That night, I lay awake starin' at the ceilin', wishin' I was anywhere but here. This place made me feel too safe, and I didn't like that one bit. I was used to danger and trouble. This wasn't my style. Waiting a few days here for Darry to come get us was too long for me. I'm sure Johnny and Soda felt the same way, if not worse, but they had the ability to put up with it, unlike me. Stubborn me! If it was one thing I was good at, it was sneaking out of the house at night. I'm sure if I was anywhere near as efficient as I was at home, I could probably pull it off here as well. I thought about it for a long while before acting upon anything.
What about the broad iron gates? I asked myself as I reviewed the premise in my mind. They were enclosed everything. The only exit was through the front gate and that wasn't good enough. There had to be some other way to get by unnoticed. At this point, I'd wing it because I was sure I was missing some major details of the map I had in my head.
I sat up in bed, glancing around the room and out the window. Shoot, lamps. This was gonna make things a bit more complicated. I sighed in thought. I squinted my eyes as they followed the path to a heavily guarded door inside the gate. By heavily guarded I meant with about a dozen locks attached to it. I had the strange suspicion that it wasn't gonna be much of a problem.
I was still dressed, which was one less thing I had to do. I stood up from the bed and grabbed the sack I stored everything in. I began throwing stuff inside the bag. I heard Johnny stir in bed.
"Pony?" He asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, "Where ya goin', man?"
"Home, Johnny. I'm goin' home." I said firmly without even looking at him.
"Ya can't!" Johnny sat up, "They'll catch yuh."
Soda rolled over in his sleep, "Keep it down, please."
"Soda!" I yelled as he almost fell off the bed.
His eyes shot open as he clung onto the bed.
"Guess I'm not used to a bed like this." He joked. His smile faded when he saw me packing, "What're you doin'?"
I didn't respond. I knew that he realized just what I was doing.
"Pony, stop!" Soda tossed the covers off of him and approached me.
"I'm goin' home, Soda." I started, "Ain't nothin' you can do to stop me!"
Soda knew how persistent I could be. He sighed, knowing that he'd only be wasting his energy if he continued scolding me.
"Well, little bro, if you ain't gonna stay, then I'm comin' with ya." Soda said smoothly.
"Yeah, me too." Johnny said getting outta bed.
I was taken aback.
"You, you will?" I asked, almost forgetting what I was doing just then.
"Ya think I wanna stay here anymore than you do? Naw." Soda responded, fetching his bag from under the bed.
This may be more difficult than I thought. I could do it no problem if it was just me. Now Soda and Johnny wanna come along for the ride. I took a deep breath.
"You all right there, Pony?" Johnny asked, patting me on the back.
I nodded, "Yeah. I think so."
I tied everything up. I made sure the picture I brought with me was in the safest spot in the sack. I moved over to the window. Soda and Johnny were directly behind me.
"See that o'er there?" I asked, pointing towards the gated door.
"Mm-hm." I heard them mutter.
"We gotta get to that." I informed them.
I raised open the window a tiny bit, making sure it didn't trigger no alarm. When nothin' happened, I raised it fully and stepped one foot through the window. I turned around briefly.
"Wait 'til I give you the signal." I ordered. I was about to swing my other leg through the window when I felt a tug on it.
"Pony, wait." Soda stopped me, "Maybe I should go."
"I'll be okay, Sode." I smiled.
He was very hesitant at the idea, but let go of my foot anyway.
I jumped to the ground, almost making no sound whatsoever once I hit the ground. I peered out from behind the wall of the house. A guard seemed to be on his way over here. I ducked under a small bush that concealed me completely. I motioned Soda to close the window and duck. I heard the thud of the window closing. I watched from underneath the bush, shoes from the guard passing by. I moved my arm, slightly and the bush shook a little. I covered my mouth as the guard seemed to hear it. My heart thudded against my chest even more. I feared maybe he could hear that as well. I closed my eyes tightly, hoping this would all pass soon.
I heard a faint, "Hm." from the guard as he moved away from me and the bush. I wanted to roll over onto my back in relief, but didn't have the time. I threw an arm up into the air, signaling them to re-open the window. Everything was going according to plan now. I waited until the guard was a good half a'mile away until I exposed myself from under the bush. I tip-toed over to the other side of the street, er path, er whatever it was. The lamp was wide enough to press my entire body against it and not be seen. Looking both ways again, I beckoned Soda and Johnny to follow. Thankfully, they weren't any louder than I was. We rendezvoused at the lamp, the door wasn't that far away. I quietly approached it. It was chained together, and it appeared warn out and rusty, like it had been untouched for a good fifteen years. I sighed, this was never going to work. I studied how tall the fence was. It was at most maybe eight feet in height, I could climb that easily. It was Johnny I was worried about. Soda at least had some athleticism in him. Johnny was thin and almost breakable.
"We gotta climb." I said with one hand against the fence.
"What?" Soda exclaimed.
"We have no choice. If we wanna get out, this is what we gotta do!" I turned to face Johnny, "You okay with this?"
He didn't respond for a couple seconds, "I'll be all right."
"All right." I dragged my eyes to the top of the fence. Well, here goes nothin'!
I swung my other arm up and grabbed the next hole in the fence. Soda followed closely behind me. I managed to make it to the top, it was the drop I was scared of. I closed my eyes and let go. I landed with a thud and surprisingly on my feet. Before Soda made it up the fence, I heard the threatening sound of keys dangling.
"Hurry up!" I hissed in a whisper. Now I was terrified. Who knew what would happen if we were caught!
Now it was Johnny's turn to climb over. I saw him reach up, trying to keep his balance. I knew he would struggle some. My body trembled, fearing he would not make it over in time. My foot tapped nervously on the ground. Johnny knew how serious this was and was trying his best to climb faster.
I knew we were all doomed once Johnny lost balance and his leg slipped out from under him.
"C'mon, Johnny!" I encouraged him, "You can do it!"
I tried to make it sound as encouraging as possible even though it was more of a 'get over here or we're dead!' type statement.
He clung to the fence tightly with both hands. I saw him look down.
"I can't do it, Pony!" Johnny cried.
"Yes you can, Johnny, just keep goin'!" I yelled after him.
The sound of jingling was gettin' closer now. My breathing started to rapidly increase. I couldn't let Johnny get left behind, I just couldn't!
Instinctively I lunged upward and proceeded to climb to the top of the fence again.
"Johnny, take my hand!" I reached as far out as I possible could.
Soda grabbed onto my leg which was about to slip out.
Johnny feebly stretched out his hand and it connected with mine. I helped pull him up, but he still had to try to climb. I gritted my teeth pretty hard, trying to get him across safely. With only one arm pulling him in, he was pretty heavy.
"Jump, Johnny, jump!" I commanded, frantically. I watched as he did just that. Then I proceeded to let go of the fence, but didn't get too far.
I felt a tight grip on my right wrist.
"Ponyboy!" I heard both Soda and Johnny cry out.
I was too afraid to see who it was. I didn't wanna scream, but I couldn't help it, I was scared to death. I cringed in fear and pain as I dangled over the fence.
"You ain't goin' nowhere, boy!" A gruff voice shook me violently. The guard was a colossal man, nearly as tall as the fence itself. He was muscular, otherwise he wouldn't be able to hold my weight with one hand.
"Git yer hands off him!" Soda cried as he and Johnny attempted to grab both of my feet and apply all the weight they could to help me.
"Soda!" I bawled.
"I ain't gonna let'chu go, Pony!" He pulled down even harder.
I felt my arm slip from his grasp slightly. It was working!
"Pull harder!" I shrieked, gritting my teeth even more in pain. I was surprised I hadn't chipped a tooth yet. My arm was holding my body weight plus Johnny and Soda's. I thought my arm was just gonna rip off. I'm pretty sure I pulled about every muscle in my right arm by now. There I was, dangling about eight feet off the ground. I noticed that if I were to drop down, I'd probably break somethin' anyway. I groaned in so much pain, it was unbearable!
I sweated so much that it lubricated my wrist even more some. The man grunted as he began to fully lose his grip on me. I used my left hand to pull myself downward as well, hoping that it would help get him to let go. I felt like a rope in the middle of a tug-a-war game or somethin'. Hell, maybe this would even help me grow and inch once this is over with.
Suddenly, my arm slipped out of his hold and the three of us collided to the ground. I couldn't think about pain right now, we had to get outta here. I grabbed Soda and Johnny's hands and pulled them up. Running away was the only option we had.
We ran half a'mile before we heard the blaring of sirens and alarms. Shoot, we're dead.
"C'mon, this way!" I yanked on their arms even more as I pulled them in the direction I was headed. There was a patch of trees on the outskirts of town. Perfect!
I lead them into the grove and we all collapsed to the ground, tired and warn out. The only audible sound was us tryin' to catch our breath. I was exhausted. I smiled to myself knowing that we were outta there for good and on our way home now.
"How d'ya know they won't find us here?" Johnny asked, peering out of the bushes and shrubs.
"I don't." I panted, "But it was the best place I could think of."
The alarms and sirens were still blaring in the distance.
I was so fatigued from running so much, I leaned my head back on the ground and almost instantly drifted off to sleep.