| Now with full stomachs, somthing most of them had never experienced, they all grew tierd. It wan't just from all that food but also from worrying. Mrs. Butts seemed to be able to scare them more when she was nice. All still a little on edge however none of them dared to try and go to bed early. So they all went to their respective floors and did some cleaning, hoping to keep Butts in this rare (possibly once in a lifetime) mellow mood. At half past seven however Mrs. Butts was heard stomping up the stairs, stopping at each door. When she finally reached the third floor she went to the other room first. Strangly Jo and the girls couldn't make out what she was saying, she's usually loud enough to hear from her office. When she came to their door she opened it to girls frozen in various cleaning positions looking at her. She spoke rather sheepishly for her; "Lights out in ten minutes." Then she caught herself. "If I hear anybody up hear walkin' around afta dat dey bettah plan on making my closet dere permament home!" AT that she slammed the door and the girls rushed to get ready for bed. Jo sat there quite perplexed, Gwen walked over. "Sh...sh...she wouldn't d...do anything to us in our s...ss...sleep would she?" Jo let out a laugh, she was too exhausted to ponder this any longer. "Naw, she's probably jist got a hot date." With that she got ready for bed and nearly had to crawl into it. That day had really worn her out, first getting soaked then finding out she had to take care of Gwen. She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. ______________________________________________ "I don't know what the hell's wrong wit her! She wouldn't wake up when I yelled in dis mornin'. Probably jist playin' around." Mrs. Butts shook Jo for all she was worth. "I'm up...I'm up..." Jo said, or perhaps more moaned, to Butts. She could barely open her eyes. Pulling the covers back over her she said; "Another cold summer day?" Though she was cold she was sweating terribly and realized her voice was nothing more than a whisper. "Looks like she's come down wit somthin'" The doctor felt her forehead. "She's burnin' up, and from the sound of it loosing her voice too." "Ya, what the hell am I supposed ta do 'bout it?" The doctor rolled his eyes, he hated thinking these poor girls had to live with her. "Just let her rest, see that she keeps food and water in her." It was Mrs. Butts turn to roll her eyes. "I'll git right on dat doc, tanks for comin'." She led him to the door. "I trust you ken find yer own way out?" She put on the best fake smile she could. He just nodded and left. "Gwen!" She came running in just as Butts hoped. "It's yer job to make sure Jo gits bettah. If she doesn't its yer fault, if she does..." Butts looked over to Jo passed out on her bed and laughed: "...then it's still yer fault." Butts left Gwen there looking helplessly over at Jo. 'Great, I just get here and the almighty Jo can't even sit up to fullfill her leadership role. How am I supposed to survive now?' Gwen thought to herself and let her mind wander and remembered meeting Sammy when she first arrived. Gwen was waiting outside Butts' office for her to finish some paper work before giving Gwen her grand tour. She told her that Jo had told everyone about Buffalo and the girl she taught all she knew about life. Gwen smiled to herself; 'Even Sammy, the number two girl, thinks I know everything Jo does...' "Hey Gwen..." Jo had come to. "...could you get me some water or somthin'?" She treid to sit up but got dizzy and fell back down. "Of course Jo, you just relax, I'll take care of everything." Gwen smiled, grabbed something from under her pillow and headed down to the kitchen. __________________________________________ A few days had passed and it seemed that Jo was only getting worse. By this time even MR. Denton began to wonder what had happened to her. Each passing day he didn't see or hear from Jo Spot became more and more fearful she was sent away again. He didn't want to go then just to find her bed empty or another girl occupying it. On the fifth day he could take it no longer. Around supper time he approached the front of the building. First he thought he'd check and see if she was in the dinning hall. He crept around to the alley on the left of the building and headed towards the furthest window. He climbed up on a wooden crate and peeked in. Angel wasn't at her seat, but Sammy wasn't in Jo's seat either it was some blonde he'd never seen before. His heart began to race without another thought he ran around to the other side of the building and ran up the fire escape. He stopped and fell to his knees when he reached the third floor. At first he was relieved to see his Angel, yet then immediatly filled with fear thinking of how sick she'd have to be to be stuck in bed for five or more days. The air outside was warm so he opened the window thinking it wouldn't bother her. He leaned in over her bed to get a better look at her pale face. As he did so his key that he wears on a string, and dangled over Jo's limp body. Not noticing he continued to lean in and it touched Jo's bare arm, startling her awake. not having much energy she just opened her eyes wide to see what was looming over her. She was instantly comforted to see Spot looking down at her. "Pity it takes such bad things to get you to come and visit me." Jo stated. Spot, not knowing if she had been trying to joke or be sinvere he simply replied. "You should take bettah care of yerself." He pushed some hair away from her eyes. "Then you'd never come to see me." Spot could finally see a sparkle in her eye and a smirk desperately trying to form. Yet he was beginning to grasp the severity of her situation. "Ya well, when youse get bettah I'll visit any time ya want." Jo's smirk went away, as well as that sparkle in her eye. "I don't think I'm gonna git bettah Spot. I jist keeps gettin' woise." Spot didn't have a response, his face just turned hard for a moment as he tried to hold back the anger and frustration. 'How could she jist give up like dis? What happened to da Angel I knew? Maybe she's already half gone...maybe dis is da end...NO! It can't be!' Jo could see Spot's wheels turning and reached up for his warm, now sweaty hand laying on the window sill. "Maybe some more visits would help." That brought Spot back to reality. "Oh ya, I could git da boys ta come ovah and-" "No, not them just you. I don't want dem ta see me like dis. I'd rather day tink I'm in the closet or back in Buffalo." Jo squeezed Spot's hand as she pleaded with him. He let a smile spead onto his lips. And not his famous smirk mind you, a warm seemingly touched yet hinted with pain and fear, smile. resting his elbows on the sill he grabbed her hand with both of his. "I tink dat can be arranged." She smiled back. 'Finally' she thought 'A somewhat meaningful moment between us not ruined by his pride or big mouth.' Unfortunately the moment was cut short by the girls coming up from supper. Spot dropped her hand and quickly got out of site, but remained on the fire escape nearby. Waiting to see if MRs. Butts materialized Jo's eyes were fixed intently on the door. All the girls were accounted for and Butts was no where to be seen. Before calling Sspot back however she made sure no one was planning on changing. "Spot. It's okay, it's just da goils." He slowly but surely stuck his head back into the open window. Most of the girls igorned him, others blushed and pretended to do so. Gwen however continued to stare, though neither Spot nor Jo noticed. "So when do ya want me ta stop by again?" Jo laughed. "Anytime, I'm not going anywhere fast." Spot didn't find her comment ammusing. Spot at this point happened to glance up and notice Gwen's intence stare in his direction, she looked away a bit overwhelmed by his icey glare. "Ya by da way. Who's da blonde, da one who seems ta think she can take ovah for ya before Sammy?" He could feel her eyes on him again and gave her another cold look knowing she would again look away. "What? Oh you mean Gwen? She's da goil from Buffalo I told youse about. Anyways she ain't taken ovah, jist helpin' to take care o' things till I gits bettah." Spot smiled again. "So youse do plan on getting bettah?" Jo rolled her eyes. "Of course, but I gotta prepare you for da woist, cuz der ain't no gaurantee I will." He took hold of her hand this time and sighed. "Listen, I'll be back tamorrow, take care till den got it?" "Got it." Then Jo remembered somthing. "Wait, cen you do me a favor?" Spot had turned to leave but whipped back around. "Anything." Jo called Gwen over, Spot gave her a once over. "Dis is Gwen. I was wonderin' if you could show her over ta Medda's tamorrow." Using all of her strength she reached under her bed and revealed a folded piece of paper. "Give dis ta Medda, it'll explain everyting to her." Spot took the paper, looked at the now winded Jo and put it in his shirt pocket. "No problem." He patted the pocket containing the letter and smiled at her. Then he let the smile fade and looked up at Gwen. "I'll be heah bright 'n oily, bettah be ready." The last comment (or rather command) was made in the regular Spot fashion, not too harsh (she is a girl after all) yet no as softly as he spoke to Jo. Gwen just nervously nodded her head. With that Spot have one more warm look at Jo and ducked out of site and down the rickety metal staircase. Jo looked over to Gwen. "Bettah get some sleep. If I know him oily means right aftah he gits his papes. And dats a lot oilier den youse been gettin' up." Now exhausted beyond description Jo turned over to face the wall and fell into a come like sleep. Gwen reluctantly got ready for bed, but was doing so to hide her excitement for what the next day would hopefully entail. End Part 6 |
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| Don't Fear the Reaper |
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