"I can't remember the name of my hometown. I um…cant' read. My father ditched my mother and me when I was born. Because of this, my mother drank and smoked a lot. She abused me a lot. But I could tell she loved me. It was because we were going through a terrible time.
I lived in a very deep and dark city. Every night when I went to sleep, I could hear people cursing outside and gunshots. I got used to it, even though I was scared every night. There was one person I did make friends with though.
His name was Drake Hunter. He acted as if he was my best friend. He provided food and water for me when my mom was high or drunk. He acted real cool. But he had a deathly fear of knives. He always carried around a gun.
One day when I was at his apartment, he came out of the kitchen with a cup in his hand. There was something in the cup, but I didn't know what it was. The only drink that I had seen was water or milk.
He handed me the cup and said to drink it. I asked what it was and he said don't worry about it. He said it would make me feel better about my home life. He seemed like a good guy, so I drank it. It tasted pretty good and Drake asked me if I wanted more. I accepted it. I took about three cups.
Pretty soon, I felt sleepy and fell asleep on the couch. When I woke up, it was late at night. I had had a dream that I was a big hoodlum. I had dreamed I robbed and shot somebody, they didn't die though.
I told Drake about the dream and he said that's just the side effects of the drink. I just shrugged it off. This continued for about a month. I kept having dreams about doing bad things and I wondered how this drink would make me feel better. What else what was weird was that Drake always had me wearing gloves before I drank the drink. I found out what the drink was then.
Drake was giving me alcohol. I also figured out that the dreams I had weren't dreams at all. I had actually done those things. I didn't like that. When I told Drake I didn't want the drink anymore, he got angry. We got into an argument.
That was the only argument I had ever had in my life. Finally he ran into the kitchen and came out with bottles full of the alcohol. I tried to run but he pinned me on the ground and poured the alcohol down my mouth. He used every single bottle on me.
I remember running around doing worse things then. I even stole Drake's gun. I went home and my mom started yelling at me. I blacked out. Finally I woke up, and I was in my house. I sat up and held my head. When I walked into the living room, I nearly puked. My mom was on the ground with her eyes wide open. Her head was split open. I looked over and saw Drake's gun in the corner. I then realized that I had shot her in the head. Blood was all over the ground. I must have shot her close up, because here head was actually open.
I cried for a moment. I couldn't believe what I had just done. I decided I didn't like where I was. I had to get away. I tried get up but something was hurting my leg. I looked at my leg and there was cut on it. My mom probably cut me in self-defense. It wasn't deep, but it was a log cut.
I ran away that day, walking for two days, stopping to rest every once in a while. I had been walking for at least two days before Darry had found me. And well, here I am."
Johnny just stared at Louis. He had a worse life than any of us had ever had. This guy should be the gang's pet. He had actually killed his own blood. That must have been horrible. Johnny was then glad that Dally showed compassion towards him. This kid needed friends.
"Louis, don't blame yourself for what happened," started Johnny.
"I don't," interrupted Louis. "I blame Drake. I hope I don't have to see him again."
"Even if he shows up, the gang will take care of you. I should know."
Louis smiled. He was still glad he was around this group of people.
"Thanks Johnny. I feel better getting this off of my chest. Don't tell anyone though."
Johnny nodded. He could trust him. The two continued watching TV and talking until Ponyboy and Two-Bit showed up. Two-Bit burst through the door and yelled,
"Long time no see!"
Louis and Johnny smiled as Two-Bit made room on the couch.
"Are you feeling better?" asked Ponyboy.
"Yeah."
"That's good. Darry said it didn't look like you had hurt anything bad. If you hadn't felt better today, we were gonna take you to the hospital."
Everyone except Louis knew why Darry didn't want Louis to go the hospital right away. The hospital would have asked questions and Louis might have ended up in a boy's home. If the people came to visit them, Louis would have been over Two-Bit's house until they left. Darry could tell that the kid wouldn't have like a boy's home.
Pony kinda felt like he was a ghost in the family now. Darry barely bothered Louis, but he was always on Pony's case. Ponyboy got that thought out of his head. This kid wasn't around his family. He needed some place to stay. He wondered about Louis' past. No one said they heard anything about it.
He was always around Johnny. He wondered if Johnny knew anything about it. Pony decided not to bother anyone about it. He would know about Louis when Louis was ready to tell everyone. He still wanted to know how it was.