Pony's POV
I woke up shivering from the cold. I couldn't understand it. It's late in August! Why am I so cold?
I looked over and saw Soda asleep in a chair next to the bed. But this wasn't our room. Where am I?
Slowly, what had happened came back to me and I realized that I was in the hospital. Soda stirred and when he opened his eyes and saw me, he smiled.
"Hey, Pony. How you feeling?" He said, coming closer to me.
"I'm okay. I've been better though."
"Yeah, I can imagine."
I looked around the room. "Where's Darry?"
"He went to work." Soda replied, stifling a yawn.
"You look beat." I said, noticing the dark circles under his eyes.
"I know, I know. Darry says the same thing. But he don't look any better. He's got dark circles under his blood-shot eyes. And he seems paler than usual. He looks like crap compared to me."
I wondered what got Darry in such a fix. It wasn't me, was it?
"What day is it?" I asked.
"Friday."
"What! I've been asleep for five days!" I exclaimed.
"Well, no. You've been awake a lot since then. Don't you remember waking up at all?" Soda asked, looking at me carefully.
"No." I answered honestly.
"Well, you were awake yesterday for a few minutes. Then Wednesday you were up for at least an hour or two. You weren't up much before that, but you've been awake."
"I don't remember."
"Oh. I wonder why."
"Soda, when does school start?" I asked, realizing that by now it was around the 23rd of August."
"In two weeks. They're taking off because of Bob...you know." Soda said, blushing at his words.
"Is that why Darry's so worried, because I've slept so much?" I asked.
"Probably." Soda said, but the lie was written all over his face.
"Soda, what aren't you telling me?" I asked, looking him right in the eye.
"Nothing, nothing." He said, looking down at the floor.
"Soda..."
"All right! You said some things in your sleep that...bothered Darry."
I felt fear go through me. What had I said when I was unconscious?
"Like what?" I asked the fear in my voice.
"Well, nothing really."
"Tell me Soda!" I barked. Soda looked startled.
"Okay. You said something about how you felt bad and you started yelling for me and Darry. It was nothing really."
"What else?" There was something he was still holding back from me.
"You...you said that you were ready to die once." Soda said, and I saw the pain written on his face.
"I...I said that?" I was shocked. I had thought that so many times, but I never meant for anyone to know about it.
"Yeah. It was during one of your nightmares. I figured you were reliving one of your attacks because you kept saying, 'Leave them out of it.'"
"I'm sorry, Soda. I didn't mean that. Honest." I lied.
"I know. It's okay. You just shook Darry up a bit. I don't think he's slept much lately. Everytime I wake up in the night, he's up, sitting there, watching you."
"When can I go home?"
"Monday. They just wanted to make sure you were ready. Since you slept so much, I think you worried the docs a bit."
I turned over, preparing to go back to sleep when I heard a light knock on the door.
Darry stood in the door way, and the sight of him made me cry. He looked worse than how Soda described him. He looked like the walking dead.
