Author's note: Hi guys! Unfortunately, we have reached the last chapter of Dally's little story. Bummer, I know. But don't worry, I have a lot of other stuff to hit you guys with. Some of it's making me wanna cry, and that's never a good thing because I just don't do crying. Ever. At all. There's only a select few things that can really make me lose it. Ugh, I'm rambling, aren't I? Sorry. I'll let you all get to reading. It's not like I don't know that's what you wanna do anyhow.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders. You can tell because Dally wouldn't die if it were up to me.

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I knew something was wrong the minute Sophia said she wanted me to come over to her place 'cause she needed to talk to me. I'd never even been anywhere near her place 'cause she knew her parents would have her head if they knew she was going out with somebody like me. Even if it was for charity.

When I got there, her parents were sitting on the couch with her. They gave me a lot of looks, so I just flipped them off. They weren't any better than me. They didn't have a right to look at me that way.

Sophia was nervous. I could tell that right from the get-go. I held her, I kissed her, I told her that whatever it was, she didn't have to be afraid, that I loved her and trusted her. I didn't care if her parents were there. Honestly, I assumed that her parents were trying to break us up. That had happened to me with my last girlfriend.

Then she dropped the bomb and told me that she'd cheated on me again, and this time she was pregnant with the other guy's baby.

Well, that was definitely not what I expected. I'd been real sure she was gonna say something along the lines of 'Daddy wants us to break up'.

There it was. That was the difference between her and me. I'm loyal. I believe in loyalty. You know what they say. Blood makes you related, but loyalty makes you family. She didn't have any concept of loyalty at all.

And I just snapped. I screamed myself hoarse at her right in front of her family. I really let loose. She was shocked. She'd never really heard me swear like that before 'cause I tried to watch it in front of her.

I heard a knock on the front door once I'd shouted myself into silence. She told me she'd asked the other guy to come tonight too, so we could work things out. She called for whoever-he-was to just come in.

It was Danny.

If I was mad before, it was nothing to how I was feeling now. Out of all the boys in New York, she'd had to choose the asshole who'd been my best friend, gave me up like a bad job, been out to kill me since I joined my gang, and murdered Joey.

I just lost it. I pounded that guy into next week. And that's when I grabbed the gun.

See, Sophia had this gun on her mantel. She'd showed me pictures, told me all about it. Belonged to her grandfather, apparently. She told me over and over that it wasn't loaded, almost like she was scared I'd miss that fact or that I hadn't understood the first five times.

I didn't intend to shoot the guy when I grabbed it. I didn't actually wanna kill him. I know that's hard to believe, on account of what he did to my brother, but it was because of Joey that I didn't want to. Enough killing. It wasn't what Joey would want. I just wanted to scare the hell outta him, I promise.

I told him I'd wanted him dead for a long time and I leveled the thing right at his forehead. He about shit his pants, and it was absolutely hilarious. I laughed and was all like, 'it's not loaded, dipshit, see?' and pulled the trigger to show him.

It blew a hole right through his head.

Well, I about passed out, I was so surprised. I just stood and stared.

Her parents called the cops on me and I took off. The fuzz came around the corner right as I finished hotwiring a car and I drove off as fast as I possibly could. They followed me, out of New York and into the woods. I jumped out of the car and let it slam into a tree, which made it explode. It was dark, they didn't see me jump out. They thought I died, so they turned back. Needless to say, I left New York a living legend.

I was just on the run after that, going from state to state, city to city, moving mostly south with a little west thrown into the mix, 'cause why not? I probably ran around for six months. I turned fifteen. I spent Christmas alone.

I felt like absolute trash. My mom had always said to me that I was such a good, young boy and she hoped that I always stayed so good and she couldn't wait to watch me grow up into a smart, successful, good man. I sure was glad she wasn't around to see what I'd become. She'd've been disappointed and ashamed of me. I wouldn't've blamed her. I was disappointed and ashamed of me too.

Finally I reached Tulsa, Oklahoma. And that's when I remembered Dad.

I had nowhere to go. Nowhere at all. I hated him, but maybe, just maybe, I could camp out here. Just for a little bit, till I could get back on my feet and go someplace else…

So I found his house and dropped my stuff on the spare bed there, telling him that I was gonna stay with him for a bit. I told him I wasn't going to use his last name anymore, though. I was done being Dallas Jones. I was gonna use Mom's maiden name, and I would be Dallas Winston. He just nodded. He was too drunk to care. I got outta there, thinking I'd head downtown and hunt some action. There had to be something to do here.

I was taking a shortcut through an alley when a bunch of rich kids showed up and started harassing me. I knew they were going to jump me and I tensed, ready for a fight. Before I knew it, we were going at it. A couple other boys who looked around my age seemed to just come out of nowhere and helped me take the guys down, even though I was holding my own pretty good, considering i was outnumbered five-to-one by a bunch of eighteen-year-olds.

The two boys who helped out introduced themselves as Two-Bit and Sodapop. Weirdass names, but they seemed alright and convinced me to come on back to Sodapop's house for dinner. They seemed pretty cool, so I just decided to stay in Tulsa, even though living with my old man was originally supposed to be temporary.

There were two little boys I met that night that I just latched onto. They reminded me of myself in some ways, and I wanted to protect them. Johnny and Ponyboy. They were no Anthony and Joey, but they were special.

And I guess you know the rest, Ponyboy. I'm probably long since dead if you're reading this, 'cause I know I'd never let you anywhere near it if I was still around, so I guess here's a nice wave from beyond.

I know I probably shouldn't dump all my problems on you, but I needed somebody to know, and I got the sense you'd understand best. I used to be so much like you. Please don't ever end up like me.

Tell the guys they were like my family and I did care.

And Pone, I just want you to know this: I probably never showed it and you probably never knew, but I love you. I love you like a damn brother.

Please forgive me for all I've done.

Wherever I am now, heaven or hell, I'm sure I miss you and can't wait to see you again. Remember I love you, and you're never alone. I'll always keep an eye on you.

-Dallas Tucker Winston

I sat back and stared at the letter in my hands. I hadn't expected to find something like this up here.

I was upstairs in the attic, going through the box of Dally's things that he'd kept up here, not liking to go home very much. Darry'd said it'd be therapeutic. Soda'd asked what the hell that meant.

I looked at all the other things spread around the floor. There was a photo I hadn't noticed when I dumped out the box. I picked it up now.

It was of three boys, one about nine, the others about six. I recognized Dally immediately and assumed the other two were Anthony and Joey. They really were cute little kids. No wonder Dally loved them so much.

I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to lose your brothers that way. I know if I lost Darry and Soda that way, I'd just quit living. It was a miracle Dally didn't just find the nearest convenient building to jump off of. Damn, was he strong.

He'd loved me. Whoa. Sometimes I got a protective, caring vibe from him, but I'd always assumed it was just his loyalty to the rest of the gang, not any actual affection for me. Well, you learn something new every day.

Soda came in the door. "Hey, Pone." He saw the letter and photo in my hands. "What're those?"

I just held them out silently. He came over, sat down next to me, and looked at the photo, confused. "That's Dal, but who're they?"

I handed him the letter too. His eyes widened as he scanned the page...

Author's afterthought: Before anyone starts cussing me out about Dally being out of character, I feel I need to say this: I always felt like Dally actually cared a lot more about Ponyboy than he let on and Ponyboy just didn't notice. I mean, c'mon. In the movie, his last word was Pony. So just, roll with me here.

If you have something you really need to say about it, be nice.

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