Jack

*Flashback*

As I sat there in the corner of my cell, I waited, listening to the dripping of water nearby. It was completely silent besides my breathing, and I missed the constant chatter of my pals. I had a burning regret deep in my chest. I should've never had that rally.

The sudden jingling of keys brought me to my wits. I blinked a couple times before I realized the door to my cell was being unlocked. I released a deep sigh as I waited to see who would appear behind the door, assuming it wouldn't be anybody special.

It finally opened and a large police officer was behind it, and he had a tired looking haze over him. "C'mon, Kelly, we got a carriage to catch."

***
"So, it's the infamous Jack Kelly." Mr. Pulitzer puffed cigar smoke in my face. It made me wish I had a cigarette myself. He led me into a huge room. Beautiful furniture was placed throughout it, and the walls were high and made of dark brown wood. In the corner began a glorious wind-up staircase. I couldn't help but let my jaw drop a little in impressment.

"That's me," I spoke for the first time that entire evening, giving him the hardest stare of resentment I could. "So, how's livin' high and mighty been treatin' you, Joe?" I purposefully called him by his first name, hoping to get a rise out of him.

Disappointingly, his stance and his face didn't change at all. "It's been good," he offered me to take a seat on a soft looking couch, and I gladly took it, relieved to be sitting on something nice for a change. "How has living in the slums been treating you, kid?" he gave a smirk at me when he noticed that my fists were balled up in anger. He must've known I hated it when people called me 'kid'. I quickly tried to play it off as I scratched my chin.

"Fine."

There was a long pause between us, and it almost made me squirm.

"Why am I here?" I poured all of my annoyance into one question, and Pulitzer must've noticed because his voice raised an octave.

"Well, son, you're here because I want to make a deal with you," he pointed his index finger at me, almost poking me in the chest. "It's a deal of a lifetime." he smiled, making me shift uncomfortably.

"Whatever it is, I'm not interested." I crossed my arms over my stomach and stared off to the side.

"Not so fast!" He began to pace the room, bringing me to focus on him again. "The deal is this: you stop your strike against my newspaper and come work for me again as a free man. If you do, you will have more money than humanly possible, and I will see to it personally, my boy. If you don't join me, then you and all of your friends are going to be sent to the refuge by daybreak." I hated to admit to myself that the deal did interest me, but joining Pulitzer would let down all of the boys...and Chris. But, not joining would mean jail for everybody. "So what do you say, Kelly?" he asked, holding an open palm in front of me like the expected me to join him again. "Deal or no deal?" I scratched my scalp in concentration. If I joined then I could earn enough money to finally go to Santa Fe, and I would be free.

The idea of finally being able to go to New Mexico instead of this dump was almost too good to be true. But it would be true if I joined.

I couldn't help but bounce up and take his hand and shake it. "Deal."

What am I thinking?

"Wise decision, Kelly. I underestimate your intelligence." Pulitzer seemed almost too satisfied with my willingness to work for him again.

How am I going to break the news to the gang?

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