A/N: S. E. Hinton owns all rights to the characters in The Outsiders and her other stories, I only own my imagination. Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been working on another story, but I'm hesitant to publish it here, since it doesn't fit within The Outsiders archive.

I woke with a start as a spider crawled up my nose. After making sure said spider was killed as quietly as possible , I rolled onto my side where I found the gun. It really happened. I killed that boy and now we were on the lam. My other pocket held the fifty dollars. That's all we had from our former lives- a shirt that was too big, a gun, and fifty dollars. Some souvenirs, huh.

I didn't have the heart to wake Pony up. He looked so peaceful when he slept, like none of this had happened and we were back in Tulsa. But it had, and it was my fault. A kid like him shouldn't have to deal with stuff like this. I shouldn't have even brought him along, really. I don't know what I was thinking, or if I was thinking. He should've stayed back home so his brothers wouldn't worry about him. Deep down, I knew my folks wouldn't give a damn, but Darry and Soda were probably worried sick.

He shivered slightly as a breeze grazed his cheek, and I took off my jacket. It wouldn't keep him too warm, but it would cut down on whatever chill there was in the fall air. I tucked it around his shoulders before looking around. I had to find some way to write him a note, and the only paper I had was money. The floor was covered in a few inches of dust, which would be better than nothing, so I wrote clumsily: Went to get supplies. Be back soon. I debated on whether or not I should sign it, but I ended up initialing it anyway. I don't know why, I guess it just looked right. I took one last look at him to make sure he wouldn't go anywhere before cutting out for Windrixville.

The little store I stopped in wasn't anything more than a Mom and Pop joint, but it sure had a lot of things we'd need. I got two loaves of bread and lots of bologna- it was cheap and easy fixings, then I stocked up on cigarettes, matches, candy bars, and pop. Everything was just laying there waiting for somebody like Two-Bit to come along. He would've really made a haul there. I missed the gang something awful. I looked around for a bit, mentally checking off a list of things we'd really need, when I saw a bottle of peroxide. Of course! They'd have our descriptions in the papers for sure, and we couldn't fit 'em if we changed our hair up. I snagged it, stuffing it between the bread and bologna. Maybe I should get peanut butter too. I thought. Seeing a deck of cards, I smiled to myself. It would sure help the time go by fast. Maybe I'd get real good at poker. After I'd picked out a ton of other things, I made my way to the counter.

"Having a party, son?"

"Yeah." I didn't like lying to the guy, but it was better than admitting what I'd done.

"Okay, will you be needing anything else?"

My eyes scanned the store for anything else I could possibly think of needing- bait for fishing lines and traps was out of the question, nobody needed a birthday card, I didn't need any SPAM, since I'd already gotten plenty, but those books over by the window looked promising. There were lots of titles I'd never heard of before- mostly pulp novels and magazines, but there was one that caught my eye.

Once, the theater near us was showing old movies as a gimmick to get people to come, so Pony and I went together. There was tons of 'em playing: It Happened One Night, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, I Was a Male War Bride, Gaslight, Buck Privates, and Gone With the Wind. We got tickets for Gone With the Wind, since Pony seemed interested in that one, and we took our seats way in the back. I don't remember if we got anything like popcorn, or not. All I remember was the look on his face there in the flickering darkness. He was completely wrapped up in that movie, and honestly, so was I. It was a real long film, much longer than I thought it'd be, but it was well worth it, just to see how happy he was.

So, when I saw that book sitting there, I knew I had to get it. It would bring back good memories for us both. I walked back over to the counter with it, plopping it on top of everything else, and said "This too, please?"