Go! Go! Go! Legs move!

Ponyboy's arms were pumping at his sides as his feet quickly patted against the tile flooring, feeling heavy as if he were running through water. He couldn't focus his eyes. Everything passed by him in a loopy blur as he sprinted down the never-ending hallway of the hospital. Pony's breathing was labored, coming off as terrified pants. The only thing that was on his mind was that he had to run. Someone was chasing him, but he couldn't focus his eyes on whoever it was. The only thing that he could hear from the faceless figure was their booming footsteps which were getting louder and louder the closer that it got to him, and the piercing, incoherent whispers.

He wasn't going to be able to run away. They were about to catch up to him.

Move!

The hallway kept stretching and it seemed like he was never going to reach the end of it. The booming of the person's footsteps and the whispers were so loud now, but he kept running.

Eventually, a door appeared in front of him, encouraging him to pick up his pace. The exit. It was right there. He slammed into it, stopping his run in an instant. Ponyboy reached over to the handle to open it, but it was, to his horror, locked. He pulled and pulled, but the door wouldn't budge. He banged his fist against the metal, screaming his lungs out.

"Please. Please. Open," he begged. He looked over his shoulder again. They were getting closer, causing him to become more frantic. He jostled the door handle like a madman. "Please!"

To his luck, the door pulled open after one harsh tug. Ponyboy breathed out in relief, hope washing over him. He was free! At least, that's what he thought. Ponyboy tried to scramble through the open door, but before he could do that, it was too late. A hand grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him backward, causing him to yelp out in shock. He screamed again, trying to break free but it was futile. The hold that was on him was too strong. The faceless figure dragged him away from the door until it disappeared altogether. At that moment, Ponyboy lost the hope he had in escaping. The figure dragged him to a wooden chair that had suddenly appeared in the center of the hallway, lit up by a bright spotlight. They threw him on top of it, strapping him down and placing a familiar, metal headband on him.

Breath hitching in his throat, Ponyboy wormed in the chair. "No. Don't do it. Let me go," he pleaded to the unknown figure who had walked over to a lever. Their hand slowly wrapped around it and he went ballistic. "Let me go!"

The figure pushed down on the lever causing Ponyboy to scream as a bright light engulfed his vision.

Ponyboy's body shot upright as a yell was released from his mouth. He tried to hug himself but found that he couldn't. His immediate thought was that he was still trapped inside of the hospital; still strapped onto the chair. Panic took over his mind as his body went rigid. He struggled against the hold and he somehow managed to free one of his arms. Blindly, Ponyboy threw a fist at whoever was holding onto him. He just needed to get away.

A yelp caused him to wake up completely. "Jesus Christ!" a familiar voice hissed as Ponyboy was let go.

"Archer?" Ponyboy breathed out. Sweat layered his skin, causing his hair and clothes to stick to his body. He dug his palms into his eyes as he tried to calm down. Oh man, he couldn't. His heart was racing too fast.

Again, Archer wrapped his arms around him, a hand petting his head. "It's alright, I'm here. You're okay," Archer soothed next to his ear. "You had a nightmare."

A nightmare… It was just a nightmare… He wasn't in conversion therapy…

Taking a shaky breath, Ponyboy looked around. He was in Archer's room. The bright, morning light caused his eyes to sting, a contrast to his dim room that was in the hospital. It warmed his skin like a blanket, but it wasn't as warm as Archer's hug. Ponyboy turned to him, seeing blood trickle out of his nose.

"You're bleeding," Ponyboy pointed out, instinctively reaching up to wipe some of it away.

"Yeah, you could really lay a punch," Archer huffed out, chuckling.

Ponyboy looked at him sheepishly, "Sorry."

Shaking his head, Archer scrunched up his eyebrows in worry. "It's fine… But what about you? Do you want to talk about it? You were kicking and screaming bloody murder."

Ponyboy pressed his lips tightly together. He really should talk about it, but that meant reliving his memories and he couldn't go back to the hospital. "I don't really want to talk about it…"

Archer nodded, understanding. "And you don't have to, but you can't hold everything in. That nightmare was really violent, and I know that you've been through a lot of shit in conversion therapy… but what happened there?"

Whimpering, Ponyboy shook his head. He could still feel the electricity running through his veins and, although he had washed out his mouth since then, still tasted the vomit on his tongue. He couldn't do it. He didn't want to go through it again. "I don't… I don't…" Ponyboy stuttered, teeth clenching so hard that it hurt his jaw.

The hug became tighter, helping to ground him. "You can do it. I'll be right here. Nobody is going to hurt you again," Archer reassured.

That wasn't entirely true and both of them knew that. There was going to be a trillion painful challenges that were going to come their way.

"I… I can't." Ponyboy looked away from Archer, but that only lasted for a split-second. Archer unwrapped his arms to hold Pony's face with both of his hands. He forced the younger teen to stare at him in the eyes, pulling their faces closer together so that they were breathing in each other's breaths. Breath hitching, a blush spread across Ponyboy's face. His lips tingled, remembering the feeling of the kiss that they shared in the hospital. Christ, his feelings for him were too intense. He couldn't believe this was real. Not that long ago, he thought that Archer hated his guts. It was like a dream. If it were a dream, he didn't want to wake up from it. "I'm sorry. I just can't."

"You can. Just take a deep breath."

He did so, breathing in slowly and shakily. "They…" he started, telling himself to just do it. "They drugged me and made me throw up. Every day for hours… it was just constant vomiting. Then they… electrocuted me."

"They electrocuted you?"

Ponyboy nodded, swallowing the saliva that had gathered inside of his mouth. His stomach twisted and turned violently. Oh, man, he was going to be sick. "Every… Everyday."

"That's…"

But that was as far Archer got before Pony threw himself off of the bed. He ran straight to the bathroom, hunching over the toilet and vomiting. The familiar taste invaded his mouth again; causing him to become dizzy. A hand gently touched his back, causing him to violently flinch but he quickly relaxed into it. It was just Archer, he reminded himself.

"Are you okay?" Archer asked when he lifted his head.

"Sorry…" Ponyboy apologized, wiping the vomit off of his mouth with his arm.

"No, it's fine."

A knock on the door shifted their attention. Archer's mom popped her head inside the bathroom, taking in the scene in front of her. "Oh," she started, eyebrows scrunching up together. "Is everything alright here?"

"I'm fine," Ponyboy mumbled, smiling thinly. Archer's mother smiled back.

"Fine enough to eat some breakfast?"

Ponyboy's stomach twisted again. He was starving but he wasn't in the mood to eat anything. The last time he ate, he was forced to throw it all up. He grimaced. "I'm not very hungry."

Raising her eyebrow disbelievingly, Archer's mother, crossed her arms. "I don't want to be rude, but you of all people need to eat something. I don't know what happened to you, but you should."

"I…" Ponyboy couldn't form a sentence. He looked at Archer for help, but he kept silent, much to his dismay.

"I'm making it a rule here. If you want to stay in this house, then you have to eat. No arguments."

Gulping, Ponyboy nodded. He didn't want to eat but he had no choice if his housing was on the line. He knew that she was mostly joking, but he didn't want to hurt her feelings in any way. He was a guest, after all. He was lucky enough for her to agree in him temporarily moving in. She could have left him on the street to rot, but she didn't. Ponyboy was going to be forever grateful to her for that. "I'll be right down," he sighed, and she grinned.

"Good. I made scrambled eggs."

Ponyboy's stomach rumbled, mouth watering despite him just vomiting. He hadn't had eggs in a while. He had stopped eating them after his brothers rejected him. He pulled himself off from the ground about to pass by Archer's mother but stopped midway. He turned to her, smiling. "Thank you for letting me stay here," he said.

"Of course. You really needed it. I'm really glad that you felt safe enough to stay here." She gestured out of the bathroom. "Now go get food before it gets cold."

When Ponyboy hurriedly left the bathroom, Archer got up to follow him down to the kitchen. However, before he could do that, his mother put a hand on his chest to halt him. "I need to talk to you for a bit," she brought up.

Tilting his head to the side, Archer asked, "About what?"

"What happened to him?"

Archer bit his bottom lip, looking in the direction that Ponyboy had ran off in. A part of him wanted to tell her, but Ponyboy had a hard time just telling him as much information as he did. There were probably a bunch of other things that had happened to him in the conversion therapy. He just didn't think it would be right for him to tell her. Ponyboy most likely wants to keep it as private as possible. He didn't blame him at all. Archer would have wanted the same thing if he were in that exact situation. "I can't tell you."

"And why's that?"

"Because he should be the one who tells you; not me."

His mother smiled at that, eyes shining with pride. She placed a hand on his shoulder, rubbing it. "You're really growing up well. I'm so happy that you're taking care of him. You've changed so much since the beginning of the year."

Archer grinned, still looking out the door. He knew exactly what happened that caused him to change so much. "I just had a good influence, is all."

o-o-o

Sorry, everyone. This is a short chapter. I have a major writer's block, but I feel that it will get better in the next chapter... hopefully. Also, thank you to everyone who understood my situation. It really means a lot.

IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ: I am planning my next story and I need help picking which idea I should do. I created a poll which could be accessed on my profile page. Please take a second to answer it. It would help me a lot. I really want to see what you want to read. There are two general choices on there. However, there are different variants of those two choices. In each choice, there are small details that are different, so please make sure that you read them carefully before voting. Thank you so much. If anything doesn't make sense or if you want more detail about the choices, please feel free to PM me. I'll gladly answer them for you.