Chapter 35
"I thought I might find you here" said a voice from behind me. I spun around on my heals to see a man that looked to be in his fifties.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"You don't recognize me? It's me, Ponyboy. The only member of our gang that you haven't seen yet" said Pony.
"Ponyboy!" I yelled, running towards him to give him a big hug.
"How did you know?" I asked.
"I talked to Tori last night. She explained the whole thing to me. So they think your making the whole thing up, huh?"
"Well that opinion might change now" I said.
"I hope it does."
"So, what's been going on with you after I left?" I asked.
"I was hurt ya know, after you died" began Pony, "I got into all sorts of bad things. I started doing drugs when I was fifteen I think. It got so bad that Tori had to rush me to the hospital because of one really bad trips. I still have flashbacks from that trip. I had to go to the hospital because I kept trying to kill myself. I kept thinking that people where trying to eat me. That was from the trip of course. After I went to the hospital I was checked into a Rehab center in North Carolina which is where I met my first wife, Rae. She was doing some volunteer work there. When I got out we started dating and eventually got married. But we got divorced a year later. I guess the old saying is wrong, opposites don't attracted. After the divorce, I thought it might be good to start over some place far away from North Carolina so I moved to New York City and started writing articles for the New York Times. That's how I met my second wife, Sylvie. I was working on an article about the small town life in Cashiers, North Carolina. And she just so happened to own the most popular restaurant in town. One thing led to another and about a year later we got married and then we had three kids, not all at the same time though. After I got married I published my first book and now I'm here talking to you in this cemetery."
"I never thought I'd be back here" I said, "and I never thought I'd see my own grave."
"Neither did I. I never thought in a million years I would see you again" said Pony.
"So, what are your kids names?" I asked.
"Well, there's Isabelle, who's my oldest. Then Dashiell, who's the middle. And last but not least there's Liam" said Pony.
"Interesting names. Not really all that common" I pointed out.
"Well if you haven't noticed, my name isn't all that common. I've yet to meet another Ponyboy" said Pony.
"That's true. Who's that buried right next to me?" I asked, motioning to the grave.
"Oh, that's Paige."
"Who's Paige?"
"Paige was Soda's little girl. Remember when Sandy wrote him that letter saying that the baby wasn't his? Well, it turned out she was wrong. The baby was his. Paige died in a car accident when she was 13. She was walking across the street to a friends house and the driver was driving too fast and didn't see her. Soda loved her. But by the time he found out about her, she was already 6 years old" replied Pony.
"Oh cause for a minute there I thought….."
"You thought it was me. We've been trying to get her tombstone fixed up a little but it cost a little too much and Soda just doesn't have the money right now" said Pony.
"Soda never mentioned her" I said.
"He never talks about her anymore. It hurts him too much."
"That's understandable. Do his kids know about her?"
"I think the Hannah does but the rest of them don't and he plans to keep it that way" said Pony, looking me right in the eye.
"I wasn't going to tell them."
There was a moment of silence between us before I asked, "what's the box for?" Ponyboy had been holding a box under his arm the whole time we'd been talking.
"Oh, this is for you" he said, handing the box to me.
I opened the box to reveal my prom dress and three pictures. The dress had turned a little yellow over the years and some of the sequins had fallen off but it still looked the way I remembered it.
"You kept this after all these years?"
"Well, the rest of the gang had something to remember you by and I didn't. It's been up in my basement for years and I haven't seen since a couple of weeks after you died" said Pony.
Two of the three pictures in the box where the pictures we took the night of the prom. But then there was the other picture. It was a picture of Ponyboy and two boys I didn't recognize.
"Who are they?" I asked, showing Pony the picture.
"Oh, I don't know how that got in there. That's Mark and Bryon. Sad, sad story there" said Pony, shaking his head slightly.
"What happened?"
"Well, it started out as Mark and Bryon being best friends. They where so close they where almost like brothers. Then one day, Bryon found out that Mark was dealing drugs and he called the cops on him. They locked him up for a couple of years but then he escaped. He tried to shoot Bryon but fortunately he lived. Mark died a couple of years later. He was trying to hitch a ride and he ended up holding the driver and the passenger hostage. The driver freaked and ran the truck into a ditch. The police caught him and shot Mark. He's buried right over here if you want to see him" said Pony, leading me to Mark's grave. The grave was kinda old. It didn't have any flowers around it and it didn't have anything sentimental written on it. It just said:
Mark Jennings.
April 21, 1955 -1979.
R.I.P
"Nothing sentimental?" I asked.
"No. Mark didn't have any family really aside from Bryon and his mom" said Pony.
"That's sad" I said. Then I noticed a grave right next to Mark's. The name was very familiar to me. The grave just said
The Motorcycle Boy
Idol to all hoods.
"The Motorcycle Boy" I said aloud.
"Oh yea, Rusty James' brother. I forgot he was buried here. The kids that lived around here back in the 70's use to idolize him but I didn't. I had grown out of the whole gang, fight thing by then. You might've liked him. He wasn't that bad, a little on the weird side, but not that bad" said Pony, "so, how long have you been here?"
"Couple of days."
"You think you'll be comin' back any time soon?"
"I dunno. Maybe. I hope so."
"You better. Don't let forty years pass again" said Pony. Just then, I heard a car horn blasting right behind me. I turned around to see where the sound was coming from.
"Come on Dad. We're going to be late!" yelled a girl from the car.
"My daughter" explained Pony, "I'm coming!" Pony started walking off towards the car. I stood there quietly and watched as he got farther and farther away, fading into the setting sun.
"Come on Kelsey" said Mom, "let's go home."
"I'm already there."
I'm sad to say guys that this is the last chapter. It's been a lot of fun. Thanks to all you guys who reviewed and most of all thanks to Tori for helping me out whenever I ran out of ideas. I might do another Outsiders fic but I'm not sure. I've already gotten started on a Rumble Fish one since there aren't too many of them on here. Unfortunately though, the first chapter might not be done for a little while.