Alrighty-o. Another chapter. Puh-leaze leave reviews. Let me know if I need to end this damn thing soon. Or carry on. I aim to please. Heh.
Anyways…let me know how this is.
This is dedicated to dear Sanskrit whose loyal reviews have well…made me update!
Thanks to everyone else who reviewed. Ponyboy loves you!
I do not own these characters. S.E. Hinton does.
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If you should ever leave me
Though life would still go on believe me
The world could show nothing to me
So what good would living do me
God only knows what I'd be without you
-Beach Boys
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PB's POV:
Three weeks had gone by. Three long weeks of painful forestalling. I knew I should go back to my life but I had gotten a taste of Dally and Johnny again. I didn't want to lose that.
Most of the time we would wait around reminiscing about the past and listening to the guys when they visited me. Soda would beg me to wake up and Darry would stare at the wall, mumbling apologies. We would cringe at Two-Bit's meek attempts at humor.
Even Steve visited. I squirmed awkwardly as Steve told me about the first time he and Soda picked up Evie and Sandy. The story was told to me in a long disjointed ramble, punctuated with Dallas's contradictory laughs. "Please. Evie turned him down flat the first time he asked her out."
At the end of the tale Steve had thrown in: "Oh yah, wake up will ya? Soda needs you. We all do."
Dallas tried to bribe me. "Now you just gotta go back so you can rub that in his face."
I had thrown Johnny a surprised look. I figured the only time Steve would open up to me was over my dead body. Which apparently, this was close enough.
I didn't know how long I could sit this out; I was beginning to go stir-crazy. I was cooped up in a cell with my limp form and two guys who had been dead for a month.
If I ever did get out of this mess, Darry and Soda just might have to commit me.
I had always liked movies, although I wasn't such a big fan of the show when I was the central star.
XXXX
Eventually Johnny and Dallas began their toe tapping.
Dally would sometimes snap at me impatiently, "You gonna make up your mind or what?"
Johnny would shake his head in an odd gesture that gave him superiority over Dallas Winston. "He has to want to go back, you know that Dal." This would cause Dallas to huff loudly and squint unsatisfactorily at me.
I leaned back in my chair and stared at the empty room. No one had come by tonight. I hoped my brother's were getting some rest for once.
"So Dal, what's going to happen in the future? Will cars fly?" I asked Dallas, smiling slyly.
"What am I your personal crystal ball?" he grumped.
"You said it," I shot back. Johnny and I broke into wild laughter, which echoed around the room.
"Yuk it up, wise guy." Smiling thinly, Dally swatted the back of my head and then made a move at Johnny who ducked him and laughed again.
I abruptly stopped laughing. Stealthily, I touched my stomach and turned away from Johnny's watching eyes.
"Not feeling so hot are we?" Dallas remarked. He inspected my gold cord, which twinkled, but not as brightly as it had before.
"I'm alright." My solar plexus felt odd: strained, weak.
"You can't hold on much longer here. You'll be okay without us Ponyboy." Johnny tried to reassure me. I glowered at my shoes, biting my lip.
"I know." Tears filled my eyes. I blinked them back. I wouldn't cry here.
"Kid," Dallas smiled smugly at me. "Even though what you did at that party was a completely idiotic move, at least you got one last time with us."
I nodded, not trusting myself to look up at them. If I had I would've seen Johnny glance at the wall clock and Dallas raise a tense eyebrow.
XXXX
I sat across from Soda; both of us held vigils at my side. My chin was cupped in my hands, elbows leaning on the edge of my bed. I watched the still rise and fall of his breathing. He had laid his head down to get a bit of rest and had drifted off.
Darry had wandered off in search of coffee. I figured he was also searching for Two-Bit who hadn't come back from the nurse's station.
My gold cord glittered faintly. I shifted uncomfortably, feeling weak when I saw Dally and Johnny staring at me from their chairs. They both looked…pleased.
A sick feeling crept upon me.
"You guys…?" I started.
The thin green line that had been keeping regular tempo on the heart monitor jumped erratically, emitting an irregular beep. Instinctively, Soda's head rose slowly from his doze. He froze, looking uneasily at my still form and then at the machines I was attached to.
"Darry?" Soda said unsteadily to our brother even though he wasn't in the room.
I slumped against the bed, breathing shallowly. Something was wrong. I clutched at my solar plexus.
My gold cord winked.
My gold cord winked and then went out. A numb buzzing filled my ears. The room was beginning to get fuzzy.
"NO!" Soda shouted as my heart monitor line jumped one last time and ran flat. The sound filled our ears like a siren. He tumbled from his chair, nearly overturning it. Desperately, throwing the door open he screamed, "Darry!"
Weak and afraid, I stood up. "I don't feel so good."
"I know." Johnny said simply. "You'll feel better soon."
I opened my mouth. I wanted a better explanation, but judging by the way things were turning out, I was sure I'd get it soon.
Darry stood down the hall drinking a cup of coffee, nodding amusedly at Two-Bit who was generously detailing the curves of the blonde nurse's figure with his hands. Suddenly, the yell from Soda broke into the conversation.
Darry dropped his cup, spilling the contents of it onto Two-Bit's shoes. Two-Bit backed up cursing the coffee then stopped after seeing Soda's panicked face.
Darry bolted for my room followed by Two-Bit and a nurse. "Get Doctor Valance!" I heard her yell.
"What happened Soda?" Darry skidded to a stop when he saw the monitors. Doctor Valance burst into the room, shoving him aside.
"I don't know!" Soda cried hysterically. "I was just sitting here when he…" Soda broke off, strangling on a sob. He covered his mouth with both hands, his body racking.
Two-Bit watched all this with wide eyes. He sagged against the bleached wall that matched the color of his face. "Not again," he said.
Disturbed, I tore myself away from the fascinating scene in front of me.
This is it. I waited too long. I began to laugh quietly to myself. Only then did Dally grip me by the shoulders and shake me as my laugh turned frantic. "Shake it off, Pony."
"Dal, Dally, I'm dead aren't I?" I asked panicking. Dally merely stared at me, smiling strangely. Johnny paced the room, which had exploded into disorder.
"Code blue," The doctor told the nurse. "He's in asytole." The nurse handed him a pair of strange electric paddles. "You two shouldn't be in here," he yelled at my brothers, but he didn't have the heart to make them leave.
The doctor pumped my chest with the paddles. Darry jumped as my body jumped, but the line on the heart monitor didn't. "Again," Dr. Valance said.
"Ponyboy. C'mon. Don't do this to me." Darry pleaded desperately, watching in horror as the paddles shook my chest.
The room blurred and I swayed on my feet. Johnny reached out and grasped my elbow.
Behind me I heard the doctor say, "we're losing him," and Soda utter a terrifying moan.
Johnny pushed me closer to the scene. "You don't want this, Pone. Do you? Do you?" He asked urgently. I buried my face in my hands, shaking my head. Johnny pried my hands away from my face and jerked them hard, towards him. He had never been rough with me before and I was scared.
"It's not too late," he said. Dallas calmly watched us, his eyes glittering.
Dr. Valance dropped the paddles on the cart the nurse had been assisting from. "It's been too long," he said lowly to her. He swallowed thickly, a wet sheen in his eyes. He turned to Darry. Darry stepped back, not wanting the news.
"I'm sorry, Darrel…" the doctor said sadly. Darry closed his eyes.
Soda did a double take from my form to the blank expression on Darry's face. His mouth formed an 'O' and Soda crumpled to his knees.
Two-Bit was gone. He had left the room.
"Noooo-oh-oh-oooo," Soda sobbed, releasing a flood of tears into his hands. His body shook uncontrollably. I flinched in horror at the sight of my brother.
That was it.
"How do I go back? How?" I yelled at Johnny.
Then, Dallas grinned a frighteningly happy smile. He advanced on me and I shrank away. The backs of my knees hit the edge of my hospital bed.
"See ya kid." He shoved me backwards firmly and I fell…
Fell back into myself.
XXXX
Ok. Pony's awake now. Happy? Well, I am! How did you like it? Nay, aye? Yes, no, maybe so?
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Leave reviews and maybe I'll dedicate the next chapter to you.
Should I keep going or end it?
Sorry for any typos. I try to proofread as best as possible.