.As I awoke, I felt the ground moving beneath me. My whole body was aching and I couldn't tell where I was. There was a high-pitched sound echoing in my ears, giving me a headache.
"Look, she's waking up." a female voice said, sponging my forehead. When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was in a vehicle. "Huh? Where am I?" I wondered hoarsely. My throat was extremely sore and it hurt to talk.
"Easy now, kid. You're going to the hospital." a woman answered, sitting beside me. "My brother... Johnny... Dallas... Where are they?" I weeped, scared at being in here with strangers. "They're in another ambulance behind us. It's alright. You only passed out." the woman assured me.
"That leather jacket of yours saved you from being burned too badly. And that black haired boy saved your life in that church." that woman said. I closed my eyes, remembering that Johnny pushed me out of the way of that beam that had fallen. He saved me from getting badly hurt.
"Are we... going to the police station?" I asked, feeling a bit mixed up. "What? Why would we take you there? I told you we're going to the hospital." she said, sounding surprised by my question.
"Are they alright?" I asked, now worried about Johnny, Pony, and Dally. "Who's who?" the woman asked. "Johnny's the kid who saved me, Dally's the mean-looking one, Pony is my twin brother. He's got short, blonde hair." I pointed out.
"Well, your brother should be alright. They're gonna check him over once we get there. The tough-looking kid is gonna be fine too, just a severe burn mark on his arm. Johnny, I don't know about him. After he pushed you, he had taken that hit from the timber. His back might be broken and he was burned badly." she told me.
I felt tears run down my face, knowing that Johnny is severely hurt because of me. The woman changed the subject the second she saw my face. "You know, you four are the bravest kids I've seen in a while. First you, your brother, then the black haired kid climbing in that window, and then the tough-looking kid going back in to save him. We think you were sent from heaven. You professional heros or something?"
Sent from heaven? Was she crazy? She obviously hasn't seen Dallas. "No, we're greasers." I answered. "What? Are you kidding me?" the woman said, shocked.
"No, I ain't kidding you. Take me to town and you'll find out faster than you can blink." I said, taking a deep breath. "Well, we're almost to the hospital. I saw your address card and it tells us where you live. Your name's Bexley?" the woman asked. "Yeah. My brother's name is Ponyboy. It says so on our birth certificates. Don't pester me about it, either." I say, starting to feel tired, "Are those kids okay?"
"They're alright. They're just shaken up a bit from what happened. There was a loud explosion from inside the church. Sounded like gunfire." she said. There goes our gun and Gone with the Wind. Were we really sent from heaven?
I was extremely tired and tried to fall back asleep. But their talking kept me from doing so. My lungs hurt really bad to the point where I wheezed every time I took a breath.
When I got to the hospital, they checked me over and it turns out that the reason for my lung issues is because I breathed in too much smoke from the fire. So I had to stay in the hospital until tomorrow.
I sat up in my bed, desperately wanting a cigarette. But the hospital wouldn't have a bar of it, which really made me mad but I wasn't gonna fight them on it. I worried about Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dally.
Dally, I'm sure, would curse us out for even going into that church. He'd probably kill us next time we did a stunt like that. I also felt a bit guilty for Johnny taking that hit for me; why did I feel like this?
That woman who was in the ambulance with me stayed in the room with me. I told her everything. Starting out with us going to the drive-inn, stowing away on the train, and I made sure to leave the gun part out of it.
She didn't mind us being greasers and was extremely nice. She told me that being heros would help us get out of trouble easier, especially since it was self-defense. "Can I have a cigarette?" I asked.
"Why? A young lady like you shouldn't be smoking." she asked me. "Why not?" I asked. "It's a bad habit to get into." she simply said.
I didn't think about that. Everyone in our neighborhood smoked, even the socs. Darry is the only one who doesn't smoke, he's proud of his health. The rest of us had started smoking at an early age.
Johnny started when he was nine, Steve was eleven. It didn't seem unusual when Pony and I started. Soda smoked only to calm his nerves or when he's trying to look cool.
She sighed and then grinned, "There's some other people here to see you. Said that they were your brothers." I looked at her, "My brothers?" She then walked out of the room, "How do you know?" "Found it in your wallet." the nurse said, leaving the room.
I sat on the bed, leaning forward with my arms resting on my bare knees. They found our address in my wallet? I forgot I had it with me.
Just then, a familiar face walks through the door and my head lifts up and I see who it was. Tears instantly filled my eyes when I saw it was Soda. My heart leapt with joy and I jumped to off my bed to hug him.
"Bexley!" he said, running up to hug me. He embraced me and spun me around once as I embraced him back. Words couldn't express just how happy I was to see my brother, my goofy, laid-back, older brother.
"Soda, I missed you so much. It's so good to see you." I say, pulling back to look at him. "Same to you, kiddo. You and Pony had us scared to death." he tells me, running his fingers through my short, blonde hair. "Wow, your tuff hair... You and Pony have tuff hair now." he chuckled.
With a chuckle, I hugged him again and he hugged me back tightly. My fingers dug into his flannel shirt as I felt his arms around me, my heart was pounding. Then, I hear Darry's voice from the doorway.
"Bexley..." he said in a husky voice. Soda and I pulled away from each other and I saw Darry standing at the doorway, leaning against the doorway. He was wearing his olive jeans and black t-shirt.
He was still tall, broad-shouldered; his arms were crossed across his chest. His eyes were pleading. All I did was look at him.
Darry hated Pony and I. He drove us both away that night. I remembered that he laid his hands on both of us. There's no way that he could give a damn about either of us. He hollers at me and Pony all the time.
But as I looked closer, I saw that he was crying. Tears streamed down his face. My eyes widened all the way and my heart ached when I saw this.
Darry never cried... not even at mom and dad's funeral. It took me a minute to realize that Darry did care for Pony and I. When we returned home that night, when he said, "Where the hell have you two been?", he was meaning, "You two scared me to death. Be careful because I'd surely lose myself if something happened to either one of you."
I started crying myself, wanting to be in my eldest brother's arms. "Darry!" I cried, running up to him. I hugged him around the waist, clinging myself to him.
"Darry, I'm so sorry... I didn't mean what I said..." I said, crying into his chest. He immediately embraced me back just as tightly. He stroked my hair as the sobs escaped from his throat. "I thought we lost you and Pony like we did mom and dad..." he said, fighting back the tears.
Hearing that made me sob a bit harder. This subtle fear was realized. He was afraid of losing more people that he loved. I buried my face in his shoulder, just letting my brother hold me in his arms. I hear his heart beating against my chest, which relaxed me.
"Darry, Soda, where's Pony at?" I asked, pulling away from Darry. "He's in the waiting room. I'll go get him." Darry said, walking out of the room.
When he returned, Ponyboy was behind him. "Pony!" I said, running to hug my twin brother. "Bexley!" he cried, running to me.
The two of us hug each other tightly for a minute before letting go. "I was so scared that you were hurt worse. Are you okay?" I asked, eyeing my brother up and down. He was covered in soot.
"I'm gonna be fine. What about you? I was scared to death that you weren't gonna make it out." he said, his voice cracking a bit. "I'll be okay. But I'm getting out of here tomorrow morning." I answered. He was relieved to hear that.
The four of us group hugged one another. I was so happy to be reunited with the three guys that I love so much. We had taken the long way around but we were finally home. To stay forever.
We then waited for news on Johnny and Dally. Some news reporters and police came, asking us one too many questions. I couldn't concentrate, my mind was all over the place.
I was feeling sick to begin with. Pony did as well. He's more scared of cops than I was. After a while, Darry had told them that Pony and I weren't in any shape to be interrogated. Darry's a big guy.
Soda was keeping the mood lit by messing around with a press guy's hat and interviewing the nurses and stuff. He could make anyone laugh, he's so goofy. Pony and I had managed to get a hold of some hair grease to fix our hair before any pictures could be taken.
Soda was getting quite the kick out of this but got tired of it after a while. The reporters then left shortly after and I was getting sleepy. The doctor said that I needed my rest since I was getting out of there tomorrow night.
All of my brothers stayed with me for the remainder of my stay. Even when the doctors told them to go home, they refused to leave my side. When I slept, I didn't have a single nightmare. The next night, I was discharged from the hospital.
Before leaving, the nurses had told us that Johnny was in critical condition. His back was broken because of that piece of wood that fell on him. He was suffering from third-degree burns.
I felt a lump form in my throat when I heard that. He was severely hurt... because of me. If he hadn't pushed me out of the way, I'd be the one with the broken back. They were doing everything that they could to ease his pain.
He couldn't feel the burns below his waist. He also kept calling out, Ponyboy, Bexley, and Dallas. If he lived... Don't let it be an "if"... Pony and I felt the blood from our faces drain, getting the attention of Soda and Darry. They squeezed our shoulders hard. Johnny would be a cripple for the rest of his life.
My entire body was shaking, I wanted to start bawling. But greasers don't do that in front of people they don't know. Most never cry at all or they learned to forget how to.
I wanted to wake up in the church, at home, or the lot, knowing everything was back to the way everything was before. Johnny would never be able to play football again or help us out in a rumble. He'd have to stay in the house where his own parents don't care about him. We'd offer him a place to stay to get away from it all.
As for Dally, he'd be okay after a few days in the hospital. One arm was badly burned and it'd be scarred for the rest of his life. He'd have full use of it within a few weeks. I knew that he'd pull through. Dallas Winston wouldn't let a little fire burn hold him back in any way.
I hadn't realized just how sleepy I was until we were in the truck. I leaned against the window of the truck and closed my eyes, falling asleep instantly. Before I knew it, we were home.
"Pony, Bex, we're home. We gotta get you two in the house." Soda said softly, shaking us both. "Mm-hmm..." I sighed, still very sleepy. Pony let out a tired moan from beside me, indicating that he was sleeping also.
I was too tired to even walk. Pony leaned against me, his body pressed up against mine. Darry soon picked up Ponyboy while Soda picked me up, using his foot to close the door behind him.
"Man, they're getting too big to be carried." Soda chuckled, the vibrations of his voice tickling my ear through his chest. "They've lost a lot of weight." Darry said.
The minute my body hit the bed, I was asleep instantly. I forgot just how soft the bed was. Despite me being sleepy as hell, I was elated to be home. Home with my brothers.
