Maggie tossed wildly in her sleep, her heart pounding and her hands entangled in her hair. Her breathing was fast and her eyes moved this way and that beneath her eye lids. She kicked out at the wall and her knee collided with it. The pain went unnoticed as she started to whimper in her sleep. Her hands pulled her hair as sweat trickled down her face and onto the white sheets of the pillow. This time it was her elbow that collided with the wall nearby, but it still went unnoticed.
"Stop!" she cried out as she ran towards the familiar figures. Her legs couldn't seem to move fast enough as the figures ran ahead of her. She panted as her arms pumped the air beside her, her legs moving in time with her fast beating heart. She could feel tears stinging at her eyes but she had no idea why.
She stopped suddenly and flailed in a circle. She couldn't comprehend where she was.
She whimpered as she saw the fight breaking out in front of her. And then she went silent.
It was a peculiar site.
Grease and Soc fighting on the same side.
The other gang unknown to her eyes.
The rumble waged on as she walked, almost invisible, towards it. Her heart beat faster, if even possible, and she fastened her pace to match it.
"Steve!" she called out as she watched a fist collide with his jaw. She tried to step between it, only to realize that they couldn't see her, couldn't feel her. She was powerless and could do nothing to stop it.
Tears stung her eyes as Steve was forced to the ground, his attacker on top of him. She flung her arms out and tried to pull him off of Steve. Her arms seemed to go right through him and she let out another whimper.
Seconds later her whimper turned into a sigh of relief as she spotted Soda coming to Steve's aid, just like a real buddy would. She smiled sadly and nodded at Soda even though he couldn't see her. She moved on, her eyes scanning the lot carefully and quickly. She could just make out Dallas in the middle of a huge group of boys. She took a shaky breath before heading that way, her head held as high as she could manage. Deep down she was trembling with fear of what she might find.
She pushed through the group of boys as if they were thin air, or maybe she was the thin air. She gasped at what she spotted and turned her head away.
Dallas stood in the middle, bloody from head to toe. His mouth was hanging open in agony as he tried to fight as many of them off as he could. His fists and pocket knife were flying but it didn't seem to be enough. They just kept coming at him. Some held pipes, some held knives. Some even held chains and long bars of metal.
Dallas grunted as a chain came in contact with the back of his calve and tried to will himself to keep standing. Maggie could see the strength leaving him with every minute he still stood, but yet she couldn't bring herself to look away.
"Stop it!" she howled, but her voice seemed to be carried away by the wind. Where was the rest of the gang? Why weren't they helping him? She reached forward trying to help. She prayed that maybe this time her hand wouldn't go all the way through him.
She gasped when her flesh met his instead of going right through. She pulled herself towards him and cradled his body, trying hard to protect his body with her own. She couldn't breath as she was showered with kicks and metal and sharp objects.
'As long as he's ok' she agreed with herself as she tightened her grip on his limp body and pinned him to the ground. She groaned loudly when her ribs snapped with a crack, but kept her hold strong.
2 minutes. A long gruesome 2 minutes before they pried her bloody and bruised body off of his. She sobbed as they held her up by the arms, Dallas' body at her feet.
"Stop!" she howled, her voice cracking and her throat dry. The sounds of laughs filled her ears and she bowed her head, willing the tears away. She couldn't look weak right now.
Her knees gave out, but her captors held fast. She tilted her head up and met a pair of fiery silver eyes. Her jaw tightened, she recognized those eyes, but from where?
"Say goodnight." silver eyes said as he lifted a metal pole up above his head. Maggie shuttered and looked down for a few seconds, only to look back up. A sob escaped her lips as silver eyes brought the piece of metal down, hard, on top of Dally's head. Her whole body seemed to turn to lead in that moment and she fell to the ground with a thump.
A shrill scream filled the air as Maggie shot up in fright, her whole body shaking with fear. Sweat dripped down her cheeks and landed on her soaking shirt. She cut off her own scream, gulping it down and storing it away. She panted and looked around the room, her heart beating hard in her chest. She couldn't remember. What had it been about? She couldn't remember now. She shook her head frantically, grabbing for the memories, hoping to catch them before they slipped away. But it was too late. They were gone for good now. She shuttered and ran her rough hands over her goose-bumped arms. Her breathing slowed and so did her heart. She had been scared out of her mind but now she couldn't remember why.
"Maggie?" a voice called questionally. She turned her head, looking for the source. She sighed with relief when Darrel came into sight.
"You ok?" he asked, an eyebrow raised as he rubbed his unshaven cheek. She nodded blindly, her eyes starting to fall closed already.
"What time is it?" she mumbled as she looked out at the still dark yard.
"6 in the morning." was Darry's simple reply before he headed back down the hallway. She knew he had already been up, judging by his attire. She shivered again and crawled out of bed, peeling the sheets off of her legs. She closed the door with a snap and moved towards the dresser. It had once been filled with Pony's clothes, but now her own occupied it. She pulled on the heavy drawer of wood and pulled out a pair of jeans before closing it and moving to the one below it. She continued the process till all her clothes were neatly strewn over her shoulder. She opened her door again and stepped into the hallway.
Darkness greeted her, which wasn't much of a surprise.
She made her way blindly down the hallway until she could feel the gap where the bathroom door was supposed to be. She entered and flicked on the light, shielding her eyes from the harsh brightness.
She yawned as she closed the door behind her and turned on the shower, throwing her clothes on the counter so she could put them on later. She sighed when she stepped in, the hot water on her torn and bruised skin gave her shivers. Good shivers.
Steam met her when she stepped out, and she shivered against the cold air. She immediately began to dry off, intent on going with Steve and Soda to the DX. She pulled her shorts on, well, Soda's shorts to be exact, and dried her hair a bit before running a comb through it and stepping out. She shivered again and wrapped her arms around herself. She walked slowly towards the light of the kitchen, stepping over a few bodies when need be.
"Morning." she mumbled to Darry as she plunked herself down into the wooden chair closest to Darry. He simply nodded to her as he turned back to the stove and picked up the hot skillet, emptying some of its contents onto a simple white plate. She smiled tiredly at him as he placed it in front of her.
"Where'd the bruises come from? I thought they were all gone." he asked as she looked down at her knees and shines. She shrugged.
"Probably from my nightmare." she said nonchalantly as she picked up a fork and started in on her scrambled eggs.
"Great, another Pony." Darry mumbled, turning back to the stove. Maggie scuffed at his back and snarled a bit before shoving some more eggs in her mouth.
"I saw that!" Darry snapped suddenly. Maggie shook her head, a small smile on her face. Darry didn't miss anything.
She moved slowly towards the sink when she was done and washed off her plate, humming to herself. Her whole body ached but she paid no mind to it, instead she was thinking about the dream that she strangely couldn't remember. She had never really done that before, or had a dream like that. She shook her head as she dried her hands on a towel. She didn't want to ruin her day by thinking about it.
A yawn came from the door way and Maggie turned to see a shirtless Soda stretching his long arms. She smirked and threw the towel at him.
"Didn't your mama ever teach you to wear clothes?" she drawled jokingly as she passed him. Soda mumbled something incoherent and Maggie laughed some more.
She passed into the living, steering around Two Bit's limbs, and took a seat on the couch. She sighed heavily and relaxed her aching muscles. Whatever that dream had been about it sure was scary, she decided as she closed her eyes.
Her head pounded and she groaned when she realized she was starting to get a headache.
The door opened with a creak but Maggie didn't bother to open her eyes.
"Maggie?" someone whispered. She sighed heavily and let her eyes drift open.
"Oh, go away, Dallas!" she snapped as she swatted at his face. He smiled evilly down at her, as she huffed in annoyance. She tried with all her might to push him away but gave up when he didn't budge.
"Where'd those come from?" he asked as he traced a finger over her bruises.
"I don't know. I think I got them when I was dreaming." she answered shortly, pulling her legs up to her chest. He gave her a mock glare and moved to sit next to her. She sighed heavily with fake annoyance but laughed a bit afterwards.
"You coming with me and Stevey?" Soda asked as he pulled open the bathroom door and stepped out. He stood in a pair of jeans like usual, no shoes and no shirt.
"Yeah, I'm coming." she told him with a nod of her head.
"Who said we'd want you?" a new voiced joked as Steve came into view, kicking Two Bit purposefully. Two Bit groaned and rolled over, cursing softly under his breath and grabbing his head. Steve chuckled and reached forward to ruffle Maggie's hair.
"I think you'll want me." she said without thinking.
The room fell silent after a few seconds and all of the boys turned to look at Maggie, including the hung over Two Bit.
"I didn't mean it like that!" she protested with a blush and a shake of her head.
"I think you did." Dallas countered with a shake of his own head.
"Didn't!" Maggie snapped, cuffing him on the back of the head. "As I was saying, you'll want me because I'm going to help with the cars." she watched as Steve's tense expression left and a care free one replaced it.
"You mean you're going to break the cars." a tired Pony said as he ambled into the room.
"Hah!" Maggie fake laughed. "Not funny!" she said a few seconds later, her face going back to its serious expression.
"Hurry up, Soda! We have to leave." Steve called, his voice booming in Pony's ears.
"Do you have to be so loud?" Pony snapped as he rubbed his face with his hands.
"Shut up." Steve snapped irritably as she took a seat next to Maggie on the couch after Dally had sulked into the kitchen. Maggie sighed and moved closer to him, putting her wet hair on his shoulder.
"Maggie!" he whined as he tried to move away from her. Maggie laughed and rubbed her hair even further down his arm.
"Ok, let's go." Soda announced as he entered the living room, fully dressed...except for his shoes. Maggie smiled and crawled off the couch, winking at Steve playfully.
"Shoes, Soda." Steve reminded Soda as he pushed Maggie.
"Oh, yeah." Soda said, before rushing back into his and Pony's room. Maggie sighed and walked towards the door, pushing it open and jumping down the stairs. She made her way towards Steve's car and crawled into the back seat, watching as Steve and Soda followed her outside.
"Let's go." she urged them as they took their time getting to the car.
"You know, usually people aren't agar to go to work. And you're not even getting paid." Soda said, shaking his head with mock wonderment.
Maggie swatted at him and sat back, a content smile on her face.
Then memory hit her.
Her smile fell suddenly and she leaned forward in the seat so her head was between Soda and Steve.
"What day is it?" she asked hesitantly, looking between the two.
"I dunno..." Soda trailed off to think. "September 12?" he asked Steve, turning to look at him.
"Yeah I think so." Steve agreed with a nod of his head. Maggie leaned back with a thud and tears filled her eyes. She wiped at them hastily and moved her eyes out the window. Her thoughts filled with pictures of her mother and her father and she tried to shake them away. She didn't want to think about them right now. She couldn't think about them right now. She wiped again at her eyes and sniffled for a moment. She felt like she couldn't breath, like the walls were closing in on her. Could it really be 4 years? Four long years that they had been gone?
They had missed her 16 birthday, she realized. More tears filled her eyes as she thought of all the other things they would miss. Her wedding, if she ever had one, her first child, meeting all the guys from the gangs, Tulsa and Brooklyn. They wouldn't meet them, wouldn't see them. Her father wouldn't walk her down the isle and her mother wouldn't be in the delivery room with her. There was so much she needed to say to them, so much she wanted them to see. So much she wanted them to be there for.
She took a deep shaky breath and tried again to push away her thoughts.
"Maggie!" Steve yelled. Maggie jumped and turned towards Steve, who was still sitting in the driver's seat. "We're here." he said, his voicing lowering a bit. Maggie nodded slowly and crawled out of the back seat, stumbling as she wiped at her now dry eyes. She smiled at Soda, what she hoped was a bright smile, and then moved on to the door. She followed Steve in after he had unlocked it and headed to the bathroom to make sure she didn't look bad after her crying fit.
She nodded to her reflection in the mirror and flicked the light off again, heading towards the garage where Steve was already turning on the lights and getting out the tools. She jumped up on the hood of the nearest car and leaned back against its cool metal. She knew that the cars wouldn't start flooding in until around 9:00. They had a while to go yet.
"Get your lazy ass of that car. We have to fix that you know, not dent it." Steve joked as he swatted at her with a towel. Maggie groaned and glared at him, anything to keep her mind off of what was nagging at her.
She slide of the hood and moved to stand next to Steve. He opened the hood with a little pop and hoisted it up, putting the lever underneath it to hold it up.
Steve stepped back from the hood and moved back towards the tool box, pulling a few tools out before walking back. He threw them on the ground next to the car, leaving a wrench in his hand to work with.
He bent over the hood and got to work, wiggling this and that. Maggie wanted to move and help him, but her legs felt like they were glued to the spot.
Her parents had died in a car...
She took in a sharp breath as tears once again sprung to her eyes. She wiped at them and looked hastily towards Steve, hoping he didn't notice. He hadn't.
"I didn't get to say goodbye." Maggie said matter of factly, even though her voice was shaking. "They died today...4 years ago."
Steve stopped working on the engine and turned his head slightly so he could see her out of the corner of his eye. She was bitting her bottom lip and the vein in her neck was popping out. Tears were rolling down her cheeks and her eyes were red and puffy.
He sighed and moved out from under the hood. Eying the girl in front of him. It killed him to watch her like this. To watch her cry and watch her suffer. But what was he supposed to do?
He nodded slowly, not really sure what to do.
"They'll never get to see me get married." she said suddenly with a shake of her head. Tears rolled slowly down her cheeks and fell from her chin to the ground. She turned away from him, wiping at her cheeks yet again with the heel of her palm. She just couldn't stop crying. She couldn't stop thinking about them!
"I'm sorry. I'm being a baby." she apologized as she shook her head, still not facing him.
"You have a right to be upset." Steve argued, walking up behind her. Her grabbed at her elbow, turning her to face him. "Don't apologize for being sad." he told her sternly, lifting her chin to look her in the eyes.
She nodded her head slowly, inching her way towards him cautiously.
She sprung into his arms a few seconds later, wrapping her own around his middle. Her head rested in between his pecks, on his chest, and she got a weird sense of security and hope from the sound of his heart.
She tightened her grip on him, never wanting to let him go.
She felt like she was listening to her own heart beating, except it wasn't hers at all.
Her own was broken.
She missed them too much for it not to be.
