The Girl Nobody Sees or Remembers
Girl's POV
Hi I am Danni Curtis. I am Ponyboy's twin sister and the youngest of the Curtis', but the gang usually forgets I am even there because I am a girl. Now I know that people say that our parents died in a car accident but that is a lie. Our mother died giving birth to me and Ponyboy. I am the younger twin by three minutes and sometimes I feel that Darry would like it better if I wasn't born. I say that because Darry never talks to me except to tell me to do my homework or that meals are ready. Sodapop and Ponyboy just don't talk to me or even look at me to let me know that they see me. The rest of the gang follows Sodapop and Ponyboy. Enough with the back story I have run away from my family and Dallas helped me but was reluctant to. I am now sitting in an old church in Windrixville. Before you ask yes it is the same church that burnt down but the town rebuilt it last year. I just hope that my brothers are half as worried about me as they were about Ponyboy.
Darry's POV
I just got home from work expecting Ponyboy and Danni to be here but what I saw was Ponyboy and Soda cryin' on the couch. "Soda, Pony what's wrong" I ask them
Soda replied with "Danni is gone. She left you a note on the table Darry."
I go to the kitchen and sure enough on the table there is a note addressed to me. And it reads:
Dear Darry,
I know that I am just a burden on you and my other brothers so I am leaving for awhile. If you really care about where I have gone and why I left you can ask Dallas. I just can't stand to be around people that constantly blame me for something that happened when I was a baby. I hope that you don't care enough, because you never show that you do care, and don't come looking for me.
Sincerely,
Danni Marie Curtis
By the time I am done reading it I am in tears. I hurt another one of my siblings and this time it wasn't physically. I still drove my baby sister away and I never showed her that I loved her and cared for her
Ponyboy's POV
I was walking home from school and I thought that Danni waswith me but as soon as I got home I saw Soda at the table crying and I asked him why and he said that Danni was gone. My own twin had run away from home and I didn't know why. Until I saw a note addressed to me and one addressed to Darry sitting on the table. I picked mine up and it read:
Dear Ponyboy,
I know that you blame me for mom's death and I know that I am a burden to the family but I need to tell you that I love you and I do care about you even if you don't care about me or love me. I am sorry that I am leaving but I can't stay in a place where no one cares. So this is goodbye but not goodbye forever.
Sincerely,
Danni
I couldn't believe that all of us had made Danni feel unloved and like she was a burden. I now I was crying to and I knew that Soda had read basically the same thing. Now how to tell Darry that Danni was gone and would be for awhile. Me and Soda eventually moved to the couch and then Darry walked in and asked us what was wrong.
Soda's POV
I was the first one home which was unusual for me. So I walked into the kitchen and I noticed that there were three letters addressed to me, Pony, and Darry. This told me that something was very wrong and that Danni was not in the house. I looked at my letter and I knew I would not like what I would soon be reading. It reminded me of the time that Pony ran away and I wonder why Danni would run away didn't she know we loved her and cared about her well I guess I will find out. The letter to me read:
Dear Soda,
I know that all of you guys don't care and think that I am a burden so I am leaving for some time. I know you and the boys don't love me and blame me for what happened to mom and dad. I won't continue to go on like it doesn't bug that no one talks to me or even acknowledges that I am even there and I just can't be there right now.
Sincerely,
Danni
I was heartbroken and crying and I didn't care about being emotional. Our baby sister thought that she was unloved and uncared for and left. This was worse than when Pony ran away. At least that time we knew who he would run to. I just sat there at the table crying and that's how Pony found me when he got home.
Danni's POV
It's been a week and no one has come to find me just proving my point that no one cared for me at all and that they didn't love me. I would have thought that Darry would at least come here and talk to me if not just to tell me to stay gone. I can't help but thinking that Dallas didn't tell them because he wanted them to worry. I am just sitting here crying when I hear a car pull up and I quiet myself and listen. What I hear is Pony and Soda calling out my name and I don't answer them Pony will know exactly where I am. Soon enough Pony, tells Soda to find the back door and look in the back room. Soda does and Darry is with him. I see them coming but they can't see me. They soon see me and they notice that I haven't eaten and am really thin and the last thing I remember before my world turns black is Darry screaming my name.
Darry's POV
It had been a week before anyone saw Dallas to ask him where Danni was. I could just imagine her alone and scared. Dallas told me that he sent her to the same place he sent Pony and Johnny last year. So Soda, Pony, and I all got in my truck and we headed to the church that everybody knew about. Soda and Pony told me to stay quiet because Danni blamed me the most. They were calling out her name and then Pony told Soda to check in the back room. Soda told me to come with him and we started searching and we eventually saw her and she had tear streaks down her face and she was way too thin. The next we knew she passed out and I was screaming her name. I caught her before she hit the ground and I said "Danni, Danni please open your eyes come on Danni open your eyes." At this point I was bawling because this is what we pushed our baby sister to become. Soda came up to me and told me we needed to get her to the hospital.
Nobody's POV
The boys picked their sister up and drove back to Tulsa and to the hospital. All of them crying because they never made her feel cared for or loved. Darry asked to use the phone at the hospital and called his house, where the rest of the gang was waiting to hear if they found Danni or not. Steve answered the phone, besides Danni's brothers Steve was the one that was the most worried about Danni. All of the boys that were left sitting in the living room were wondering what was being said. Steve came back in and said "We are going to the hospital, Danni seems to have gone anorexic on us and fainted as soon as Darry and Soda found her."
Steve's POV
When I heard that Danni was gone I couldn't believe it. All I could think about was the time Ponyboy ran away it was just like that but none of us knew why besides the Curtis brothers. That is what I thought until I found letters for the gang sitting and the bed in Danni's room. Now no one really goes into Danni's room except for something important. So I grabbed the letters to the gang and took to them to the living room. The gangs' letters all read:
Dear whoever,
I know none of you care so it doesn't even matter to you if I leave. I know you all don't really know why my brothers don't talk to me. Well they blame me for my parents' deaths and I can't stay in a place where no one cares so goodbye for some time.
Sincerely,
Danni
At this point no one cared if they were crying. No one could believe that the made Danni leave. That was a week ago and I was still heartbroken because I was the worst to her I told all the boys in school and down at the DX station that she was really a boy and dressed as girl. I feel bad because I really actually only did that to lower the competition and to keep Danni from knowing my affection for her. Now he just felt like a dick with a wrong he couldn't right. Just then the phone rang and I got up to answer it. It was Darry telling me to get everyone to the hospital because Danni was there because she had lost to much weight. I didn't want to go but I had to tell the boys so I told Darry we would be there soon.
Danni's POV
I woke up surround by the gang with tear filled eyes and all I could think is that they were angry tears. So in my oh so tactful way I told them to get out, that I didn't want to see them. They looked hurt but they left and waited by the door. As soon as they were all out of my room I noticed that I was in a hospital hooked up to machine. I thought Darry would kill me because of the bills that he would have to pay and I started to sob I couldn't take being the disappointment. What I hadn't realized is that I said it out loud and all the boys heard and that's when Soda and Pony came bursting in. They said "Danni why on earth would you think that you are a disappointment to us all and why would you think that you aren't loved?"
I replied with "Not one of you talks to me and the only one that does is Darry to tell me I have homework and that meals are ready. You two and the rest of the gang give me the cold shoulder whenever I am around and Steve has told every guy he knows that I am really a boy that dresses as a girl. And you're telling me that I am loved and cared for well then GET OUT." Seeing that I was upset they let with tears in their eyes.
Soda's POV
To hear my baby sister tell me exactly why she felt the way she did it broke my heart. But to hear yell at me Pony to get out broke me even further. As soon as I walked out of her room I collapsed on Darry bawling my eyes out from a broken heart and as soon as I stopped, Steve, my best friend walked out of the hospital with a hurt look on his face as well as one of unconceivable guilt. I couldn't believe that we all did this to her. This was by far worse than what happened with Pony we worked through that but this would take a long time. It was about 17 years of emotional damage that we could never repair. Then as Steve was out of the doors the nurse came out with a letter and news that they had to sedate Danni because she was have a nervous breakdown. The nurse said the letter was for all of us so any of us could read it. The letter read:
Dear everybody,
If you care please don't let me continue down this path of destruction. Also if you care then convince the nurses to at least let my brothers stay(if they even care). I also want you to let Steve know that I love him like a couple would love each other but I know he doesn't see me that way and well I just want him to know
Love ,
Danni Marie Curtis
Just like everything else she wrote it made us heartbroken that she thought we didn't care about her and now we need to tell Steve about Danni's crush on him. Also we need to tell her that Steve really likes her and then Steve walks in with a ton of guys saying that he need to prove that he lied to them. In that moment we all knew he was trying to prove he worth to Danni
Steve's POV
As soon as I heard what Danni had said I know I had to find a way to make this up to her. When I saw Soda's broken expression I knew just what to do. So I left and found all the guys I had told this lie to and I told them I had proof that I had lied to them.
Nobody's POV
As the night when on all the boys went home or stayed and waited for when Danni woke up. Although all of this happened a couple months ago. Now everybody is back at the Curtis house and Pony and Danni have just come back from school. Pony goes and sits with the gang and Danni turns and goes to her room and starts sobbing for what the boys think is no apparent reason except Pony who knows what happened. Before anyone goes back to her they all ask Pony what happened and he says that he can't say. And that's where Darry walks in to hear his baby sister sobbing and he looks at the gang and they shrug their shoulders. He races back to her room and slowly opens the door to find his baby sister in the fetal position hugging her favorite bear from when she was little. She doesn't even notice Darry come in and sit down beside her until she feels his hand on her shoulder. As Darry touches Danni she jumps off the bed and moves away from Darry with a scared look in her eyes. Darry not knowing what to do called for Ponyboy.
Pony's POV
Me and Danni still go to school but we have different classes so it's hard to protect her. So when she ran out of her last hour crying I knew that something was terribly wrong. I finally caught up to my twin and asked her what happened and what I heard was something that Darry would not want to hear. Danni had told me that the teacher had stepped out of the class for awhile and the Socs decided that she was in a position to be raped and so they did just that. I promised I wouldn't tell anyone unless I had her permission. So when we got home I just went sat with the gang while Danni went to her room and started sobbing and everyone asked me what happened and I told them I couldn't say and that's when Darry came home and rushed to Danni's room. After about a minute Darry called for me.
Darry's POV
I called out for Pony when my sister moved to get away from me like I had the plague.
"Ponyboy what happened today at school?" I asked him. He mumbled something that sounded like she got raped so I asked him to repeat what he said.
"Darry the Socs raped her in her last class today," Pony said with a heartbroken expression and I don't blame him it was his twin and he couldn't protect her.
"Oh Danni please let me come near you, no one should have to go through what you have in a life time Danni. Danni I am going to move slowly ok." She nods her head to show she understands and as soon as I get close enough to her she latches her on to me and refuses to let go.