Aunt Rachel lived in a huge, white house with a manicured lawn. The inside was lavishly furnished, but it felt hard and cold. As I headed down the long hall to my room, it seemed to echo with each step. My room here was twice as big as my old room and was as luxurious as the rest of the house, but I hated it. I'd been here three weeks already, but I still couldn't get used to it.

I was so exhausted from working and staying up late to study that I just dropped onto the bed, which also seemed twice as big as the one I had at home. Maybe it was because I wasn't sharing this one with anyone. The thought brought tears to my eyes. I really missed Sodapop.

"You're not going to cry." I told myself. "You need to be doing your homework, not thinking about home." But I was too tired to move and fell into a fitful sleep, dreaming about the last day before I had to come here.

Darry was facing me, his hands on his hips. "We won't be able to visit you. We don't have any money left after going through court. It's your fault you know."

"Why didn't you just give me up then?"

"Soda wouldn't let me." Darry sneered. Almost laughed.

I looked over at Soda. "Then maybe it's Sodapop's fault."

Soda leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "Hey, don't blame me kid. If you had made yourself useful, then maybe things would have been different. You should have gotten a job."

"But Darry said I couldn't."

"Then maybe it's his fault." Was Soda's reply

Darry opened the front door. "Rachel's here, just go. If we ever get a chance, we might come see you."

"No." Rachel's husband, Mark, had come with her. He started dragging me out of the house. "NO! Soda don't make me go. SODA!"

I woke up sweating. I'd had lots of dreams since I came to Rachel's, but none of them had been that bad. Darry and Soda hadn't really wanted me to go, but after the court ruling, they'd had no choice. After the court ruling, my life had been turned upside down. Not only had my parents been ripped away, but now my brothers had too.

I rolled off the bed and headed for the door. I was running away. Even if I couldn't go back and stay with my brothers, I wasn't staying here. I crept down the hall and slowly opened the front door.

"Ponyboy. Where are you going?" Rachel's voice had a creepy, sing-songish tone. It gave me the chills. "I need you." Then her voice turned hard. "You brothers don't want you anyway. You don't have anywhere to go."

"Shut up! They do so want me. You're a liar." I took off running. Rachel was running after me. So was her dog, a huge Rottweiler named Roman. Then I heard sirens. I didn't know what they would do if they caught me, but I sure didn't want to find out.

The faster I tried to run, the slower I went. My feet pounded, my breath came in short gasps, the sirens got closer. Roman closer. Rachel got closer, her voice mocking "You can't get away Ponyboy. Ponyboy. Ponyboy."

"Ponyboy." It was Soda's voice.

I sat up with a gasp. Sweat trickled down my forehead and I heard sirens blaring in the distance. I was in my bed this time, and Soda was there next to me. His hand was on my shoulder.

As he brushed my hair out of my eyes he whispered. "You ok?"

I managed to nod.

"Was it that nightmare again? Can you remember it this time?"

I could definitely remember it, but it wasn't the same nightmare I'd had before. Not the one he was talking about. I didn't want to tell Soda about this one because then I would have to tell him about Rachel's threat.

I laid back down and snuggled under Soda's arm. There was absolutely no way I would ever go live with Aunt Rachel. I didn't care what she said.

Johnny's POV

Two-Bit and Katelyn were already waiting as Ponyboy and I neared his house. Somehow, they had managed to scurry ahead of us after school. Both were in a crazy mood.

Two-Bit opened the mailbox and retrieved it's contents. He stroked his jaw with his thumb and forefinger "Hmmm, very interesting indeed."

Pony rolled his eyes at me and strode over to Two-Bit "Don't you know, reading someone else's mail is a federal offense."

"As much as he's over here, you'd think the house was his, as well as the mail." Katelyn retorted.

"That may be, but I'd prefer to look through my own mail, thank you very much." Pony grabbed the mail from Two-Bit and headed inside.

While Katelyn and Two-Bit helped themselves to drinks, Pony started flipping through the mail. "I should have just let you have it. Ain't nothing worth keeping anyway."

Two-Bit pulled his head from the refrigerator, "See? I was only trying to be helpful."

As Pony reached the bottom of the stack, he suddenly froze and his face paled. Two-Bit and Katelyn were too busy messing around to notice as Pony stuffed the envelope into his book and headed off to his room.

I followed behind him, concerned "Everything ok Ponyboy?"

His books landed with a thud on his desk. "Sure. Why?"

"Oh," I gave a little shrug, "I just…you've just seemed a little upset the last few days. Does it have anything to do with Rachel being here that day?"

Pony seemed a little startled at my question but he tried not to show it. "Don't worry about me Johnnycake."

I started to ask what was in the envelope when I was interrupted by a loud:

"OW!" CRASH GASP and then an unusual silence.

"Come on Johnny, before Katelyn and Two-Bit tear the house down."

The culprits were both sitting on the couch as if nothing had happened, but "Guilty" was etched all over their faces.

"What was that crash?"

Katelyn batted her eyelashes at Ponyboy in feigned innocence. "Crash? What crash? Did you hear a crash Two-Bit?"

"Um, no…NO!. I did not hear a crash." Two-Bit's acting wasn't nearly as convincing as Katelyn's. He should have quit while he was ahead, but he continued in a staged, robotic voice "And neither do I know why that picture frame is on the floor." Which resulted in an elbow to his ribs and a stern "Shut up" from Katelyn.

My gaze followed Pony's to the used-to-be picture frame which now lay smashed on the floor.

They were saved when Soda threw open the door and sauntered in, Steve right behind.

"Did you get the mail?" We would have been able to hear him anywhere in the house.

"Yeah, I got the mail" Two-Bit was quick to switch topics, "But uh, that kid brother of yours didn't trust me or something."

"I'm not sure I would either." Soda answered him, before facing Pony. "Where'd you put it? Did we get anything important?"

"Eh, it was just a bunch of junk mail. I threw it all away." Pony shrugged indifferently.

All junk mail huh? Since when did Pony get scared by junk mail and hide it in his school books? I didn't believe that, but I decided not to say anything. It wasn't really my business anyway and I didn't want Pony to get in trouble.

Steve must have noticed the pile of glass and twisted metal on the floor. "What happened over there?"

Two-Bit sat straight as a pin and folded his hands in his lap, "Neither do I know what happened to the picture frame." He repeated again in his robotic voice.

Katelyn slapped the back of his head and slouched back into the couch. "You are the worst actor I have EVER seen."