Johnny Cade had snuck out of his house for the very first time. He had been plotting to do so for a while, all because of his abusive parents. He just couldn't stand them anymore. If he tried, he might have died.

His parents were fighting that night, which was no uncommon event. Johnny sat cornered in his room, trying to block out any sounds that may echo up, near his room. He didn't know what they were fighting about, but he didn't care. Most of the time, it didn't matter what it was that they were fighting about, but they always blamed Johnny for it. Johnny would never try to do something to make them come into his room and beat him, but it just happened.

His mother claimed that Johnny was the reason for all of their problems. She says that every bad thing started to happen when he was born. According to her, Johnny was a curse to the family, him and his face.

You see, Johnny Cade wasn't like other people for several reasons, but the main reason why was his face. His face was the cause for all of the beatings and blaming. His face was the reason that he could never go outside. Johnny Cade had a facial disfigurement. Although most of it was centered on his left side and forehead, making it look like a fresh burn, you could see markings on the right side, too. He wasn't born with those markings. Those were caused by his parents.

His parents had blamed him so many times, that he had begun to think that it truly was his fault. He has caused shame towards his parents. There were several rumors going on around town to add onto it. The rumors had different explanations for the Cade household, but there was always one thing that remained constant. Each of them said some creature lived in their house.

Some of the theories had different, marvellous creatures as their explanations. Some say it was a witch, werewolf, or even a vampire in the house. However, the most popular theory was that it is a creature with no certain name, but had a terrible, mangled appearance. Why was it so accepted? Somebody had claimed to see this thing right in one of the windows. The witness saw it snarl at him before disappearing into nothingness.

What had really happened was a Soc, who was trespassing into Greaser territory, looking to jump some greasers with his buddy right beside him. They were both wearing madras shirts and nice coats. They drove up the the Cade house, when he got an unsteady feeling. He looked out of the window to see the house. To him, it looked pretty creepy, but then again, most everyone in the neighborhood thought some wasn't right with the house. He thought he saw movement in one of the windows.

That night, Johnny's parents had finally knocked themselves out and were asleep. However, he remained in his room out of fear, curled up in a corner. His attention was drawn to the curtains on the side of his room. He could see a couple lights trying to burst through the fabric. He had never drawn back the curtains before because his folks would never allow him, and you could only guess what they would do to him if they caught him.

Johnny stood up and cautiously went towards his window, careful not to make a sound. With a delicate hand, he drew back the curtains and peered out into the street, where the Doc's car lay parked in front of his house. It was parked in front of his parents' house. He could see a set of eyes staring at him, and he stared back. The Soc could almost clearly see Johnny. Johnny tilted his head to the side and the soc sped off. That's how that rumor was started.

He was finally free, though. On another night, when his parents were sleeping, he traveled into the kitchen and headed out the back door. He had never experienced the joyful feeling he had right then, but he would soon realize that things wouldn't go exactly how he planned it.

He had no place to go.

Yes, he was free of his parents or go do whatever he wanted to do, but the question was, where was he going to go? He hadn't planned as far as he had gotten. All he knew was that he had to get away from his house, far away. Without thinking, he began to run out as far as he could as fast as he could. He didn't make it far out because, little did he know, a few troublesome Socs were planning to invade the home of the "mangled monster".

The Socs drove onto Johnny's street. The driver was the same Soc that saw Johnny, but he had some reinforcements with him now. That night, they planned to capture Johnny as proof to the others that his stories were true.

"Alright, we're gonna lure that thing out the best we can, but if it doesn't come, we break in there and take it. Got it?" The Soc asked his buddies. They all nodded. He kept driving for a few minutes more.

The Soc stopped his car as soon as they arrived in front of the house, but he kept the headlights on for a moment longer. If he had turned them off a second sooner, it would have been too late. However, the headlights caught something moving several feet away.

"Look!" One of the Socs called out.

The driver looked up at the road, and he saw just the person he was looking for. Johnny Cade had run out in front of the car, and he couldn't turn away from it. The lights captivated and stunned him all the same. The Socs all opened the doors to the car and stepped out.

"Need some help?" The Soc said in an all too friendly manner.

Johnny, misreading the situation, replied, "Y-yes."

The Socs all laughed and Johnny cocked an eyebrow. One Soc called out, "Well, Bob! It looks like your fearful creature can talk after all!"

Johnny's breathing rate increased. He had a bad feeling about this. In an instant, he bolted down the road in the opposite direction.

"GET IT!" the Soc, who's name was revealed to be Bob, called out. All five of the Socs, including Bob, began to run down the road to capture Johnny. Unfortunately, Johnny wasn't exactly the strongest runner, and most of those Socs were jocks on the football team. It wasn't exactly difficult to catch up with the dark headed teen.

Two of the Socs got on both sides of Johnny and grabbed hold of his shoulders, pulling him to the ground. Johnny stifled a yell as he found himself heading for the ground in a moment's notice. His head made contact with the hard pavement, leaving him dizzy and vulnerable. He could barely lift his eyes up to see Bob looming over him with a switchblade in his hand. He was scowling.

"No, no, this will never do," Bob said, flicking his switchblade out. "Why don't we fix your face, Mangle?" Johnny had a feeling that this Bob wouldn't be doing the kind of good fixing to his face. "But first," Bob muttered to him, "SOFTEN UP HIS FACE!" Johnny had an icey feeling in his heart, and he began to struggle from their grip, but they wouldn't let go.

Several of the Socs at one time eagerly began to savagely beat Johnny's face to a bloody pulp. It hurt very badly for a few minutes, but then they began to knock him in and out of consciousness. After that, he couldn't breathe, think, see, or feel anything around him. Everything was red.

"Alright, that's enough, my turn," Bob said, although it sounded distant to Johnny's ears. Johnny tried in vain to look over at Bob, for Bob had placed the cool, sharp blade against Johnny's face, blood trickling down it. All the Socs began to laugh their terrible laugh once again, but this time it was interrupted.

All at once, the loud, angry shouts of the Greasers thundered down upon Johnny's ears. "So many..." Johnny thought silently. The Socs looked up at the impending danger and ran to their car as quickly as they could. Johnny took his chance and blindly started to crawl away until he felt that he would be safe for a little while. He stayed there crawled up until somebody walked by.

Ponyboy Curtis was walking home from the movies that night. He was alone with nobody else with him, which was dangerous for a greaser. It would be so easy for a few Socs to come up and jump him, but Ponyboy didn't think about it. It was too cold to think about anything, and it was pretty late. His brother Darry was going to kill him.

He was so close to his house. To be quick, Pony passed through the empty lot to save time. That was when he heard it. It was a sniffling sound, followed by quiet sobbing. Ponyboy looked around to find the origin of the unusual sound. He spotted a tree not too far away from himself. For a distance, it looked like a dark silhouette of a person was sitting behind it.

Curious, Ponyboy walked over to the tree. The sobbing grew louder the closer he got. Soon, he was able to make out the features of the figure. He was wearing a blue jean jacket and some jeans. His hands, knees, and dark hair were covering his face all too well.

Ponyboy managed to say, "Hey, you alright?"

The stranger jumped and fell to the ground, trying to hide his face in the earth. He started to shake and let out a terrified reply of, "No! Please! No more!" He was truly terrified.

"Hey, hey, I'm not gonna hurt you," Ponyboy said, throwing his hands up and taking a step back. "I'm just wondering if you needed help, that's all."

"Go away," The other said, failing to sound firm.

Ponyboy looked at him, trying to study him, when his eyes landed on the teen's fingers. They were caked with dry blood.

"You've been jumped by some Socs, haven't you?! C'mon, now I really need to help you stop the bleeding or something," Ponyboy exclaimed, genuinely concerned.

"Don't help, useless," the teen said. Ponyboy thought that the guy was about his age, judging from his looks.

"At least let me see how bad it is," Ponyboy said. He grabbed the guy's hand, startling him. He sprang to his feet, but left his hands down. There he stood, where he could be fully seen in the moonlight.