Chapter Six

Author's note: I know this chapter is really short, but the next one is longer. Thanks for all your reviews!

I woke up with a really bad headache. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that I was in my room. Darry was sitting next to me; he was reading a book. What had happened? The last thing I remembered was the ground coming up to meet me.

"Darry," I said.

Darry looked at me, "Hey, you're awake."

"What happened?" I asked.

"You fainted," Darry said. "But everything's OK now. You're home." Darry sounded like he was trying to reassure himself more than me.

"How long have I been out?" I asked.

Darry looked at the clock "A few hours."

There was a short pause, and then Darry asked, "Did you have any nightmares?"

I didn't remember having any nightmares "No," I replied.

Everything was slowly starting to come back to me. I had been visiting Dally; he was going to the state prison. He had told me the story behind Aurora's silver ring. And there was something else. What was it? He asked if I'd been smoking pot…that wasn't important. What had I told him after that? What did Dally say?

"What did he say?" I said out loud.

"I didn't say anything," Darry said. He was giving me a worried look. "What are you talking about?"

"Never mind," I said.

What did Dally say? It was important. Why can't I remember? Was this what Aurora felt like when she was in the asylum? When she couldn't remember anything. I had told Dally that I couldn't sleep because I was having nightmares. Then he said…Then he said…Then he said…you too?

That was it. Dally had been having nightmares too. And he said they would get worse. It was a weird thought; Dallas Winston, the toughest hood in Tulsa, in all Oklahoma, was having nightmares. And they were about a girl that's fourteen.

No, she was fourteen. She's dead. Dr. Murphy's voice came back to me, "She's dead, Ponyboy. I'm very sorry that she is, but you need to come to terms with reality." He was always telling me to come to terms with reality. I don't like reality.

"Maybe you should go back to sleep," Darry said. "You look kind of sick."

I nodded and closed my eyes; pretending to be asleep. Darry left after a few minutes. I kept on thinking about what Dally had said. "They get worse". The nightmares were bad enough already. How could they possibly get worse? I don't think I want to know.