The Letter that Changed My Life, an outsiders fanfic

As I walked home from the DX station I had only one thing on my mind: what was in our mailbox. I was worried about getting my draft notice. Steve had gotten his letter earlier this morning so I figured it was only a matter of time before I got mine. As I passed by the vacant lot I thought:

How many times had Johnny slept there?

Easy Soda, I thought as my eyes began to cloud, don't start crying in public now.

I reached our house and headed toward our mailbox, which had a huge dent in it thanks to Two-Bit driving into in with his rattletrap of a car. I pulled out a pile of letters. Most of them were bills that needed to be paid. Heating, hydro, electricity, I'd seen them all before. Below them were three paychecks, one for me and two for Darry. It was then that I saw it. Below the paychecks was a crisp, clean white envelope with my name and address written neatly in the centre. Stamped in the left corner was the logo for the US Army. I slowly opened the letter. Another identical US Army logo was stamped in the exact same spot. Written across the top of the letter was ORDER TO REPORT FOR ARMED FORCES PHYSICAL EXAMINATION. Below that was my name and a date and place to report to for the examination. On the bottom of the letter was an important notice with instructions of how the examination would take place and when I could expect to hear from the army. I couldn't believe it; just couldn't believe it. I was going to fight in 'Nam and kill a bunch of innocent boys like myself who probably didn't want to be there as much as I did. Hell, I might even die there. I wished there were a way to flunk the examination without getting some rare disease or physically injuring myself. I sat there stiff and still as a stone and thought about 'Nam till I gave myself a headache. That was when Ponyboy came home.

"Hey Soda," he called. "Okay, I haven't seen you still this still in your entire life, what's up?"

"Oh, Pony," I moaned. "I've been drafted"

"What?" Pony cried, "No, no, this isn't happening, this isn't happening"

I could see plain as day that Ponyboy was on the verge of tears. I pulled him next to me on the couch and stroked his hair, comforting him with a gentle "Shh" as he sobbed onto my shoulder. I felt my heart break inside my chest as I fought back my own tears.

He shouldn't have to go through this, I thought miserably, he's already lost his parents, his best friend, and his good buddy.

Don't start crying Sodapop Curtis, I thought, you'll scare him.

We sat like that for a long time. Before we knew it, Darry had come home.

"What's wrong, guys?" he asked concerned.

"S-Soda's b-been d-drafted" Pony stammered.

"Oh my God" Darry whispered.

He looked at me with saddened eyes and I swear as soon as he did I burst into tears. Darry just sat down and comforted me the same way I was comforting Ponyboy. After we all calmed down and quit crying Darry very hoarsely said:

"I am so sorry Sodapop,"

"For what?" I wondered.

"For not having enough money to move to Canada to escape the draft,"

We softly and sadly laughed.

"Soda, I need you to remember two things while you're in Vietnam," Darry instructed. "One, try to stay alive as best you can; we don't want to lose you to this godforsaken war. And two, we love you so much little buddy"

"I love you guys too," I whispered.

I would keep Darry's words in my heart and I knew if I should die over there that at least I tried my best to survive and that I would always love my brothers with a love that no war could ever stop.