Hello! This is my first fanfiction, so if you're reading this I thank you kindly and love you for supporting my endeavors in this field.

My name is Ponyboy Curtis. I say that in my head, over and over again, because it's the only thing I can logically cling to right now. I could add onto that sentence, "My world is falling apart right now." But, I don't think that's good for my mental sanity at this moment.

I sit in the hard chair of a social services office as I wait for my social worker, Mr. Carson, to come out of his office with my brothers.

Mr. Carson is a tall guy, he's always wearing suits and he's very stuck up, very soc like. I don't care for him or his personality much; ever since my last social work retired he's been nothing for trouble for me and my brothers. I think he doesn't want Darry to have a kid in the house, I don't know why, the only bad influence was Dally and he's been dead for two years. Maybe he just doesn't like me.

Mr. Carson and Darry, along with Soda walk out of the tiny office that they'd been in for nearly twenty minutes, there wasn't anything special about the office, no pictures, nothing, just a couple of chairs and a desk. Darry's face was the first I saw, a firm, and unchanging line of indifference. I saw his eyes next and that's when I knew, I knew that Mr. Carson had won. I was leaving Tulsa, I was leaving home, and I was leaving Soda. Soda's face I saw next, a sad frown spread across his face. His eyes held quiet pain, like Johnny's used to have. And that's when I was for sure, I knew I was leaving.

I wasn't afraid of leaving Tulsa alone, no; I knew that I didn't belong here. Ever since I was little, I had felt like I was a refugee to this town, like I wasn't meant to be here. I felt like this town, the house I'd grown up in, the family I lived with, didn't belong to me. This whole world is so temporary anyway. But, my existence in this town was even more so than it was in this world.

The words pass Darry's lips, I barely hear him. An hour to pack, and then I'll be going to another town. We got in the truck, somewhere along the years the muffler had broken and it was loud. I barely heard it still. Soda had been crying for some time, Darry still was a picture of indifference, and I was a sober sixteen year old.

We eventually made it home; by the time we did I only had forty minutes left to pack. I placed a hand on the gate latch and paused for a minute, the house paint was peeling, the fence was rusted and coming up in places. I'd never noticed it before; I had just been passing through the house, the town, never paying any mind to it. My feet moved up the cracked sidewalk and into the living room of the house, frayed furniture, a knocked over lamp, and Mickey Mouse was playing. My body continued down the hall to my room, messy bed, books all over the floor, and clothes everywhere. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes; the air felt strange to me, it was colder and indifferent. I knew then that I'd let go of this house, of this town.

The packing was a quiet affair, Soda sobbed as he hugged me and I cried too as I said good bye, I love Soda. I do, I swear. But, I know I'll see him again in a couple of years. I hugged Darry and said good bye, I could see the pain in his eyes. But, I know he knows too. Mr. Carson's at my previous home soon enough and I'm leaving. I turned around at the front gate, and closed my eyes, but felt no sorrow at the good bye.

My eyes opened, and I was in the car, fingers trailed on the glass as we drove through the town that I now noticed was run down and dying.

We passed the faded "Welcome to Tulsa." I touched my hand to the glass, and closed my eyes for the last time.

One last time. One last time I leave Tulsa.