The next morning I was gently shaken awake. I sat up tiredly and rubbed my eyes.
"Pony, c'mon we gotta go!" Darry said. He quickly walked out of the room. I took a second to just take it all in; I guess I really was running away again.
I hopped off the bed and clumsily put on a new pair of jeans and Soda's faded red and cream plaid shirt, trying not to trip over the dirty clothes lying around on the floor. *Note to self, clean up room when I get back*. I hurried to the living room and saw Darry, Soda, and the gang there, waiting. There was mom and dad's old black luggage already packed up. Darry looked up when I entered the room. I looked at the clock. It read 4:30am.
"Okay, so everyone still remembers the plan, right?" Darry clarified. We all nodded our heads; Darry went on. " That's good. Ponyboy when we're done, Soda is gonna ride with you and Two-Bit to Iowa, just to be on the safe side. He won't stay for long, but he'll be with ya'll for a little while." I closed my eyes and almost dropped to the floor from exhaustion, but Soda kept me standing upright.
"C'mon, Pony, you can sleep when we get there all right?" Soda said reassuringly. We all went out to the car and filed in, all except Dally and Steve. Darry told them something, but I was too tired to figure it out, then hopped in the driver's side. As soon as he started the car engine, he turned to face me.
" you got the gun?" he said in a low voice. I looked in my jacket pocket and saw the gun. I nodded my head, then Darry turned around and stepped on the gas pedal harder than ever. My back was slammed against the car seat, but I didn't mind so much, since I had lost a lot of sleep(I had woken up earlier than before, and had a little trouble going back to sleep). It seemed like seconds before we had gotten there, but then Darry got out of the car, came to my side, opened the door, grabbed the gun, and took off before I could even think about what he was doing.
"Darry…?" I asked softly, but Then Soda pulled me towards him and hugged me. I felt tears run down my cheeks as I thought more and more about running away again. The last time I had run away, Johnny had died, and Dally died because Johnny was gone. What if I died? What if I never saw Darry or Soda or any of the gang again? What if Two-Bit died? I don't think I could handle losing him or any other person for that matter!!
Darry had gotten back into the car and started driving almost immediately. He seemed really pissed at something, but I could see the worry and fear in his eyes. It kind of gave him away.
"I'm sorry Darry…" I whispered. Darry looked in his rearview mirror at me.
"Don't be… it was just self defense…… like last time…" I think the last part of his message wasn't suppose to be to me, but I heard it anyway. We went to the train station in dead silence. As soon as we got there, Darry had given the tickets to the ticket person and had helped put the luggage on board. Two-Bit and Soda got on the train but I couldn't bring my legs to move up the steps. I stared at Darry, pain growing in the pit of my stomach. Darry pulled me towards him and hugged me fiercely.
"I-I-I d-d-don't wan-n-na go!!" I sobbed, trembling as I wrapped my arms around Darry to complete our hug. Darry just turned and kissed me softly on top of my head.
"I promise, it won't be for long, I'll come for you as soon as I can, okay?" Darry said in a small voice. I nodded and boarded the train. I couldn't stop crying, nor could I stop staring at Darry through the dirt stained window. 'I love you' I mouthed through the window. Darry mouthed it back to me tears welling in his eyes. I turned to Soda and buried my face in my hands sobbing uncontrollably. I can't believe it was happening again.