Johnny's POV(as requested)

Dear Johnny,

I am grateful that I may be able to walk, but I'm still worried. What if it's a false hope? What if I never am able to walk again? What if it all turns out to be a lie? I don't want to get my hopes up just to have them shattered and make me sadder than I already am.

Sorry. I don't mean to sound like a baby. It's just hard, you know?

I don't know where they'd put you once you get out, but I hope it works out. Maybe you could come live with us. I know Darry and Soda are working hard enough right now and they don't need an extra mouth to feed, but hopefully by the time you get out I'll be out of physical therapy and they won't have to work so hard. I hope so.

It's weird to think that everyone's getting older. Soda is seventeen now. Dallas turned eighteen last month and soon Darry will be turning twenty-one. It's hard to believe that we're all growing up so much.

I saw Dallas today. He looked okay, I guess. He didn't talk to much because I was the only one home. I think he doesn't like seeing me in a wheelchair. He puts too much blame on himself. Well, we all do.

I hope you're okay. That's cool that your roommate is a lot like me. Hopefully he'll be more talkative than I am.

Your friend,

Ponyboy

I sighed with relief. When Pony said he hadn't seen Dallas in a while, I feared the worst. With the gang, if you don't see or hear from someone, it means they're either in jail or dead. We'd never had a death in the gang, but we all worried about it when someone was missing for a while.

Would I be able to stay at the Curtis' house? I doubted it. The state was already breathing down their necks over Pony and Soda. Hopefully, things will get better now that Soda's older. It was good that they didn't take Pony away after he got hurt.

I looked over to see Tom reading behind the desk in our room. I was thankful that we didn't have rooms like jail cells. We had a nice room with a bunk bed, a desk, two chairs, and a bathroom. We didn't have a window, but that was probably just to keep kids from trying to escape. I was thankful, though. Seeing out a window, but being able to go outside would make me feel more like a prisoner.

"Hey, Tom?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you reading?"

"'Moby Dick,'" he answered simply.

"Oh."

Tom looked over the book at me.

"Something wrong, kid?" I knew he wasn't much older than me, but most people called me kid.

"I just hate it here. I don't know what I'm going to do when I get out of here and that scares me. Is it a good book?"

"It's okay. You shouldn't worry too much. Just take it one day at a time."

I smiled. It was good advice.

"Thanks, Tom."

"Yep."

I wondered if he even heard what I said. Pony was able to get lost in a book. When he read, he didn't know the rest of the world went on. Was Tom the same way?

I lay across my bed and stared at the bottom of the top bunk.

I felt a pang of homesickness from thinking about Pony and the gang. I liked getting letters from Pony, but it wasn't the same as actually being there with the gang. Every letter just reminded me that I still had a long way to go before I'd get out of here.

How was I going to survive this?

Darry's POV

I carried two bundles of roofing across my shoulders. The extra weight weighed me down heavily, but I pushed on. If I took it two at a time, maybe I could get home earlier. It was something I could strive for every day.

As I nailed the roofing in place, I felt another pain in my stomach. I tried to shake the pain away. I couldn't afford to miss a day of work, so I ignored the pain.

When I went back down the ladder, Matt, one of the guys I worked with, was looking at me closely.

"You okay, Darry? You don't look so good."

"I'm fine."

When I straightened after bending over from picking up more roofing, Matt spoke again.

"You're bleeding," he said, pointing to my mouth.

I set the roofing down and wiped my hand across my mouth. Sure enough, there was blood there.

"It's okay," I said, w acing a hand as though it was normal.

"Darry, go to the hospital. You can't get sick now and if you're hurt, you don't want to make it worse, or you'll lose more time with work."

Matt knew what to say to get me moving.

"Can you tell the boss?"

"Sure, man. Just go."

I nodded, and went down to the truck and sped away to the hospital.

"Please let it be nothing serious, but let it be serious enough that it was at least worth the trip to the hospital," I pleaded.

We couldn't afford a visit to the hospital because of a "false alarm." It had to be serious, since I was bleeding and I was always hurting around my stomach. But if it wasn't, I'd kick myself for wasting the money.

Soda's POV

I was almost finished for the day when the phone rang. I went to pick it up, praying it wasn't my boss asking us to stay later than usual.

"Hello?" I said into the receiver.

"I need to speak to...Sodapop Curtis?" There was confusion in the man's voice.

"I'm Soda."

"Oh. Um, I was told to call you by your brother Darrel. He's in the hospital right now. This is Matt Collins. I work with your brother."

"Is he okay?" I asked, panic rising.

"I'm not sure. He was bleeding. He didn't look too good, so I sent him to the hospital. He called back here for a few minutes to ask me to call you. He said for you not to worry."

"Thank you, Matt. I've got to go get Pony and get to the hospital."

"Right. Tell him I said to get better soon."

"I will. Bye."

"Bye."

My hand shook as I hung up the phone. Steve came in looking at me with a raised brow.

"Everything okay?" He asked, coming up beside me and placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Darry's in the hospital."

"Is he okay?"

"I don't know. Can you finish up here? I got to get Pony. I've got to get to the hospital."

"Sure. Whatever you need. Go home. I'll finish up."

"Thanks, Steve." I gave him a weak smile, though I doubt it was convincing.

I ran home as fast as I could. When I came through the door, Pony was in the living room working on math.

"What's going on?" He asked when he saw me.

"Darry's in the hospital. Come on. We need to go."

"How are we going to get there?" He asked.

Damn it. I'd never thought of that. Darry had the truck.

"Wait here. I'll call Two-Bit."

I went into the kitchen and called Two-Bit. He said he'd be here in a few minutes, and I didn't doubt it.

Sure enough, three minutes later Two-Bit was outside waiting on us.

"Let's go." Pony and I headed outside and got in his car quickly.

Two-Bit sped to the hospital, just over the speed limit. He dropped us off in front of the hospital.

"Thanks, Two-Bit," I said as I helped Pony get out.

"No problem. Take care of Superman. If you need anything, I'll be back."

"Okay. Thanks."

"See you!" Two-Bit sped off once more before I barely had time to get Pony out.

We went into the hospital, and I went up to the nurses' station to get information on Darry. Apparently, he was on the second floor. It wasn't the ICU, so I breathed a little easier.

We went up the elevator and sat in the waiting room after the nurse told us we weren't allowed to go in for another hour.

This was not going to be a pleasant wait.

Pony's POV

I waited silently beside Soda. I felt my insides knot with fear at the thought of Darry hurting. It was strange being on the outsider worrying about Darry. Usually, it seemed that I was one Darry and Soda was worrying about. I would have taken his place in a heartbeat.

I felt sweat break out along my forehead. The stress and worry was starting to get to me. What was wrong with Darry? Was he okay? Was he dying? What if he wouldn't be able to work? What would we do?

Soda looked over at me. I quickly turned away because tears were forming in my eyes at the thought of Darry hurting.

Soda placed a hand on my shoulder and made me turn to him. When he saw the tears in my eyes, he smiled sadly.

"He's going to be okay, Pony. Stop worrying."

How could I stop worrying? Darry was in the hospital! I couldn't think of three times when Darry had gone to the hospital. He was always okay. Why wasn't he now?

"Hey. Look at me."

I looked up at Soda, instead of at the tiles on the floor.

"He'll be all right. He's Superman. Nothing can touch him remember?" Soda smiled, but I could see the fear in his eyes. He was worried too, and that scared me.

An hour later, a lifetime really, a nurse came out to take us back to see Darry.

She let us go in by ourselves. I could have cried at the sight of him. He looked whole.

"Hey, guys," He said, smiling slightly.

Despite how much I tried to fight it, I broke into tears.

Darry held his arms out for me. I pushed my wheelchair up to his bed and he pulled me on the bed with him.

"Sh. I'm okay, kiddo. I'm all right."

I hadn't realized that Soda was crying, too, until Darry's arms opened wider and Soda joined our group hug.

I was so relieved that Darry was okay, or at least he seemed to be.

"I'm so sorry, guys. I didn't mean to scare you like that," Darry said as he hugged us tighter.

After a while, Soda and I leaned back.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked, scared to know the answer.

"I have an ulcer. It got pretty bad, but it's nothing too serious. They're going to keep me over night for observation, but I should be able to go home tomorrow. I just have to take some anti-acid antibiotics."

I sighed with relief. He was all right.

Darry ruffled my hair.

"I didn't mean to scare you, kiddo."

I smiled at him, trying to let him know that I was okay now that I knew he was okay.

Soda looked equally relieved, but I could tell he was still shaken.

Darry must have noticed too. He smiled at Soda, then held his arms out wide.

"I'm still here, Soda. Look at me. I'm okay." He chuckled, but when Soda didn't respond with a smile, his smile faded.

"What's the matter, Pepsi-Cola?"

Soda looked up at Darry with tears in his eyes.

"Why did you tell me you were hurting, Darry?" He asked, looking betrayed.

Darry sighed, as though he had been expecting the question.

"I'm sorry, little buddy. I know I should have told you, but I didn't want to make you worry. I was hoping it'd just go away and I could ignore it and pretend it never happened. But when I started coughing up blood, I got worried. Matt made me come here, and I'm glad I did. Now I can heal properly, and we can put this behind us. I'm sorry, little buddy. I promise I didn't mean to hurt you."

Soda nodded, though he still looked slightly upset.

"Come here," Darry said to Soda.

Soda went into Darry's open arms and Darry hugged him. Soda wrapped his arms around Darry's waist and squeezed tightly.

I prepared myself to get off t he bed and back to my wheelchair, but suddenly Soda grabbed my arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked, smiling at me.

I smiled in return, and moved into Soda and Darry's extended arms.

It was a nice change, us being together. I wish things could be like this more often.