Two-Bits POV

Talk about being left out of things.. I get a call from Darry telling me to come to the hospital because Ponyboy is hurt. So I asked how and he tells me that his little brother is a cutter! A cutter! So I call Steve telling him and he seems to already know that Pony cuts, sheesh why doesn't anybody tell me anything any more! Well now I finally arrived at this damn place and I see a cute nurse at the front counter, so I stride on over.

"May I help you?"she asked her curls delicately resting on her shoulders

im about to make small talk but then I remember why I am here in the first place..

"oh, yeah, um where can I find Ponyboy Curtis' room?"I ask

she takes a look on the chart infront of her and then points down a hallway

"you go down there and you can take an elevator up to the 3rd floor and its room 103"

"thank you"I say before starting my way to Ponys room

I walked into room 103 and the first thing I saw was Darry and Soda sitting in one chair fast asleep, I had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing. Then I saw Pony and the smile quickly faded from my face, he looked very pale. A machine next to him kept a steady beep and tubes were in his nose to help him breath. He kind of reminded me of a Christmas tree the way he was hooked up and stuff. There was a blood thing next to his bed that read AB+ and a wire came from it and attached to his wrist. That's when I saw all the cuts up his arm I glanced at his face and saw that his eyes were open.

"Hey Pony" I said walking closer to him

He didnt respond, just stared up at me with those big round eyes of his, I realized that one of his arms was wrapped up in a think bandage.

"Hello sir"I turned around and saw a nurse come into the room

"morning ma'am"I answer

"how are you sweety?"she said softly to Pony pushing stray hairs out of his face only for them to fall in place again. Pony just stared with her with those big eyes and she patted his shoulder. Then she started fiddling with some wires that were hooked up to Pony and changed the bandage on his left arm. The inside of the bandage was stained red and I turned away, when I looked back she was wrapping a new one on. She was shaking her head and then she turned to Pony and gave him a shot in his upper arm.

"This medicine will make you very drowsy"she said to him when she was done and surly enough his eyelids started to droop. When they finally closed she put the needle back in a case and then turned to me.

"Are you related to this boy?"she asked

"no but were pretty close, but those are his brother over there"I pointed to where Soda and Darry were still sitting on the chair sleeping.

"Oh those poor boys were up all night with him"

"is he gonna be okay?"I asked the nurse hoping he would be

"hard to say, he got himself pretty badly on that arm, cut right into a main blood stream"she paused to fix the sheets on Pony

"that cut hasn't stopped bleeding yet, and he's losing massive amounts of blood"she said sighing

"I just hope he pulls through"she added and then left the room

Massive blood amounts? Is she serious, I mean there is so much blood in a persons body, it's hard to believe that they can run short. I looked at Ponys limp body laying carelessly in bed, his chest was rising and falling in rhythm. Then I looked over at Soda and Darry who were now waking up and adjusting yet again to the surroundings of the hospital.

"Hey sleeping beauties, looks like I got lucky I have two beauties in a room with me! Well actually im still deciding if I would consider you a beauty Darry"I said jokingly, Darry smiled and Soda laughed

"did he ever wake up Two-Bit?"Soda asked yawning

"yeah actually he was just awake but a nurse came in and changed that bandage on his arm, and gave him medicine that made him sleep again"I said

"ughh"Darry let out a groan

"what?"I asked

"the nurse told us she wouldn't give him medicine when he woke up, so we could at least talk to him"Soda answered for Darry

"so you guys wanna give me more info on the Pony case" I asked not wanting to bring it up but I wanted to know

"well Pony has been cutting for the past weeks and when we finally found out, he, well Joey got him drunk im not sure why but im not concerned with Joey right now. Then he drank so much he passed out cold but he woke up eventually and when we went to bed I woke up to a scream, it was pretty low but enough to wake me up since I wasn't in a deep sleep. Then I saw Pony sitting there in a chair with a bloody pair of scissors in his hand and his left arm was gushing blood."Soda stopped pretty much telling it all

"how'd ya'll find out?"I asked

"Steve found out, he was at the lot with Pony they were fooling around and wrestling and then Steve said that his hands felt sticky. When he looked his palms were lightly layered with blood, he asked to see Ponys wrists and saw the cuts going up his arm"Soda took a deep breath and looked over at Pony who was stirring

Then I heard soft sobs coming from behind me and I looked and saw Steve standing in the doorway. Steve was looking at Ponyboy and crying I watched as he slowly walked over to Pony not even noticing that we were sitting there. I looked back at Darry and Soda and they were watching Steve to in awe and confusion. Steve was now next to Pony and started gently rubbing his hair and mumbling something, I saw a few tears drop from his eyes to Ponys cheek.

"Don't die"Steve mumbled clearly enough for us to hear

"you cant die"

"im sorry Pone, im so sorry that I always acted like I didnt like you and had a grudge against you for nothing, im so so sorry"steve was now holding Ponys hand

I coughed, breaking the silence that was in the room other than Steves' sobs and mumbles

Steve quickly turned around and wiped his eyes on his shirt and cussed under his breath

"steve what's the matter?"Soda asked

"I-I heard some nurses talking and they were talking about Pony"Steve drew in a deep breath then continued

"they said he was losing way too much blood, and his body is not gonna be able to take much more blood loss"Steve gulped and I felt my body tighten, was this really the end for Ponyboy?

Then a doctor came into the room, we all looked up at him, hating him, we expect him to just fix people in a snap I guess.

"I-is it true?"Soda said standing up fighting back tears but I saw one escape

"is what true?"the doctor asked confused

"is it true that my brother is going to d-die?"Sodas voice was shaky

"Boys your brother is going to be fine, we just got in a whole bunch of blood supplies that we are gonna need to get Pony through this, and I am about to stitch up his arm so if you will excuse me"

Then the doctor asked Darry for a hand while they moved Pony onto a rolling bed and then he nodded at us and left the room. I let out a sigh of relief and looked at Soda who was calming down, Darry was holding his forehead thanking god and Steve was wiping his eyes. I couldn't help myself and I started laughing at Steve who gave me an evil look and then mumbled about heading back to work and left.

Sodapop POV

I got to see Ponyboy a half hour after his stitching and I was glade I couldn't wait to see him now that he was awake.

"Hey Ponyboy!"I said as I entered the room

"hey"he said so quietly I almost didnt hear him

"you feeling okay?"I asked I put my hand on his forehead, he was hot and sweating

"the doc said that I would feel sick"he said in a trance

"oh okay"I said sitting down next to him on the bed

"Mr. Curtis may I speak with you please?"the doctor who had patched up Pony was standing in the doorway

"Sodapop Curtis"he corrected and I followed him out the door

"what's up Dr. Green?"I asked when we were out of Ponys sight

"im afraid that Ponyboy is going to have to go to an asylum for a little while, to get his condition fixed"

I stood there not breathing, his words hit me hard and I didnt know what to say or do, for some reason I didnt even think about them taking Pony away, it never crossed my mind.

"What?"I asked maybe I was just hearing him wrong

Dr. Green sighed before he tried telling me again

"your brothers condition, cutting, is said after being treated that the patient is to go straight to the nearest asylum to try and cure him. So then hopefully something like this will never happen again to your brother"

"my brother is not crazy"I said I could feel myself burning with anger

"I never said that your brother was crazy Sodapop"the doctor said trying to reassure me

"then why in gods name does he have to go to an asylum!"I shouted louder than necessary

"please Soda, calm down, I am only abiding by the laws your brother has to go to an asylum and that is that"the doctor gave me a quizzical stare before turning and walking away

I stood in the hallway for a little bit, sort of soaking in the fact that Pony will have to leave me. For a little while at least. I sat down in a bench in the hall with my head in my hands, then I remembered that Pony was probably wondering where I was, so I went back into his room. But when I got in there Pony wasn't in the room I called his name but no one answered then I pressed the button next to Ponys bed that would send for a nurse. One showed up shortly and when I told her what happened she went to a chart next to Ponys bed.

"He wasn't scheduled to go anywhere"she said

"then where is he?"I asked impatiently, I wasn't usually rude but I was in a bad mood at then moment

"oh dear"she said then rushed over to a phone on the wall

I heard her talking to Dr. Green since he was Ponyboys' doctor she told him the news and then nodded and hung up the phone.

"Please lock all exit doors, please lock all exit doors"

a voice sounded off the loudspeaker

"we have an escapee again lock all exit doors, please lock all exit doors thank you"the voice clicked off and then I walked outside the room where people were running around all looking for one person, Ponyboy.