Disclaimer: I do not 'The Outsiders' but I do own Kim and the plot.
A/N This is chapter one revised, nothing much different but mopiece pointed out some mistakes to me and gave me some advice on how to make the chapter better. I plan on having the next chapter up and ready sometime Saturday or before! Hang tight!
Chapter One
I sighed and pulled my jacket closer to my body. It was getting colder every night and was making the walk back to my apartment close to unbearable. I hurried along the sidewalk of the east side of Tulsa. I wasn't a greaser per say, yet I sure as hell wasn't no damned Soc. I was happy being middle class. There actually wasn't that much of a difference between middle class and greasers anyway. Then again it all relies on who you're comparing… but generally speaking the only difference was less grease and just a little more income. Not much more. In fact most middle class families either hung on the edge of being a greaser or a Soc. I myself was closer to the greaser side of Tulsa.
I mumbled curses under my breath as the heavens opened up and it started to rain quite profusely. Pulling the collar of my coat up high to cover my neck, I started to walk faster. There was only about four blocks left until I reached the front lobby of my apartment building. I was coming up to the empty lot that I had walked by many times before when I spared it a fleeting glance. It was hard to see in the pitch dark with my only light being the old and battered lamp post, but I was able to make out the bulky form that could only belong to a body. It saddened me greatly that yet another young boy had probably died. All the young boys around here ran around with their friends in gangs. Useless and destructive is what I thought of them. That's why I never really conversed with anyone from the east side…or in all of Tulsa for that matter.
A movement from the corner of my eye brought my attention back to the body that I had presumed to be dead. I looked at it once again and jumped back a little in surprise. It had moved! Not very much but it had moved. The movement was then followed by a soft and almost inaudible groan. Rain pelted my face as I stood staring intently at the form. It hadn't moved for a while now and I was starting to think that it was just a figment of my imagination. But I was soon proved wrong as I watched as the figure tried to pull it's self up, but failed and fell stiffly back to the now muddy ground.
"Shit," I muttered and sprinted over to the body. Hood or not, they didn't deserve to die out in the freezing rain. My shoes got soaked as I ran through the mud puddles and over to where the body had collapsed. As I approached the body I realized that it was just a young kid. He was in just a short sleeved shirt and a ripped pair of jeans and both were covered in mud and what looked to be blood. If he wasn't dead already then he sure as hell was close to it. He was going to catch hypothermia at the rate he was going. I stepped closer to where the boy was curled up on his side. From the angle that his head was curled into his chest I couldn't see much of his face or upper torso. I squatted down next to him and placed my hand on his shoulder, shaking gently.
"Hey," I whispered gently. "Are you alright kid?" in response I got nothing but a pained grunt from the kid. I sighed and shook his shoulder a little harder, but still trying to be as gentle as possible. "Hey," I repeated. The boys eyes snapped opened and my pale green eyes were soon met with big brown eyes that were filled with fear. The moment he seemed to register that I was touching him, or hell that I was even that close to him, he used all the strength left in him to push me backwards away from him. Being caught off guard, I fell back into a mud puddle and landed hard on my ass. I was shocked to say the least as I just sat there and watched as the boy tried to get as far away as possible. I was not expecting that reaction out of him. Snapping out of my initial shock I went to raise myself back into a standing position when I saw that he flinched when I had moved. He must still be scared, poor kid. He didn't look any older than fourteen. I stopped my movement and sunk back into the mud that was now starting to soak me to the bone, along with the rain that was coming down even harder now. It was making it almost impossible to see the young boy that was a mere four feet in front of me.
So we sat in the rain and mud for what seemed like an eternity just staring at each other. His face was bruised, bloody and beaten. He was still partially lying down, obviously in too much pain to actually stand up and get away from me. From what I could tell from his position is that it was hurting him to breathe as he kept getting a pained expression every time he inhaled air. So he more than likely had broken or bruised ribs. I sighed, we both needed to get out of this weather and quick. I put my hands up in front of me in surrender as I moved to sit on my knees. He flinched violently as I moved but I ignored it.
"Hey, just hang lose for me. I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to help." I cooed to him. It was just like trying to calm a frightened puppy. I looked him in the eyes to show him I meant what I was saying. He looked at me with his big, frightened, brown eyes that were being covered by his dark hair that was plastered to his face from the rain. "Alright, sweetie. I'm going to get up now. I promise that I am not going to hurt you." I said gently as I started to rise up to my feet slowly, as to not scare him any more than he already was. I stood up and I was happy to see that he didn't flinch at all. "I'm coming over to you now. Please don't be frightened, I promise nothing bad is going to happen."
He seemed to finally accept that I was going to help him as he nodded his head, but I was no fool. I could see the fear in his eyes. I took the three steps that were between us and then I crouched down to where I was almost eye level with him. I was inches away from his face now and he looked like he so desperately wanted to pull back away from the closeness, yet he didn't. I don't know if it was because he gave up or if it was because he was physically unable to move at this point. Either way, it didn't matter to me. I smiled softly before reaching my hand out towards his face. He flinched so badly to the point where he almost completely fell away from me. I gave him another gentle smile and as gently as I could muster I combed the hair out of his eyes. He looked up at me surprised, as though he suspected me to hurt him. Running my hand softly down his face I lifted his chin up a little bit towards me. "You're safe now."
He did nothing in response besides stare at me incredulously.
"Alright, I need you to be tough for me you dig? I ain't gonna lie, it's gonna hurt when I start to lift you up but I need you to help me as much as you can." I whispered in his ear. He nodded in response. "Okay on the count of three I'm going to lift you as gently as I can." He nodded once more. I placed my hands under his arm pits and braced myself to lift him. "One-two-three." I lifted with all of my strength, he lifted with what strength he had left and we were able to get him to stand up. Bracing myself for all of his weight, I took his arm and wrapped it around my neck and placed my other hand around his waist. Luckily I was about the same height as him so it wouldn't be too hard for him to lean on me and walk. "Awesome job sweetie," I encouraged him, but it fell on deaf ears as he seemed to be fading out of consciousness again. "Oh, come on don't flake on me! You have to be awake for at least four more blocks. I can't carry you by myself." I pleaded with him. He didn't say anything in response but I could tell that he wasn't out just yet.
Making sure my grip on him was secure, I started walking back out to the sidewalk with him. He wasn't moving much but he was at least picking up his feet ever so slightly so I didn't have to drag him. But to my dismay, he was almost unconscious because every time I glanced at him his eyes were closed tightly and his head kept rolling unto my shoulder. At first he would pick his head back up off my shoulder as quickly as possible, but not anymore.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I reached the doors to my apartment building. I was close to exhaustion and he was already unconscious. The only thing I had to worry about now was getting him into my apartment and keeping him alive. My supposed ten minute walk home from work had turned into an hour long rescue mission.
