Chapter Eight: Nothing Gold Can Stay

Suze stood up shakily. "Um," she began. She didn't know how she would explain all this to Ponyboy. "You're not going to believe me if I tell you the truth," she said.

Ponyboy wasn't paying attention. He was surveying the damage with wide eyes. "Man," he said in awe. "Looks like a tornado came through here."

Might as well have, Suze thought glumly. Ponyboy stared at her in astonishment. "Are you okay? What happened? What are you doing here?"

"I'm fine. If I told you, you wouldn't believe me," Suze said simply. "You'd call me crazy."

Ponyboy crossed his arms and tried unsuccessfully to cock an eyebrow. "Yeah, right," he said. "Try me."

Suze took a deep breath, thinking here goes nothing, and launched into her story. "I'm a mediator," she said. Ponyboy blinked. "What?" he blurted.

"I'm a mediator. I can talk to ghosts. It's my job to help them fulfill their final wishes or whatever so they can go on and rest in peace for all eternity," Suze explained. When Ponyboy said nothing, she went on.

"I came to Tulsa because of my new stepfather, and I met a couple of ghosts who need help. All this," she said, gesturing around to the wreckage, "is from the exorcism I just did."

Ponyboy stared at her for a few more seconds, then, completely out of the blue and without warning, he tossed his head back and laughed, long and loud. Suze sighed. She knew she should have seen this coming.

Between gasps, Ponyboy choked out, "C'mon. You don't really expect me to believe that, do you?"

"No," Suze said quietly. "I told you you'd call me crazy." Ponyboy's laughter died down at the sight of Suze's serious face.

"Suze, seriously. What happened?" Ponyboy asked. "I told you," Suze said, knowing even as she said it that he still wouldn't believe her. "I had to exorcise someone."

Ponyboy looked skeptical. Suze pressed on. "You know what's been happening to me all week? My locker on fire? The tarantula in my bag? Getting thrown into the garbage can? My clothes in the swimming pool? That was the guy I had to exorcise just now."

"You told me a Soc threw you into the garbage can," Ponyboy said accusingly. "A Soc did," Suze said truthfully. "It was Bob Sheldon."

"Bob Sheldon?" Ponyboy sputtered. "Bob Sheldon? You just exorcised Bob Sheldon?"

"Yes!" Suze exclaimed. "But why was he bothering you?" Ponyboy wanted to know. Suze sighed.

"Because," she said, not wanting to tell him. "He wanted revenge. But I couldn't help him get revenge, because I was already helping the one he wanted to get revenge on. And he wanted revenge for all the wrong reasons."

"He wanted revenge? On…" Ponyboy trailed off, seemingly unable to say his former best friend's name.

"Johnny Cade," Suze finished for him. Ponyboy met her gaze, his face full of shock and bewilderment. But, Suze noted, there wasn't a trace of disbelief.

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Johnny Cade? Suze was a mediator helping Johnny Cade? This was just too supernatural to be true. And yet…

Ponyboy found himself believing Suze anyway. Her expression was honest and open, and her eyes didn't have the cheap hardness like most people did when they were lying.

"Can I talk to him?" he found himself asking. He sounded like a little kid, he knew, and hated himself for it.

Suze looked down. "You can't," she said to her sneakers. "But…if you wanted, I could talk for both of you. Ghosts can hear and see humans, but humans can't hear or see ghosts or interact with them. But mediators can."

Ponyboy brightened considerably. "Okay," he said. "When can I talk to him?" Suze looked up. "Right now, if you want."

Ponyboy couldn't stop a wide grin from spreading across his face. Finally, one last chance to talk to his best friend, Johnny Cade.

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Suze shouted in ghostly undertones, "JOHNNY CADE!" Her lips were moving, but she knew Ponyboy couldn't hear her.

Almost immediately, a breeze blew through and Johnny was there, anticipation written on his face. "Is Bob gone?" he asked immediately.

"Yes," Suze said, "He's gone." Ponyboy was looking where Suze was, squinting at Johnny, clearly not seeing him.

"Ponyboy?" Johnny said, his already large eyes widening even further. "Why's he looking at me like that?"

"He can't see you," Suze explained. "But he knows you're there. I told him everything." Johnny stared at her. "What? Why?"

"He heard me exorcising Bob and came running. How else could I explain all this?"Suze demanded, gesturing at the fallen trees.

"I guess," Johnny said skeptically. "So why do you need me?"

"Ponyboy wanted to talk to you," Suze said. "I'm going to tell him everything you say."

Johnny nodded slowly, and then a mischievous look crossed his face. Suze looked at him suspiciously. "I don't like that look," she said carefully.

"I could possess you," Johnny said, grinning. "Dally tried it. He said it was real tuff."

Suze started backing up slowly. "Johnny, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"C'mon, Suze. How else is Pony going to believe you? Here's actual proof!" Suze stopped. He had a point. "Alright," she said reluctantly. "But remember, I'm a mediator. I can kick you out anytime I want."

"Fine with me," Johnny said. He glided back a few yards, took a running start, and leaped…into Suze's body.

Suze stumbled back from the force of Johnny diving into her. Her mind clouded and her bones rattled in agony. Clutching her head in pain, Suze fell to the ground. The world was spinning and she couldn't stop and everything was chaos and crazy…and then it stopped.

It was as though Suze was merely an observer in her own mind, watching Johnny take control. He saw with her eyes, breathed with her lungs, spoke with her mouth…and all Suze could do was watch.

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Johnny grinned widely with Suze's mouth. Dally was right. This was wicked cool. It was nice to be in control of something solid again.

Suze was there, watching, making comments. "This is weird," she said. Her voice sounded distant.

This is tuff, Johnny thought happily. Suze covered her ears. "Could you not think so loud?" she whined. Johnny rolled Suze's eyes.

"Hi, Ponyboy," he said cheerfully. He may have been in Suze's body, but when he spoke, it was with his own voice.

Ponyboy turned white as a sheet and stuttered, "J-Johnny? Is that really you?" Johnny grinned with Suze's mouth. "The one and the only," he said. He did a little dance. "I've forgotten how great it is to be human," he said.

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Ponyboy couldn't believe it. "Johnny? How is that you?" he practically squeaked with astonishment. It was Suze's body, but Johnny's voice. And, if he looked very closely, he could see Johnny reflected in her eyes.

"I possessed Suze," he said, still dancing and now twirling. "So I could talk to you. Now do you believe her? She's a mediator, and she's gonna help me go to the other side."

Ponyboy's mouth drooped slightly. Johnny was moving on as soon as Suze could help him. He had lost Johnny once, and found him. Now he was going to lose him all over again.

Johnny noticed and stopped twirling. "Pony? What's wrong?" Ponyboy blinked back tears.

"It ain't fair!" he said passionately. "We lost you once, now I'm gonna lose you all over again!" Johnny's, or Suze's, shoulders sagged.

"I'm sorry, Pone," he said timidly. "But I hate being a ghost. It's boring, and lonely, only got other ghosts to talk to, and it's always cold. I haven't been warm ever since I came back."

"Why did you come back?" Ponyboy asked curiously, looking up. Johnny looked uncomfortable. "It's a long story," he said mysteriously. Ponyboy was dying to know, but he didn't press Johnny.

"So," Ponyboy said, changing the subject. "Seen Dally?" Johnny brightened. "Yeah. He would've come, except he's busy scaring the hell outta Tim Shepard."

Ponyboy laughed heartily. That sounded exactly like what Dally would do. For the first time since Johnny and Dally had died, he felt like something inside of him that had been empty for a long time was being filled.

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Suze smiled inside her own head. It was one of those rare moments when she got a warm fuzzy feeling about being a mediator. She decided she had better give them their privacy.

"Hey Johnny?" she said. Yeah? Johnny thought back. "I'm going to leave you guys alone for a while. I'm gonna go see what it's like being a ghost for a day."

Johnny laughed aloud. Ponyboy stared. "What's so funny?" Johnny explained, and Ponyboy's eyes grew wide. "She can do that?" he said incredulously.

"Sure. She is, after all, a mediator." Ponyboy and Johnny laughed, though Suze didn't find it very funny. She stepped outside her body, and Johnny took full control.

Immediately, she felt freezing cold. She shivered. Johnny grinned at her, apparently able to see her. She stuck out her tongue at him and faded. She had a very special visit to make. Actually, several. But that was beside the point.

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Ponyboy and Johnny watched the sunrise together, and walked around town for a long while, talking, laughing, and catching up.

Nothing gold can stay, Ponyboy remembered. He knew he had precious few golden moments left with Johnny, and he would make them worthwhile. Maybe nothing gold could stay, but the memory of it, he knew, would resound in his memory and bring him comfort for years to come.

Nothing gold can stay, Ponyboy thought. But it's worth it while it lasts.

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That's the end of chapter eight. Chapter nine will be up soon…when I feel like it. Coming up next chapter: why is Johnny still around? Why is Dally? What will Suze do in her day as a ghost?

The faster you review, the faster the next chapter comes up. : )