a damsel in distress
Who: Janey and Maddy
Where: St. Peter’s Cathedral
When: Afternoon
Janey had stayed after the morning’s memorial service, lost deep in prayer. She was in a trance-like state, hardly even aware of her physical surroundings, so she was surprised, after she crossed herself and opened her eyes to return to the real world, to see that the cathedral was nearly empty. She didn’t think she’d stayed for that long afterwards—but a look at the watch on her wrist told her she had.
Now she was lighting candles in the back of the church. She had a mental list of everyone she wanted to pray for, and a certain handful of those she lit candles for as well. After lighting the candles and saying a few quick prayers, she sat down in a pew nearby and took her journal out of her bag. The church was a nice, quiet place for her to take the time to reflect.
.
After she left Roy, she did dart back in the soup kitchen and left with a bottle of medicine. It was maybe one or two doses, hardly enough to get better by but Roy had been so upset and so adamant and she hated it when he was angry with her. When Dodge was angry at her, she got angry right back at him. When Roy was angry at her, it felt like anything she had to say didn't make up for it and she should beg for penance or something and Maddy hated that.
Penance.
St. Peter's came into view when she turned onto the next street. Despite the day, despite there still being a chill, Maddy felt hot all over. She was actually sweating. But she wasn't coughing. Coughing was bad. Yes, it was very, very bad because then it really meant you were sick. Feeling hot was how the sickness burned out or something.
And Maddy kept telling herself this as she headed up the steps to the church and went inside. It was... not cold but not hot like she felt and so Maddy felt better taking her jacket off. Without the bulk, she looked skinny, even with threadbare sweater she was wearing. She didn't notice Janey as she walked past to the alcove she had visited last, standing before the statue of Mary, achey enough to know that if she knelt down, there was no way she was going to be able to get back up.
.
After writing for a little while, Janey realized she needed to be on her way. She had to stop by the grocery store before she headed back home, because there was barely anything in the kitchen and she needed to have at least something for dinner. She had spent the morning before the service helping with the orphanage's clothing drive so she hadn't had a chance to go shopping then. But when she stood to leave, she saw a familiar figure. D.G., the girl she'd met a few days ago, looking paler and more fragile than Janey would have thought was possible.
.
Maddy stood in front of the statue, rocking slightly on her feet. Alright, mom. Getting sick isn't part of the plan, she thought, wondering if that would be good enough because she didn't really feel like talking. She was shivering even though she was so warm, but didn't put her jacket back on, instead just wrapping her arms tighter around herself. Getting sick isn't going to help me find Jack.
.
Even from the distance, something didn't look right. The girl was shaking, as if from the cold but more violently. Pulling her coat tightly around her, Janey came up from behind and put a girl lightly on the girl's shoulder. "DG- are you okay?" she asked, addressing her by the only name she knew her by.
.
Maddy flinched -- violently -- from the contact and jerked away, looking up at Janey with hazy, frightened eyes. It was hard to focus at first and her head spun a little but then it all came back and Maddy took another step back. "I'm fine," she said tightly despite the fact that she clearly wasn't but Maddy wasn't looking for charity. She just needed to get out of the crowds outside and her place was too far away and she just needed a break.
.
The girl looked so unsteady on her feet, her eyes so distant, that if she hadn't known better Janey might have thought the girl was drunk. But it wasn't that, she could tell--the way she was shaking didn't match up with that suspicion. She seemed to shaking even harder now, if that was possible--and Janey realized she'd frightened her.
"It's okay," she said slowly. She couldn't be sure, in the dazed state the girl was in, that she even recognized Janey or remembered who she was. "We've met before, remember? I'm Janey," she said. She saw a thin jacket clutched tightly in the girl's arms, and wondered why she wasn't wearing it, despite how violently she was shivering.
.
"I know," Maddy said, more viciously than she intended but she didn't feel good and her head hurt. She passed it off from the incense in the cathedral. That's what was making her feel like absolute crap. Even though she was shaking, she felt hot and Maddy reached up to wipe at the sweat that had begun to bead around her hairline. She flexed her fingers. Her hands felt hot and sweaty under her gloves and she felt like taking them off. Maybe she'd feel better, but this was a public place and no way in hell was she going to take her gloves off in a public place. "Did you need something?"
Why was it so hot in here?
.
"I wanted to see if you were okay--which you're clearly not. How do you feel?" Janey asked. Her caretaker mode had kicked in. She needed to at least make sure the girl got home and was taken care of before she went off to the grocery store. She knew she wouldn't be able to let it go if she didn't.
She extended a concerned hand toward the girl's forehead, to feel for a fever. "You look like you should be at home in bed."
.
The heat emanating off of Maddy was enough that even when she jerked away again, Janey could more than likely feel it. Catch the clammy sheen to her pale skin. This time though, Maddy wasn't able to keep her balance and she stumbled back into one of the small, double seated pews.
"M'fine," she muttered again. The prospect of walking all the way to Hill Street was thoroughly unappealing and her knees were shaking a bit. "Just a bug."
.
"Why don't you let me walk you home?"
Janey recalled, suddenly, their last conversation, when the girl had revealed that her mother was dead and her brother, missing. She hadn't said who she lived with--if anyone.
When the girl staggered back to a pew and sat down unsteadily, Janey shook her head. She couldn't let the girl go to a "home" where there was no one to take care of her. Maybe it was just a bug, but it seemed to be a pretty bad one. And, Janey knew, all she ever wanted when she felt sick was her own mother--even now, when she'd been dead for ten years and Janey had been on her own for even longer. So she amended her statement before DG had a chance to respond. "Actually, I live fairly close. Why don't we go back to my house and you can call someone to come pick you up?"
"Or, I live really close
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Pick her up. Right. Yeah, like that was going to happen. Who was she to call, anyway? Roy had ordered her home. The caretaker of the theater wasn't going to care for her. Dodge had all those little boys living with him and she couldn't get them sick.
"I just... just need a minute," she said, quietly still, leaning heavily against the pew. "Thanks, though." Maddy tried to offer an appreciative smile because really, she was being quite nice but she was not some puppy to bring home and care for.
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Janey hesitated, hovering over the girl. "Do you..." she said, wary of upsetting the child, and anxious for the response. "Do you have a home?" she asked.
(sorry about random fragment sentence fail at the end of my last post!)
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Even through the haze of fever, Maddy's eyes shot to Janey's so fast, her lip curling in insult. "Of course I have a home! Do you?" she snarled. Of course she had one. Her own little place above the theater with more clothes and shoes than any socialite girl, stains and rips be damned and if she could, Maddy would've gotten up and walked away but her legs were really shaky and even with her anger, she felt tired, swaying woozily on the seat. Sitting was... nice. It was really nice.
.
Janey wasn't too surprised by the girl's ferocious response to the question. "I'm sorry,'" she said, sitting cautiously in the pew beside DG. "It's just that I know there are quite a lot of street kids around the city, and winter's the worst time of it for them I'm sure."
She also knew, though she didn't say it, that they were often very defensive and proud of their independence. They would do almost anything to prove to the "better" world that they were doing just fine on their own.
"Well, do you have someone to take care of you at home?" she asked in a still concerned tone.
.
Janey was sure to feel the heat emanating off of Maddy, who still glared, eyes unfocused more now though. She'd spit and swear at the woman if they weren't in a church. So she just gave the woman one of her lizard looks, hoping that it would send the nosy woman away.
"Don't want to get anyone else sick."
.
Janey sat for a moment without speaking, uncertain of how to proceed. The girl seemed to be growing sicker for every minute they sat there, and she made up her mind that she couldn't just leave her alone. However, she could tell the girl wasn't going to come easily, even in the state she was in. She was clearly determined to remain independent despite how she was sweating and trembling, with a wildly feverish look in her eyes.
.
Satisfied, Maddy nodded her head a little and went to stand up, but found herself on the floor, sprawled on the [refreshingly] cool stone floor. Oh God, she didn't feel good and everything was spinning so fast. She said something, or at least tried to, but she didn't think any words came out, or anything intelligible anyway. Oh God, please don't let me pass out.
.
Before Janey had decided what to do, she saw DG lurch to her feet and stagger barely a step before collapsing with a strangled moan. Janey felt as though she'd watched it happen in slow motion. She sprung to her feet and looked around frantically, but by then the church had emptied. She knew Fr. Jamey had left shortly after the service. She knelt down by the girl and eased an arm around her shoulders to lift her head off the stone floor while fanning her face futilely. She seemed to be breathing still--a good sign, Janey supposed.
"Can you...uh, can you hear me?" she said.
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Maddy could. Sort of. Mostly she just heard a rushing sound in her one good ear, her head spinning. She licked her lips, wetting the chapped skin. She mumbled something that sounded like she was asking for her mother. Maddy tried to get her bearings, tried to hold herself up on one of her hands but she couldn't find the strength to do so.
The girl mumbled inaudibly
The girl mumbled inaudibly in response and squirmed around a bit, but didn't seem to be able to get her bearings. Janey managed to twist the jacket out of her arms and rolled it up, placing it gently beneath her neck. Then she walked quickly out of the church to find someone who could help her get the girl home.
(close)