Chapter 4

Johnny POV

"Go get help!"

Dally had yelled at me.

I nodded and ran off. I looked back and saw that he was checking Ponyboy to see if he had a pulse.

His face looked terrified. I knew he didn't find one. I faced the front again as my eyes started to water.

I was sprinting, but I wasn't very sure I knew where I was going.

I had so much on my mind, like how could this happen? Why didn't I look and

see him not behind me? Is my best friend dead?ny other thoughts and questions went through my head.

The main one was, 'Is my best friend dead?'

I saw a house up ahead and I sprinted towards it. I got there and banged on the door.

I was crying by now.

A lady that looked about in her 30's opened up and I asked her if I could borrow a phone.

"What happened?" She asked. She probably saw that I was crying.

I responded with, "I need an ambulance! My friend was in a fire, and I-I need an ambulance!"

I shouted out the last part.

"Oh my gosh!" she blurted out.

She looked full of fear, and asked, "Is he alright?!"

I shook my head and she ran into the house. I looked through the door and saw her quickly dialling a number.

She started talking to someone, but I wasn't paying much attention.

The only word I heard the whole time was ambulance.

I had so many thoughts in my head, but they all boiled down to one.

Was Ponyboy going to die? Or did he already?

Dally POV

I checked for a pulse. I didn't find one. I didn't really know how to feel.

I felt angry that he had gone into the church, and I was angry that it was him who didn't get out.

Why couldn't it have been a kid? It was their fault that they were in the church, not his.

I was also worried. I didn't have a huge idea about what to do.

I didn't want him to die either!

That's weird for me. Usually I wouldn't really care, but I cared about him!

I mean, I had an idea of what to do, I just never really did it before.

Nor did I have to.

So I tried.

I firmly and gently (very gently, for Dally) placed my hands on his chest.

I pushed on his chest in a steady but firm pace.

I tried to get a heartbeat.

It didn't do any good.

I knew he couldn't hear me, but I started saying, "Come on, don't die! Please don't die on me Ponyboy!"

For the first time in forever, I was very sad and upset.

"Don't go…" I whispered, near tears.

I don't exactly know what to do when someone's heart stops, due to smoke. I know that you do that when someone drowns, or to try to get a pulse back, so that's why I tried it.

It did no good.

What do you really do when someone's heart stops due to lack of air?

The entire time, he never moved. He was still very pale, he wasn't breathing, and had no pulse.

I knew that by now, he had to be long gone. I had a feeling that once an ambulance came and took him, there was a chance that I would never see him again. It wouldn't be necessary.

Not if he weren't alive.

I heard sirens in the distance.

I'm not a very emotional person, but today I am.

While I waited for the ambulance to come, I did something that I wanted to do before I missed my chance

I hugged him.

And I broke. I let my emotion get the best of me, as I let my greif go.

The ambulance finally got there. They put him in it, and a few minutes after they had arrived, they were gone again.

Then I saw Johnny running towards me from the same way he had left.

Johnny POV

That lady seemed really nice.

She hung up the phone and quickly walked back to me.

"An ambulance is on it's way. What happened?"

She sounded worried, and it dawned on me that not all people are careless.

I wanted to tell her, but I was in a hurry.

"Could I tell you later? I need to hurry up."

She looked me in the eyes and nodded. I turned around and sprinted towards the church.

XXX

I finally got there, and I found Dally. It was a horrible sight.

Dally never cried, but here he was. He had tears running down his face.

My heart sank. Something bad had happened, and I think I knew what it was.

I hugged Dally as I heard footsteps behind me.

XXX

Johnny came over and gave me a hug. This was the first time in years that I had cried, but I had a good reason too.

One of my closest friends just died, and I had to break the news to my other friend, Johnny.

I heard more footsteps. I looked over and saw a woman. She looked at Johnny and looked sad.

I looked at Johnny also and said, "Johnny?"

He looked at me and said, "She called 911."

I nodded. She wasn't here to cause harm, and that was good.

She looked at me and asked, "What happened?"

I answered with, "The church caught fire. I'll explain it later in more detail. Right now we got to get to the hospital."

She nodded and said, "Need a ride?"

We did need one, so I said yes, and the three of us hurried off, her in the lead.

XXX

We got to what looked like her house, and she told us to get into the truck in the driveway.

We did, and we were off.

XXX

Johnny POV

We got to the hospital, and the three of us went into the building. We all went and stayed in the waiting room.

Dally went outside for a smoke, and said that he would probably be out there for a while. He said that he would call the rest of the gang as well.

The lady started talking to me. At first, I was a bit nervous, but then I relaxed.

She held out her hand and started with, "Hi. I am Mrs. Kershell. Amy Kershell."

We shook hands.

"My name is Johnny Cade" I answered, and she nodded.

"Could you tell me more about what happened?" She asked.

I nodded slowly, and started.

I started with, "Well, my friends and I had come back from lunch when we saw smoke. We saw that the church was on fire, and pulled up and stopped."

I knew that I would have to stop a lot, because it is so hard for me to talk about my best friend, who might be dead right now, and I don't know.

I kept going.

"There were teachers and kids, and we knew that some of the kids were inside. My friend got out of the car, and ran into the church. I followed. Dally, our other friend, went to the outside of the window."

I sighed.

"We got all of the kids out, and my friend and I went towards the window. I was in front of him. We heard something, looked up,and saw the roof start to cave in. I felt him give me a little push towards the window, and… I just didn't feel him behind me anymore. I thought that maybe he had gone a different way out of the church."

I had to stop for a second before I could continue.

"I got out of the window, and went to Dally…"

She stopped me, and asked, "What is your other friends' name? And how long have you known each other? How old are you to?"

Those questions, weren't important, but I was glad to change subjects.

I paused, then said, "His name is Ponyboy. We have been friends for as long as I can remember… I'm 16, and he's 14."

She nodded. This was very hard for me. I felt like crying.

"Anyway," I continued, "I got out of the church, but I got worried. Ponyboy didn't come out of the window, or around the side of the church. I heard someone s-scream for help. It was Ponyboy. He wasn't on his way out, he was still in the church."

My eyes started to get watery at the memory of what had happened.

"I was about t-to go into the church, but the r-roof… Collapsed… Dally went in the window, and came back out a few minutes later, with Ponyboy…"

I had tears streaming down my face at this point. The image of a limp Ponyboy in Dally's arms will be in my mind for a while.

I finally finished with, "Dally screamed for me to get help, and I ran to you. You were the closest house in sight. I am so sorry if I bothered you…"

"No no no. Don't worry about it. It's fine. You didn't bother me."

I asked her, "If you are a Mrs, excuse me for asking, but where is your husband?"

She sighed, and said, "Well, he is out right now with some friends. I'm so sorry about your friend. I really hope that he is okay. I actually like the church where the fire was. That church was there since I was a little kid. In a way, I grew up there."

XXX

Some time went by. I was about to say something, when Dally, Two-bit, Steve, Darry, and Sodapop came in through the front doors.

They came over to us, and I saw that they all had some type of sad look in their eyes, mainly Darry.

"Hey." Sodapop said.

"Hey." I murmured.

Amy looked at me, and asked, "Who are they?"

I wiped the little bits of water from my eyes, and stood up.

"Guys," I started, "This is Amy. She called 911, and drove Dally and I to the hospital.

I looked at the guys, and said, "Amy, this is the rest of my gang."

I pointed to them when I called out there name.

"Of course, there is Dally, there's Two-bit, Steve, Darry, and Sodapop. Darry and Sodapop are Ponyboy's older brothers."

She nodded, and looked around at the gang.

"It's good to meet you guys." She said with a small smile.

They nodded at her, and turned their attention back to Dally and I, asking all of these questions.

I answered them the best I could, but the thought that I didn't know if my best friend was alive or not was really starting to bother me.

Hey, from what you read in chapter 3, I finally got my laptop. so i am able to continue, until I have to use my phone again.

I didn't lose the laptop because I was in trouble, I was just busy.

Please review...Or I might now update