A/N: Hello fellow citizens of this website! Hope y'all are doin' well! Here's chapter 21! REVIEWS ARE HIGHLY APPRECIATED, just letting that out there. Stay gold. x

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*Pony's POV*

Pain. That was the first thing I felt. It was everywhere. My ribs, my limbs, my back, but especially my head. Oh God, my head.

I couldn't remember a thing. I remembered talking to Mary and then everything going black. I had no idea where I was, I only knew that everything was quiet around me, except for a very annoying beeping sound that made my head throb painfully, and also that I seemed to be lying on something soft and comfortable.

"Pony?" a familiar voice called. "Pony, can you hear me?"

I wanted to answer, but something was over my mouth and nose. I grabbed it and moved it away but someone stopped me.

"Don't," another familiar voice said, placing the thing back over my mouth and nose.

My head was killing me. My hand travelled up and made contact with a thick bandage on my forehead. Strange.

"Don't touch it, Pony," the first familiar voice said, grabbing my hand and bringing it back down. I tried to sit up but the pain in my side intensified to an excruciating level. I moaned. I felt two hands pushing my shoulders back down.

"Quit movin' around, will ya?" said the second voice. Darry.

My eyelids felt like lead. I managed to open my eyes and when I did, everything was blurry and out of focus. I blinked a few times and things around me started getting clearer. That's when I spotted the two familiar faces of my brothers on either side of me, and around them, what seemed to be a hospital room.

"Wha- happened?" I asked, my hoarse voice coming out muffled because of what seemed to be an oxygen mask over my mouth and nose.

"You don't remember?" Darry said. "There was an accident on the way to the movies. You're at the hospital, Pony."

That's when I remembered everything. Blinding lights. The sound of metal hitting metal. Mary screaming. My breath caught up in my throat.

"Mary-" I started.

"She's alright, Pony. She's fine," Soda answered.

"Mary…" I repeated, starting to panic, my breath shortening, the beeping from the heart monitor picking up the pace.

"You'll see her soon, just calm down, okay baby? Don't get yourself worked up, Pone, or the doctor won't let us see you no more," Darry said.

It only then occurred to me that I might be really hurt. Just then, a middle-aged man wearing a white lab coat walked in, followed by two women in white uniforms.

"Hello, Ponyboy," he greeted, smiling warmly. "Glad to see that you're awake."

I stared back. I didn't say anything. I didn't know who that man was.

"Mr. Curtis, Sodapop, would you mind waiting outside for a few minutes while we run a few tests?" asked the man. My eyes widened. Tests? What kinds of tests? I was starting to get scared. I wished wildly form Mom and Dad.

Soda and Darry got up but I clung to both their hands with all my strength. I didn't want them to go. I whimpered slightly, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Shh… Pony, its okay," reassured Soda, leaning over me. "Doctor Johnson just wants to make sure everything's fine. He's gonna help you, okay? We'll be waiting right outside that door over there. We're not going anywhere."

That was enough to calm me down. Darry and Soda both slipped their hands out of mine and walked out of the room, Sodapop flashing me a reassuring smile before disappearing in the doorway, leaving me alone with the doctor and the two nurses. The nurses moved around my bed, looking at the monitors and the oxygen tank, taking notes.

"I-it hurts…" I mumbled unintelligibly, tears leaking out of my eyes. I had no idea why I was crying, but the doctor seemed to catch on.

"Where do you feel pain, Ponyboy?" he asked.

I didn't answer, the lump in my throat preventing me from speaking as more tears came out from my eyes.

"It's alright, Ponyboy, what you're experiencing right now is completely normal," the doctor reassured me. "Now where does it hurt? Your side? Your head?"

I nodded, and the simple action of my head rubbing against the pillow made me wince and whimper.

"Can your rate your pain on a scale of one to ten?" the doctor asked. "One being barely there and ten being the worst pain you've ever felt in your life?"

"Nine," I croaked out.

The doctor looked at one of the IV bags.

"The morphine is wearing off," he told one of the nurses.

The nurse in question left the room and came back a few minutes later with another bag of clear liquid, which she replaced with the old one. She adjusted the speed as I asked the doctor:

"W-why does it hurt?" I asked. I couldn't get myself to stop crying for some weird reason.

"You have a concussion, a fractured skull and two broken ribs," the doctor answered. "You also lost quite a bit of blood. We took you into surgery when you got here last night."

Surgery? I didn't remember getting surgery. The medicine must've kicked in because I felt myself relaxing, the pain numbing slowly.

The doctor moved the sheets from my body down to my hips.

"I'm just going to check on your ribs to make sure they're taped properly," he explained. One of the nurses undid a knot around the neck of my hospital gown and slipped my arms out of the sleeves, bringing the gown down to my waist. On my bare chest, I could see the several electrodes stuck to my chest, connecting me to the heart monitor, and the ends of dark purple bruises sticking out from the tape around my ribcage.

The doctor very gently poked and prodded, careful not to hurt me. I didn't know what he was looking for, but after a while, he nodded and the nurse helped me back into my hospital gown and brought the sheets back up to my chest. He mumbled something I didn't understand to a nurse and she left the room.

"Everything seems to be normal," the doctor said. "I'll go outside and have a talk with your brothers while the nurses change the bandage on your head. They're also going to administer a mild sedative. It's nothing serious, it's just going to help you sleep through the day. We really need you to rest and we can't afford for you to get yourself worked up."

I would've protested if I wasn't already so out of it. The doctor walked out and the nurse came back in at the same time. She was pushing a trolley in. She smiled warmly at me as she prepared her equipment.

"Now, Pony, we're just going to disinfect your stitches with a cream we have here," she explained in a soothing voice. "It might sting just a little, but I promise you it's really not that bad. We're gonna change the bandage on your head right after, is that okay?"

I stared back at her. I nodded slowly. One of the nurses lifted my head and supported the back of my neck and the back of my head gently so I didn't have to hold myself up while the other one removed the bandage on my head. She applied antiseptic cream to the stitches. She was right. It did sting, but not like rubbing alcohol did or anything. This was fancy stuff. She wrapped my head again in clean bandages. The nurse who was holding my head up gently set it back down and adjusted my pillows so I was more comfortable. The nurse with the trolley prepared a shot of some kind of liquid I didn't recognize. She injected it into my arm before I could do anything and told me to count to thirty.

I made it to twenty-two before I fell into a deep slumber.

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*Soda's POV*

Darry and I were both sitting in chairs outside of Ponyboy's room when the doctor walked out. Darry stood up first and I followed shortly after.

"So, what's the deal, Doctor Johnson?" Darry asked.

"Well, Ponyboy is more responsive than I thought he would be, which is a good sign. He is very shook up and very emotional, which is completely normal in this situation," the doctor explained. "Because of the seriousness of his injuries, we'll have to keep him here for a week. If everything goes according to plans, he should be released next Saturday, June 25. I would like him to stay in bed for a week after that, and to take it easy for the rest of the summer, since his ribs will take time to heal. I'll be making weekly appointments until the end of July for him to make sure his injuries are healing nicely."

"Can we see him now?" I asked.

"Yes, of course, but he'll be sleeping for the rest of the day," the doctor said. "We administered a simple sedative, since he seemed to be agitated. He'll need all the rest he can get."

"Can the others come in, too?" Darry asked.

"Of course," the doctor smiled. "As long as they're being quiet and they let him sleep."

"Don't worry, doc, I'll make sure they do," Darry reassured, and I knew from the look on his face that anyone from our gang getting too loud was going to regret it.