Again, thanks for the reviews!
Lizzy Halliwell: To tell the honest truth, I didn't even realize that the last chapter ended in a cliff hanger -- I hate them too. but hey its fun to be evil sometimes (.not too much though. There arent very many of those, just a few, but not for a while at least. Sorry! Im glad you like it! Here's your next chapter.
Two-BitGortez: It wasn't any problem to answer your question, ask anytime. I hope that it helped.here's more for you to read!
A/N: Okay, Im going to slow down a bit on posting these, just for a while, mabye once a week or so I will update, I know that just kills you all. but hey, I cant post it all too fast. I know that its really long, and I hate to say this, but just when I think IM done, it gets even longer. Soo.anyway, just thought I'd warn you.
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Chapter 8 (Darry's POV)
We were all sitting in the front room just joking around. Steve was there because his shift didn't start for another few hours, and he had nothing better to do besides sit at our house and eat chocolate cake. Reesa was just sitting around, there wasn't much she Icould/I do, but she was at least doing better at that point. So we were all just watching TV and commenting on how stupid the actors were. Sometimes that could actually be fun. I never realized it, because most days I didn't have time to watch TV, let alone really think on it.
"Steve, that is disgusting. Stop it, your making me sick. Do you want that?"
He looked at her and chuckled, "You're to.girlie to understand."
"To bad. Stop it, your sick."
"No, I ain't. You don't know what sick is. Right, Darry?"
I looked over, laughing. There were many things that Reesa had never seen from Steve and Soda, they refrained when she was around.
"He ain't lying."
Reesa gave me a look. She obviously didn't care if she had seen the worst or not, she was referring to the moment.
"Steve, she was referring to the moment." I told him.
Then Reesa cracked up laughing. I have no idea why, she was high on meds or something. Whatever it was it was making her a little lightheaded and she found everything funny. I know the feeling.
"Yeah well -" Steve started but was interrupted as Two-Bit flew in the door and ran into the back of the couch. "Oh, hey, Two-Bit. What's up, man? You ditch Dally so soon?"
Two-Bit didn't even look at him and leaned over wheezing, trying to catch his breath. "No time, Steve. Dar-ry, you gotta - come. We - we need your help." He took a deep breath.
"Who? Why?" What was he talking about?
"Come fast --- We fou-found Pony and Skye and ~~ you need-"
"What do you mean you Ifound/I them?" I didn't get it, what the heck. They didn't have enough time since school got out to be in trouble yet, right? All the fun and games were gone now, here we go with another round.
"They were-just come fast!"
"All right." I stood wondering what in the world was going on, "Do we need the truck?"
Two-Bit was about to run out the door, but stopped at my question.
".Yeah. Good idea." Then he turned and darted out of the house and to the truck. Okay.
I grabbed the keys, "A.okay. I'll be back. Just stay cool, I'll be back."
I left the room, running out to the truck and jumping in the drivers seat., "Okay, Two-bit. What's going on?"
We pulled out of the drive-way, "They were just there, and-I don't know what happened, but-I don't know, just hurry."
"Where are they?"
"That way..." he said pointing down the street.
Okay, how helpful.
"Were they hurt? Did you just leave them? Is Dally with them?"
"With Dally. Pon was.and Skye.yes."
"Good to know."
I sped up to about forty miles per hour and we sped down the street. I hoped we were just supposed to go straight, because Two-Bit wasn't saying anything. As soon as I thought that, I saw them not to far down the street. I slowed quickly to a stop near them, and put the truck in neutral and jumped out with out shutting the door behind me.
It was such an.odd site. I realized that Dally was carrying Ponyboy. That couldn't be good. Dally doesn't carry someone unless he has good reasons to. And then there was Skye, she was clinging to Dally's side like he was the last thing on the face of the earth. She had her arm around his and her head resting on his shoulder, slumped down and all. Whoa, never thought I'd see that.
"What happened, Skye? Is he hurt bad?" I went over to look at Pony who was completely out, laying in Dally's arms. Dally looked like he was about to drop him, so I relieved him of all that limp weight. I nearly gagged when I saw his face. He didn't hardly look like himself, being swollen and bruised as he was. His skin felt tender and sore through his clothes. I mean, I couldn't really have been able to tell that, but there was no way he wasn't.
"Skye? What happened? Did they get you too?" I started to walk with Pony to the truck bed. I noticed she wasn't answering me so after I set him down in the back I turned around. "Hey? Aren't you gonna tell me Ianything/I? Do you Iknow/I who did it?"
"Um, Dar," Two-Bit said. "She's kinda out of it. I'm not sure why, exactly, but she ain't responding to no one."
Huh? How is that possible? This is Skye we're talking about. She can't keep her mouth shut to save her life, which is why we hardly ever tell her anything, if you know what I mean.
"What do you mean?" I asked as I went back over there. "Dally, what's he sayin'?"
"You heard him. She's like in a trance or something, man. I don't know what it is."
"Could it be shock?" I asked, as if it were the most obvious thing.which it was.
"That's what I said!" Two-Bit exclaimed. "See, I told you, Dally. She's in shock."
"Ey, I never said I didn't believe you, man," he snapped. Then he turned his attention back to me. "She ain't doin much of anything, Darry. I don't know what to tell ya."
That was really weird. I don't think I've ever seen anyone like that before. She wasn't even looking at us when we were talking and she didn't look keen on letting go of Dally. "Um, right. Okay, just get her in the truck, and you can drive, Dally."
"Sweet, man!" He pried Skye's fingers off his jacket and ran to the driver's side of the truck. Two-Bit took up the initiative to take her up front and get her in. She didn't exactly act like she was helpless, but more that she needed someone else to tell her what to do. It was kind of a nice change.
I jumped in back and held Ponyboy in my lap. Knowing Dally he wouldn't be driving very nicely. He rarely did, especially when he was in a hurry. Sure enough, he sped like a maniac all the way home. I tried to yell at him, but he either didn't care or didn't hear, I would say both.
All the way home, which ended up being about a fifty second trip with Dally driving, I held Pony tight. He didn't need more injuries from the ride, he was hurt bad enough. I didn't try to wake him, I figured if the driving didn't, nothing would. God knew I would have my lot of bumps and bruises after that ride. It was a lot worse in the bed than in the cab. Maybe I should have had Two-Bit drive. No, that woulda been worse.
We got to the house, and as soon as we were at a full stop, I jumped over the side of the truck, and reached in to grab Pony. I wanted to get him where we could clean him up and get some ice on his face.
I walked quickly up to the door yelling, "Someone open the door!"
Within a few seconds, Steve flung open the door probably to see what was going on. He took one look at me and held the screen door open for me.
I went straight to Pony's room and started kicking all the bed sheets off of the mattress with much difficulty. It was hard to balance with all the extra weight.
"Steve, help me." I said as he walked into the room. He came around, flipping off the last of the sheets for me.
"What happened? He looks like the.living.or dead.or something dead." Steve asked as I set Pony down as gently as possible. He didn't groan or anything. I had seen him bad, like after the rumble a year ago, but then he had at least groaned at times.
"I don't really know. Go get some towels, get some of them wet but keep a few dry for me."
Steve left without question. He seemed to understand enough of what was going on to not ask much of anything.
Next order of business. I went on to taking Pony's shoes off. I would have to take off most his clothes, I wanted to make sure he wasn't hurt too bad anywhere else. Besides that, I was sure he had dirt all over, and if there were cuts or any deep wounds, then I had to make sure that they didn't get infected. I mean, that would suck, right?
I went up to the head of the bed then, taking the collar of Pony's now ragged shirt. I gripped it with both hands, and tore hard down the middle. It was much faster and easier than trying to get it off.
"Darry.?" Reesa came up along side the bed beside Pony and me. I looked over at her, seeing that her face shown just a little worry. She was looking at me, but soon trained her eyes to Pony and took a seat next to him at the top of the bed. I didn't mind that she was there, she wasn't in the way. If anything, I knew she would help out. She knew what to do in situations like this, although she had never had to be the one in charge, but she had seen it many times. And if she hadn't freaked yet, she wasn't going to, even if it was her little brother unconcious on that bed. She was like me when it came down to things like this, she just took care of it because there was nothing else that would do any good. She was a little more emotional about it, but she didn't show it in the heat of the moment, she knew how to turn it off until she knew that she wouldn't cause problems with it.
I moved over, now unbuttoning Pony's pants and then going to his feet to yank them off. I could hear the water running in the bathroom as Steve got the towels wet, good. I took the cuffs of the pants and yanked hard, pulling Pony a few inches down the bed as they slid off. Reesa glanced up at me again, and then moved down a little. She started to examine Pony in the torso area. I guess she wanted to do something meaningful, cant blame her. It was good though, she knew what to look for, and what to do. She just had that sense, she had always had had it.
The water turned off, and Steve came into the room, his arms full of towels. They were stacked high, you could hardly see his face. If I were in any joking mood, I would have told him that he was an idiot for bringing soo many, but I supposed we would use most of them anyway. Pony was a mess. I hadn't gotten a good look at him before, even when I tore his shirt, I didn't really look. I just went on to his pants, one step at a time, I guess. But now, I looked at him closer, seeing that it was worse than I thought by the way it was looking.
Pony was all bruised up in the torso area, it was worse than his face and that worried me. There was a lot of damage to be done in the stomach area, and Pony obviously had it out with the head, so it couldn't be good. He was still bleeding in some places, that much I could tell even with all the dirt.
As I looked at Pony, I sighed, "Reesa, watch out so I can turn him on his side and check out his back."
She moved back, and I rolled Pony onto his side. His back wasn't too bad, it looked like they went for the easy targets. But then again, his lower back was beat pretty badly. One area of it was even seeping blood from the skin evenly, like it was so bruised that the blood couldn't be contained any longer. It could be that the skin was just to beat up, but I'm just saying what it looked like. They got in their fare share of kicks in this one.
"Rees?"
"Yeah?" She asked quietly without looking up.
"Did you think he has broken ribs?"
She lifted her head, looking to my face, "It sure feels like it, unless I lost my touch, I'm damn sure of it." She didn't look away for a few seconds, as if to get her point across.
I took a towel off of the stack that Steve had dropped next to the bed and dabbed at the area that was bleeding. I half expected Pony to react to it, but he stayed still as ever. Shit, he was bad off.
I left the towel under him so that the mattress didn't end up all gross and bloody, then turned him back over. By this time, Reesa had a wet towel in her hand, and she was trying to clean off Pony's face. That was going to be a job.
I took one off the stack and started cleaning all the dirt off his arms and stomach. Blood and dirt ain't pretty together.
It took a few minutes to get Pony semi-cleaned up. I tried to just wipe him down and get most the dirt and grime off of him. We would clean him up a little more later on, when he was awake so we didn't hurt him more. We had to clean out all the wounds real good pretty soon, but I would leave that to Rees for a while, I had to go talk to Skye. Finding out what happened might help a little.
I stood up, dropping the towel onto the floor, "Rees, take over for a few minutes, I'll be back. Do whatever you can or need to, just don't move him. I mean, I trust you and all, but I would feel a whole lot better if I was here when we do that, alright?"
She nodded her head and I left the room to go find Skye. She was sitting in the front room on the couch next to Dally.
"Skye, you alright?"
She didn't answer. Okay, this was getting real old. She wasn't hurt, what was up? We needed to know what happened, how Pony got like that. Was what going through her head?
"Skye, cut the crap. What happened?"
Still no answer.
"Uh, she aint talking to no one, I don't think she'll answer you." Two-Bit said to me.
I looked at him blankly. I knew Skye, she was upset, but that didn't mean crap with her. When she was upset, you usually got louder. I wasn't going to play this game.
I came closer to her, crouching in front of her so I was at eye level, "Skye, I need you tell me what happened." I said slowly, trying to be nice about it. I didn't have the patience right then to deal with that.
She had been looking down at her hands, but now she raised her eyes to look at me. I thought she would answer then, but she just looked at me blankly.
"Skye, answer me. What the hell happened?" my voice was now taught and somewhat angry. I tried to contain my anger, but I just wanted to snap her out of it.
"Snap out of it." I almost yelled, but I held back as much as I could because I knew it wasn't the time to yell.
Dally jumped in, "Darry, calm down. Just stop. She's freaked out, give her a break."
I stood up, backing a few steps and trying to calm myself. Clearly I couldn't do anything about that. No matter what I asked, she wasn't going to answer. Not even if I tried to be nice about it. I wanted to talk to her, to comfort her, but I knew couldn't. I just wasn't patient enough for that right now. I was just frustrated at that point.
Well, if she didn't want to talk about it then that was that. Maybe she would relax later on. I knew it would be hard for her with Pony and all, but I hadn't ever seen her like that. To tell the truth, it was freaking me out. What happened?
"Steve!" I yelled.
"What?" he asked coming out.
"Go get Soda."
"Why?"
"Just cause. I think he should be here."
Really, I needed his help. He had to help me wrap Pony's stomach to help stabilize it while he was still out and not feeling the pain. Not to mention Skye, he could calm her down. Besides, he had the right to know about this. I didn't have the time before then to really think about Soda being there, but he should be.
Steve turned and walked out the door. He would take care of it, he understood and I think he was eager to get out of there. He didn't feel it was his place to be there, I could tell. I liked that he understood things like that, not that I didn't want him there, he just knew when he was needed and when he wasn't.
I returned to Pony, assessing what had to be done. Reesa was in the process of disinfecting and bandaging the places that needed it. There weren't to many, really. He mostly got it on his face and in the stomach.
I went over to the side of the bed, sitting and continuing to clean Pony's stomach off so I could see the damage a little better. If Reesa was right, which she almost always was with stuff like that, then it would be a good thing to wrap him up a little. But I did need Soda to do that, it would go much better with him helping out.
"Darry? What's with Skye?"
"She's screwed up. Wont talk to no one."
"Oh. Hey, you gonna wrap his stomach?"
"When Soda gets here. Until then, it looks like you got it taken care of."
"Yeah. I don't think that there is much else to do. You think he'll wake up soon?"
"I hope so."
Reesa finished up and left the room, I didn't know why, but whatever.
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(Reesa's POV)
Pony was in bad shape, and I couldn't look at him anymore. I took the opportunity to leave when I could, I would go talk to Skye. She tells me some things that she wont tell anyone else. I doubted she would have anything to say to me this time, but at least I could try before Soda got home, which would be in only a few minutes.
I walked out into the front room and saw Skye just sitting on the couch facing me.
"Skye? What's up?"
I went and sat down by her, relaxing like it were some normal afternoon after a tiring day of school.
She didn't even look at me, but Dally cut in, "Can't you just let her be? She don't wanna talk to anyone."
"Dally, is it a crime to talk to my sister now? Man, I aint pestering her, Im just asking how she's doing. I thought it might be an okay gesture."
"Just warning you. Your gonna piss her off pretty soon, and we all know what happened the last time you pissed her off."
I stood up and walked over to the kitchen doorway, "Anyone want cake?"
No one answered, whoa weird. Two-Bit didn't want cake? But then I looked at him to see him asleep in the corner of the couch on the opposite side of the room. Okay, guess he was tired.
"Have it your way," I stepped into the kitchen and pulled the cake out of the ice-box. Mm, chocolate cake. I cut a piece, put it on a plate, and walked back into the front room, again sitting next to Skye.
"Skye, you gotta clean up. Man, your covered in dirt, I always took you to be the type to clean up before doing anything else. Besides, your making the couch dirty, not that you would care."
Dally sent me a look, but I ignored it. Skye could hack it, I was just being normal. She was being stubborn and so I could be obnoxious. That's how it worked in the fam. I wasn't going to bend over backwards cause she was being weird or saw something, she doesn't for me. It just doesn't work that way.
"C'mon, what's going on, Skye? Seriously, this is annoying as hell."
She still didn't do anything. Could she even hear me? It wasn't like she just wasn't talking, she was completely ignoring the fact that I was sitting next to her trying to carry on a conversation.
"Alright, have it the way you want it, but don't say I ignored you. When you want to be a normal person again, send me a notice. I wont ignore it."
I finished off my cake and went into the kitchen to wash the plate. That way I wouldn't have to at dinner. Besides, I didn't really want to go back out into the front room or to see Pony, so this was a good excuse. I was doing something useful, right? Okay, so not really, but it worked.
When I was done cleaning my plate, I made my way back to Darry. I opted that it was better to be back there than anywhere else at the time. Dally was mad at me, and Skye obviously wanted nothing to do with me, or anyone else so I guessed Pony was my best bet for.anything.
I had just walked into Pony's room when I heard Soda pull up in Steve's car, I assumed. Here we go again, I thought. He would want to know what happened, be all concerned, get over it, try and get Skye to talk to him, and then he would spend the rest the night tormenting Skye about the whole thing. My guess was that it would be a long night if any.
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(Soda's POV)
I was facing the other way talking to this real hot girl when I heard a car pulling into the DX, that meant work. I ignored it until it came closer and turned off, then I turned to see Steve getting out. He wasn't due for his shift quite yet, but this was the hang out.
I went back to the girl, leaning on the gas pump ....
"Yo, Soda!"
I was so kindly interrupted by Steve right in the middle of my sentence. Had he no consideration? Could he not see I was picking up a good looking girl here?
I turned around to see him walking swiftly over to me, "Hey, Steve. You miss me that much?"
Steve didn't even try to play along, "Darry wanted me to come get you. Give me your shirt, I'll take the rest of your shift."
"What's going on?" I asked a little confused. My shirt? I had never seen him so eager to work before. Okay, maybe eager wasn't the word, but he wanted my shirt?
"Uh, nothing to serious, he just wants you home. Two-Bit and Dally found Skye and Pony not to long ago. Pony got the trash kicked outta him, and Skye's like freaked or something. She hasn't really talked since they found her."
"Are they okay? Is Pony okay?" I said while taking off my shirt.
"Yeah, they're fine. He just wants you to be home, so scram." He took my shirt and handed me the keys to his car.
I jogged over to the car, and got in, "Thanks Steve!" I called out the window as I turned the engine over.
"Sure." He waved me off. At least he got the girl, right?
I drove home, it only took a few minutes. What had happened? Steve hadnt seemed to worried, but he wasn't a big fan of Pony all the time. He wouldn't freak about something like that, usually. Not unless it was real bad and he knew it. I wasn't too worried but it just seemed a little weird. Skye was freaked out and wasn't talking? There was something wrong with that picture.
I parked out on the street and jumped out, running up to the house. I opened up the front door and walked in, seeing everyone just sitting around. Okay, I mean the guys were sitting around, not Darry but like Dally and Two-Bit. In fact, Two-Bit was conked out in the corner of the couch, I guess he must of been tired. I glanced around, seeing Skye sitting next to Dally and staring off into space. That was just a little weird for her, it wouldn't surprised me if it were Pony or Rees, but Skye?
I had stopped to look around, but now I continued onto my room to see how Pony was doing. Steve said he was pretty bad, but I had to see for myself. When I walked in, Reesa was sitting on the bed next to him trying her hardest to prop him up gently while Darry tried to wrap Pony's stomach. The part I could see was turning a blackish purple, and didn't look to pretty, I wondered what the rest of his stomach that was wrapped looked like. On second thought, I didn't really want to know.
Darry looked up, "Soda, come help me out."
I walked over, taking Rees's place. Pony was a lot bigger now, and even as strong as Rees might be, there were a lot of things she couldn't do. She was girl and that was that. Obviously it was possible for her to help Darry, but it would be easier with two strong men.
I pulled Pony up, so his torso was straightened out, man he was heavy. Even I got tired after a few minutes. I mean, it took a while to get the wrap right and stuff.
"Move him forward a little bit for me, and move your arm so I can get this behind him in the right place." I did, but it was a hard position to be holding him in.
"So, does anyone have any idea what happened?" I asked.
"Huh, I don't think so, but don't take my word for it. I really have no clue."
"Darry, how long is this going to take? I'm getting really tired."
"Uh, were almost.yeah.good.okay, you can put him down now."
Thank God. I mean, he isn't that heavy but dead weight could kill anyone. Besides, he was just starting to grow into himself. He had muscle now, a lot more than before.
"Okay, Darry, what else do can I do? I mean, it looks like everything is under control, but he's not looking to pretty. How bad do you think it is?"
"Well, for right now I'm not too worried. He doesn't look like he's gonna die or anything. Anyway, uh there ain't much to do at this point. Maybe, if you want, cause you're the only one that hasn't yet and the whole thing might go smoother with you anyway, you can try and talk to Skye. Maybe knock some sense into her. She hasn't said a word since.who knows when. So, I'll let you know if I need anything else." He turned to Reesa, "Rees, get some ice for his face and stomach, he's swelling up like crazy."
I got up and left the room, going into to sit by Skye, "Hey Skye."
She didn't move, so I took a seat next to her with one foot under me and facing her, "Skye."
I looked behind Skye to Dally, he caught my gaze and shrugged his shoulders like he didn't know what was going on. Yeah right. But, okay, no one seemed to know what was up with her, so I let it be. I looked back to Skye trying to decide how I was going to get her to talk to me. I didn't want to push it, but she was obviously freaked out or something.
"Skye, you okay?"
When she still didn't move, I rubbed her back a little, trying to stimulate a response with a physical touch, sometimes that was the only thing that could snap her back into the world.
"C'mon, Skye. Talk to me, Hun." But she still didn't so much as blink an eye towards me. What the hell? Okay, if that was the way she wanted it, but I wasn't about to let her sit there for the rest of the night and brood over.whatever. So I reached out and pulled her face over to face mine, moving a little towards the edge of the couch so I didn't hurt her. She didn't respond much to the gesture, but she didn't fight it either. This was really weird.
"Skye. Listen to me, okay? You need to relax, everything's fine."
She looked me in the eyes, looking blank and lost inside herself. I looked closer into her eyes, and brushed her hair out of the way.
"What's going on? What happened?"
Skye looked down, seemingly deciding whether or not she should tell me. Then she looked back up to me, a tear streaming down one cheek. Very quietly, she whispered, "It was my fault."
"What? Hun, it wasn't your fault, crap like that happens to everyone all the time 'round here. You cant blame yourself."
She didn't move, didn't speak, for a long time. I shook her a little to get her to talk, and she finally looked down.
"My fault."
"No! No, it wasn't. Just calm down. Skye, you're overreacting. Pony'll by just fine, give yourself a break. It's alright."
"No. I left."
"Huh?"
"I left."
"Skye, that's a good thing. Im glad you did, if you didn't then they would have gotten you. Pony's strong, he's stronger, and he can take it. He could fight back, he's built for that, you aren't."
"I left." She said blankly, like that was all that mattered.
"I don't care, Hun. It still aint your fault."
"They were after me.I made Pony come. Then I ran."
"Who? Why were they after you?"
"I don't remember, they just came and Pony told them to leave and--"
"Okay, its okay. Pony was defending you, he would have wanted you to leave. You did the right thing, okay? We are all glad that you ran. Pony will be fine, and so will you, that's all that matters."
Tears were flowing a little more freely down her cheeks now, and I felt bad. But that was the way things were. I knew it wasn't her fault, things like that always happened. I didn't understand why she blamed herself, I guess she was just overwhelmed.
"Are you hurt? Did they try to hurt you too?"
"Uh-uh." She said, now with her face buried in my shirt. She was embarassed to cry in front of everyone, and I could understand that. I just hugged her, hoping she could let it go, and relax. It wasn't her fault.
"Skye, did you watch as they.did you see the fight?"
She didn't say anything.
"Skye, answer me, I aint gonna get mad or nothing. It might just help if we know what happened to him though, so that we can help him better."
She still didn't react much to that one. I rubbed her back, saying, "Skye, did you see it?"
".No."
"Okay. How long were you gone?"
"Don't know."
"How long before you came home?"
"A long time. I don't remember."
"Alright."
I shut up then, letting her have her space. If she knew anything more, she wasn't saying it, and especially not then.
Lizzy Halliwell: To tell the honest truth, I didn't even realize that the last chapter ended in a cliff hanger -- I hate them too. but hey its fun to be evil sometimes (.not too much though. There arent very many of those, just a few, but not for a while at least. Sorry! Im glad you like it! Here's your next chapter.
Two-BitGortez: It wasn't any problem to answer your question, ask anytime. I hope that it helped.here's more for you to read!
A/N: Okay, Im going to slow down a bit on posting these, just for a while, mabye once a week or so I will update, I know that just kills you all. but hey, I cant post it all too fast. I know that its really long, and I hate to say this, but just when I think IM done, it gets even longer. Soo.anyway, just thought I'd warn you.
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Chapter 8 (Darry's POV)
We were all sitting in the front room just joking around. Steve was there because his shift didn't start for another few hours, and he had nothing better to do besides sit at our house and eat chocolate cake. Reesa was just sitting around, there wasn't much she Icould/I do, but she was at least doing better at that point. So we were all just watching TV and commenting on how stupid the actors were. Sometimes that could actually be fun. I never realized it, because most days I didn't have time to watch TV, let alone really think on it.
"Steve, that is disgusting. Stop it, your making me sick. Do you want that?"
He looked at her and chuckled, "You're to.girlie to understand."
"To bad. Stop it, your sick."
"No, I ain't. You don't know what sick is. Right, Darry?"
I looked over, laughing. There were many things that Reesa had never seen from Steve and Soda, they refrained when she was around.
"He ain't lying."
Reesa gave me a look. She obviously didn't care if she had seen the worst or not, she was referring to the moment.
"Steve, she was referring to the moment." I told him.
Then Reesa cracked up laughing. I have no idea why, she was high on meds or something. Whatever it was it was making her a little lightheaded and she found everything funny. I know the feeling.
"Yeah well -" Steve started but was interrupted as Two-Bit flew in the door and ran into the back of the couch. "Oh, hey, Two-Bit. What's up, man? You ditch Dally so soon?"
Two-Bit didn't even look at him and leaned over wheezing, trying to catch his breath. "No time, Steve. Dar-ry, you gotta - come. We - we need your help." He took a deep breath.
"Who? Why?" What was he talking about?
"Come fast --- We fou-found Pony and Skye and ~~ you need-"
"What do you mean you Ifound/I them?" I didn't get it, what the heck. They didn't have enough time since school got out to be in trouble yet, right? All the fun and games were gone now, here we go with another round.
"They were-just come fast!"
"All right." I stood wondering what in the world was going on, "Do we need the truck?"
Two-Bit was about to run out the door, but stopped at my question.
".Yeah. Good idea." Then he turned and darted out of the house and to the truck. Okay.
I grabbed the keys, "A.okay. I'll be back. Just stay cool, I'll be back."
I left the room, running out to the truck and jumping in the drivers seat., "Okay, Two-bit. What's going on?"
We pulled out of the drive-way, "They were just there, and-I don't know what happened, but-I don't know, just hurry."
"Where are they?"
"That way..." he said pointing down the street.
Okay, how helpful.
"Were they hurt? Did you just leave them? Is Dally with them?"
"With Dally. Pon was.and Skye.yes."
"Good to know."
I sped up to about forty miles per hour and we sped down the street. I hoped we were just supposed to go straight, because Two-Bit wasn't saying anything. As soon as I thought that, I saw them not to far down the street. I slowed quickly to a stop near them, and put the truck in neutral and jumped out with out shutting the door behind me.
It was such an.odd site. I realized that Dally was carrying Ponyboy. That couldn't be good. Dally doesn't carry someone unless he has good reasons to. And then there was Skye, she was clinging to Dally's side like he was the last thing on the face of the earth. She had her arm around his and her head resting on his shoulder, slumped down and all. Whoa, never thought I'd see that.
"What happened, Skye? Is he hurt bad?" I went over to look at Pony who was completely out, laying in Dally's arms. Dally looked like he was about to drop him, so I relieved him of all that limp weight. I nearly gagged when I saw his face. He didn't hardly look like himself, being swollen and bruised as he was. His skin felt tender and sore through his clothes. I mean, I couldn't really have been able to tell that, but there was no way he wasn't.
"Skye? What happened? Did they get you too?" I started to walk with Pony to the truck bed. I noticed she wasn't answering me so after I set him down in the back I turned around. "Hey? Aren't you gonna tell me Ianything/I? Do you Iknow/I who did it?"
"Um, Dar," Two-Bit said. "She's kinda out of it. I'm not sure why, exactly, but she ain't responding to no one."
Huh? How is that possible? This is Skye we're talking about. She can't keep her mouth shut to save her life, which is why we hardly ever tell her anything, if you know what I mean.
"What do you mean?" I asked as I went back over there. "Dally, what's he sayin'?"
"You heard him. She's like in a trance or something, man. I don't know what it is."
"Could it be shock?" I asked, as if it were the most obvious thing.which it was.
"That's what I said!" Two-Bit exclaimed. "See, I told you, Dally. She's in shock."
"Ey, I never said I didn't believe you, man," he snapped. Then he turned his attention back to me. "She ain't doin much of anything, Darry. I don't know what to tell ya."
That was really weird. I don't think I've ever seen anyone like that before. She wasn't even looking at us when we were talking and she didn't look keen on letting go of Dally. "Um, right. Okay, just get her in the truck, and you can drive, Dally."
"Sweet, man!" He pried Skye's fingers off his jacket and ran to the driver's side of the truck. Two-Bit took up the initiative to take her up front and get her in. She didn't exactly act like she was helpless, but more that she needed someone else to tell her what to do. It was kind of a nice change.
I jumped in back and held Ponyboy in my lap. Knowing Dally he wouldn't be driving very nicely. He rarely did, especially when he was in a hurry. Sure enough, he sped like a maniac all the way home. I tried to yell at him, but he either didn't care or didn't hear, I would say both.
All the way home, which ended up being about a fifty second trip with Dally driving, I held Pony tight. He didn't need more injuries from the ride, he was hurt bad enough. I didn't try to wake him, I figured if the driving didn't, nothing would. God knew I would have my lot of bumps and bruises after that ride. It was a lot worse in the bed than in the cab. Maybe I should have had Two-Bit drive. No, that woulda been worse.
We got to the house, and as soon as we were at a full stop, I jumped over the side of the truck, and reached in to grab Pony. I wanted to get him where we could clean him up and get some ice on his face.
I walked quickly up to the door yelling, "Someone open the door!"
Within a few seconds, Steve flung open the door probably to see what was going on. He took one look at me and held the screen door open for me.
I went straight to Pony's room and started kicking all the bed sheets off of the mattress with much difficulty. It was hard to balance with all the extra weight.
"Steve, help me." I said as he walked into the room. He came around, flipping off the last of the sheets for me.
"What happened? He looks like the.living.or dead.or something dead." Steve asked as I set Pony down as gently as possible. He didn't groan or anything. I had seen him bad, like after the rumble a year ago, but then he had at least groaned at times.
"I don't really know. Go get some towels, get some of them wet but keep a few dry for me."
Steve left without question. He seemed to understand enough of what was going on to not ask much of anything.
Next order of business. I went on to taking Pony's shoes off. I would have to take off most his clothes, I wanted to make sure he wasn't hurt too bad anywhere else. Besides that, I was sure he had dirt all over, and if there were cuts or any deep wounds, then I had to make sure that they didn't get infected. I mean, that would suck, right?
I went up to the head of the bed then, taking the collar of Pony's now ragged shirt. I gripped it with both hands, and tore hard down the middle. It was much faster and easier than trying to get it off.
"Darry.?" Reesa came up along side the bed beside Pony and me. I looked over at her, seeing that her face shown just a little worry. She was looking at me, but soon trained her eyes to Pony and took a seat next to him at the top of the bed. I didn't mind that she was there, she wasn't in the way. If anything, I knew she would help out. She knew what to do in situations like this, although she had never had to be the one in charge, but she had seen it many times. And if she hadn't freaked yet, she wasn't going to, even if it was her little brother unconcious on that bed. She was like me when it came down to things like this, she just took care of it because there was nothing else that would do any good. She was a little more emotional about it, but she didn't show it in the heat of the moment, she knew how to turn it off until she knew that she wouldn't cause problems with it.
I moved over, now unbuttoning Pony's pants and then going to his feet to yank them off. I could hear the water running in the bathroom as Steve got the towels wet, good. I took the cuffs of the pants and yanked hard, pulling Pony a few inches down the bed as they slid off. Reesa glanced up at me again, and then moved down a little. She started to examine Pony in the torso area. I guess she wanted to do something meaningful, cant blame her. It was good though, she knew what to look for, and what to do. She just had that sense, she had always had had it.
The water turned off, and Steve came into the room, his arms full of towels. They were stacked high, you could hardly see his face. If I were in any joking mood, I would have told him that he was an idiot for bringing soo many, but I supposed we would use most of them anyway. Pony was a mess. I hadn't gotten a good look at him before, even when I tore his shirt, I didn't really look. I just went on to his pants, one step at a time, I guess. But now, I looked at him closer, seeing that it was worse than I thought by the way it was looking.
Pony was all bruised up in the torso area, it was worse than his face and that worried me. There was a lot of damage to be done in the stomach area, and Pony obviously had it out with the head, so it couldn't be good. He was still bleeding in some places, that much I could tell even with all the dirt.
As I looked at Pony, I sighed, "Reesa, watch out so I can turn him on his side and check out his back."
She moved back, and I rolled Pony onto his side. His back wasn't too bad, it looked like they went for the easy targets. But then again, his lower back was beat pretty badly. One area of it was even seeping blood from the skin evenly, like it was so bruised that the blood couldn't be contained any longer. It could be that the skin was just to beat up, but I'm just saying what it looked like. They got in their fare share of kicks in this one.
"Rees?"
"Yeah?" She asked quietly without looking up.
"Did you think he has broken ribs?"
She lifted her head, looking to my face, "It sure feels like it, unless I lost my touch, I'm damn sure of it." She didn't look away for a few seconds, as if to get her point across.
I took a towel off of the stack that Steve had dropped next to the bed and dabbed at the area that was bleeding. I half expected Pony to react to it, but he stayed still as ever. Shit, he was bad off.
I left the towel under him so that the mattress didn't end up all gross and bloody, then turned him back over. By this time, Reesa had a wet towel in her hand, and she was trying to clean off Pony's face. That was going to be a job.
I took one off the stack and started cleaning all the dirt off his arms and stomach. Blood and dirt ain't pretty together.
It took a few minutes to get Pony semi-cleaned up. I tried to just wipe him down and get most the dirt and grime off of him. We would clean him up a little more later on, when he was awake so we didn't hurt him more. We had to clean out all the wounds real good pretty soon, but I would leave that to Rees for a while, I had to go talk to Skye. Finding out what happened might help a little.
I stood up, dropping the towel onto the floor, "Rees, take over for a few minutes, I'll be back. Do whatever you can or need to, just don't move him. I mean, I trust you and all, but I would feel a whole lot better if I was here when we do that, alright?"
She nodded her head and I left the room to go find Skye. She was sitting in the front room on the couch next to Dally.
"Skye, you alright?"
She didn't answer. Okay, this was getting real old. She wasn't hurt, what was up? We needed to know what happened, how Pony got like that. Was what going through her head?
"Skye, cut the crap. What happened?"
Still no answer.
"Uh, she aint talking to no one, I don't think she'll answer you." Two-Bit said to me.
I looked at him blankly. I knew Skye, she was upset, but that didn't mean crap with her. When she was upset, you usually got louder. I wasn't going to play this game.
I came closer to her, crouching in front of her so I was at eye level, "Skye, I need you tell me what happened." I said slowly, trying to be nice about it. I didn't have the patience right then to deal with that.
She had been looking down at her hands, but now she raised her eyes to look at me. I thought she would answer then, but she just looked at me blankly.
"Skye, answer me. What the hell happened?" my voice was now taught and somewhat angry. I tried to contain my anger, but I just wanted to snap her out of it.
"Snap out of it." I almost yelled, but I held back as much as I could because I knew it wasn't the time to yell.
Dally jumped in, "Darry, calm down. Just stop. She's freaked out, give her a break."
I stood up, backing a few steps and trying to calm myself. Clearly I couldn't do anything about that. No matter what I asked, she wasn't going to answer. Not even if I tried to be nice about it. I wanted to talk to her, to comfort her, but I knew couldn't. I just wasn't patient enough for that right now. I was just frustrated at that point.
Well, if she didn't want to talk about it then that was that. Maybe she would relax later on. I knew it would be hard for her with Pony and all, but I hadn't ever seen her like that. To tell the truth, it was freaking me out. What happened?
"Steve!" I yelled.
"What?" he asked coming out.
"Go get Soda."
"Why?"
"Just cause. I think he should be here."
Really, I needed his help. He had to help me wrap Pony's stomach to help stabilize it while he was still out and not feeling the pain. Not to mention Skye, he could calm her down. Besides, he had the right to know about this. I didn't have the time before then to really think about Soda being there, but he should be.
Steve turned and walked out the door. He would take care of it, he understood and I think he was eager to get out of there. He didn't feel it was his place to be there, I could tell. I liked that he understood things like that, not that I didn't want him there, he just knew when he was needed and when he wasn't.
I returned to Pony, assessing what had to be done. Reesa was in the process of disinfecting and bandaging the places that needed it. There weren't to many, really. He mostly got it on his face and in the stomach.
I went over to the side of the bed, sitting and continuing to clean Pony's stomach off so I could see the damage a little better. If Reesa was right, which she almost always was with stuff like that, then it would be a good thing to wrap him up a little. But I did need Soda to do that, it would go much better with him helping out.
"Darry? What's with Skye?"
"She's screwed up. Wont talk to no one."
"Oh. Hey, you gonna wrap his stomach?"
"When Soda gets here. Until then, it looks like you got it taken care of."
"Yeah. I don't think that there is much else to do. You think he'll wake up soon?"
"I hope so."
Reesa finished up and left the room, I didn't know why, but whatever.
~`~``~```~``~`~
(Reesa's POV)
Pony was in bad shape, and I couldn't look at him anymore. I took the opportunity to leave when I could, I would go talk to Skye. She tells me some things that she wont tell anyone else. I doubted she would have anything to say to me this time, but at least I could try before Soda got home, which would be in only a few minutes.
I walked out into the front room and saw Skye just sitting on the couch facing me.
"Skye? What's up?"
I went and sat down by her, relaxing like it were some normal afternoon after a tiring day of school.
She didn't even look at me, but Dally cut in, "Can't you just let her be? She don't wanna talk to anyone."
"Dally, is it a crime to talk to my sister now? Man, I aint pestering her, Im just asking how she's doing. I thought it might be an okay gesture."
"Just warning you. Your gonna piss her off pretty soon, and we all know what happened the last time you pissed her off."
I stood up and walked over to the kitchen doorway, "Anyone want cake?"
No one answered, whoa weird. Two-Bit didn't want cake? But then I looked at him to see him asleep in the corner of the couch on the opposite side of the room. Okay, guess he was tired.
"Have it your way," I stepped into the kitchen and pulled the cake out of the ice-box. Mm, chocolate cake. I cut a piece, put it on a plate, and walked back into the front room, again sitting next to Skye.
"Skye, you gotta clean up. Man, your covered in dirt, I always took you to be the type to clean up before doing anything else. Besides, your making the couch dirty, not that you would care."
Dally sent me a look, but I ignored it. Skye could hack it, I was just being normal. She was being stubborn and so I could be obnoxious. That's how it worked in the fam. I wasn't going to bend over backwards cause she was being weird or saw something, she doesn't for me. It just doesn't work that way.
"C'mon, what's going on, Skye? Seriously, this is annoying as hell."
She still didn't do anything. Could she even hear me? It wasn't like she just wasn't talking, she was completely ignoring the fact that I was sitting next to her trying to carry on a conversation.
"Alright, have it the way you want it, but don't say I ignored you. When you want to be a normal person again, send me a notice. I wont ignore it."
I finished off my cake and went into the kitchen to wash the plate. That way I wouldn't have to at dinner. Besides, I didn't really want to go back out into the front room or to see Pony, so this was a good excuse. I was doing something useful, right? Okay, so not really, but it worked.
When I was done cleaning my plate, I made my way back to Darry. I opted that it was better to be back there than anywhere else at the time. Dally was mad at me, and Skye obviously wanted nothing to do with me, or anyone else so I guessed Pony was my best bet for.anything.
I had just walked into Pony's room when I heard Soda pull up in Steve's car, I assumed. Here we go again, I thought. He would want to know what happened, be all concerned, get over it, try and get Skye to talk to him, and then he would spend the rest the night tormenting Skye about the whole thing. My guess was that it would be a long night if any.
~`~``~```~``~`~
(Soda's POV)
I was facing the other way talking to this real hot girl when I heard a car pulling into the DX, that meant work. I ignored it until it came closer and turned off, then I turned to see Steve getting out. He wasn't due for his shift quite yet, but this was the hang out.
I went back to the girl, leaning on the gas pump ....
"Yo, Soda!"
I was so kindly interrupted by Steve right in the middle of my sentence. Had he no consideration? Could he not see I was picking up a good looking girl here?
I turned around to see him walking swiftly over to me, "Hey, Steve. You miss me that much?"
Steve didn't even try to play along, "Darry wanted me to come get you. Give me your shirt, I'll take the rest of your shift."
"What's going on?" I asked a little confused. My shirt? I had never seen him so eager to work before. Okay, maybe eager wasn't the word, but he wanted my shirt?
"Uh, nothing to serious, he just wants you home. Two-Bit and Dally found Skye and Pony not to long ago. Pony got the trash kicked outta him, and Skye's like freaked or something. She hasn't really talked since they found her."
"Are they okay? Is Pony okay?" I said while taking off my shirt.
"Yeah, they're fine. He just wants you to be home, so scram." He took my shirt and handed me the keys to his car.
I jogged over to the car, and got in, "Thanks Steve!" I called out the window as I turned the engine over.
"Sure." He waved me off. At least he got the girl, right?
I drove home, it only took a few minutes. What had happened? Steve hadnt seemed to worried, but he wasn't a big fan of Pony all the time. He wouldn't freak about something like that, usually. Not unless it was real bad and he knew it. I wasn't too worried but it just seemed a little weird. Skye was freaked out and wasn't talking? There was something wrong with that picture.
I parked out on the street and jumped out, running up to the house. I opened up the front door and walked in, seeing everyone just sitting around. Okay, I mean the guys were sitting around, not Darry but like Dally and Two-Bit. In fact, Two-Bit was conked out in the corner of the couch, I guess he must of been tired. I glanced around, seeing Skye sitting next to Dally and staring off into space. That was just a little weird for her, it wouldn't surprised me if it were Pony or Rees, but Skye?
I had stopped to look around, but now I continued onto my room to see how Pony was doing. Steve said he was pretty bad, but I had to see for myself. When I walked in, Reesa was sitting on the bed next to him trying her hardest to prop him up gently while Darry tried to wrap Pony's stomach. The part I could see was turning a blackish purple, and didn't look to pretty, I wondered what the rest of his stomach that was wrapped looked like. On second thought, I didn't really want to know.
Darry looked up, "Soda, come help me out."
I walked over, taking Rees's place. Pony was a lot bigger now, and even as strong as Rees might be, there were a lot of things she couldn't do. She was girl and that was that. Obviously it was possible for her to help Darry, but it would be easier with two strong men.
I pulled Pony up, so his torso was straightened out, man he was heavy. Even I got tired after a few minutes. I mean, it took a while to get the wrap right and stuff.
"Move him forward a little bit for me, and move your arm so I can get this behind him in the right place." I did, but it was a hard position to be holding him in.
"So, does anyone have any idea what happened?" I asked.
"Huh, I don't think so, but don't take my word for it. I really have no clue."
"Darry, how long is this going to take? I'm getting really tired."
"Uh, were almost.yeah.good.okay, you can put him down now."
Thank God. I mean, he isn't that heavy but dead weight could kill anyone. Besides, he was just starting to grow into himself. He had muscle now, a lot more than before.
"Okay, Darry, what else do can I do? I mean, it looks like everything is under control, but he's not looking to pretty. How bad do you think it is?"
"Well, for right now I'm not too worried. He doesn't look like he's gonna die or anything. Anyway, uh there ain't much to do at this point. Maybe, if you want, cause you're the only one that hasn't yet and the whole thing might go smoother with you anyway, you can try and talk to Skye. Maybe knock some sense into her. She hasn't said a word since.who knows when. So, I'll let you know if I need anything else." He turned to Reesa, "Rees, get some ice for his face and stomach, he's swelling up like crazy."
I got up and left the room, going into to sit by Skye, "Hey Skye."
She didn't move, so I took a seat next to her with one foot under me and facing her, "Skye."
I looked behind Skye to Dally, he caught my gaze and shrugged his shoulders like he didn't know what was going on. Yeah right. But, okay, no one seemed to know what was up with her, so I let it be. I looked back to Skye trying to decide how I was going to get her to talk to me. I didn't want to push it, but she was obviously freaked out or something.
"Skye, you okay?"
When she still didn't move, I rubbed her back a little, trying to stimulate a response with a physical touch, sometimes that was the only thing that could snap her back into the world.
"C'mon, Skye. Talk to me, Hun." But she still didn't so much as blink an eye towards me. What the hell? Okay, if that was the way she wanted it, but I wasn't about to let her sit there for the rest of the night and brood over.whatever. So I reached out and pulled her face over to face mine, moving a little towards the edge of the couch so I didn't hurt her. She didn't respond much to the gesture, but she didn't fight it either. This was really weird.
"Skye. Listen to me, okay? You need to relax, everything's fine."
She looked me in the eyes, looking blank and lost inside herself. I looked closer into her eyes, and brushed her hair out of the way.
"What's going on? What happened?"
Skye looked down, seemingly deciding whether or not she should tell me. Then she looked back up to me, a tear streaming down one cheek. Very quietly, she whispered, "It was my fault."
"What? Hun, it wasn't your fault, crap like that happens to everyone all the time 'round here. You cant blame yourself."
She didn't move, didn't speak, for a long time. I shook her a little to get her to talk, and she finally looked down.
"My fault."
"No! No, it wasn't. Just calm down. Skye, you're overreacting. Pony'll by just fine, give yourself a break. It's alright."
"No. I left."
"Huh?"
"I left."
"Skye, that's a good thing. Im glad you did, if you didn't then they would have gotten you. Pony's strong, he's stronger, and he can take it. He could fight back, he's built for that, you aren't."
"I left." She said blankly, like that was all that mattered.
"I don't care, Hun. It still aint your fault."
"They were after me.I made Pony come. Then I ran."
"Who? Why were they after you?"
"I don't remember, they just came and Pony told them to leave and--"
"Okay, its okay. Pony was defending you, he would have wanted you to leave. You did the right thing, okay? We are all glad that you ran. Pony will be fine, and so will you, that's all that matters."
Tears were flowing a little more freely down her cheeks now, and I felt bad. But that was the way things were. I knew it wasn't her fault, things like that always happened. I didn't understand why she blamed herself, I guess she was just overwhelmed.
"Are you hurt? Did they try to hurt you too?"
"Uh-uh." She said, now with her face buried in my shirt. She was embarassed to cry in front of everyone, and I could understand that. I just hugged her, hoping she could let it go, and relax. It wasn't her fault.
"Skye, did you watch as they.did you see the fight?"
She didn't say anything.
"Skye, answer me, I aint gonna get mad or nothing. It might just help if we know what happened to him though, so that we can help him better."
She still didn't react much to that one. I rubbed her back, saying, "Skye, did you see it?"
".No."
"Okay. How long were you gone?"
"Don't know."
"How long before you came home?"
"A long time. I don't remember."
"Alright."
I shut up then, letting her have her space. If she knew anything more, she wasn't saying it, and especially not then.