Ponyboy could vividly remember the day like it had just been a week ago, and somehow not already a mighty eight months ago. The morning had been brisk and easy as always, their parents stated they were heading into town for shopping and had told the boys they could return soon. Ponyboy slept in, as his brothers readied themselves for the day. Though, it had been no more than an hour later when they were interrupted, the phone calls coming in. He could recall his two older brothers' panicked shouting over the phone at an equally puzzled police officer who was not giving them the information they yearned for. It was the first time he had ever heard Darry yell out of anger.
"Where are they?"
"Will they make it?"
These were the two main questions that quietly followed the once innocent 13-year-old boy as he was hurriedly shoved and strapped into the back of the family's T-bird. It had been frigidly cold outside, causing Ponyboy to shudder in the chilly weather before he could even make it out to the driveway. As they pulled out, he could observe the glistening ice lining snow covered streets, his oddly tired eyes staring out of the back window of the busted old car. Clambering down the highway, it almost seemed as if they may crash a car themselves before they could even see the horrible extent of the accident that had occurred.
Their father's once pristine car had suffered a massive blow to its side, before spinning out of control and colliding with oncoming traffic. A tragedy, to say the least. As expected, neither of their parents had managed to survive the massive collision. Not that any of the brothers had high hopes before even reaching the scene of the crash. Ponyboy supposed he should have been bawling like Sodapop, or fuming with confused anger like Darry, but he simply felt nothing. Perhaps shock, yes, but he couldn't pull out any true emotions. It was as if someone had vacuumed all of the love he had for his parents from his heart. But boy, did Soda's pitiful cries rattle his heartstrings. Swallowing nervously, Ponyboy felt oddly more depressed about hearing his happy-go-lucky older brother sob so heavily for the first time in a very long time.
But, of course, Sodapop always had been his favorite.
After the news came out to the public, and the days turned into weeks, it seemed as though everything in the Curtis household had become grimy and unfit. What was once a loud and vibrant home had been reduced to a shell of what it once was. The once friendly and handsome expression that the second eldest son had constantly wore before their parent's untimely death seemed to have left him completely, as he found no comfort in the things he may have loved to do before. He had become much more quiet and reserved, though nobody would dare mention it. Such a thing would break his heart even further.
To Ponyboy, it seemed the only time of day where Sodapop didn't seem like a lifeless corpse was just before sleep. As the two laid in their bed together, even the silence was no issue to the boy. The sound of their quiet breathing as the two tried to ease to sleep was enough to keep Ponyboy occupied, always subconsciously trying to match up their breathing patterns. He had always been the one to follow in his older brother's footsteps. Until that point, of course. When he now even felt pity for his once tough and tuff sibling. Thinking about Soda as a whole made him reminisce, about their childhood which was not too far behind them, as well as their futures.