Cold. Unfeeling. White walls. Dallas listlessly watched the walls, not even mustering enough energy to hate them. They were in the hospital. Lori and Jason were sitting together a few feet from Dallas. Carly...Carly was somewhere, somewhere hidden behind those walls.

Johnny lying there, struggling for breath, whispering to Pony. Dying. Johnny dead. Dead in a hospital, white walls surrounding him, enclosing him, trapping him. The white walls glaring, mocking, the same walls that now encircled...

"Carly," Dally whispered softly. Dejectedly, he slumped over, hands thrown in his lap. For several seconds he just sat there, staring at the floor, but not seeing it. A hand reached over then, and took his own. Dallas glanced up to find Lori looking at him. She squeezed his hand, and then kept holding it as she turned back to Jason. Dallas watched them as they bent their heads together and whispered together, their eyes closed tight. It took him several seconds to realize what they were doing.

When he did, he jerked his hand away. Praying. That's what they were doing. Praying. Praying as if God existed and he would actually care about them. If He did care he would have stopped this from happening. The two socs. Naïve little socs. Dallas stood up and walked away. Praying. He snorted.

xxxxxx

"Lori? Jason?"

"Daddy!" Lori cried out and flung herself on her dad. She let the tears she had been holding back for forever finally fall. "Oh, Daddy, they haven't told us anything yet. Nothing. I'm so scared."

Brian hugged his daughter back, as Jason and Lisa embraced. They all comforted one another for a few minutes, but finally Brian broke away from Lori.

"I'm going to go find out what's going on." He left with a purpose in his step, relieved that he would be able to do something.

Lisa left Jason and walked over to Dallas. Dal instinctively tensed, waiting for the verbal assault, the you did this! You're the reason my baby's in the hospital! I hate you! Maybe a slap on the cheek, or worse. But Lisa did neither. She hugged him. Tightly.

"I'm glad you're hear, Dallas. To help us through this. Thank God you're here." She hugged him even tighter, and kissed him on the cheek. She wrapped one arm around him and led him back over to the waiting couches. Dallas couldn't rebel against her, and he sat down next to the Mathews family. Waiting. It was all he could do. They could pray. He would wait.

xxxxxx

Hours passed, outside, the night turned into day, though the clouds still hung over keeping it dark and dreary. Brian hadn't been able to get any information, even though he worked there. The waiting continued.

People came and went. Will and his father, the preacher, some close friends Dallas didn't know but who had heard the news and had rushed over to offer their comfort no matter how slim it was.

xxxxx

Midday came, still no word. Everybody was getting ancy. All they could do was wait and pray.

xxxxx

"I'm going to try again." Brian muttered, frustrated. He got up and walked off. Just then a doctor came out of the doors. The two of them conversed, the rest of the group watching silently. Finally the doctor left and Brian walked back. Dallas could see it in his step, his face, his eyes.

"Well?" Lisa asked her voice quivering.

He sighed. "It's bad."

"What's bad?" Jason this time.

"She's on a respirator, she can't breathe for herself, flailed chest. Both of her legs are broken, and the doctors had to remove her spleen. You can live without a spleen," he reassured.

"The problem is with her liver. A stellate fracture, and the artery was severely damaged. The doctors are hoping they can repair it." Brian looked away.

"W-What does that mean exactly?" Dallas asked in a perplexed tone. He knew it was bad, but he didn't know how.

Brian swallowed. "It means that if they can't repair it her liver won't function. And a person can't live without a liver." He sighed, and moved over next to his wife.

Dallas stared at Brian, his lips forming words, but nothing coming out. He turned away then.

He left the waiting room; he had to get away from everybody. He found the bathroom and made his way inside. Leaning against the wall, his breath was coming in gasps.

White walls. Johnny rushing into the fire, Johnny dying, Carly running up the hill, white walls, the scream, Johnny struggling for breath, white walls, glaring, mocking, white walls, Carly's limp body...

"Stop!" Dallas cried.

He couldn't take this. He was the cause. The cause of both of them. First Johnny, his best friend, and then Carly...what was Carly? He had tried to convince himself for days that he hated the girl. Yeah, she was annoying at times, but...she had been kinda cute. She had been fun at times.

And now she was dying. Because of you, Dal told himself. Because of me, Dallas Winston. Dal smacked himself against the wall in anger. That's when he felt the object in his back pocket. His knife. Dally pulled it out. Flicked out the blade. He fingered it, felt its sharpness.

Johnny was dead, Carly was dying, and who was to blame? Him. He had done this. He had sent Johnny to the church, he had pushed Carly away. He didn't deserve to live. He fingered the blade. Johnny's cry in the fire echoed in his ears. Carly's scream bounced off the walls.

He had done this. Johnny was dead, Carly was dying, and he was alive. It wasn't fair. He should be the one dead. He fingered the blade.

But, he would be taking the easy way out. He deserved much more than just a simple cut of the knife. He needed to be tortured, humiliated, at least the Mathews should have the satisfaction of seeing him suffer. He pulled the blade away a few inches.

Johnny dead, Carly close to it, maybe dead already. He brought the blade closer. Johnny's cry for help, Carly's scream. All his fault, all his fault, all his....

"NO!" Dallas flung the knife away. It smashed against the mirror, glass shards flying everywhere, several hitting and embedding themselves in Dallas. Quick as a flash, Dallas was out the door. He ran out the bathroom, out the hospital, trying to get away from his fears, his nightmares. But not succeeding.

Xxxxxx

"Who was that?" Pony asked, worried. Darrel came out of the kitchen, having just hung up the phone.

"Just another reporter," Darry assured him.

But it didn't assure him. "It wasn't Dallas? Then he isn't coming."

"Sure he is."

"No. He's not. He would have called, he would be here by now. It's been past two weeks! It's past two weeks! Dallas ain't coming!"

"Pony calm down!" Darry's sharp voice rang throughout the room.

"No! I won't! He's not coming back! Don't you see that? He's not coming back!" All the pent up emotions inside him from the moment all of this had started now came bubbling forth.

"You don't know that for sure," Darrel softened his voice, hoping to help put Pony at ease.

No such luck. "It's been too long! He hasn't come, he hasn't called, we've heard nothing! He's not coming home! Dallas isn't, Johnny isn't!" The ever emotional Pony was hysterical. "They're not coming home!" With a cry Pony threw himself out the door.

"Pony get back in here! Pony!" He was gone.

Okay, I would write a little more, but I think I'll save that for the next chapter. I was going to have it in this one, but I think it will work better in the next chapter. (Besides that, I'm too lazy right now.) )

MissLKid- I'm sorry you have a cold. Hope you're feeling better! Dallas leaving to go home....who knows? Well, too bad about the strike. Thanks for the review!

ERMonkey Burner of Cookies- Carly...I don't know. Good stories always kill off people...take The Outsiders for example. ) Well, I wish the spell wasn't broken either. I like making people happy! )

Malara- Isn't funny how much fun being nice can be? Have a great day! It really is fun. I remember being at this event, and I helped out by holding the doors for people. And I and some others would wish them a great night, hope they enjoyed it, come again, and all of them noticed! It was so much fun. Yeah, with his vocabulary (in other stories, I don't think you'll fine one bad word in mine, thank you very much ) I'm also a little sorry for Cliff. Thanks for all the words of encouragement, I hope this story continues to live up to

your expectations. Thanks and have a....., excuse me, an astounding day! )

CinderBrat- Spelled her name right, don't worry! Glad it made you think. I hope there was enough action there. I think you liked action, right? This chapter was really short, hope you didn't mind.

nighttime writer- Aww, fighting with friends is always a bummer, I hope you've worked it out. Friends are special. Well, I'm glad I could help out your day. Thanks for reviewing!

Scarlett7- Hey, don't worry about the reviewing! That's perfectly fine. I mean without you, this story wouldn't be what it is. I got lots and lots of ideas from corresponding with you. Thanks a billion. Thanks!

Banana4422- Thanks! Glad you read it and enjoyed it. Hope you like it!

Ems- Aww, man, you're just too sweet. Thank you ever so much, that really means a lot to me!

Jaws- Of course! Haven't you ever read or watched the movies! Or history even? No matter how evil a person is, and no matter how many hundreds of thousands of people a person kills, the only thing someone remembers is when they kill off the pet dog. Same thing with the little kid. Same as the dog. "Aww, they killed the dog!" "Aww, they killed off the eight-year-old?" Real mature, you're right. )

Tensleep- We'll say that's the reason. I mean, everybody knows that I'm just awesome right? Joking, definitely joking. How'd the cooking experiment go? I'm pretty good. I can open that box and stick it in the oven just like any pro.

Lintuucuiel- I tried to spell your name from memory, and I left off the third u! I'm mad! ( I've updated with the next chapter, but it is extremely short, please don't hurt me! Right now I'm in the midst of the Tom Clancy novels, so if I get a chance I'll try to read LotR. Thanks for reviewing!

Joker is Poker with a J- Hmm, sorry? You haven't seen exactly what happens to Carly yet, sorry. But please don't sue me, I'm not sueable. I never promised that everyone would live and that their would be a happy ending. If you want to sue somebody, sue S.E. Hinton, she started it! ) Seriously, thanks for the review!