Chapter 13

Ponyboy sat on the porch and watched the sun rise in the distance. He had not been able to get one minute of sleep even though Darry had told him to go to bed several times. Even Sodapop had been out of bed to ask him to come inside but he had not budged from his seat.

The sun's rays hit his face and slowly spread warmth throughout his body. It had been a very cold night and he had tugged himself under the blanket Sodapop had brought him. He wondered where Johnny had slept this night and if he was even alive. He shook his head. He had to be. He could feel it. Johnny was alive somewhere out there.

The sound of the door opening made Pony turn his head and he saw Sodapop walk out barefooted, wearing a big coat. He sat down next to Pony and put an arm around him.

"You haven't slept at all?" he asked a little worried and Ponyboy just shook his head before turning his gaze back towards the street as if expecting Johnny would come walking towards the house at any moment.

Ponyboy sighed and leaned his head against his brother's shoulder. "Where do you think he is?" he asked, already knowing the answer to his question.

"I don't know, Pony," said Sodapop and ran a hand through his brother's hair. "But we will find him. Dal and Two-Bit have been out looking all night. I wouldn't be surprised if Steve joined in as well even though we got work in the morning." Sodapop lit a smoke. "Not that I feel like going to work in a situation like this but Darry insists that I do."

Ponyboy nodded. He knew that Darry wouldn't let Sodapop off the hook and besides they needed the money.

"I'll probably cut my working hours short today, though," said Soda and blew the smoke out his nose. "Help you guys look for Johnny."

There was the sound of someone clearing their throat behind them and they both turned to see Darry standing in the doorway. His expression told Pony that he was not at all pleased with him being outside all night. "Let's go inside and get some breakfast," was all he said and then left again.

Sodapop got up from his seat and offered Ponyboy a hand. "It's probably best," he said and pulled his brother to his feet. "No good will come of it if we starve ourselves before going on another search."

oOoOoOo

Ponyboy sat quietly and moved his food around on his plate, resting his chin on his palm. Darry watching him intently. "It's not going to help Johnny one bit that you don't eat anything and you need your strength if you're gonna go around looking for him all day," he said and pointed at him with his fork.

Ponyboy just shrugged and kept pushing the food around. Before Darry could say anything else, there was the sound of the door and in walked Two-Bit, Dallas, and Steve.

The three brothers looked expectantly at them but Steve just shook his head and dropped into a seat. "He is nowhere to be found," he said with a sigh.

Dally, who had been pacing around the room from the moment he stepped inside, hit the wall with his fist, making Ponyboy jump in his seat.

"It's not going to help with you hurting yourself, Dal," said Two-Bit and sat down as well. "We're gonna take the car and drive around outside town," he then said, turning his attention back to the others and looked around the table.

Darry looked at him with a skeptic look and then sighed. "Well I think it's a good idea but maybe you should get a few hours of sleep first. Don't feel like scraping you off the asphalt because you crashed the car from not paying attention to traffic."

Two-Bit just waved him off and leaned back in his seat.

oOoOoOo

Johnny woke with a jolt. His body was shivering still but his clothes felt dry. He rubbed his arms and sat up. The sun had risen behind the trees and Johnny could just barely make out where he was. He could see the silhouettes of the tree trunks and if he listened closely, he could hear the running river close by. Had he really not made it further than that? He sat up and rubbed his eyes. His joints were sore but he felt lucky that he was still alive and had not frozen to death overnight from having been soaked to the bone.

He got to his feet, his legs trembling from having not moved from the sitting position for hours. Slowly he started moving through the dirt, dragging his feet as he went. He had no idea where he was going but he knew he had to get to the road. Maybe someone would come along and give him a ride back to town.

He didn't have to walk far though before he stumbled upon the dirt road and this time he stayed on it, not afraid that the Socs would find him there. They would be miles away by now. They thought he was dead and was probably getting their stories straight back home.

The sun was shining down on him, warming him up and it felt good to be out in the warm sunlight. His joints were starting to feel better too now that he was moving around as well. He wondered when a car would come by, but none did, which was rather odd. In the distance he could hear the whistle of the factory that he had heard the day before and he knew he was going in the right direction. He had, however, no idea on how far he had to walk before he would be back in Tulsa, but as long as he was going in the right direction then he would at least be getting there eventually.

He walked for what seemed like an hour or so and he felt asphalt beneath his feet so he moved to the side of the road and dragged his feet in the gravel along the road, almost tripping several times. He was hungry and thirsty and the sun was burning down on him, making him dizzy from the heat. It became harder and harder to walk in the gravel so he moved back onto the asphalt. Suddenly there was the sound of a horn honking at him, making Johnny flinch and jump to the side. The sound of a car pulling over beside him made Johnny stop and he looked slightly nervous, afraid it might be the Socs that had found him.

"What the hell are you doing in the middle of the road, kid?" asked a man's voice and Johnny could breath easily again.

"I'm sorry," Johnny said and stepped back into the gravel at the side of the road. The man was quite for a moment and Johnny could feel him studying him. "What are you doing out here?" he then asked.

"I got lost. A couple of guys dropped me off and left me out here so I'm just trying to find my way back to town," he tried to explain and wasn't sure if it was a dead giveaway that he was blind or not. Not that it really mattered. The man gasped and Johnny then knew that the man had understood that he couldn't see.

"Are you blind?" the man asked as if he had read Johnny's mind and Johnny just nodded.

"What kind of sick joke is it to leave a blind kid out here in the middle of fucking nowhere?" he growled. "Get in. I can drive you to town. Where do you live?"

Johnny told him the Curtis's address and opened the door to the car and got in, feeling relieved for the first time since yesterday. He was, however, not sure what would happened when he got back. Dally and the others were sure to want revenge on his behalf and he knew nothing good would come of it. It would probably be best to turn them over to the police but he knew that Dally would never forgive him for not giving him the satisfaction of whooping their asses first.

He leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes, listing to the radio and the sound of the engine of the car as it sped off towards Tulsa. He would be home soon.

oOoOoOo

The car pulled up to the curb and Johnny opened his eyes.

"Here we are. Do you need me to walk you to the door?" asked the man.

Johnny shook his head. "No, that's not necessary but thank you very much for the lift," he smiled and opened the door and got out.

The car stayed for a moment after Johnny had gotten out as if to make sure Johnny got there safe but as Johnny got to the gate to the front yard, the car drove off and Johnny went in, hearing the click of the gate shut behind him as he walked up the path towards the house. He stopped as he heard the sound of the front door open and a gasp. He could just make out the silhouette of a boy standing there in the doorway and he knew it was Ponyboy.

There was silence for a moment and then the boy threw himself at Johnny, almost knocking him off his feet, had he not held onto him so tightly. Johnny wrapped his arms around him and buried his face against his neck, trying to hold back the tears that were threating to spill.

"Where did you go?" Ponyboy's voice said in a tremble, indicating that he too was in the edge of tears.

Johnny shook his head and held onto Pony even harder. "They took me to the river. They wanted to kill me," he said, not removing his face from the crook of Pony's neck.

"Johnny?" sounded a voice. "Johnny's back!"

It was Two-Bit's voice and moments later, Dally and Two-Bit were both in the front yard with them. This finally made Johnny let go of Ponyboy and Dally took a hold on Johnny, turning him towards him and looking at him.

"Who did this to you?" he growled, like Johnny had expected him to.

"A couple of Socs," Johnny said and dropped his head. "They took me to a river and wanted to beat me up and I fell into the river. They thought I drowned so they left me out there. They said they wanted to kill me."

"Did you know any of them?" said Dally. "Did you? I need to know so I can kill them!"

Johnny just shook his head. He had remembered David but he didn't want Dally to get in trouble over him and get thrown in jail.

Dallas stood up straight and kicked a rock before lighting a cigarette and handing it to Johnny. Then he lit one for himself. "I don't care if I have to beat up every Socs there is, I am gonna find the ones did this to you," he growled and took a long drag of his smoke.

"Please don't get into trouble over me, Dal," begged Johnny and placed a hand on Dally's arm, making the teen look at him in a mild surprise. "I'll just go to the police and report it instead. Tell them what I know and maybe they can do something about it."

"And what if they don't, huh?" said Dallas. "They don't care about us. You're back safe now so the case is closed. The only way we are gonna get some justice is if we god damn do it ourselves."

Johnny couldn't really argue with that and just hung his head again. He felt Pony's hand on his shoulder and it made him relax a bit.

"Let's go inside and talk about what to do. We can resolve this when Darry gets home?" he said, hoping that Dally would at least wait with busting some skulls until Darry had had a chance to say a few things.

Dally shot his hands into the air and let out a "fine" before he marched into the house, followed by Two-Bit.

They all sat down on the couch and Pony got Johnny a coke.

"So you have been in the forest all night?" asked Two-Bit and eyed the boy who gulped the coke down in almost one go.

Johnny nodded and dried his mouth with the back of his hand. "Yeah."

Dally leaned back in his seat and narrowed his eyes. His fists tightened. No doubt he wanted to see blood spill for what had happened.

"It's a miracle that you didn't die when you feel into the river. You could have easily drowned and if not that, the cold could have killed you," Two-Bit said and slapped him on the back.

"It was either that or the Socs," said Johnny with a weak smile and placed the coke bottle on the table, making Pony look at him a little puzzled. Johnny turned his head and looked at Pony equally puzzled and smiled a little.

"Can you see the table?"

"Just the frame of it," he said.

"Does that mean that your eyesight is returning?" said Two-Bit hopefully and leaned closer to Johnny so that he was almost touching his nose with his own.

"I hope so," said Johnny and put a hand on Two-Bit's face, shoving it out of his own.

Two-Bit flashed him a grin and slapped him on the back as a sign of approval and even Dally seemed to forget his hunger for blood for a minute.

"I'm gonna take Johnny to my room and have him rest," said Pony and got up, pulling Johnny with him. The other two looked at them but did not protest.

oOoOoOo

The door had only just closed before Pony spun Johnny around and pulled him close to his chest. "I thought you were dead," he said against his neck.

Johnny rested his head against his shoulder and sighed. "I thought I was gonna," Johnny mumbled.

Ponyboy took Johnny by the shoulders and pulled him a little out from his own body so he could look at him. He looked dirty but very tempting. Something Pony had never thought about his friend before. Slowly he leaned in and their lips brushed against each other. Johnny did not protest so Pony closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around him.

Pony wanted to feel more of him so he took a chance and let his tongue slip out between his lips and licked Johnny's bottom lip. The other boy seemed to get the hint and opened up to him, inviting him in. Ponyboy tilted his head for a better angle. He had not imagined that he would be doing this as soon as he saw Johnny again but now that he was here, he couldn't stop himself.

Finally they pulled apart, out of breath and a bit dizzy. They rested their foreheads against each other and Ponyboy looked into Johnny's blank eyes. "I missed you," he said in a low voice, making the other boy smile.

"I missed you too."