Later on that night, I found myself having a dream that turned into a horrific nightmare. I was usually never the one to get nightmares this badly. Normally it was Pony that did.
I knew that I was asleep, I don't know how. I screamed at myself and tried waking myself up. However, I was stuck in place. Nothing I did seemed to work.
Pony was in front of me, walking to the fountain where everything happened. I was only an observer, a mere fly on the wall just watching everything happen. When Pony made it to the fountain, I felt an overwhelming tightness in my stomach.
About four socs grab him and they start to drown him in the ice cold fountain. Pony was fighting them, trying to keep himself from going under. They gave no time for him to breathe, dunking him in and out of it.
"No! Stop! Get away from him!" I shouted in terror, but it was no louder than a whisper. So they didn't even hear me. I couldn't move. I couldn't speak.
The only thing I could do was watch as they were drowning my brother. After what seemed like a painfully long time. Those socs left, leaving my brother lifeless on the ground next to the fountain.
"No... God no..." I shook, stumbling to him. "Ponyboy!" I sob, falling to my knees in front of him. I brought into my arms and held him close to me, his face buried in the crook of my neck. "No, no, no, no... Please wake up..." I beg, feeling the same grief that I hadn't felt since our parents died.
I woke up in a cold sweat and my body was shaking. Tears were streaming down my very hot cheeks. I had to take a second to figure out where I was.
I was still in the church, on the floor with Pony and Johnny. Sitting up, I felt just how stiff my body was. "Glory... it was only a dream. Just a dream..." I whisper to myself, tears still falling from my eyes.
There was a tightness in my chest and I could feel a sob forcing its way up my throat. Not even covering my mouth helped any, it came anyway. I decided to go outside to smoke, I was shaking so badly that I needed one.
I pushed myself to my feet and clumsily made my way over to the front door, cigarette in hand. I sit down on the front steps and light my cigarette. It was helping me calm down with each drag I took.
The tears were still coming despite me wiping them away. "Pony's alive... he's alive... They didn't kill him..." I mutter to myself. When I closed my eyes, I could still see that damn nightmare, making me tremble even more.
I can't believe that those Socs nearly took my brother away from me. Like Johnny, Ponyboy is not only my brother, he's my best friend also. I can't live without him. If I had lost him, I'd surely lose myself.
I took a long drag of my cigarette when I felt a sob coming through. Suddenly, I felt a hand touch my shoulder, causing me to jump out of my skin. I was still extremely jumpy from that dream.
"Bex, it's me! Take it easy." Ponyboy said, recoiling his hand from my frightened reaction. I turn to see my brother standing behind me. "Oh... Pony." I said, feeling relieved that Pony was alive.
"What's wrong? I saw you walk out." he said, sitting next to me. "Nothing. I'm fine." I said, not wanting him to worry, "Just a dream." I took a long drag of my cigarette and exhaled shakily.
Pony was frowning at this. We both knew that I had a nightmare. He carefully took the cigarette out of my hand, which I didn't mind. He crushed it under his foot in order to put it out.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, rubbing my back to comfort me. It was something that Soda would do if either of us had a nightmare. "I don't wanna say." I say, looking at him with a smile, "I could use a hug though."
He doesn't hesitate to bring me into a hug, his arms around my shoulders. I hugged him back, my arms around his waist. We sat there in silence, just holding onto each other.
Our bodies were pressed up against each other. I could feel my brother's heart beating against my chest. That let me know that he was here and alive.
He pulled back and I wiped the rest of my tears from my eyes. "Are you alright now?" he asked me sweetly, making me smile. "Yeah, I'm okay now. Thank you, Pony." I said, appreciating what he did.
"You're welcome, Bex. You know that when you're upset, I'm upset." Ponyboy said. "Well, we are twins after all." I chuckle. That made him smile and laugh as well.
After a bit, we both went inside. I was feeling a hell of a lot better after that nightmare. I wanted to say what it was but quickly decided against it.
The next four or five days were the longest days that we've ever spent in our lives. During that time, we'd play poker and bet our cigarettes, read from Gone with the Wind, as well as overfill ourselves in bologna sandwiches.
I laid down on the pew with my arm underneath my head as I smoked a cigarette. Johnny was eating a sandwich and drank some pop while Pony was reading from the book, his back against the wall and his legs crossed.
"Lying in the pit of the sun, shoulder to shoulder, head to feet were hundreds of wounded men lying in the tracks, the sidewalks, stretched out in endless rows under the car shed. Some lay stiff and still, but many withered in the hot sun. Everywhere swarms of flies hovered over the men crawling and buzzing in their faces." Pony read, cracking a smile at us.
"Ugh, that's disgusting." I say, rolling my eyes as I take another drag of my cigarette and making a smoke ring out of it. "You're telling me." Johnny agreed. "Everywhere was blood, dirty bandages, groans screamed curses of pain." Pony continued reading.
Later on that day, the three of us had decided that we were gonna hunt a rabbit. We set up a trap for the rabbit to go under the box. Just before it did so, Pony pulled it. It didn't catch him.
"Get him!" Johnny exclaimed, chasing after the rabbit. "He's over there!" I yelp, nearly catching the rabbit by almost tripping and falling over. "Come back here!" Pony said, close to catching the rabbit. Our hunt was unsuccessful; the rabbit was too damn fast for us.
Later on in the evening, Ponyboy brought out the book again and continued to read from it. I sat next to him, arm resting on my right knee. Both Johnny and I were smoking a cigarette. Johnny was puffing cigarette rings into the air.
"But for four years, she had seen others who had refused to recognise defeat. Men who rode gally into sure disaster, because they were gallant." Ponyboy read thoughtfully, "That sounds pretty cool, yeah?" "Yeah, them cool old guys remind me of Dally." Johnny said with a nod, his head, eyes glowing.
"Dally? He ain't got any more manners than Bex and I." Ponyboy said startled. "Johnny, don't you remember how he was flirting with those girls the other night? He had treated me the exact same that one time. Pony, doesn't Soda act more like those Southern boys?" I said. "Yeah, he is." Ponyboy agreed.
"Yeah, the manners bit. Maybe charm too." Johnny shrugged, "Read on, Pony."
After a while, Johnny fell asleep with his lit cigarette. I was getting tired as well; Ponyboy noticed that I was dozing off.
"Get some sleep, Bex. I can see you're tired." Ponyboy said, letting me use his lap as a pillow. I laid down and found that his lap was plenty soft.
One morning, Pony and I had woken up much earlier than before. The church was much colder than before. Dally wasn't lying when he said it'd get cold up here so we had to huddle up just to stay warm by the small fire in the furnace.
Pony and I went out into the field, the cool breeze hitting my burning hot cheeks. The sight ahead was absolutely beautiful. The lower valley was covered in mist, some of the clouds broke off into small pieces and drifted away.
The sky was much lighter in the east, the horizon was a golden line. The colors of the clouds changed from orange to pink, the mist was touched with gold. Everything around us seemed to freeze in time and the sun started to slowly rise.
Johnny soon joined us to watch the sunrise. "Man, that sure was pretty." he commented, amazed by the gorgeous sunrise ahead. "Yeah." Pony sighed, probably wishing that he had a canvas with some paint so he could paint the sight. "This prettiest sight I've ever seen." I say, a smile forming on my lips.
"The mist is what was pretty. All gold and silver." Johnny said, "Too bad it can't stay forever." "Nothing Gold Can Stay." Pony said, getting both Johnny and I to look at him.
"Nature's first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay."
My eyes widened a bit at that poem. I've never taken my brother to be quite the poet. It made me smile.
"Pony, where'd you learn that?" I asked him. "Robert Frost wrote it. I always remembered it because I never understood what he meant by it. Haven't you heard it before, Bex?" he replied. "Not until now. That was honestly beautiful, Pony." I say, feeling a sense of happiness in my heart, "Never thought you were quite the poet."
Johnny turns to face us, a smile across his face, "Y'know, I never noticed colors and clouds and stuff until the two of you reminded me of it. It's like they were never there before." He thinks for a moment, "Your family is so funny."
"How so?" I asked, hands on my hips. "Yeah, what's so funny about it?" Pony agreed. "I didn't mean anything by it. Well, Bex, you act like your father and look like your mother. Soda does too. Darry is a spitting image of y'all's, but he ain't wild and laughing all the time like he was. He's more like y'all's mother. Pony, you don't act like either one." Johnny said, looking at us quickly.
"I know." Pony said, shrugging his shoulder. "Johnny, you ain't like any of the gang. I mean, Bex, we couldn't tell Two-Bit, Steve, or even Darry about the sunrise, clouds, and stuff like that." Pony says. "Damn straight. We could only tell only each other, you Johnny, and Sodapop. You can even tell Cherry Valance, Pony." I agreed, not being able to stop smiling.
Pony gave me a shove, a playful one. "Yeah, we can do that." he agreed with me. "Yeah, guess we're different." Johnny shrugged. "Shoot yeah." I said with a light chuckle. "Maybe they are." Pony said, a warm smile on his face.
