Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! You guys make me happy! I've gotten kinda busy again, but I will still make an effort to update regularly, especially since I get so many nice reviews! Please keep it up! Constructive criticism is always welcome as well. ;)
Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders.
Chapter Ten: The Painful Memory: Darry's Perspective
Too early… was Darry's only thought as he listened to his alarm go off the next morning. He felt heavy and like he could sleep for a week. He had to constantly remind himself that he couldn't be the kid anymore. He couldn't shut his alarm off and fall back asleep and have mom or dad come get him when they knew he was going to be late. He had to get up. Today was his first day working a double shift, one at each job that he now had.
Several minutes had passed before Darry finally turned the alarm off and forced himself to sit up so he wouldn't accidentally fall back asleep. He rubbed his eyes and stretched, still feeling a dull throb in his back between his shoulder blades from the day before. Finally he stood as he made his way to Pony's bedroom. The last two days had been a struggle trying to get his two younger brothers up for school, so he figured it was better to start early.
He flipped on the light in the room, causing Pony to twitch and moan as he rolled over, trying to get away from the light. Soda was apparently dead to the world.
"Let's go, it's time to get up," Darry said, yawning himself. He shook both of his brothers. "C'mon, you'll miss breakfast again."
This seemed to get a little bit of a reaction from the two, so Darry headed back out of the room. He did a double take as he walked through the living room to get to the kitchen as he spotted a figure sprawled out on the couch. As Darrry approached he recognized it as Steve.
"Hey, Steve, time to get up," Darry said, nudging him.
Darry headed into the kitchen and started on breakfast. Steve stumbled in a minute later, still wearing his jeans and DX shirt from the night before.
"'Morning," he mumbled.
"Hey, how you like your eggs?" Darry asked.
"Scrambled is fine," Steve said.
Darry glanced over at Steve as he fell into a chair at the kitchen table and saw that he was sporting a pretty nasty black eye.
"You're old man didn't do that, did he?" Darry asked slowly. It was bad enough seeing Johnny coming around all black and blue because of his father. Darry knew that Steve didn't get along with his dad either but as far as he knew he had never hit him before.
Steve shook his head. "No, got into a fight with some Socs last night," he said. Darry nodded, realizing that it made sense that if Soda got into a fight it was a safe bet that Steve was there too. "Old man just told me to get out when I tried to go home."
Darry shook his head as he went about making breakfast for four. This was not the first time that Steve's father had kicked him out. He remembered one night last winter Steve had slept at the park in just a t-shirt and jeans and had gotten very sick. After that Soda had insisted that Steve come to their house whenever he was kicked out and their parents had always welcomed him in.
Just then Pony walked in, dressed and with his hair still wet from taking a shower.
"Was Soda up?" Darry asked as he set a plate of hard boiled eggs in front of Pony. He didn't seem surprised at all to see Steve already sitting at the table eating scrambled eggs.
"Yeah, he just got in the shower," Pony said.
"Good," Darry said, setting a plate aside for Soda, glad that this morning was going more smoothly than the last two. He put together a bacon, egg and tomato sandwich for himself, eyeing the clock and realizing that for the first time this week they were early. "Soda probably has a clean shirt you could borrow," Darry told Steve. "Or at least a dirty one that's not your work shirt." He wasn't sure when the last time anyone had done laundry was.
Steve laughed as he wandered out of the kitchen and headed for Soda's room.
"Hey Darry, is there any chocolate cake?" Pony asked.
Darry smiled as he went to the ice box and pulled out the cake Soda had made the other night. He set it down and cut a few pieces, even having some himself. He had to admit, he did love chocolate cake.
"Any nightmares last night, Pony?" Darry asked as Pony dug into his chocolate cake.
Pony was quiet for a moment, thinking hard. It was obvious he was debating what to say. "Not a bad one," he said finally. "I don't think anyway. I woke up pretty quick and didn't wake Soda. Just felt a little shook up."
Darry nodded. "Well don't be afraid to wake either of us if you need to," he said sympathetically. Pony just nodded.
Darry finished up his breakfast and headed back to his room to get changed for work. It was going to be a long day.
"Hey, where'd my last clean shirt go?" Soda asked a few minutes later, coming out of his room clad only in a pair of blue jeans. Darry laughed as he came out of his own room, nodding at the living room where Steve was lounging on the couch.
"Shoulda been a little faster, Soda," Steve called from the living room, wearing Soda's shirt.
"Ah, come on!" Soda said with a laugh.
"Maybe it's time someone did some laundry," Darry pointed out.
"Well, I'm working tonight," Soda said as he headed back to his room, going through a pile of dirty clothes to find one that wasn't too dirty.
"I'm going to be working late too," Darry said. He looked over at Pony, suddenly feeling uneasy about him being by himself tonight.
"I can do the laundry," Pony said easily from the kitchen.
"Thank, Pony," he said. "I should be home by nine tonight."
Pony paused, thinking for a minute. "You're working thirteen hours today?" he said finally, looking surprised.
"Something like that," Darry said, not appreciating knowing the actual number at this point. He walked down to Soda's room where he found his brother sniffing t-shirts. "Hey, Two-Bit's gonna need to pick up Pony again today," he told Soda.
"I'll remind him," Soda said, pulling on a shirt.
"Are you done at nine again tonight?" he asked.
"Um, probably," Soda said, thinking for a minute.
"Can you come right home after work?" he asked. "I don't like Pony being here all by himself and it'll take me longer to get home."
"Sure," Soda said. "He'll be fine though, he's thirteen."
"Yeah, but still," Darry said uneasily. He wanted to do everything he could to make sure nothing happened to his brothers while he was responsible for them. It still killed him that he hadn't been there when his brothers had found out the news about their parents' death. And Soda had wanted to go out that night as well. What would have happened if Pony had been there by himself when the cops had shown up?
"Just relax," Soda said with a smile as he headed back out of the room. "Any breakfast left?"
"As long as Steve didn't eat it on you," Darry smirked as he followed Soda back out to the living room.
"Hurry up, we gotta walk over to my house to get my car and still gotta pick up Two-Bit and Johnny," Steve said impatiently from the couch.
"Where did Pony go?" Darry asked as Soda hurried into the kitchen.
Steve indicated the front door with a nod of his head. "Outside smokin'," he said. "I leant him a cancer stick. Kid really needs his own pack, he's a real weed fiend all of a sudden."
"Damn, I was gonna pick him up at pack from the gas station yesterday, but I forgot," Soda said, standing in the doorway of the kitchen holding his plate of scrambled eggs covered in grape jelly. "Remind me to get a pack tonight."
"I ain't workin' tonight, it's Friday!" Steve said. "I'm taking Evie out."
"Well then, remind me when you drop me off," Soda said, rolling his eyes as he wolfed down his breakfast.
"Ready yet, princess?" Steve asked impatiently.
"We're still early," Soda pointed out, his mouth full, but he hurried all the same. A few minutes later they were heading out the door.
Darry cleaned up from breakfast before heading outside. He got into the truck and started it up, his mind still on the idea of Pony being home by himself after school today. He couldn't help thinking back to the day when everything fell apart.
Darry had gone out with a bunch of his school friends that night since he didn't have to work in the morning. They had played a few rounds of football until they couldn't see the ball anymore in the fading light. Then they had gone to a diner over near the good part of town. Most of his school friends were middle class so they didn't feel comfortable around his usual hang outs. Darry didn't mind though.
Darry didn't think much about the time; it wasn't unusual for him to stay out until midnight when he didn't have to work. He was listening to one of his friends talking about the college that he had been accepted to – Darry was hoping to go to college in the fall after he saved up some money – when a very strange sight caught Darry's eye. Dallas Winston stumbled into the diner. This was far from where Dally usually hung out. Dally caught Darry's eye and jerked his head, indicating Darry to come over to him.
"Be right back," Darry mumbled as he slid out of the booth. He walked up to Dally who was hovering by the door. "What are you doing out here?"
"Lookin' for you," Dallas said. "Figured you'd be out this direction."
"What do you want?" Darry asked a little impatiently. Dallas was getting some odd look from some of the staff in the diner as well as some of the customers, some of Darry's friends included.
"I got a call from Soda," Dally said. "He made me promise to track you down. Said you need to go home."
Darry felt confused. "Soda said that?" he asked.
"Yeah, yeah," Dally said. "Said it was important."
"Did he say why?" Darry asked. He had never been called home by one of his brothers before.
"Just said something happened," Dally said with a shrug. "Didn't say what. He sounded… weird though."
"Weird?" Darry asked.
"Shook up," Dally said. He looked up at Darry, meeting his eyes. He was worried. Darry had never seen Dally worried before. "I think you should go check it out."
Darry felt uneasy. He couldn't imagine why Soda would call up Dally and sound shook up. He remembered dad telling him that he had to stay in and work on homework that night. What kind of trouble could Soda have gotten into doing that?
"Thanks, Dally, I'll head home right now," he assured him.
"You need a ride?" Dally asked.
"No, I got the truck," Darry said.
Dally just nodded as he headed back out the door. Darry went back over to his friends and told them that he had to take off before heading back out to the parking lot.
The whole way home Darry tried to think up reasons that Soda would want him home so badly. Surely their parents were home by now, they never stayed out late and he knew they both had to work in the morning. He pulled up to the house and found everything seemed quiet. He wasn't quite sure what he had been expecting to see.
He walked up the path and up to the door. Inside he found a sight that he won't soon forget. Soda and Pony were both sitting on the couch in the living room. Pony had tears streaking down his face and Soda had his arms around him. Darry's first thought was that Pony was sick or had hurt himself somehow. He was too focused on Pony to really take in Soda's face. If he had, maybe he could have guessed what had happened, rather than making it worse with what he said next.
"What happened?" Darry had asked. He glanced around and couldn't remember he if had seen their parents' car in the driveway when he walked in. "Where are mom and dad?"
The reaction he got to that question shocked him. Pony buried his face in Soda's shoulder and started to cry harder. And even more surprisingly, Soda suddenly started bawling himself. Darry felt frozen in his spot, completely at a loss of what to do. Soda was sixteen years old after all; he couldn't remember the last time he had seen him cry.
Suddenly Pony pushed away from Soda and ran from the room. Darry heard his bedroom door slam. Darry took a breath and slowly walked over to the couch and took Pony's seat. He knew that he wasn't going to get any answers from Pony, and he needed to know what was going on.
"Hey, what happened?" Darry asked again, more gently as he rubbed Soda's back comfortingly.
Soda took a deep breath and bit his lip. "The cops came," he finally said quietly.
"What for?" Darry asked. Soda was quiet for a long time but Darry was starting to put the pieces together. "Did something happen… to mom and dad?"
Soda nodded, his eyes tearing up again. "They were in an accident," he said softly, sounding much younger than he was. "They're…. they're gone…"
Darry just stared. What his brother had just said didn't make any sense to him. How could both of their parents be gone, just like that? He had seen them just a few hours before.
"Are… are you sure?" Darry said.
"That's what they said," Soda said. "That's what the cops said."
"What else did they say?" Darry asked urgently.
"Just that social services would call tomorrow to sort things out," Soda said, staring down at his lap.
"But what kind of accident were they in?" Darry said, brushing off that last statement. He still couldn't grasp the idea.
Soda shook his head. "They didn't say," he said flatly.
Darry didn't understand how this could happen. He needed more information. He got up and walked into the kitchen without another word. He picked up the phone on the wall in the kitchen and dialed the operator and asked to be connected to the police station.
Darry was on the phone for a half hour getting the run around before he finally found someone who could actually give him some information. Their parents' car had been hit by a train and was completely totaled. Their parents had died on impact and their remains had been transported directly to the morgue. Their case was given to social services, who should be contacting them tomorrow in order to decide what to do with the two minors that the victims had under their care.
Darry finally hung up the phone, feeling cold. He stared at the wall, feeling tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. How could this have happened? What had they done to deserve this?
Then the last bit of information he had been given finally hit him. Social services would be calling tomorrow to decide what to do with the two minors that were under the victims care. The two minors… meaning Ponyboy and Sodapop. Would they be taken away? They had no other family to take care of them. Would they be sent to an orphanage somewhere? A foster home? Would they all be separated?
Darry blinked away his tears. He wouldn't let that happen. He was over eighteen, he was an adult. He would have to keep them all together. No one was going to take his brothers away from him.
He walked back into the living room to find that Soda had not moved.
"C'mere Soda," Darry said as he walked down the hall. He heard Soda slowly get up from the couch and follow him. He knocked on Pony's door. "Pony?" he called. All he heard was sniffling, so he opened the door and walked in. Pony was laying on his stomach with his head buried in his pillow. He felt his heart breaking to see how much this was affecting both of his brothers. "Hey Pony," Darry said as he pulled Pony up. "C'mere." He wrapped one arm around Pony and pulled Soda in with the other arm. He held both of his brothers close to him. "We're going to get through this," he mumbled. "I promise."