Darrel Curtis was always tired. He would get up in the morning tired, and go to sleep exhausted. He wouldn't dare tell anyone about his problem; there was no one to tell. Oh, sure, his brothers were always around, but they probably wouldn't understand. Darrel Curtis was on his own, with this one.

"Soda, Pony, I'm home," Darry called through the house. There was no reply. " Soda, Pony?" His heart started to race. What if they got hurt? What if they were… NO, he would not let himself think that way. They were probably just asleep. They were probably exhausted like he was. He trudged into their room, and looked around. The room was a mess; Pony's books were everywhere. It wasn't the mess that upset Darry so much; it was the fact that no one was in it.

"Soda, Pony," Darry shouted through the empty house. "Soda, Po-," he was cut off by the sound of a door opening.

"Darry, are you home? We saw the truck in the driveway," a voice said. Darry relaxed. It was the voice of his younger brother, Soda.

"Yeah, little buddy, I'm home." Darry walked into the living room where Soda and Pony were standing with grass stains on their jeans. They were probably playing football. "But you two need to be getting ready for bed. It's almost bedtime."

Darry watched his brothers trudge into their room. Then he started to relax. His brothers were safe and he was home. But one thing scared him. He thought of how scared he got when he couldn't find his brothers right away. That wouldn't have happened a year ago, before his parents died, before it happened. But now he was as worried as his late great aunt was when he was five. Darry sank into his chair. It had been a long day. 'I'll go to bed in a few minutes. I just need to rest my feet,' Darry thought as he slowly drifted away.

Darry sat up with a start. What time was it? Where was he? Why didn't his alarm clock wake him up? Then he realized that he had fallen asleep in his chair in the living room. He glanced at the clock on the wall. 8:30! He was supposed to have been at work an hour and half ago! He quickly got up and get dressed. He wondered why his brothers didn't wake him up.

Darry arrived at worked out of breath and stressed. His boss was standing in front of the house he was supposed to roof that day. He knew that couldn't have been good. His boss only came out when he was going to fire someone and he had a feeling that it would be him.

"Curtis!" His boss bellowed. Darry walked over to his big-bellied boss. "This is the fifth time this month! You used to be such a good worker! What happened?"

"I don't know, sir," Darry said, head bent down.

"Well, I'm sorry, I didn't want to have to do this. But I'm going to have to let you go."

Darry wasn't surprised of what he heard, but he still felt sick to his stomach. He had lost his other job at the warehouse a few weeks ago. Now he would have to go out and find a new job and that probably wouldn't be easy.

He walked back to his truck and went home. His last paycheck sat in the seat besides him. He would have to pay as many bills as he could and maybe stock up on food while he as at it.

Ponyboy Curtis knew something wasn't right the moment he walked in the door. First of all, the door was locked. The door was never locked. Second of all, when he knocked on the door, Darry opened that it. Darry was always at work when he got home from school even if he had to stay late for track.

Pony looked at his older brother; he had bags under his eyes, he needed to shave, and he could use a shower. Pony was a little surprised. His older brother almost always had it together, but lately he didn't. He slept later, skipped meals, and practiced poor hygiene.

Something wasn't right with Darry. Pony could sense it.

Darry was having a hard time paying the bills. He had used up all the money paying bills. As soon as one was paid, another one showed up. He never got the chance to stock up on food. So the cupboards and ice box where getting emptier by the second. It was only a couple weeks before the only thing to eat in the house were moldy spaghetti noodles. Soda took notice of that and went to the grocery store to buy food. He knew Darry had lost his jobs and that was why there was no food in the house.

Soda bought all the food he could with the amount of money from his paycheck. He knew that if Darry asked him for any money, he wouldn't be able to give it him.

Soda walked through the door of his house, his arms piled with bags of groceries. Darry was asleep with the classified section of the newspaper folded over his lap. He stared at his older brother. His once muscular face was thin and gaunt, and he looked as if he hadn't had a decent meal in a year.

"Darry?" Soda laid a hand on his brother's shoulder. The eldest brother woke up immediately with a jump. "I'm hungry, Darry. Are you hungry? Let's get something to eat."

"I'm sorry, Soda," Darry dropped his head. "There's no food in the house."

"That's okay. I went to the store and bought some," Darry followed his younger brother into the kitchen and watched as Soda put together a turkey sandwich and place it in front of him.

Soda opened the icebox to put the food away, but when he opened the door, it wasn't any cold. The lights went out and he realized that the power had been turned off.

Pony was positive that something wasn't right. The power was off, and when he walked home from school one afternoon, all of his things were in boxes out on the sidewalk. He walked over to his eldest brother. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Pony," Darry said. "I lost the house."

I love reviews! I hope you liked it and there will be another one soon enough! – Frito

We live off of reviews…considering we can't exactly live off the cafeteria food. Flames are welcome and will be sent off to a random charity so they can get warm. Actually, I like flames -gasp- they always crack me up. So bring them on. I beta'd so if anything is wrong blame it on me, not the chip over there.