Hey all, Mare here with a new story.
"Soda, is someone sick?" Ponyboy mumbled, opening his eyes and squinting from the direct light that filled the room. Soda looked at him funny – "Yes someone is sick."
"Who?" Pony asked and his voice was hoarse. Then it dawned on him – "am I sick?" he sounded a little confused.
Soda blinked – "Yes you are sick, now go back to sleep." He said quietly.
But Pony wasn't sleepy all of the sudden. He tried to sit up, but Soda pushed him down on the shoulder slightly so that he would keep lying down.
"What happened?" Pony tried again.
"Go back to sleep, I'll tell you later," Soda said reluctantly.
"I am not sleepy anymore," Pony sounded a little annoyed.
"Then eat something," Soda said getting up, "Let me go heat up the soup real quick."
"I am not hungry, tell me what happened," Pony insisted, But before he could finish the sentence Soda was gone.
Pony tried to sit up again, and this time he succeeded. He tried to remember what had happened before he got sick, and he succeeded at that as well. All the memories flooded his mind- falling asleep at the lot while talking to Johnny, going home at 2 in the morning, and Darry hitting him. Then he remembered how he thought he was running away, and he got Johnny to run with him. Then socs attacking them in the park, trying to drown Pony, and then he finally remembered the main thing – Johnny killed the soc that was drowning Pony, then they went to see Dally and then they ran away to Windrixville, and they accidently started the fire in the church and some kids were inside the church, then Johnny and Pony ran inside the burning church and saved the children. Then he remembered the rumble they had, and they beat the socs.
Pony felt panic upon him, what happened to Johnny? He couldn't remember what had happened.
At this moment Soda walked into the room with a bowl of soup. "Here, it's warm it'll be real good for you," He tried to place the bowl on Pony's lap for him to hold, but Pony pushed it away – "Where is Johnny?" he asked desperately. He had a feeling that something awful happened to Johnny. Soda looked away, and the look in his eyes was hurt and helpless like he was about to start crying.
"Soda," Pony raised his voice, "where is Johnny?" Soda took a seat on the edge of Pony's bed – "he is in the hospital." Pony blinked, "is he hurt real bad?" Soda looked down, he looked as if he was apologizing, "He got hurt real bad in the fire." Pony nodded – "I remember now."
Pony frowned. Then he threw the blankets off of him and tried to get up. Soda looked panicked – "what are you doing?"
"I need to go to the hospital to see Johnny." Pony said desperately, his voice quivering as he spoke.
Soda's eyes grew wide, "Pony, you are in no shape to go anywhere. Please lie back down." Pony felt helpless but obeyed.
The phone rang, and Soda went to answer it. In a few minutes he was back. He looked at Pony, doubt was in his eyes, like he was deciding what he was supposed to do. Pony looked up at him question in his eyes. "It was Frank from DX," Soda said, walking into the room, "they had some sort of emergency, there is no one to cover, he needs me to go down there for a few hours. Please don't get up and eat that soup before it gets cold again. I'll be back real soon," Soda said pulling his jacket on. "Sorry," he mumbled, exiting the room, and then turned around and said again, "I'll be back real soon."
Pony heard Soda's steps as he walked towards the door, and then the door slammed slightly. Pony put the bowl of soup on the night stand. He was not hungry, in fact he was nauseas. Then the events of that evening appeared to him in a different light- it was him who fell asleep at the lot, it was him who ran out of the house in the middle of the night and he dragged Johnny into it. It was him that the socs were trying to drown, and Johnny saved his life. It was all my fault, he thought. He felt panic rising up in his chest. Drops of sweat ran down his spine and beads of sweat formed on his forehead. It was all his fault, and now Johnny was in the hospital and he was real hurt, might not survive.
Frantically Pony threw the blankets off, and got up. He felt dizzy, the light was hurting his eyes, and he was seeing double. He swayed to the side. Where the fuck was all his clothes? He looked around, squinting from the light. Then he spotted on the back of one of the chairs were his jeans and t-shirt carefully folded. He quickly put the clothes on. Then his converses, not bothering to tie the laces and ran out of the house. It was chilly and windy outside. Pony felt freezing, but he kept walking. His appearance was disheveled – his hair was not brushed, his t-shirt was wrinkled, and his shoes were untied. He didn't care, his mind was consumed with thoughts how it was all his fault, and how he failed Johnny.
He saw the bus pass him by. He searched the pockets for change – there was none. Shit, he mentally cursed, I should've taken some change for the bus. But he didn't have the change, and had to walk. He was swaying as he walked, but he did not even realize that. Finally, he saw the sign: Tulsa Mount Sinai Hospital. He felt his heart beat faster, he opened the door and walked in, almost falling in the process while tripping at the entrance.
The waiting room was full. There were people sitting and standing everywhere, little kids crying, people talking, nurses passing by, it made Pony even dizzier. He walked up to the reception window, where the receptionist was typing something up. There was a line, though not too long, but Pony felt desperate, he felt close to snapping. He considered trying to cut in front of the line, but thought better of it and got in behind the last person on line. He grabbed on to the counter for support so he wouldn't fall.
The line was moving pretty fast, but it seemed like eternity to Pony. Finally it was his turn "Hello ma'am," he started. She lifted her eyes from whatever she was typing and looked up at Ponyboy. She raised her eyebrows seeing his appearance, "how may I help you?"
"I am visiting Johnny, I mean Jonathan Cade. Can you tell me what room he is in?" Pony swallowed hard, making sure not to let go of the counter or he would fall down.
"When was he admitted?" the receptionist asked, looking at Pony expectantly. Pony felt confused. He wasn't sure how much time had passed since the fire and the rumble. He wished he had asked Soda what date it was.
"I am not sure," he shrugged. She looked displeased, "Let me check." She turned away, and got what appeared to be a really thick binder. She opened it and flipped through a few pages.
"He was admitted a week ago," she informed Pony.
"Can you tell me what room he is in?" Pony was barely able to stand in place, but all he cared for was to see Johnny.
"You can't see him," the receptionist said closing the binder.
"And why not?" Pony raised his voice, and she looked at him funny. "He is in critical condition, and it would make him worse if he saw someone." Pony sobbed, then his eyes got angry, "I got to see him, tell me what room he is in." The receptionist looked mad, "I just told you that you can't see him, now how much did you have to drink today?" Now Pony felt mad as well, this idiot receptionist thought he was drunk. He stuck his head into the reception window, but before he was able to say something she yelled – "security, security this drunk is trying to hurt me."
Pony felt disoriented, the thoughts were slipping in and out of his mind. He turned around, but before he could make a step, two really big guys grabbed him - one on each side. They were real big, bigger than Darry, and that's saying something. They looked at Pony with disgust and proceeded to drag him out of the building. Pony didn't even struggle with them – it would be useless. Once they were outside, they pushed Pony forward and dropped him. He fell on his knees and ripped the jeans at the knee. The knee started to bleed. His head hurt worse than he ever experienced, and he felt dizzy and disoriented. As the security guards were walking away, one of them turned around and yelled "scum" at Pony. Pony felt tears well up in his eyes, but he didn't care about any of this at the moment. All he cared about was Johnny. "Johnny" he mouthed, wiping a tear from his eye.
Swaying from side to side, feeling each step echoing in his head, Pony walked to his neighborhood. As he was passing by the church, he stopped in his tracks. He remembered the church in Windrixville so vividly, as if he was there again. He felt all strength leaving him, his legs giving in, and him falling onto the ground, I wonder what Darry is going to say when he sees me missing, Pony though dully, as he was falling.
It was around 7 p.m. Soda ran into the house and yelled, "Pony I am here." He quickly kicked his shoes off, and ran to Pony's room, not even taking his jacket off. He saw the light was not on in Pony's room – he felt a pang in his stomach. Maybe Pony was sleeping, and turned the lights off he thought desperately, not wishing to believe that Pony was gone. He carefully opened the door to Pony's room to see the blankets on the floor, and Pony nowhere to be found. "Oh my God," he mumbled, and plopped on the bed, desperately trying to think what to do.
Just then he heard the door open – "Pony?" He sprinted up, but then he heard heavy steps of the work boots, and realized it was Darry. He went to meet him.
"So how is he?" Darry asked tiredly, while taking the boots off.
"He… ,"Soda swallowed hard, "he is gone." The expression on Darry's face changed to frantic – "what do you mean gone?" he dropped his tool belt on the floor.
"He woke up, and was asking about Johnny, then the DX called they had an emergency, and they needed me there," Soda looked down, "You know I can't afford to say 'no' to them and get kicked out, we need the money."
"How long has he been gone?" Darry sighed.
"I don't know, I just got in a few minutes ago." Soda looked totally deflated, "'m sorry Dar, I should've stayed."
"Let's go," Darry said, a stern expression on his face, "we got to look for him."
Soda followed Darry to the door. Then he stopped – "wait Darry, I know, he was asking about Johnny, and said he was going to see him at the hospital, but I stopped him from going, I bet that's where he went."
"Alright," Darry nodded, running his fingers through his hair, "it's a good thing that there is only one hospital on this side of town."
Darry and Soda started walking towards the hospital, it was getting dark and difficult to see. "Darry, what if something bad happened to him?" Soda mumbled, looking down, avoiding meeting Darry's gaze.
"Let's just hope for the best," Darry replied. They were still in their neighborhood and were passing by the church. As they were walking, Soda noticed a little lump on the road. "Darry!" he yelled. Darry turned around, he noticed too. Not saying a word, both of them ran up, and sure enough it was Pony, unconscious. They didn't bring the truck because searching on foot was better since they can notice more, but now they wished they did. Darry grabbed Pony bridal style, and noticed his ripped jeans and bleeding knee.
They walked back home in total silence. It's like they were afraid if they started talking, something worse would happen to Pony. Once inside, they placed him on his bed. Darry got the first aid kit and got some rubbing alcohol on a cotton swab. He put it up Pony's nose in an attempt to get him conscious. Sure enough Pony stirred and opened his eyes. "Darry?" He said, clearly confused. Then he cleared his throat, "what happened?"
"You tell me," Darry said, and he sounded a little harsh. Pony was thoughtful for a moment then remembered what had happened. "I had to see Johnny," Pony said weakly but firmly.
"What were you thinking? You are sick, you could've died. If we didn't find you just now only God knows what might've happened to you." Darry said sharply, his eyes angry, looking at Pony.
"Darry please," Soda pleaded, getting up and standing between Pony and Darry. Darry shot him a warning look. Then Soda plopped on the edge of Pony's bed, covered his face with his palms and started crying. Great, Pony thought, now I made Soda cry. He bit his bottom lip to prevent himself from starting to cry as well. Then he turned to his side, facing the wall. He heard Darry's steps as he exited the room, almost slamming the door, and he could still hear Soda sobbing, sitting next to him.
"He don't mean nothing by it Pony," Soda tried. Pony didn't reply. He didn't trust himself to talk or he would start crying.
"It's going to be ok Pony," Soda stroke his hair.
"I'm … just worried… 'bout Johnny. They wouldn't let me see him, he is in critical condition." Pony mumbled, while sitting up.
"I know honey, we all are worried. Once you recover, we will all go to the hospital to see him." Soda said carefully. "Now please lay back down, I am going to get you something to eat."