Chapter Four
I was so tired I could hardly stand up. I stumbled through security, and I was just awake enough to notice that the guards paid special attention to me. I must have looked like I was high or something. I leaned on Darry as we walked down the endless hallways until we finally got to a waiting room. There was a door on the far side of the room. There was a cop standing by the door.
"You all here to see Dallas?" He asked.
We all nodded.
"You can see him," The cop said. "But one at a time and you each have five minutes, no more. Understood?"
We all nodded again.
"OK," the cop said. "Who's first?"
We all looked nervously at each other, then Two-Bit stood up.
"I guess I am," Two-Bit said.
"Follow me," the cop said.
Two-Bit and the cop disappeared through the door.
I looked around the waiting room. There were several chairs and couches; we were sitting in most of them. There was a table with magazines from last year on it. The walls were an ugly pink color, and there was only one window. There were bars on the window. I looked around a bit more and saw that there were several surveillance cameras in the room. Soda had noticed the cameras too. He was waving at one of them.
I had to keep pinching myself to stay awake. The minutes dragged by slowly; Two-Bit came back after what seemed like an eternity. Soda left when Two-Bit came back. My head was starting to hurt. I wanted to go home.
I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, I leaned my head against the back of the chair I was sitting in and closed my eyes. I hoped that I wouldn't have a nightmare.
But I didn't even get to sleep. Soda came back and Steve left. Then Soda and Two-Bit took it upon themselves to bother me.
"Hi Pony," Two-Bit said.
I opened my eyes. "Hi," I said coldly.
"What's wrong?" Soda asked. He seemed worried.
"Nothing. I'm fine," I said.
"You don't seem fine," Soda said.
"What's with your eyes?" Two-Bit asked.
"What do you mean?" I said.
"They're really red," Soda replied. "And they look kind of bruised underneath."
"Did you get jumped?" Two-Bit asked.
"No," I snapped. "I'm really tired, and I don't feel like talking. So if you could both leave…"
Soda and Two-Bit started backing away while making lame apologies like:
"We're sorry."
"Didn't know you weren't feeling good."
"We didn't mean to bother you."
What a bunch of crap. They didn't mean it; at least Two-Bit didn't, I could tell by the way he was smiling.
The door opened and Steve walked out, followed by the cop.
"Next," the cop said.
I looked at Darry. He shook his head and mouthed "you go".
I stood up and walked toward the door. I was trying as hard as I could to keep my balance and to walk in a straight line. The cop closed the door behind us and we walked down a long, badly lit hallway.
The walls, floor, and ceiling were made from cement. There were no windows, and there was a 50 watt light bulb in the ceiling every five feet or so. We got to yet another door and the cop opened it. There was one of those wire screens; like the ones in prison movies. There was a chair on one side; my side, I guessed. And Dally was on the other side.
"You have five minutes," the cop said before he left; closing the door behind him.