Darkest Sins
4. Fire
September 29th, 1967 - 10:00
Nathaniel Redding sat on the bed in his oldest brother's room, which was currently occupied by, not only himself, but a boy his own age. The fact that his parents and uncle had actually kidnapped Ponyboy Curtis still sent him reeling at the best of times. This was not one of those times.
The right side of Ponyboy's face was bloodied and had a deep laceration going down from temple to chin, but not going over his eye. It was on the very side of his face, but that seemed to make it worse in a way. Nathaniel knew it would scar, because it was the one laceration that had been cut into over and over again. His clothes were torn and bloodied, showing that he'd been harmed in other areas, but they weren't as vital as the one on his face.
Ponyboy flinched as Nathaniel cleaned the wound, but didn't pull away.
"I'm sorry, Ponyboy," Nathaniel apologised. "This is going to sting."
Ponyboy just looked at him, but didn't say anything. There wasn't a gag in his mouth today, but that didn't mean that Ponyboy spoke freely. Nathaniel's parents and uncle seemed to develop radar ears as soon as Ponyboy made a single sound, so he made sure to keep as quiet as he could.
Nathaniel cursed under his breath as he cleaned the wound and realized just how close to being infected it really was. His uncle had gone too far.
As he finished cleaning Ponyboy's wounds, he saw where Ponyboy's eyes were and immediately walked over to the wall, before taking down the picture that Ponyboy had been looking at. The picture was of his younger sister, who had been dead for about a year now.
"It's not your fault," Nathaniel told Ponyboy, already knowing what was on his mind. "Don't listen to them."
A year ago, when Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade had saved a bunch of kids from that church fire, they accidentally left one behind. They hadn't known she'd been there, because she'd been in an entirely different section of the church and, very likely, hadn't even seen the two boys herself. The autopsy report had said that she'd died of smoke inhalation, before the fire had even had the chance to start burning her. The girl had been his younger sister, Olivia.
According to Nathaniel's parents, it didn't matter that Olivia had been out-of-bounds; someone needed to pay for their baby dying. They'd waited years to have a little girl, after three failed attempts with himself and his two older brothers. They'd neglected and abused the three of them for years, before Olivia had miraculously come along. After that, they'd spoilt her rotten and basically forgotten about their sons.
Nathaniel had loved his sister, dearly, but he couldn't claim to have liked her. They'd never gotten along and she was a complete spoilt brat, always used to getting her own way.
Since Johnny Cade had died, his parents had decided that Ponyboy Curtis was the perfect person to pay for what had happened to their precious little girl. It had taken months of careful planning and they'd finally gotten him, just a few days ago. Nathaniel, on the other hand, had never blamed Ponyboy in the least - and neither had his two older brothers, Matthew, 19, and Louis, 21. They were both away at college and were currently unaware of the latest developments - and Nathaniel had been forbidden to use the phone.
The only phone that was currently usable was the one in the front room, which always had one of the adults residing in it. In fact, it was where his uncle Jacob slept every night.
Nathaniel was startled from his thoughts as the door to the room opened and his parents, Joshua and Mary, stepped in. His mother was holding a small saucepan in one hand and a ladle in the other. His father, on the other hand, had a lighter in his right hand. Staring at the objects that they'd brought in, Nathaniel felt his blood run cold.
Hadn't they tortured him enough?
"Leave, Nathaniel," his father ordered.
Looking at Ponyboy, Nathaniel could see the panicked look in his eyes. However, they both knew that he wouldn't be able to stay for this. Closing the door behind him and walking down the stairs, barely ten seconds passed before the screaming started.
-x-x-x-x-x-
Pain!
Agony!
Burned alive! Fire!
Soda! Darry! Help, please!
-x-x-x-x-x-
September 29th, 1967 - 16:00
"Are they okay?" Dally asked Tim, as they both watched Curly and Mark.
Tim shook his head. "They're real shook up. You know the fuzz don't believe Darry about the phone call, so those two were in the station all night and they've only just gotten out. The fuzz accused them of murdering Ponyboy and hiring someone to make the phone call."
Dally saw red. "Those rotten fuckin' bastards!"
How dare they do that? Everyone who saw those three together knew that they were close-knit. Curly and Mark may not always get along, but they both cared for Ponyboy. He'd helped them both through real tough times in the past and to be accused of murdering him would really effect them. Ponyboy had always had their backs and they'd always had his.
"We've gotta find him," Dally muttered.
Tim looked at him. "We will."
-x-x-x-x-x-
September 29th, 1967 - 21:00
Everyone was sat in the front room. Steve sat next to Soda, who had barely responded to anything, or anyone, all day. Two-Bit had his eyes in the TV screen, where Mickey Mouse was playing, but everyone in the room knew that he wasn't really watching it. Darry stood with Dally and Tim by the phone, waiting for the phone call that everyone had been expecting all day. Curly and Mark were sitting in a corner of the room, talking in quiet voices.
Standing by the front door were two Agent's from the FBI, Dunning and Carter. They hadn't left the house all day, because they'd also been waiting for the phone call.
Soon enough, everyone's wishes were granted as the phone rang. Agent's who were set up in the kitchen and in the living room with equipment quickly got into place. With a well placed signal, Darry was told to pick up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Darry Curtis, listen to what I'm saying very carefully."
From the equipment that had been set up, everyone could hear the deep, male voice. Everything was on a speaker.
"Where's my brother? What have you done with him?"
It was silent for a long moment and then - "Darry?"
Everyone's blood ran cold as Ponyboy's voice came through. He sounded so weak - so tired.
"Ponyboy!" Darry and Sodapop both yelled at the same time. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
For a minute, it didn't seem like Ponyboy was going to answer. "I wanna go home."
Soda felt the tears come to his eyes. Pony sounded so small, so frightened.
Before anyone could say anything else, the male's voice came back on the line. "Your brother wants to go home and the only way that's going to happen is if you listen to my instructions very carefully."
"What do you want?" Darry asked, slight desperation leaking into his voice.
A dark chuckle was heard. "I had hoped you would see things my way, Mr. Curtis ..."
Redding Family
Mother:- Mary Redding, 48
Father:- Joshua Redding, 49
Uncle:- Jacob Redding, 45
Oldest Brother:- Louis Redding, 21
Middle Brother:- Matthew Redding, 19
Youngest Brother:- Nathaniel Redding, 15
Sister:- Olivia Redding, 7 (deceased)
Author's Note:- I'm so sorry for the wait. Things have been really busy over here and, for a short time, I completely lost my inspiration for this story. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this update. Please, let me know what you've thought of this and send me a review.
Enjoy!
