I was getting used to the fact that Pony was gone. After all, it had been seven weeks now. But I still couldn't shake that message we got from him. We hadn't heard from him since then, and I hated it. I didn't know why we hadn't heard from him, and I didn't know how he was doing. So Soda and I continued to work as hard as we could to get him back.

It was an early evening on a Friday when things changed. I was on top of a roof, nailing down some shingles. When I saw who got out, I went to the ladder immediately.

When I got down, Mrs. McCool was standing behind me.

"Hello, Mr. Curtis."

"Mrs. McCool." I said with a polite nod.

"I've come here to talk to you about Ponyboy."

"So I assumed."

"You see, he's been taking this very hard." How was this a surprise to her?

"He hasn't be eating much, or talking either. And, judging by the dark circles under his eyes, he hasn't been sleeping much either. And today, when I went to talk to him about not coming to class earlier today, he collapsed."

"Collapsed? Is he okay? Where-"

"He's at the hospital. But that's not what I came to talk about. It's about you getting custody of him again."

"What?"

"You see, I don't think Pony is adjusting as he should at the boys' home, and his health is decreasing. I don't want to risk him getting hurt, so I'm going to let you have him back." She paused. "I see now that he was where he was supposed to be all along."

"Oh, my God."

"Congratulations, Mr. Curtis. You just got your little brother back. You can go see him now. He's at the hospital in town."

"Thank you!" I screamed, finally breaking our of my daze. And then, much to her surprise, I hugged Mrs. McCool.

She turned and walked away. But before she left she said, "Oh, and the boys' home will pay for the hospital expenses since it happened while he was there."

"Thanks." I said again.

When she drove off, I turned to one of the guys.

"Hey, Matt, I'm leaving for the day! I'm going to go see my little brother!"

"Good for you, man!" He called back.

I ran to the truck and hopped inside. It was time to go get Soda.

When I pulled in, Soda came running out. I guess he figured something was up, because I was supposed to be at work.

"What's happened?" He said when I opened up the door.

"I have great news! We get to have Pony back!" I hugged him and laughed at his stiffness. He was still in shock.

"What? Why?"

"Mrs. McCool told me that he wasn't doing well at the boys' home, and so we get custody of him again! Isn't that great!" I yelled, and then hugged him again. This time, he hugged me back.

"Where is he? When can we see him?" Soda asked.

"Today! He's at the hospital, though. Mrs. McCool said he collapsed."

"Collapsed? Is he all right?"

"I don't know. But go tell Steve you're leaving and let's go."

"All right!" He said, smiling for once.

When he came back, he jumped in the truck and we drove off. I'm glad the hospital is so close, or we would have gotten pulled over for speeding.

When we walked inside, we ran up to one of the nurses and asked where Pony was. She told us the room, and so we ran off.

"There!" Soda yelled and we both ran into Pony's room.

I wasn't prepared for what greeted me. Ponyboy, sleeping or unconscious, was pale and thin. His cheeks were sunken in from not eating enough, and he had dark circles under his eyes. I looked around the room, expecting to see another patient, and that one would be Pony. But he was the only one in the room, and it was my brother.

I broke into tears at the sight of him. He looked so sickly. He was skinnier than I remember him ever being, and he looked like he hadn't slept in days.

I sat down in one of the chairs beside his bed. Soda took the one on his other side, and we both looked at our little brother.

"What's wrong with him, Darry?" Soda asked me, his eyes wet with tears.

"I don't know." I said quietly, trying not to disturb Pony.

A doctor walked in and said, "Are you relatives of Ponyboy?"

"Yes. I'm his brother Darry, and this is his other brother, Sodapop."

"Oh. Then I guess you should hear the diagnosis."

"Yes."

"We believe that Ponyboy is going through the stages of depression. He has all the symptoms. He hasn't been eating or sleeping and he hardly ever says a word to anyone. He woke up a little while ago and asked where his brothers were, so I assume he meant you. We gave him a few sleeping pills so he could finally get some rest. He doesn't look like he's slept much in the past few weeks."

"Is that it?"

"Well, the fact that he isn't eating much concerns me. We asked him if he was hungry when he woke up, but he said no. We couldn't force him to eat, but if he wakes up, please try to get him to eat. He might eat for you two. If he doesn't eat soon, we'll have to place a feeding tube inside him. It's rare that'd we'd have to do it for someone of his age, but if he won't eat, it'll come to that. Also, because he hasn't been eating much, his weight has dropped considerably. He's five foot and seven inches and should weigh about one hundred and fifty pounds. We weighed him, and he only weighs one hundred and twenty pounds. That's about thirty pounds less than he should. He's basically a skeleton."

I didn't want to hear this, but I was hearing it anyway. My poor little brother. What's happened to him?

"So what can we do?"

"Just get him to eat, and help him with the depression. We'll release him once he starts eating again."

"Thank you, doctor."

The doctor then left and we were left alone. Soda was crying and I had tears in my eyes.

I looked at Pony and pushed his hair back. It was softer now because he didn't have any grease in it. "Poor little thing." I said.

He turned on his side, and continued to sleep. After a few minutes, I noticed tears were rolling down his cheeks.

"Darry?" Soda asked.

"Yeah?"

"Why is he crying?"

"I don't know. He must be having a nightmare or something."

I wiped away his tears with my fingertips. When he whimpered, I squeezed his shoulder.

"Sh. It's okay, Pony. You're safe now. We're here. Darry and Sodapop are here."

He continued to cry, though. Soda looked at me and then he got in bed with Pony. He wrapped his arms around Pony and held him tight. I envied him. I wanted to do the same thing, but I didn't.

Pony stopped crying soon after, and Soda fell asleep, too. I stayed awake, though, incase he needed me.