Disclaimer: Don't own Newsies. Don't own the song 'The Storm' either, that belongs to Garth Brooks. Can I own Snitchy's mommy? Yes. I can. I OWN SNITCHY'S MOMMY. XD What jokes can you think of with THAT, Shorts? XD

The Storm

Don't own Newsies. Don't own the song 'The Storm' either, that belongs to Garth Brooks. Can I own Snitchy's mommy? Yes. I can. I OWN SNITCHY'S MOMMY. XD What jokes can you think of with THAT, Shorts? XD

The scene opens on a stormy night. Lightning flashes in the sky, revealing in it's electric blue light a pair of young men standing before a run-down house. The lawn of the house is the brown and yellow color of dead leaves, although it's the middle of spring, and the windows are shattered and cracked while the door is hanging by one hinge.

One of the boys has his arm around the other's shoulders. He looks at his companion, and smiles hesitantly. "Your mom's in there, Snitch?" He asks, his voice silky like his mahogany hair. The other boy, Snitch, nods, and when he parts his lips to speak he reveals a mouthful of large, ivory teeth like porcelain: "Yeah. This is where we used to live, Skittery. The guy we met on the street? That said he knew Mama? He said she'd be here."

"No one can live there," The dark-haired boy, Skittery, responds, but he follows Snitch up the walk anyway, jumping as thunder rolls across the sky.

Snitch pushes open the door and gives a scream as it falls off it's final hinge and crashes to the ground. He is panting, held tight in Skittery's arms, until the initial surprise wears off and Snitch is able to step into the house.

The inside is empty. The floor is a moldy wood, shelves on the peeling walls, more cracked windows. A curtain of spiderwebs blocks the doorway from the rest of the house, and Snitch and Skittery have to struggle through it, Skittery picking a spider off his shoulder with disgust as he enters the empty room.

Snitch stares around the room, his hazel-eyes shielded from emotion. Skittery watches him for a moment, then realizes the room isn't empty at all. In the center of the room is a rain of broken glass, picture frames, and torn sheets of paper, possibly photographs. Snitch walks to them, and picks up one of the photos, furrowing his brow. "That's me." he whispers. "But Daddy used to be in this picture…" He runs his thumb over the surface. "No dust… someone was here, Mama or not." He puts the picture back on the ground and sighs, turning to look at Skittery as the dark-haired boy kneels next to him. "I remember when these things were broken… I was eight, and Daddy had come home late. Mama accused him of drinking, and he got upset. He started to throw things around, smashing them to pieces… Mama started to cry, and I was watching from… from over there…" he points to a hallway, curtained with cobwebs. "And Daddy saw me… and he picked up one of the glass shards and grabbed me and he cut open my stomach… five times…" Snitch sighs. "You've seen the scars."

Skittery nods and puts a hand on Snitch's shoulder.

"Mama attacked Daddy, and he turned on her. She was pregnant at the time… and he beat her into a miscarriage… I remember her sitting here, crying and bleeding, as Daddy turned back to me. That's when I ran." Snitch puts his face in his hands, feeling a strange nausea towards himself. "I thought she was going to die, and that Daddy was going to kill me too. So I ran." He straightens, looking blankly down the empty hallway, then his eyebrows go up, and he walks to the end of the hallway before kneeling down again. Skittery hesitates, then follows, looking over Snitch's finely sloped shoulder to see a glass dancer, possibly from a jewelry or keepsake box. After staring at it for a moment, he realizes the dancer is missing a leg, and her hair, delicately painted the color of gold, is chipped and worn. Snitch stares at the dancer, then clutches it to his chest.

"This is from Mama's jewelry box. I used to snitch things from it all the time, and would stare at this dancer… I wondered if maybe, someday, I could snitch the dancer too, and maybe sell it, then Mama and I might have enough money to leave Daddy…" He stops and looks up, towards one of the rooms. Skittery watches him, and puts his hands on Snitch's shoulders when the young thief stands.

"What's wrong, Snitch?" Skittery asks, his voice a wispy murmur that rouses the curls on Snitch's neck to move.

"I heard something…" He pauses, and Skittery hears the sound too; The steady drip of water. The boys look at each other, then walk into the room, Skittery seizing Snitch's boxy, sweaty hand.

"Mama?" Snitch calls. "Mama, is that you?"

The room is empty save for a large bed that looks as if one touch would cause it to dissipate into nothingness. The roof is leaking, and the raindrops slick off Snitch and Skittery's cheeks like oil in the dark.

Snitch moves towards the bed. "Do you smell that?" He asks. Skittery blinks, sniffs purposefully, and recoils from the strange scent, like copper… but it's not strange, he realizes. He's smelled it before, when… when those men killed his brother in the alleyway, that smell, what is it, what is it…

Snitch releases a shriek of horror and Skittery remembers what that smell is: it's the smell of fresh blood, and oh, God, Snitch has found it's source, and when Skittery runs to collect his lover, Snitch is collapsing by a tub full of murky water and diluted blood and a dead woman with scars on her wrists and teeth large and white like Snitch's.

The thief is babbling about his mother, reaching for her as Skittery grabs him under his arms and starts to pull him from the house. The boy can't stay here, it's not good for him, he'll lose his mind.

As Skittery drags him out the front door, Snitch breaks free, and races back into the house, into the bedroom, where his mother lies dead, suicide, and Skittery follows him, and watches from the doorway and Snitch falls to his mother's side and places the broken jewelry box dancer into his mother's cold, stiff hand.

"I'm sorry, Mama." He gushes, reaching into his pocket and pulling from it a silver ring. "I'm sorry I ever stole from you, Mama." He places the ring on his mother's finger. "I'm sorry I left you, Mama." He kisses his mother's forehead, and Skittery bites his lip. "I'm so sorry for everything, Mama, I love you!"

And as the scene begins to fade into darkness, Snitch finally breaks down and starts to wail wildly, Skittery dashing across the room to hold his lover and try to cease and comfort the storm of tears falling from a lost boy's eyes.

END

AUTHOR'S NOTES

I could see this whole thing playing out like a music video in my head as I listened to the song, so that's why I referred to it as a scene and such.

I do like this one.

Okay, that's all.