Extremely short one-shot. S.E Hinton owns the Outsiders. :) Happy Holidays!
His breath was a puff of smoky white in the air as snowflakes twirled in the sky. A layer of gray sludge covered the sides of the road, run-down cars spraying the wet slush everywhere as they roared past gray-ish brown buildings and bare, tired-looking trees.
Winter in Tulsa. Not exactly a fairytale wonderland.
A couple little kids ran across the street a few blocks away, dodging the cars honking at them and dashing out of sight, running like their lives depended on it. Who knew what they were running from. Who really wanted to know?
It was almost Christmas, but you could never tell. There were never carollers. Decorations were as rare as diamonds. There were no rosy-faced children laughing in the brilliantly white snow. It sufficed to say that Christmas on the East side of Tulsa was nothing like the movies.
He wondered wryly if Santa Claus would bother coming here, even if he did exist. Here, where the stars were dulled by light pollution and kids grew up too fast. None of them were ever really young enough to believe in things like Santa and the Tooth Fairy and magic. The unforgiving realities of everyday life had stolen that all away. You learned the score before you learned to write.
Still, Ponyboy thought, smiling a crooked smile, winter was nice.
He tilted his head towards the sky, letting icy snowflakes fall on his face. If nothing else, these snowflakes were pure. Each held a wisp of hope, a sliver of the possibility that maybe, someday, they'd unite to turn this violent world a soft, downy white.
They had succeeded before. Once, in Ponyboy's memory. He had been so young he could barely reach the window sill without a chair, but he remembered how the world looked with a blanket of snow covering it all. He remembered thinking that they had fallen into heaven.
And if those amazing snowflakes had done the impossible once, they could do it again. Ponyboy knew it in his heart.
Sure, he was twelve years old, far too old to believe in miracles. But today, just today, he let himself sink into the wonderful dream that just might be possible. Maybe with the snow, everything would get better. Even turn into the perfect neighbourhood of storybooks. Peace and happiness and enough love for the whole wide world. Why not?
It was as if he was seeing it in right in front of him at that very moment. Everything. The neighbourhood was exactly the same as it always was, but it was suddenly completely different through his eyes. Everything would be okay. He just knew it. Everything from his dad's sudden unemployment to Johnny's parents hitting him. It would all be okay.
With the snow, everything would be okay.
Ponyboy laughed. He felt as though he was floating on air.
This place wasn't much. But it was all he'd ever known. He had his family, his buddies who might as well be brothers, and even his dog. As rough as it was, it was home.
And just for now, Pony decided, he could believe it was exactly where he wanted to be.
Reviews would be great. :)