fray; I couldn’t see anything but beady eyes and red hands, flashing chains. I elbowed one man in the stomach and kicked his kneecap as hard as I could, I felt something give way though my thin soled shoe. He went down with a deep grunt of pain and slapped me hard on the way down. At my weird kicking angle the slap sent me reeling and I fell to the ground where I hit my head hard on the smooth pavement of the bridge. I felt darkness take me, screams blending together in my head, the last thought in my head was I got beaten harder by scrawny boys then by trained thugs.

 

Reviews

[trish420]

Great story!! I got so attached to the characters and their struggles that I can;t seem to realize that there's no more LOL! It was great to see Vel and Jesse finally admitting to their feelings, and I LOVE the lil comments that Vel makes! I hope you're planning on finishing this, it's an awesome start and deserves an ending :-)

Or at least tell ME what happens LOL

[Brette Medb]

I'm so excited you wrote another chapter! I liked at the end how Vel realizes that when she decided to sell the papers she got beat harder by the boys than the hired thugs. Great write, keep them coming!


Brette