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No one knew exactly what had happened to trigger this but, one day, Jack stopped talking.
And he didn't start again.
Initially, it had frustrated the other newsboys. What, their leader didn't feel like talking, and they just had to deal with it?
As time passed, though, it became increasingly clear that it wasn't entirely voluntary on his end.
Something had happened, and now he was mute.
It had been a particularly hard adjustment for Katherine, as his voice had once brought her great comfort.
He feared she would leave him for this. He supposed he couldn't even blame her if she did. She didn't sign up to be with a mute.
But, she stayed. She actually stayed.
"One day, do you think you could draw what happened?" she asked him softly one evening, carding her fingers through his short, matted hair. He thought for a moment before slowly nodding, relaxing into her touch as she leaned forward and kissed him on the head.
He fell asleep against her, exhausted from a long day of work and fighting his own head. It seemed the boy was constantly fighting. Never stopping, never still.
She wished she could do more about the things that plagued him. She wished she could take all that pain away and cleanse his brain of those demons.
She knew she couldn't. She knew he didn't expect her to.
She was just glad that she could be there for him nonetheless.
Through thick and thin.