Cruise Control

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Pain.

A lot of pain was the first thing I felt when I managed to pull myself from the thick and seemingly endless darkness. The second thing I felt was dry, a dry thirst and a constant puff of air that irritated the back of my throat.

I coughed once, twice and then I couldn't stop.

"Mr. Curtis?" I heard a voice between my coughing. God, it hurt so bad, I couldn't breathe and my chest felt like it was on fire. "Please calm down Mr. Curtis." The voice said and if I could've I would have rolled my eyes. Really?

That awful air that had been messing with my throat finally stopped and I felt something being pulled away from my face. I felt better but I was still coughing, just not hacking up a lung.

The person pressed something against my lips, water, and I downed it greedily. Never in my life have I been so thirsty but then they pulled it away. "Not so quickly or you'll get sick." I wanted to argue but the rumbling in my belly told me they were right.

But the water did its job and I stopped coughing, but my throat still felt like sandpaper.

"Now, Mr. Curtis." It was a man standing there in a white coat, he was older with a thick beard on his face and equally thick glasses on the bride of his nose. There was a nurse behind him she smiled at me and blushed when I tried to smile at her.

"Mr. Curtis do you know where you are?"

"Sodapop." I managed to croak out, wincing at the sound of my voice. "Hospital." I answered his question as well. I highly doubted I'd have a home visit from them and this definitely wasn't my home. I was in a hospital but why?

And why did my body hurt so bad?

He made a face, at my name I reckon, "Well, you're correct you are in a hospital." He took something out of his packet; a pen light, we use them on the cars at the DX sometimes."How are you feeling?"

Without warning he shined the light in my eyes, temporary blinding me and if I wasn't, I would have gave him one nasty glare. I felt too tired to do much else.

"What...happened?" Man, I sounded horrible.

He did a couple of other tests without answering my question for awhile. "You have a couple of broken ribs along with a fractured skull. Your shoulder was knocked out of place and well, the rest of you took a nasty beating."

That was when I noticed the cloth wrapped around my head and the sling my arm was resting in, whatever else I could see looked awfully bad. My I had many scratches and bruises making me literally black and blue.

My head felt like slush and I just couldn't think right. "What happened?" I asked again, how the heck did I get this way?

The doc sighed and placed his penlight back in his pocket. Dr. M. Schwartz his name tag read. "You were in a car accident, son. A awful one at that." He made some notion to the nurse and she left the room.

Car accident?

But...

Now Man's Land...

...that Soc didn't like me...

I was driving something...something blue.

A car, I was driving a car – that Pontiac.

Damn, Dally's buddy is going to skin me for wrecking his car.

Wait...

"Steve! How is Steve? He was in the car with me?" I started to panic, if Steve got hurt...

The doctor placed a hand on my shoulder , "He's doing fine. A he's going to have an awful headache due to a concussion. We'll be keeping him over night, but he's going to be fine."

I sighed with relief. Good, very good. He was okay.

"But your friends and...your friend Mr. Winston, he has a broken foot. It seems he just didn't get out of the way of your vehicle in time." What? Dally? The doctor noticed my confusion and he looked nervous for a second before he composed himself.

"How'd he get hurt?"

I couldn't control the car and then there was screaming...people were screaming...

"-to get your brother, alright?"

My brother? People were screaming his name. People were screaming for Ponyboy...what happened to him? Before I could answer the doctor left the room and I sat there alone, racking through my brain trying to get things back in order.

I was driving, then a tire blew, I couldn't get the car back under control...it swerved...

"Hey Pepsi..." My head snapped up and I regretted that the second I did it. My head started to pound and my vision started to swim.

"Hey, hey now." I felt a rough hand on my face, "Just breathe." I listened to the sound of my older brothers voice as he coached me through calming myself down, I hadn't even realized I was starting to freak out.

"Wh-what happened?" Was the first thing I asked when I thought I could talk again, my voice sounded worse quivering now like it was.

I looked at Darry and I felt frozen, his eyes were tired and he had dark circles under them that I knew weren't there before we left. He looked worried, more than worried actually but I couldn't put my finger on it. But it was different and that meant something was wrong.

"Dar, please." I knew he was holding back, I could see him thinking about a lie to tell me, not a full lie but a twisted truth just to make me feel better. After knowing him my whole life, I could see right through it.

It took him a moment, and that cold fear in the pit of my stomach began to freeze.

"Your car ran off the road and into the crowd." He started so quietly I had to strain to hear him, "A few folks got hurt."

Two-Bit, Johnny, Dally, Pony, Sandy and Evie were all with each other. If Dally got hurt so I must have gone through them...my friends, my love, my baby brother...

"Dally's foot got ran over and Two-Bit managed to get the others out the way but...honey, it's...Pony..."

No.

No.

No.

No...

No!

"I hit 'im...?" I felt sick. I felt -

"Yea..." He stopped talking and swallowed like he had something stuck in his throat. "He's not doin' well." I felt numb, just numb. So many feelings popped up at once and then I couldn't feel anything. My brain stopped working and I couldn't breathe again.

"Breathe Soda!" Darry hit my back and I knew he had but I couldn't feel it. "Breathe! Just calm down!"

I ran over Pony...

My baby brother...

Then everything came back.

The car went out of control and I could hear people screaming, but in the mist of the screaming I heard a thump and something that sounded like a yelp, the car kept going and then finally it stopped after hitting something hard; one of the older warehouses.

I could see something out the window but it was too dark and the windshield was broken. Blood? Was that mine or Steve's? No, it was on the outside of the window. Something was still there on the end of the car but then...there was nothing.

"That's it just breathe..." I could feel Darry's hand on my back and my vision cleared again.

"-into shock." someone to my side said, the same side I could feel a familiar hand in mine, it was soft and small. "Gave him something to relax him."

Sandy...

She was okay, Two-Bit got her out of the way. I squeezed her hand and she squeezed back. Something wasn't right though, someone was missing.

They were hurt and I knew they were, if I could think again I could find I who, the fog was so thick...

I wanted to say something, to ask them more questions, but my tongue felt thick and heavy.

I tried to open my eyes, before I could everything went dark again.

Posting this before bed so its unedited and yes, it's suppose to be a lot of rambling.

About Salvage Me, I've been asked not to continue it right now - my friend who is giving the insight, her youngest son is ill and she's just in a very flustered state right now.