Okay, I cut this chapter short, and I hope you all like it. If I didn't cut it, it would turn out to be 20 pages long, and I don't think any of us want that. Besides, Im trying to update quicker...but with my work being soo busy I haven't really been home. Sorry. Anyway, I sure hope you guys like this chapter, Its not the best, more boring than not if you ask me, but completely nessesary in my view.
A little note on Steve here...there is a point where you might think is OOC, but I promise that anyone, no matter how tough they are, that had been beat like that would be screaming. I see no OOCness in it...so deal with it if you disagree. Okay? Thanks. ï?Š
Dedication: This is to one of my best friends that I am SOO proud of right now. I just found out last night that she is getting back to a normal life and I am SOOO happy. It's been a long time coming and we will just say she had some problems along the way. I dedicate this to her because I guess I was finally happy enough to get something out and finish this chapter after hearing from her. Thank her for the update.
Review Responses at end...
------
Darrys POV
I woke the next morning, bright and early as usual, on the armchair in the front room. It wasn't the best place to sleep, but Pony was in my bed and I wasn't going to leave Steve in that condition, on my couch, alone. I was almost afraid he would die on me, or something; from the looks of it, it wasn't highly unlikely.
I stretched out, seeing that no one was up yet. The clock told me it was six o'clock...right on time, as always. I never could sleep past that, I always woke up and jumped in the shower. So that's what I did this morning to. I had work in a few hours, I had to check up on everyone before I left and get Pony out of bed before I left too. I would let him sleep in if he didn't get up most days, seeing as it was summer, and he usually got up at a decent time, but today was not that day. I wanted him up...mostly considering the current condition of every other person in the house.
My shower was short and not so enjoyable that morning, I was in a slight hurry. When I got out I pulled on a pair of pants and poked into Soda's room. It was going to be particularly fun to get him up this morning, not that it wasn't every other day. He was possibly the hardest person to wake up on the planet, and I had a feeling that the hang over wasn't going to help with that. It was too bad I didn't have much pity towards him in that respect. He had chosen to get drunk, so he was going to go to work no matter.
"Soda...get up, you still have to go to work today." I said from the door. He didn't move...at all.
"Soda?" Still no answer. Yup, I thought this was hard on a daily basis...today it could take the full two hours we had instead of the usual twenty minutes to wake him.
I proceeded into the room then, hoping he would wake if I shook him. He wasn't that drunk last night. He was pretty damn drunk, don't get me wrong...but not that bad.
Making my way further into his room, I shook Soda's leg to wake him. I wanted to be gentle and not freak him out.
"Soda, Buddy, wake up. You need to get up, little buddy."
He grunted, not really moving.
"C'mon, you have work. Get up."
"...Darry..." he groaned. I knew he didn't feel well, never did after a night like that.
"Get up. You're hung over, now go get in the shower." I said a little louder, probably with more of a tone too. I wasn't going to give into him, and he had to know that somehow.
"Gawd...its too early...I don't feel too great..."
"For the last time, you are hung over, now get up." I said a little impatiently, opening the curtains to the outside light, and throwing Soda's blankets to the foot of the bed. If it would get him up, which I figured it would, I would risk it. Any other day, I might give him a little more time, but I didn't want this to take an hour long to do, and I had to go check up on Steve and get Pony up and cook breakfast.
"Fine." Soda groaned. He wasn't too mad, I could tell, but he sure didn't feel great. I coulda told him last night that he wouldn't...anyone could have.
I grinned a little over my victory, still facing the window. Then I started to walk out of the room. Soda started to sit up and stopped mid air, his eyes wide and a sound escaping his lips. I stopped, looking at him as he let himself hit the pillow again.
"You okay?" I asked, a but concerned over him then. I walked over to the side of his bed, looking down at him. His eyes were watery, pain filled orbs. There was something wrong, no doubt from the car accident the night before.
"Darry...I can't move. God it hurts something awful..." he managed to get out. He was still in a lot of pain from whatever movement he had made.
"Your neck?" I asked, thinking he might have thrown it out.
"God ,yes." He forced.
"Damn...okay. I'll go get you some ice. Don't move again, alright, buddy?"
"Duh."
I had to smile at that one. He did have a point. I went into the kitchen and looked through the freezer for some ice. Found it hiding behind a carton that once had ice cream and now sat untouched, grimy, and empty. I needed to clean this place up real bad...but life just seemed to get busier by the minute. I grabbed a few aspirin for Soda, and a glass of water with a straw in it, that I somehow found.
I walked back into Soda's room to see him doing a bit better, the pain was still there form the look in his eyes...but he was doing okay with it. I sat down on the bed next to him, handing him the aspirin, and the cup. He looked at me oddly...
"Dar...how am I supposed to drink from this?"
"Oh..." I had forgotten that I had a straw in my hand. I tapped it on my leg and undid the wrapping.
Eventually, my brother managed to down his aspirin, through constant choking and pain...but he did it. Then I handed him the ice pack and got up to leave.
"Um...Dar?"
I turned, "What?"
"Help?"
It took a lot of pain for that ice pack to end up in the right place...but then it started helping some. I let him be then, telling him to rest. I had to go call his work and cancel him out for a few days; not to mention, wake Pony and check up on Steve. Lucky, neither had moved.
From Soda's, I went into my room and woke Pony. He was real tired the night before, and was hard to wake...but after shaking his shoulders for a minute or so, he finally responded.
"Pon...rise and shine. Its shower time..."
He looked at me oddly...
"Did you get any sleep last night, Dar?" He seemed a bit bemused and well, concerned almost.
"A few hours. I need you to get up and shower. I am making breakfast and all...but Soda's sick and so is everyone else, so I want you to be up when I leave for work. Got it?"
"Sure, Dar. Isnt Soda just hung over?" He asked, not missing a beat.
"Yeah...but he hurt himself in that accident last night."
"Accident?"
"Yeah, they were drag racing...something that will get you skinned if you do, got it?" I said that to give him a point...it wasn't okay, "And Steve rolled the car something good..."
"Wow...is everyone else okay? Was that why you were taking care of Steve last night?"
"Yeah...and yeah." It was enough of the truth at least, Pony didn't need to know what happened, at least not from me. "Now get up and get in the shower, kiddo." I walked out, being in the slight hurry I was.
Steve hadn't moved a muscle all night from the looks of it. I felt bad waking I knew he was going to have a day of hell once he did wake, but there was no way around it. I could always try to check things out without waking him, but that would be awkward, so I just decided to get it over with.
"Steve?" I asked, sitting on the coffee table across from the couch.
"Steve...can you hear me?"
I waited a few seconds...hesitant to shake Steve's beaten body. But he wasn't responding to my voice...he wasn't waking up. So I did it, what else was there to do?
Gently, I shook Steve's shoulder, ever so slightly...and he immediately opened his eyes. They were feverish, drowsy, and everything in between, but he woke up. That was a relief. I was worried he might not with the way he had been acting the night before.
"Steve?" He wasn't exactly focusing on anything at that point, so I wanted him to know that I was the one who woke him up. "Steve, hey, I wanna check out your back. Can you roll over?"
Slowly, he looked my way, bewildered as it seemed. His expression was blank beyond that, and I knew that he was lost. He had no idea what was really going on, or what had happened the night before. I didn't know if that was a good thing or not, considering the circumstances, but at least he didn't have to worry over it yet.
I sighed, what now?
"Steve, let me help you turn over. Its gonna hurt, but I gotta check out those wounds of yours, kay?"
Steve seemed to understand that at least, and swallowed hard before trying his best to roll over. He didn't make it far before grunting and resigning back to his original position.
"Let me help you." I said, and took his shoulder and a part of his back I knew hadn't been hurt too badly and rolled him to his side. He was groaning something awful by then, and I knew he was in for one hell of a day, not that I didn't before, but it was worse now.
"Sorry, man." I commented, "But it's a good thing I'm checking this out. You're bleeding through your bandages."
I set some pillows and a blanket next to Steve and let him lean on them on his side/stomach. He seemed to be a bit more comfortable there, at least he looked it, so I started in on the bandages.
His back looked about ten times worse than the night before, and I started to get a little more worried. He was bruised black and blue all over and blood seeped from the really bad areas. It was gruesome, sure, but that's not what worried me. What worried me was that the bruising was so bad, he could have internal injuries from that, bruising in bad places, it was sure to go deeper than I had thought before.
I cleaned him up as best I could and re-bandaged a few of the worse areas, but finished up quickly. Not only did I want to spare him more pain as he had been gasping and grunting, almost screaming the entire time, I also wanted to take him to a doctor pretty fast, so redoing everything was pointless.
Steve didn't want to move after that, he was happy where he was on his side, so I put a blanket behind him for support and one over him to keep him warm; he was still in shock it seemed, shivering and all without the blankets.
"Steve...I really think you should go to a doctor, man. I'll take you down to the clinic, they don't ask many questions there, and you wont have to say a word if you don't want."
He opened his eyes again, only slightly, probably out of surprise.
"Steve, they can give you some stuff for the pain and get this taken care of. I know you're hurting something awful. It wont be that bad, it will be good, and those doctors are real good at staying out of your business if you tell them to."
"No..." He managed to get out. Stubborn ass, he just had to prove something, didn't he?
I sighed, he was going, I just had to convince him that I wasn't making him. I will admit I was worried about him. Steve, whether I had ever shown it or not, was like another little brother, Sodas twin. Ever since they were kids, those two had been inseprable, they did everything together. Steve practically lived over here. He took my parents death as bad as the rest of us, he knew everything about us, and although he gave us our space, undoubtably feeling that he was not part of the family and was out of place, he was part of the family. He didn't need to give us our space, but we never stopped him, he wanted to do that and that was his decision to make.
I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to think of anything that could convince Steve to go to a doctor, he sure was stubborn, like me. At least I knew I was a match for him.
"Darry? What's wrong?" Pony was standing in the hallway, having just got out of the shower.
I looked up, "Oh nothing, just thinking. Hey, go check on Soda. He can't have that ice I gave him on for too long. Go take it off, will ya? I gotta make a few calls."
"Sure thing, Dar. Are you sure everyone's okay? What's wrong with Soda?"
"I suppose...I haven't heard from Two-Bit but Soda will be fine and so will these too hoods." I said pointing to Dally and Steve. Soda hurt his neck, threw it out or something, but I'm going to take him to a doctor so we'll see."
"Oh...okay." Pony left for their room and I got up and started into the kitchen.
I started some coffee, knowing that once everyone was up more they would want some, especially with those horrid hang-overs they were sure to have. Then I went and picked up the phone, calling my work first. My boss didn't understand at first, but when I told him that my brother had been in an accident he told me it was no big deal. He was a good guy, and I figured my streak of no sick days had finally paid me off.
Then the hard phone call. Soda's boss. He didn't have a ton of workers, and Steve and Soda brought him the most business, so he hated them taking sick days last minute. Luckily, neither of them used them much, they liked work.
I dialed the number and the phone rang a few times before some kid picked up. "DX, how can I help you?"
"Ya, I need to speak to Wally."
"Sure thing" he answered nonchalantly.
"Hello?" This time it was Wally.
"Wally? This is Darrel Curtis, Soda's older brother."
"Hello. What do you need?"
"Well, I'm calling in sick for him. He's slightly bed-ridden at the moment and will be all day."
"He okay?"
"I suppose, he's alive."
"When do you think he will be back?"
"No idea, next week I would guess. He had a bad night last night."
"Damn...okay. This is the second today." He sounded irritated. I wonder who else was taking off, and didn't exactly want to break the news to Steve to him, but it had to happen.
"Listen, I thought you might also want to know that Steve won't be in to cover him either."
"Yeah, I heard about that. His mom called in for him this morning. Thank you. And get him Soda back as soon as you can."
"Sure." I answered.
We hung up the phone without any last words. It was an awkward phone call, but once again, it had to be done.
About the time that I hung up the phone, Pony walked in the room, pouring himself some chocolate milk and boosting himself up on the counter.
"Who'd ya call?"
"Work. I gotta take Soda to the doctor."
"Yeah, he's messed up."
"I know..." I sighed.
------
Now on to Review Responses! The part you have all been waiting for, I'm sure...
Erunyauve: Wow thanks! Obviously, I didn't think he was OOC or I wouldn't have written it, but I was worried others might think that. So thank you. I really felt soo much better after your review. And the thing with Pony...you hit that right on the nail! That's exactly what's supposed to come through. So thank you. Hope you enjoy this chapter also.
Jessie13: Thanks! LOL, this response is more to taunt you than anything, HEHE. Im evil, and you don't get to know what happens. Keep reading!
Keira: Damn, you know me too well. LOL, Im just kidding. But you know me, I take pleasure in a lot of things. HEHE. Thank you, really, not that you didn't know all of it anyway...I should put you and Tens on as Co-Authors, really. LOL. Hope you like this you DIDN'T help all that much with it and HAVENT read it before. LOL. HAHAHA, I gotcha there! See ya round....
lizangel22222: HAHA, never seen that one, its okay though. Thanks. About the gruesome thing...I really don't think it was overdone, I mean, I don't think that, and its all good that you do. Just let me tell you the reasoning I have for that. Basically, if you have ever seen that kind of an injury...its really not pretty and I wanted to get that acrossed. It makes more sense as you read on, right? I mean, it makes more sense that Darry is so concerned, as he should be, and I just wanted it to be real. So that's my reason there. But wow...Im soo happy you like my story so much. I really appreciate you saying it's so well written, I put a fair amount into it, I would say. And I'm glad that I could inspire you, I love that. Well, Here's a quick update, that wasn't all that quick. Hope you enjoy!
soda-staygold16: Well, Thank you. It sounded boring? Oh man...gonna have to work on that summary then, huh? LOL. Well, Im very happy you decided to read it and enjoyed it. Keep on reading! Thanks.
Oblivious Misconception: Whoa, its no wonder I always look forward to reviews from you. ï?Š I agree with you, though, I hate to read about things after the fact, and I hate even more to write it, so I'm very happy you liked the switch up. I think it makes more sense that way. Thanks. And wow...you hit everything else on the head, I really am glad you saw into that. I loved those things too, obviously, I had better if I wrote it, right? But anyway...thank you soo much! I'm looking forward to hearing from you again. Hope you enjoy this chapter, no matter how boring I might think it is.
------
Well, that's it. Until next time!