MONDAY: 4 AM, PONYBOY'S BEDROOM

"Pony?" I faintly heard a young voice ask softly. My mind was too slow to comprehend who it was that would talk to me- I was pretty sure it was early in the morning or else I would've heard others hollering out in the front and laughing with the sounds of the TV playing somewhere in the background. I willed myself to get up but my body-like my mind- just wasn't responding; so I opened my eyes(it was pretty difficult to do that).

"S-Suzi?" I asked in a slurred voice. I could make out somewhat of her silhouette, but I still wasn't quite sure if it was really her or not. I trusted that she'd answer me the same way she always does when I'm looking for her:

"Intellectually speaking, my REAL name is Suzette," she sounded a little startled out of a misery that puzzled me; what misery could a sweet seven year old girl have besides school and nightmares? NIGHTMARES! Did she have one? She's never had one before, not one that I know of, anyways.

"Why are you awake?..."- I looked at the clock; it read 4:03 a.m.-"... It's four in the mornin', kiddo!" She seemed to do something with her fingers before answering me.

"Well... I just thought I'd come in and... well..." she was doing that thing with her fingers again.

"And what?" I asked, urging her on.

"You weren't having another nightmare, were you, Uncle?" She said in a scared voice. I blinked. It never occured to me that she would be that worried about my nightmare from last night. I felt my shoulders drop and I grinned.

"I'm fine, Suzi. It was just one nightmare! To tell you the truth, I don't remember what I was dreaming about before you woke me!" I said to her reassuringly. To tell everyone the truth, I don't even know if I was dreaming at all. My mind drew blanks everytime I tried to remember what it was that I could've been dreaming about. It was nothing more than strange to me- I chugged two whole bowl-fulls of ice cream down, played capture the flag with the kids, and read for a little bit before going to bed; I never have dreams after doing a lot of stuff just before hitting the hay.

"Okay," Suzi said; her voice was more happier this time, though it was nothing more than a whisper. I got out of the bed, feeling the cold air hit my bare arms and legs and led her out to the front. Before sending her off to sleep I gave her a glass of chocolate milk- just to make sure she GOT to sleeping around in the next half and hour.

As I climbed into bed, I sighed. School started in three hours and I had to be up in two and a half. I turned onto my stomach and growled into the pillow. I felt like I had only two minutes of sleep, much less six hours. How was I ever going to wake up in time to get ready for school AND have breakfast? My mind pondered the many different types of schedules that it made up for my morning before school.


"PONYBOY!" I heard someone yell right in my ears. My eyes shot open and I sat up immediately. OH -! I stumbled over every little thing, even the ground, as I hussled to get my clothes and socks on. I'M GONNA BE LATE, OH CRAP I'M GONNA BE SCREWED FOR ALL ETERNITY IF I HAVE ANOTHER TARDY IN MRS. CARSEN'S CLASS AGAIN!, I thought, infuriated at everything. I ran out to the front, I could see Bridget yawning and cooking something over the oven for me. I passed her without saying anything and snatched up the last apple we had in the bowl next to the sink. I scooped up my backpack and grabbed my toothbrush out of the small blue cup that sat on our bathroom counter. I brushed furiously while trying to gel up my hair so that it was decent enough for school. My eyes looked different when I was mad.

"Ponyboy!" Bridget yelled from the kitchen.

"I'M GONNA BE LATE FOR SCHOOL, I HAVE TO HURRY!" I screamed angrily, muttering small curses as I did the finishing touches on my hair.

"But Pony,-"

"NO BUT'S! I NEED TO GO NOW!" I splashed water on my face and dried it as quick as I could before running out the door. There was a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach which made me stop and think. I heard the door open and I turned around. Bridget was giggling under her breath and pointing at the watch she was currently wearing.

"It's only a quarter till! You still got a couple minutes, my darlin'!" She said in a gentle voice. I was breathing hard and I closed my eyes as I calmed down a bit. I opened my eyes and smiled sheepishly at her.

"Sorry... I forgot to look at the clock..."

"I can tell! Come on in and rest a couple minutes. I'm sure Darry and Soda will be up in a little bit before you go off to school for the day! C'mon!" She motioned for me to come inside with a welcoming hand. I followed her, thankful she had caught me before I left- I would've been in a real mess if I got to the stop and realized I was way to early.


I leaned my head against the dirty window of the bus, watching the trees and houses fly by, glowing from that summer sun. Just 4 more weeks of school, then it'll ALL be over! No more waking up early in the morning for a couple of months!, I told myself. The loud talking and laughter of the kids around me comforted me somewhat, and though I wasn't a part of it, I felt pretty relaxed. The teachers were being pretty relaxed on the homework, though I had to finish an essay and a couple other worksheets- but it was better than before- before I had boatloads of homework to do, and I slipped up in my grade towards the end of the second trimester, but I managed to get back before report cards went home. It was nice to have some extra time to myself.

The bus stopped for the second to last time, and I got off, stepping right out into the summer heat, thanking the bus driver before he nodded off and started the bus up again. My house was only a block away- so it wasn't that long of a walk. I smiled and for the first time in twenty four hours, I felt like there was nothing in the world that could stop me from enjoying my time in my golden years. I embraced that feeling, knowing perfectly well that it wouldn't last forever.

"HEY GUYS! I'M HOME!" I yelled out loud. I heard gasps and Suzi, Jerrod, and Jerilyn came out with happy expressions on their faces. I was puzzled. They weren't supposed to be home for another hour or so.

"Why are you guys home so early?" I asked suspiciously. They all exchanged glances.

"Mom and dad picked us up and dropped us off at home not too long ago. They said you'd be home and they went off somewhere," Jerrod explained. Heh?, I thought. This wasn't like Darry or even Soda, to take their kids out of school so early- Darry and Bridget believed STRONGLY in school and keeping good grades, and never took their kids out unless they were truly sick(but none were, for they, as well as I, had strong immune systems) or needed to go to the hospital/doctor(which really only happens on saturdays).

"I asked them why, but they didn't tell us..." Jerilyn added quickly.

"Hmm... that's interesting... How did they sound when you tried asking them why they picked you up?" I asked, dropping my bag on the table and pulling out my homework.

"Well... Not happy... but not sad or mad either... just kind of... whatever, you know?" Jerilyn said.

"Yeah... Whatever..." Suzi repeated.

"Well, I'm gonna do my homework, so unless you guys wanna help, run along now, and be safe, ya hear?"

"EW! You know I don't do homework! So don't ask me to help, 'cause I won't!" Jerrod said in disgust, shaking his head and turning away. I could take that.

"You're a selfish pig, you know that?" Jerilyn narrowed her eyes on her brother, smacking him in the arm. I smiled.

"I'm a pig! HA! I laugh at you! Well, I didn't eat more than one bowl of ice cream last night! Now did I?" Jerrod smirked, sticking his tongue out at his twin sister. It amazes me to see that they did that. I never really had that experience. with anyone. Just with Fire and Zen. But then again, I have stronger friendships with them more than anyone else.

"You snot-nosed, immature, egotistic-"

"It's not nice to fight!" Suzi cut Jerilyn off in mid-sentence.

"YEAH SUZI, IT AINT NICE TO FIGHT YOUR BROTHER! The one you cherish and look up to in life!" Jerrod said in a teasing tone, dodging Jerilyn's punch to his arm.

"The only way I would look up to YOU in life is if I WANTED TO KNOW HOW TO SCARE AWAY GIRLS!" Jerrod gasped. I had to stifle a giggle.

"I THINK YOU ALREADY KNOW HOW TO DO THAT!" he yelled back at her.

"OKAY YOU TWO CAN STOP NOW!" I said loudly, making sure it was louder than theirs so I could get their attention. They both looked at me and then at each other, obviously too frustrated to talk more.

"Just go to your rooms and stay silent for a half hour..." I said nonchalantly. That's what Darry and Bridget did when they fought. They both stormed off to their rooms, their bickering echoing through the house. Suzi looked at me and hesitated before running off after Jerilyn. I sighed out loud and started finishing off the homework I had.

There wasn't that much to do after I finished the days work from school. Nothing good was on television and it was real quiet- mostly because of the silent thing but also because they were probably doing their own thing. It didn't take that long for me to start getting drowsy. I got up and shuffled into the kitchen trying to think of something to conjure up to eat. All in all, I don't cook much more than a few eggs when I need to, so I pulled some chips out of the cupboard and sat back down on the couch to eat. Bridget always says that eating while lying down was dangerous, but she didn't say anything about lying halfway down, so I figured that I could loop-hole her rule by lying down only halfway('cause that's just how smart I am). My eyelids started drooping and I caught myself multiple times falling asleep in the middle of eating a chip. My eyes shot open every few times after each realization that tiredness was taking over and that I needed to stay awake- normally when the parents of the household were gone, for whatever reason, I was the babysitter for the day; it wasn't a big deal, but I needed to stay awake in case something bad were to happen.

I sighed and got up, leaving the chips behind, and noticed a small glass cup- that wasn't ours- sitting right there on the counter. Why didn't I notice that before?, I thought puzzled. Maybe it'll help me stay awake... I took the cup and chugged it down, too drowsy to tell myself that it could be poisoned. Pepsi; awesome. I sat back down on the couch and timed my breathing with an invisible beat. Everything started to become blurry and I felt more tired than ever. Things started to swirl around the room and I felt kind of dizzy.

go ahead, fall asleep, Pony...

Yes, fall asleep...

You look so tired, just sleep for a couple minutes...

a couple minutes won't hurt, Ponyboy...

No... They wouldn't, would they? Just a few minutes... What's so wrong with that? Besides... I had to lay low since my mind seemed to be playing tricks on me again. Maybe these voices weren't so bad as I thought they were... I felt my head hit the arm of the couch unvoluntarily and the chips fall to the ground, scattering themselves all over the nice carpet that Charlotte took the time to vacuum up last night. I willed myself to pick them up, knowing that I DID NOT want to be killed by my brother's wife, but strangely enough, my arm would not carry out the simple command... And my mind shut down before I could question why.


"Pony! Babe, c'mon! Wake up now!" I heard beg me a little desperately; they sounded like they were crying and I felt someone patting my cheeks slightly. I opened my eyes slowly- there were bright lights flashing and I couldn't see straight. I'm always like that when I was awakened unexpectedly- especially after taking naps. I rarely ever do take naps, only on occasions where the days were long or I had had a long and tough week. But the lights were new...

"HE'S WAKING UP!"

"Oh, thank goodness!"

"GLORY!" I sat up, with the help of someone's hand, and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. When things got clearer I looked around. Everyone was staring at me.

"What?" I said, a little too harshly. I was kind of wonky, like I had slept for a couple years insted of a couple minutes. Darry got close to my face and looked straight in my eyes. It was freaking me out.

"How are you feeling, babe?" Soda asked, as Darry continued to study me.

"I'm fine... What? Ya'll never seen a guy wake up from a nap, before?" I asked, laughing nervously to try and joke around. I tried sitting up when things went around in circles and I went back down. "WHOA!" I clutched my stomach. It was as if something was pinching the inside. I grimaced.

"Take it easy, there, Ponyboy..." Bridget said in a reassuring voice. It was then that I knew something was up. I looked at the clock- it read 11:10 p.m. HOLY DANG!, I thought. I had slept for a full 8 hours. That wasn't like me! The longest I had ever slept when in nap mode was three hours. And even then, I only took naps on saturdays- when I needed to.

"ELEVEN! IT'S ELEVEN! HOLY CRAP, WHY DIDN'T ANYBODY WAKE ME!" I practically screamed. They all exchanged glances before Darry answered.

"Well... We came home around 5... And when we saw you asleep we thought that, you know, you would wake up any minute 'cause Suzi came out and saw you sleeping- she said that was roughly around 4. At around 7, we started getting worried because you hadn't even moved an inch. So I asked Soda to come over and wake you, since Char had made dinner already, and when he did you didn't wake up... again you didn't budge! So we've all been trying to wake you up, but- you just didn't! That's when we all got real worried because it was then we noticed you looked different... Your eyes looked a little sunk in, you were pale, and we found the bag of chips all over the ground! We thought you might've had a heart attack or something that no one else may have noticed. Then we called the police, your doctor- EVEN TWO-BIT, to try and wake you up... Doc said you were in a deep trance of some sort... Like, drugged with something he couldn't make out at the moment... I don't know... But you're awake now..."- Darry pulled me in for a hug-"... and that's all that matters..." Soda and the rest of the gang joined in on the hug while I was left clueless about the previous situation. Trance? All I did was fall asleep... Or did I? Maybe it was my dream... Again I couldn't remember what I was dreaming and why it would've kept me asleep. I was getting really irritated, I would've punched something if everyone hadn't been so worried and occupied with hugging me.

"I heard he's awake," an unknown voice said observantly. A grey-haired, middle-aged man with spectacles on was standing over me after everyone let go. He bent down and studied me the way Darry had a couple minutes ago.

"Chloral Hydrate," He said.

"Chlora what now?" Jerrod burst out. He was standing in the middle of the hallway looking at us all.

Jerrod Wexler Curtis! BED, now!" Bridget said in a stern voice. 'Chloral Hydrate' Darry mouthed in shock.

"How in the world did he ingest CHLORAL HYDRATE in the last twenty four hours! WE DON'T EVEN HAVE ACCESS TO THAT KIND OF STUFF!" Soda burst out with fury looking back and forth from me to the doctor.

"That blood sample you let me take-"

"WHOA WHOA WAIT! You let him take a sample of my BLOOD!" I squeaked. Soda put his arm around my shoulders and told the doc to go on. (If you haven't noticed I don't like it when doctors take my blood sample.)

"The blood sample... It showed traces of chloral hydrate... He probably ate or drank something that had it in there. Ponyboy, do you remember drinking or eating something that may have had traces of this in there? Something that you would've become very drowsy from a couple minutes after taking it?" he held up a small white bottle. I immediately thought of the pepsi.

"Stupid Pepsi..." I mumbled.

"What?"

"Oh... Well... There was this cup of Pepsi that I found on the counter... It didn't belong to us but I was thirsty and so I drank it... I knocked out just five minutes after chugging it down," I explained. Darry turned me around sharply.

"Where did you say you found that cup? What did you do with it?" he asked firmly.

"I... I uh... I put it in the sink to clean up..." I stuttered pointing to the kitchen. Soda got up immediately and ran into the kitchen; Darry, Bridget and Charlotte followed. Two-Bit just patted my shoulder. The doctor continued to study me.

"So five minutes? That's all it took?" the doctor confirmed.

"Yeah..."

"Mmm... That's quite a reaction time..."

"Well I was kind of already tired..."

"I see... Now, Ponyboy, I will need to see you tomorrow sometime just to check your system and make sure there isn't anything else in your blood that could cause harm to you in the near future, if that's okay. And intaking this much chloral hydrate is something we need to check out as well..."

"We'll be there," Darry said as he walked into the room. I guess I had to. I leaned my head back- I felt weird.

"Just one question though..." Bridget said quietly.

"What is it?" everyone said all at once.

"If that cup isn't ours... and we hadn't noticed it when we dropped everyone off here... then who's is it?"

"And why did it have chloral hydrate in it?" Soda asked. We all froze.


I've been so busy so I've been trying to make the best of these stories and draft the one that bellavision so kindly asked me to do for her- AND I PROMISE I WILL GET THAT POSTED! These chapters will confuse you, but hopefully it'll all tie together in the end! THX FOR READING THIS STORY!

Stay Gold,

The Outsiders EXPERT-101