Letters from War

Chapter 6

Pain. Pain is the only thing Ponyboy feels when he opens his eyes. His body was just one intense wave of agony. The terrorists must have continued to beat him while he was unconscious. That was the only way to explain why Ponyboy feels worse now than when he was being water boarded.

"Sadistic bastards" Ponyboy moaned as he attempted to raise his arm to wipe away the sweat that had started to form on his forehead. A stabbing pain went through his arm leaving him gasping for air; it was more than obvious now that they had badly broken his arm. Ponyboy moaned he didn't know what these guys wanted, was it info or did they just want to torture him for the fun of it. He was suddenly coughed harshly as he felt something in the back of his throat, the coughing only made the pain worse, his broken ribs hurt in more, adding even more agonizing pain to what he was already feeling. Closing his eyes, Ponyboy struggled to breathe through the pain. He somehow needed to have a way to escape from the pain and torture otherwise; this battle would end a hell of a lot sooner than Ponyboy wanted it too. He wanted to go home alive, not die overseas a million miles away from his brothers.

"Ponyboy, hurry up!" an impatient eight year old Sodapop hollered, their family was going to go pick up their Christmas tree, and Soda was just a bit tired of waiting on his slower younger brother.

"Slow down" the four year old panted as he struggled to push his little legs faster. "You move too fast" Soda chuckled softly as he bent down and formed a snow ball out of the small amount of snow they'd received the night before.

"Hurry up or I'll throw a snow ball" Soda taunted though he knew his little brother loved snow ball fights, and didn't mind all that much about being hit with the cold wet stuff that seemed to decorate everything around them.

"I'm twying" Ponyboy muttered as he was nailed in the face with the snowball, Sodapop had been building.

"We don't have time for this" Darry said coming out of the house, with their father right behind them. They paused briefly for their father to pick the young Ponyboy up out of the snow. He carried the youngster to their truck and sat him in between Darry and Sodapop.

A few hours later they had the perfect tree picked out, and on the way thirty minute drive home, Ponyboy leaned over on Sodapop and closed his eyes, Sodapop just smiled and wrapped his arm around the little boy's shoulders holding him close.

Ponyboy had no idea how he still remembered that memory of when he was younger but he was glad he did, for just a remarkable few minutes he'd been taken away from his pain. Tears formed in the tired man's eyes, he was tired, he'd been fighting pain for the past several hours, and the pain just seemed to drain every ounce of his energy. Ponyboy knew that wasn't a good thing, he needed to somehow get himself out of this situation if he didn't he wouldn't be going home alive.

Hearing a door behind him Ponyboy stifled his groan, he wouldn't show these guys just how much they were hurting him, and they didn't deserve that satisfaction. Without words being spoken the heavily bearded one approached and grabbed a hold of Ponyboy's broken arm and gave it a sharp twist. Ponyboy closed his eyes; they wouldn't get in satisfaction out of hurting him, not by a long shot.

"You're not holding it correctly" A 19 year old Darry explained to his twelve year old brother, "You have to hold it like this if you want it the ball to go far" he adjusted his little brother's grip and watched proudly as Ponyboy drew back and then launched the pigskin for all he was worth.

"That's it you got it" Darry said laughing at the simple joy he saw in his excited little brother's eyes when the kid had turned around to look at him.

"Now all you have to do is keep practicing, eventually your throw will improve even more."

"You're the best big brother" Ponyboy exclaimed as he threw his arms around his older brother's waist.

"You're not too bad yourself kid" Darry said chuckling glad that he was able to help his brother in such a simple way. He didn't often show it but he was willing to do anything and everything for his little brothers, even if it meant taking time out of his busy schedule to teach his brother's how to throw a football.

A little later, Darry found himself walking both Sodapop and Ponyboy to the movies. He wasn't crazy about them but Ponyboy had begged until Darry had thought he was going to go crazy, he could never say no. though he didn't know in a few hours their lives were about to change forever. He didn't know that he'd be forced to grow up much faster than he should have been, forced to work harder than anyone should have too. But he willingly took all that on his shoulders because he loved his brothers and didn't want to see them go off to a boy's home. Neither would survive very long, especially if they weren't able to be together.

Darry was the strength that had saved Pony and Soda when they were younger. Maybe somehow Darry could save Pony now even if it wasn't physical, mentally he could help him escape the pain he was feeling.

"Save me Darry" the plea escapes Ponyboy's lip as a harsh cry of pain is forced out, bringing him out of his mental escape. Tears rolled down Ponyboy's face as the two men once again began beating him. He couldn't take much more of this; it would drive him insane from all the pain.

"Darry, Soda" Ponyboy moans again as the beating continually got worse until he finally felt darkness closing in, and he surrendered to the darkness.

Sorry it took so long to update! Been a little busy. Hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading and reviewing and Have a GREAT week. Liz