I do not own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton does :)
Ponyboy barely had the energy to open his eyes when he woke up. His head felt so heavy, and he felt as if he had a heavy rock on each of his shoulders. The boy tried to call for his big brother, but had to stop as his chest began to ache terribly. What was happening to him?
Darry walked into the room with a smile on his face. He was carrying a small tray with a tall glass and a white cup. The glass was filled with orange juice and the cup was filled with coffee.
"How ya' feelin'?" Darry asked his brother, placing the tray down on the small table next to his bed before sitting down next to his little brother.
The youngest Curtis moaned, his eyebrows furrowing together. His head was killing him; he really wanted some ice for it. Ponyboy could barely see Darry and if it wasn't for the larger man's distinctive, deep voice, he wouldn't have recognized his brother.
Darry sighed, feeling Ponyboy's forehead. It literally felt as if it was on fire, and for a second Darry thought his heart might have leapt out of his chest; had the pills done this? He'd only slipped two or three into Pony's coffee, and that wasn't a lot was it?
"Wha's happenin' ta' me?" Ponyboy slurred slowly, trying to keep his eyes open. Darry took a deep breath and then exhaled heavily; maybe this was for the best.
The man sadly smiled at his baby brother before pulling the covers over him again. He helped the boy sit up and gently tipped some of the apple juice from the glass into Ponyboy's mouth. Ponyboy began choking, so Darry placed the glass down and rubbed his brother's back.
Ponyboy winced when Darry put the glass down. He began crying, as he was sure his head had never hurt this much, not even when that soc had kicked him during the rumble before Johnny's death.
The oldest Curtis hushed his brother and helped him to lie back down.
"Darry, I don' wan' you to…go," Ponyboy sighed. "I wanna s-stay a…awake."
"I'll see ya later okay, little brother?" Darry smiled, kissing Ponyboy on the forehead.
Ponyboy whimpered and reached for his brother, but Darry stood up and picked up the tray which he and previously set down, along with the unfinished glass of apple juice, and impressively balanced the tray and glass with one hand. The youngest Curtis called for his brother again, but Darry acted as if he couldn't hear him.
"Have a nice sleep," Darry said gently, placing his hand over Ponyboy's eyes. Ponyboy had no choice but to close them.
Then Darry left, and Ponyboy slowly opened his eyes, however it wasn't long before they rolled back and he was dead to the world…again.
XXX
Sodapop twitched before opening his eyes. He scanned around the unfamiliar room for a moment, and then remembered the situation: he had been kidnapped. The teenager groaned and tried to get up, only then realizing there were tight ropes around his wrists and ankles.
"Look, Aaron, look! He's awake!" a male voice yelped. Sodapop recognized that voice; he had heard it not too long ago.
"Quiet Brian," another voice reprimanded, though this voice was softer and to Sodapop, seemed more welcoming. "Though Brain has quite a fair point, Aaron. What do we do now?"
"We knock him out again," a much scarier voice answered. Sodapop paled; he didn't want to be put to sleep again. It was even scarier that he could hear the voices but he couldn't see them; the boy tried to turn his head but it hurt so much that it was impossible, for Sodapop at least.
A door opened, and Sodapop heard footsteps approach the location where the voices were coming from. Sodapop whined, trying to gain attention; who knew, maybe somebody had finally come to rescue him.
"I don't like this guys. What if we get caught?" a new voice said. Sodapop sighed and felt tears run down his face; help wasn't here, it was just another one of the offenders.
"Greg, we won't get caught. I doubt anyone's looking for the kid anyway; he's just a greaser," the scary voice assured his brother, what Sodapop assumed. "Nobody cares about greasers."
Sodapop didn't even try to stop himself from yelling at the guy.
"How would you know that? You good for nothing…" Sodapop went on to call the person every obscenity he could think of.
Everything was quiet for a moment. Sodapop gulped; in that rush of name calling, he had forgotten that these people were dangerous. The leader might have even been crazy enough to kill him, he thought. What if he had a knife right at that moment? What if he wanted to kill Sodapop for calling him names that Sodapop knew Darry would skin him alive for. Darry – how he missed his big brother.
Big, loud footsteps started approaching the bed Sodapop was lying on, and fear grew in the boy each step the person made.
"What did you just say to me?" a tall, blond man growled at Sodapop. He looked about twenty-one or twenty-two at the least. Sodapop gulped; he didn't know what to say.
"I-I-I'm very sorry, sir," the boy apologized, his voice quivering.
The man in-front of Sodapop slapped the boy so hard across the face Sodapop was almost knocked out once again. He was about to hit the younger boy again, but somebody stopped him.
"Stop it, Aaron! He's scared," the voice cried. Sodapop noticed that it was the one with the softer voice. He too had blond hair, but it was darker and longer than the other boy's. He was also slightly shorter than the other boy, and had a more youthful look about him.
The taller one, Aaron, glared at Sodapop's savior before forcefully pulling away from him. Two smaller brunets stood behind the blonds. The shortest, who was wearing thick black-framed glasses, wore an expression familiar to Sodapop's on his face. Brian never liked it when his brothers fought, even though it was quite often that they did.
"I never wanted this kid here, I wanted Ponyboy! And besides, baby brothers shouldn't swear anyway."
"But that's the thing: he ain't Ponyboy. If Ponyboy was here then you could tell him off for cussin', but that ain't Ponyboy," the other brunet added.
Sodapop's head shot up, and even though it throbbed painfully, Sodapop turned his head towards the gang of brothers.
"What do you mean, you want Ponyboy? Why do you want my little brother?"
"Our little brother," Aaron affirmed, pointing to himself and his other brothers. "He's ours."
Sodapop's eyes widened in anger; so this was all just a mistake? They were going to really kidnap his baby brother?
The boy couldn't himself, and simply chose to forget the harsh slap from before. He cussed all the boys out, shouting and screaming at them. How dare they try to take his little brother?
It wasn't long before he was knocked out again.
XXX
Darry's room was cold. Ponyboy could feel the coldness bite at his body, and it felt horrible. Though when he pulled the covers tightly over himself, he started sweating. His head didn't hurt anymore though, which was a good sign.
"Darry!" the boy shouted.
Darry was in the room in less than five seconds, at least that's how long it felt like to Ponyboy. The oldest Curtis never seemed to be out of Pony's sight these days.
"Feelin' better, little brother?" the man asked, turning on the light before walking over to his baby brother.
Ponyboy yawned and nodded, wrapping his arms around his big brother's frame. He usually wouldn't get this close to Darry, but he felt very vulnerable when he was sick and wanted all the attention he could get.
"I want Soda," the boy whimpered, beginning to cry.
The oldest Curtis shut his eyes; he hated being reminded of his younger brother – it made him sad. But he hadn't forgotten about him at all; he was still determined to find his other little brother.
"Me too, baby. I'm sure we'll find him soon," Darry assured the youngest Curtis.
Ponyboy nodded into his brother's shoulder, however a sudden wavering feeling passed through his stomach. His throat felt weird, and he lurched forward. Darry moved out of the way just in time for Ponyboy to throw up all over the carpet, his small frame leaning over the bed.
When he was finished, he realized that he had been sick on Darry's carpet. The small boy burst into tears, scared that his big brother was going to shout at him.
Instead, Darry stepped over the mess and picked his youngest brother up, holding him close to his chest. Ponyboy didn't stop crying, though his sobs weren't as bad as before.
"It's alright, honey; I'll just clean it up," Darry smiled, though his eyes were wide. Not because he was worried about Ponyboy being sick, but because he knew that he had made Pony this sick.
"Maybe it's getting out of hand now…" Darry muttered under his breath so Ponyboy didn't hear him.
But then the man thought about Soda. He'd seen it on the news often; kids that got kidnapped rarely came back. Of course he didn't know if this was the case, but he was sure that his middle-brother would be gone for a while, no matter how much he didn't want to believe it. And he swore that he wouldn't let the same thing happen to Ponyboy; Sodapop and his parents would be so disappointed in him.
"I'm sorry, Darry," Ponyboy cried into his brother's chest. Darry looked down at his baby brother, and rubbed his back.
"Don't be sorry, baby. I ain't mad at you. But this is why you worry me; there was a reason why I didn't want you going out today." Darry wasn't prepared to explain the real reason why he didn't want Ponyboy going out.
"B-but I felt fine," Ponyboy claimed, his tears now gone. His lips were trembling however.
"I know you did, Pony, but look at what's happened. If you'd have just done as you were told-"
"I didn't know I was gonna throw up!" Ponyboy exclaimed; all's he'd done was left the house for a few hours – how had that made him sick?
"Maybe the angels are angry with you," Darry suggested, thinking of his mom and dad. Though he knew that if the angels were angry with anyone, it was him.
Ponyboy gulped; did this mean he wasn't going to go the clouds when he died? Did this mean he'd go to the red place where there was eternal fire? He remembered being paranoid that Dallas had gone to hell after he died, but then he was sure that he was in the clouds with Johnny and his parents; Dallas was a bad person, but he wasn't evil. But the young boy now feared that he was evil; he had worried his big brother because he had disappeared for a few hours – that was pretty evil, wasn't it?
The youngest Curtis stared at the bracelet on his wrist. It was the one that Dol, the strange lady, had given to him a few hours ago. The little lambs were so innocent and helpless, a bit like Johnny. His heart ached when he thought of Johnny, making him feel worse.
Darry noticed the bracelet and grabbed Ponyboy's wrist hard, leaving a large, red mark.
"Where'd you get this?" he asked, trying to keep calm. "I ain't never seen this before."
"Oh, somebody gave it to me," Ponyboy answered, pulling his wrist out of his big brother's grip.
"Who gave it to you?" Darry questioned, his breathing starting to speed up.
"Just some woman…" Ponyboy said, his eyes wide. What was Darry's problem?
The oldest Curtis put Ponyboy down, forgetting he was sick, and dragged him out to the living room.
"And who is this woman? When did you meet her? It musta' been today."
"Well yeah, I met her at the park-"
"So you've been talkin' to strangers?!" Darry bellowed loudly, punching the wall as hard as he could. His knuckles started to bleed, but he didn't care.
Ponyboy shrunk back in pure fear; his big brother looked ready to kill somebody. And he was sure that person was him.
"She wasn't a bad person, Darry," Ponyboy reasoned, but his eyes widened when Darry's did.
"How do you know that, huh? I bet Soda wasn't thinkin' that before he got taken!"
"We don't know if Soda was taken though," Ponyboy cried, tears threatening to spill once again.
That was it. Darry grabbed Ponyboy's arm and dragged him back to the boy's old bedroom. He pushed him in and shut the door sharply, locking it behind him. The man sunk down against the door, leaning against it.
Ponyboy went wild. He screamed and tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.
"Darry, open the door!" he begged, pounding on the hard wood.
Darry smiled, tears forming in his eyes. He hadn't cried for a while.
"You're safe now, baby brother. No bad people gonna take you. How bout' I get you some food?" Darry asked, nodding his head as he spoke. He remembered seeing a big bottle of medicine in the cupboard. He didn't know what it was for, but he had a feeling it would be effective.
"No! Please let me out, Darry!" Ponyboy pleaded.
Darry just blinked, and the tears rolled down his face. But he was still nodding his head, and he had a big smile on his face. He was doing what any big brother would do; he was keeping his baby brother safe.
AN: I'm so sorry it took so long to update, but I've had lots of exams, including my piano exam, which I found out that I passed, and the certificate came in the mail :D I'll update quicker next time :) Thank you to everybody who has favorited, followed and reviewed this story so far; I can't thank you all enough :D – This was supposed to be updated months ago but something wasn't right with my computer. Sorry :/