A/N: Hey guys! So finally getting back into writing...I actually just had a baby boy in August (who was actually born on my sister's birthday) and am finally getting back into life so yay for me! With that, I have a few things in my mental checklist for fanfiction. I will be finishing this story (yay!), and for those who are familiar with my other story A Fresh Love, I will be deleting that story and rewriting it, so look out for that. And finally, I will be writing more stories in general, including another horror fic similar to this one. Glad to be back!

At some point throughout the night, each greaser slowly fell asleep. They all needed rest so bad they ended up on the couch and chair and even the floor without a second thought. At the hospital, Darry was slightly worried no one was answering the phone at home by the early morning, but tried telling himself they were all asleep. If that were true, then he really didn't want to keep trying.

"Darry?" Pony mumbled from the bed. Pony had a couple basic monitors hooked up to him. The doctors were testing some heart and brain activity and took some blood samples, but they weren't sure what more to do, which Darry suspected. They thought he was crazy for sure.

"What is it buddy?" Darry asked. He was starting to relax more whenever Pony talked, now that he could tell the difference between Pony and the other thing's voice tone and attitude. He was uneasy about the fact he could tell the difference so well, but tried not to think about it too much.

"I just thought of something," Pony asked with a hard swallow.

"What's that?"

"What if the doctors are calling the authorities? And they find out about mom and dad, and then try to take me away thinking you did something to make me like this?"

Darry looked at the floor. He honestly had thought about that. Hell he was thinking about it during the drive to the hospital. But he couldn't let that fear keep him from trying to get Pony help. He finally sighed, "Maybe they will and maybe they won't. All I can do is tell them the truth and hope they realize it wasn't anything I or Soda did."

Pony nodded, "Am I going to die?"

Darry nearly jumped. Pony asked that so abruptly, like without thought. It had obviously been bothering him for awhile now. "No, I won't let it. I'll let this thing kill me first, he can certainly have me first before he has you."

"Don't say that," Pony whimpered slightly, "That doesn't make me feel better."

"I'm serious though Pony, I will do everything in my power to keep that from happening. I will do everything I can to keep him from getting you or me or Soda or anyone else. Period."

There was a knock on the door and Pony's doctor and nurse walked in. "Hello," the nurse greeted, "I'm just going to check on him now." She walked towards the machines to read the records as the doctor said, "Darry, do you mind if we talk in the hall?"

"Sure," Darry nodded giving Pony's shoulder a squeeze and leaving the room.

"Darry, I'm just concerned deeply," the doctor began.

"Me too," Darry firmly stated, "I want to know what's wrong."

The doctor sighed, "His blood tests came back quite surprising."

"As in?" Darry asked.

"He should honestly be dead right now. I...I'm baffled. I have no idea what is keeping him alive right now, but his body is just...it's practically useless."

Darry shook his head, "I'm...I'm not understanding how..."

The doctor scratched his head, "Imagine this. His organs, bodily fluids, blood count, everything is not in working mode right now. Not normally anyway, not how our organs are working," the doctor sighed, "It's almost as if a machine is working his organs to keep him alive. Imagine Ponyboy being a machine, or a robot, and he needed to be plugged in to function, to do anything. Then you unplug him, and he's useless. He doesn't work anymore. His organs are at a point right now where they shouldn't be able to function on their own as ours do."

Darry felt his frustration rise and grabbed at his hair and began pulling it.

"Now what baffles me the most is that the readings couldn't have gotten like this overnight. His body has been like this for a few days at most and how he's even alive on machines or IV, I don't know. And of course, I'm not saying it as a bad thing, I'm more than happy to see his body has fought this far. It's just...it's not adding up."

"But...you have no idea what's causing it," Darry groaned.

"No...unfortunately not. The nurse is going to take a few more samples so we can look at it in a different angle and see if we find more answers," the doctor said, "But for now I'll let you process a little before we go any further. If you have any questions or if any changes need to be noted, just give me a call down." Darry thanked the doctor as he left. Before he returned to his brother, the nurse walked out with some blood samples.

"Hi Mr. Curtis, did the doctor explain everything?" the nurse asked.

Darry nodded looking at the floor.

The nurse almost turned to leave, but instead walked closer to Darry, "I have something to tell you, but we have to talk in private. It may be something to take into consideration for your brother's health."

Curious, the nurse lead Darry down the hall towards a quiet area.

Back at home, Soda didn't begin stirring until close to ten. He was surprised he slept so long, but also kind of relieved. Looking around, he didn't see anyone else awake. With that, he didn't bother getting up. He wondered what was going on at the hospital right now. Were they actually taking tests or did they send them to an insane asylum to stay at.

As soon as the phone rang, Soda moved from his position and answered. "Hello?"

"Hey Soda, it's Darry. How is everyone?"

"Out," Soda slightly chuckled, "Surprised I fell asleep at all. How's it going there?"

"Well..." Darry sighed, "It's bad." Darry relayed everything the doctor told him. He held back any choked up tears he could as he finally said it out loud.

"Oh god..." Soda muttered.

"But, then the nurse pulled me aside," Darry rubbed his eyes, "And, I don't know it's weird, she said she has seen this once before and the family was the same way, blaming spirits or demons and shit."

"Really?" Soda asked shocked, "Well what happened?"

"I guess the family took the person to an exorcism. She never heard what happened afterwards, but she thought it would be worth sharing."

Soda slowly nodded, "So...what now?"

"We find someone to perform an exorcism."