A/N: I really hope you like, and can make some inferences about this chapter.

His Sixth Sense

July 30th, 1964 (eight days after Ponyboy Curtis' fourteenth birthday)

There is no way in hell that I can do this anymore.

I remember those being my thoughts on that day. The house was a mess, a social worker was coming the next morning, Sodapop had just told me the day before that he wasn't going back to school when summer was over, and Ponyboy was who knows where.

Honestly. Where was that kid?

He had been gone since I woke up. And at that point, it was around two in the afternoon. I tried to keep my cool, since I had been yelling at Ponyboy more lately. And he probably didn't really need me yelling at him, especially with mom and dad's deaths being so fresh. But it just seemed like he was more dreamy and out of it than usual. I would always find him staring off into space, or not listening when someone else (especially me) was talking to him.

I needed a new job. My current one at a fast food restaurant wasn't really doing the trick. Not at all. I had finally been given the final okay to be allowed to keep my brothers at the court case a week before. Which meant that I now needed to prove that I deserved to keep them. Which meant I needed money.

In high school, I worked for a roofing company. And I was going to go and talk to my old boss, and ask him if there were any work spots open. But I was too nervous to leave the house, in case Ponyboy called and needed something.

Boy, was that kid in some deep trouble.

It felt eerie being alone in my house. None of the gang was there, my parents were dead, Sodapop was at the DX, filling out job paperwork, and my youngest brother was MIA. I sat down at the kitchen table with my face in my hands.

I whipped my head up when I heard the front door creak open slowly. In came Ponyboy, looking pale, with overlarge eyes. He looked to the left, and then to the right before fully coming in. Then he spotted me. And I know for a fact that I looked pissed.

"Hi Darry." he said meekly.

I didn't skirt around the issue. "Where have you been?"

He shut the door behind him, and then began fiddling with his T-shirt. "The park."

I frowned. "The park?"

"Yeah, the one with the fountain."

I frowned even deeper. It seemed like I was always frowning. "How long were you there? Were you by yourself?"

He shook his head. "Not the entire time. Me and Johnny met up there this morning. His folks are fighting pretty bad."

Poor Johnny. He was just living proof that some of the best people have the most rotten luck. I couldn't get mad at Pony for helping Johnny out. He was just being a buddy. But I could get mad that he didn't tell me about going to the park, and for staying there by himself after Johnny left.

"You said not the entire time. When did Johnny leave?"

"Couple hours ago."

"And you stayed?"

Ponyboy looked at me imploringly, like he wanted to tell me something. "Yes."

I caught that look on his face. My feet moved closer to him, and he looked as if he wanted to take a step back. "Did something happen?"

He didn't answer. Instead, his eyes found something over my shoulder. They became extremely wide, and his mouth gasped in horror. I turned around quickly, thinking some intruder was possibly in the house. My eyes flicked to the spot under the couch where I hid my gun, before I saw nothing at all in my sight. The kitchen, and front room was completely empty except for myself and Ponyboy. I turned back around to face him.

He was still looking over my shoulder, completely frozen with horror. "What are you looking at?" I asked, a little frightened. "There isn't anything there!"

Seeming to have not heard me, Pony stumbled backwards with a little cry, and hit into the small cabinet in the living room. I caught him by the forearm before he could trip and fall over it, and stopped the cabinet from crashing to the ground with my other arm.

I opened my mouth to question his strange behavior, but stopped short when he launched his small, newly fourteen-year-old self at me; his arms became vice-like around my waist.

"Pony – what the – "

He hid his face in my side like a little child. I was beyond surprised, because Pony, never, ever acted like that. Well, not with me at least. Maybe sometimes he would show Soda how much something upset him, but I wasn't the first person he went to. I think I made Pony nervous. I didn't exactly blame him, because I was a lot older and that was bound to intimidate him. But I did love him a lot. I just don't think I understood how to show it very well.

"Oh my gosh – oh my – oh my – " he let go of my waist, and ran further into the living room. I was absolutely, in every way, bewildered. But that hot, terrifying feeling settled back into my stomach. It was the same feeling I experienced the night Pony had the nightmare that decided his visit to the doctor's office. The feeling that something might possibly be wrong with my kid brother's mind. Something that I couldn't fight.

I crossed over to him at lightning speed, putting both of my hands on either side of his face. "What is it?! What is the matter?"

He finally quit looking at places with nothing in them, and looked into my face. A strange kind of understanding came into his eyes. He was completely bloodless.

"Nothing," he said very, very quietly. "I just – realized something."

"Realized what?" I demanded.

He swallowed, looking like tears were coming. "Nothing."

"What do you mean nothing? You just had a freak attack. It was obviously something." I took my hands off the sides of his face, and moved them to the tops of his arms.

"I can't tell you. You wouldn't understand."

It was just seven words. Only seven words. But it had around the same effect that the three words 'I hate you' did on my mother when I said them to her. What a childish brat I was, and what I would give to take it back. I don't even remember what she did to cause me to say those words. It was something about her not driving me somewhere right when I wanted her to. But I do remember her crying in her bedroom, and my father knocking me in the head for the first, and last time in my entire life. No one made his wife cry.

The effect on me hurt worse than I will ever tell anybody. At that time, I knew mine and Pony's relationship was strained. But I was trying my best, and I thought that he saw that. But he couldn't tell me what was on his mind. I wouldn't understand, he said. And that left me at a bit of a loss. All that remained, sadly, was fury.

I let go of him. "I wont understand? Fine," Pony's hands shook. "Go in your room then, if I can't understand anything."

Tears leaked out of Pony's eyes. "Darry –"

"You heard me. In your room. Unless you can tell me what the hell just happened." I knew I was being mean, and I knew I was being irrational, but those damn seven words really just hit me hard. And unfortunately, my emotions decided to come out on the kid.

"Darry, please – "

"You heard me," I grabbed him by the arm, and moved him a little. "To your room."

He resisted me, his eyes becoming larger at the sight of the open door to his room. "Darry, wait. Please, don't."

"Not until you tell me."

"I can't tell you!"

"Then you can be in your room! I don't want to see you!"

I put him through the open door, and closed it. Before it closed, I caught one last glimpse of his innocent, horrified face. I wondered in that moment what the hell was wrong with me.

I walked slowly away from the door, hearing him call out, "Darry, Darry!" But I couldn't let him come out. If I let him come out, he would walk all over me. At least, that was what I managed to rationalize.

Silence soon rang throughout the house, crushing me. Pony soon stopped calling for me. I sat down on the couch, turning on the television; I just needed some noise. Maybe Dallas would come over, or Two-Bit. Two-Bit was always good when you just needed to be cheered up.

A couple hours passed, and Pony did not ask to come outside. A painful knot was settled in my gut.

Once the sun had finally begun to set, Soda burst in through the door. I turned to look at him, happy for him to be there, with me.

"He hired me!" Soda said jovially. "I'm hired!"

I stood up. "That's great, little buddy. Real great! When do you start?"

His eyes scanned around for Pony. "Tomorrow morning. At seven."

I tried to distract him from asking the question that was sure to come. "What about Steve? Did he get such luck?"

"Yeah – yeah, but he is working part-time. Hey, Darry, where is – "

"How's your boss? Does he seem like a good guy?"

"Yeah, he liked me. Where is – "

"What is his name?"

"Jackson Calvins. Is – "

"When do you start?" I felt heat on the back of my neck.

Soda smiled slightly. "Darry, you already asked that."

Damn.

"Do you know where Ponyboy is?"

I leaned against the wall, defeated. "Yeah, he's in his bedroom."

Lordy, Pony was gonna sell me out to Soda. I felt so bad for how I treated him, and now Soda was gonna hate me for it as well.

Soda nodded, and knocked on Pony's door. "Hey, ba-aby," he said happily. I peeked behind him, to see what my youngest brother was doing in there.

He was sitting on his bed with his legs straight out, and ankles over one another. A book sat in his hands. He looked perfectly normal, but when he looked up at Soda, and saw me standing in the doorway, I saw that his eyes were red around the edges. He also looked sort of sick.

Soda's glowing expression darkened when he saw Pony. "Hey," his voice was incredibly gentle. "What's the matter, kiddo?"

Pony looked to me with slight fear. I felt like a complete prick. "Nothing," he said quickly. "Nothing."

Soda squinted his eyes, and ruffled Pony's hair. "Well, I got the job. Things are gonna be better now. We wont be so dirt poor."

Ponyboy nodded, trying to look happy for his brother. But I knew, and understood what was going on inside him. Or, at least I thought I did.

Life goes on. And it certainly did after that day. But ever since then, Pony and my relationship changed. Forever. It did get better, and we learned to understand each other. But it never was innocent again. If that makes sense. Does it?

And what's more, Soda never found out about my treatment of our kid brother. Neither of us ever told him.

I would certainly dig some reviews :)