It's been just about a week now since I left home. I hear from Dally every morning and night. Always at 7 am and 9pm. Our phone convocations last about an hour to 2 hours. Today was different. I didn't hear from him this morning. He knew I was coming home tonight. Although, I would've liked to surprise him. I knew he was staying out of trouble because I saw a news paper article mention him, Johnny, and Pony. I left the hotel around 8:45pm. I found a payphone just 10 miles from home. I called the Curtis' house and Two-bit answer.
"Hello?" he said.
"Hey Two-bit, its Rose. I'm ten miles away. When I get to our side of the town, I'll drop by the house then go home to Dal. Thought I'd tell you guys what's going." I replied, getting excited for tonight. There was a silence before two-bit sighed. Two-bit would normally throw jokes like water balloons at anyone and just about everyone. This wasn't the two-bit that I knew.
"You may wanna come spend the night over here." He replied in a hushed tone.
"Whats going on two-bit?"
"I'll tell you when you get here. Be careful while you're driving."
"Okay. See you in a bit."
Right then, we hanged up and I got back into the car. I sat there with nothing on for a minute. What could be going on? I was only gone for a week. Nothing could've happen. Just thinking about it more and more got me worried. I needed to find out. I decided to drive because the thoughts were killing me. I wanted to know but I didn't at the same time. The street lights started to fade in the distance as I drove past them. I finally arrived at the Curtis' house. I got out of the car and walked up to the front door. I just stood there, frozen. I knew I had to stop running from the fears of mine and face reality. I open the door to see the boys. They were all beaten up. I only saw four out of the seven boys. Darry was sitting in the chair with his knuckles cut up. Soda was sitting on the floor facing the window. He got blood on face and a black eye. Steve had the same thing but mixed with mud. He did look tuff. And Two-bit was sitting at the kitchen table with a beer. When the screen door closed behind me, I got all of their attention. "What happen to you guys?" I said worriedly.
"We got into a rumble ." Darry said.
"We won too. Chased them out of here." Steve added on.
"Why were y'all in a rumble?" I asked
"Johnny killed a soc." Soda replied. Johnny killed a soc? Something so sweet and innocent like him killed a soc. That was something I couldn't belivie.
"How's Johnny doing? Is he okay?" I asked. By the time I asked Soda got up and gesture me to sit on the sofa. I didn't feel like putting up a fight, so I did what soda asked me to do. Soda wasn't smiling, Two-bit wasn't cracking jokes. My heart skipped a beat and fell thru my stomach. Now I know something isn't right.