Two is Better Than One

[Doll]

Doll

The street was abandoned, and it was snowing lightly. Doll liked it at the moment, it seemed like the snowflakes were just hovering in the air, or falling like feathers. It was like the snow didn't know if it was suppose to fall or stay. For some reason, she loved it. Since it was early in the morning, she wasn't expecting anyone to come out. She had to breathe, and maybe try and scour up some good food. Apparently someone had a bakery just opening up, but she never found it. Maybe the bakery was in another borough.

Looking around, she could hear the snow crunch lightly under the shoes she had borrowed from Enya. Holding out her hand, she watched as snowflakes fell lightly on the palm of her hand. On some of them, Doll could see what they looked like. They looked like stars, each one different from the other. Sure, her hand was cold, but looking at the snowflakes was worth it. The snow, and sometimes the rain, gave her something to be distracted by. And now, she definitely wanted something to distract her, and by distract, she meant try to distract her.

Spot had brought a hoity toity to the lodging house, and Doll was practically filled with jealousy. Everything about the girl, Peyton, was better. She had nice hair, that wasn't cut with a knife, she owned a dress with matching shoes and probably was well fed all her life and always got warm bathes, until now. That, and she wasn't short like she was. Doll had hair cut with a knife, that looked like someone was drunk and couldn't cut her hair straight, she didn't own a dress and she couldn't remember ever having a nice, warm bath.

Spot deserved a girl like that. Not a street rat.

Most boys would kill for a girl like Peyton, and maybe even Spot wanted her. Doll didn't like to think about it, but if Spot ever left her for Peyton, she'd understand, and try to be happy for them. But would he? She prayed he wouldn't. Her facial expression went from emotionless to a bit glumb, but she smiled softly when she felt the sun. The shade she had been standing in had been moving as the sun was rising, and the warmth from the sun kept her away from those thoughts.

Today, she wouldn't be selling, she realized. Doll would be visiting Soldier today, to which she was a bit happy about. Even though she didn't visit his grave often, it was still nice to visit him. But at the moment, maybe visiting him wasn' going to be on her agenda until later. It was such a nice day, that she didn't want it any other way. She just wanted it to stay this nice, nothing bad to happen, and no other girls to worry about.

[lookout]

lookout.

Lookout despised the chill of winter air.

This simple fact was for many plain and simple reasons. She couldn't swim, she had to stay inside unless she wanted to freeze (she preferred to stay alive and cozy, thank you), and the constant threat of snow–another thing she hated. But a girl had to make a living, so there she was on the street as usual, only now decked out in a coat, scarf, and hat that she'd saved from the last winter. Thank God she hadn't grown much since then. She must've stopped growing or something…maybe she was stunted.

How long had she been out here? Probably not long Time slowed down too much for her in the cold. It was stupid, to say the least. Another reason why she hated the wintertime.

"Gotta' get there first…" she murmured, being on her way to the distribution center. She liked being out first in the winter. The air acted like water did during the summer–as much as she despised being in it–by clearing her head and giving her room to think.

Rachelle started to hum to herself as she made her way down the boulevard, looking at one of her hands with combined worry and interest. It was turning blue in the chilly air. Why blue? Why couldn't someone's hand turn green or something when they were starting to freeze? Now that would be somethin'!

Her eyes snapped up from her hand, just to make sure she was still alone. She wasn't. Another figure was on the street, which she studied while she walked. Doll. A mix of a smile and a frown flashed across her face for a brief moment before she slowly started to make her way over to her fellow Brooklyn.

"Hey, Doll," she called softly, "why're ya up so early?"

[Doll]

Doll

Looking over, she overed Lookout a small smile, "Hey Lookout, just trying to get some air before it gets crowded. You?" Hopefully no one would try and give her sympathy, that just made her feel bad. What Doll needed was people who would just leave the subject alone, and it wouldn't matter. There were some newsies who thought they knew what happened today, but other thatn that, they were the utmost clueless idiots she had ever met, because they thought they should give a brook sympathy.

She lifted her head up, and could feel the snow fall on her face, it was nice and cold, it kept her mind in check. Another memory came to mind, and that was when she came to the lodging house. "Hey Lookout," she said, looking over at her, "Do you think some of the things we all see can just be in our head sometimes?" Doll had been having that issue lately. She couldn't sleep because of it. What she saw just kept coming back and it would never leave her alone, not once, it just kept coming back.

She saw Soldier.

Sometimes at the docks, or just around the lodging house. He looked her age, with the same hair color and eyes as her, and it was really unnerving. As much as she missed him, it was nerve racking. It felt like her own twin brother was haunting her for no reason. Maybe it was because she was paranoid about Harlems, or it was something else, Doll didn't know. Well, it was his death day today, so maybe that was why. Was it all in her head though? Was she going crazy? Possibly, who wouldn't go crazy lately?