I could heart my hearting beating excitedly in my chest. Confrontation. I had to confront her. Why did she do this to me? What did Lise ever do to deserve any of this? I could hear her footsteps from a bit a ahead of me, and I kept running. I couldn't tell what time it was. I was pretty sure it was in the early morning hours. She just wanted to see where I was...
"Stop, now!" I shouted. She did, turning abruptly to face me. "What is your problem?!"
"You are!" She snapped. "You tried to get me arrested after all I did for you?! You and you're disgusting sister! I hate you both! You both ruined my life!" She was close to me now, she ran up to punch me, but I did what I could to stop her. My lessons wouldn't be in vain.
"You won't ruin my life!" I kicked her leg, making her stumble backwards. "What did I do to deserve any of this?! What did Lise do?"
"She got sick!" I stopped short, taking a few steps back to get out of her range. I was breathing heavily now, tears stinging at the corner of my eyes. What was she talking about? Lise wasn't sick...was she? I was questioning things now. I refuse to do this! I'm not gonna listen to all her lies.
"She wasn't sick!"
"I She was! Stop acting like you know everything! You know absolutely nothing about what happened to your sister! I let you believe what you wanted to! Your father knew, I knew, everyone knew but you!" She shouted back. How could anybody not hear us? I stood my ground, glaring at her. I wasn't going to give in...even if it killed me.
"Shut your mouth. I'm so tired of hearing you talk to me like I'm not a person. I always thought I was ugly and disgusting because of you. I thought I was a horrible person. I've finally found someone who loves me, someone who supports me. You won't change that!" She growled, lunging forward again and punching my stomach. I hadn't seen that coming. I winced, covering my stomach but suffering a blow to the chin by her knee.
"Ugh..." I kneeled on the ground. She backed away, rummaging around in her coat pockets. I coughed, painfully, looking at the blood on my hand. She's beating me up again, it's going to turn out just like before. I stood up, stumbling for a second. She was blurred for a second, but what she did next...No parent hated their child as much as she must've. A new, silvery gun was pointed in my face. My breath caught in my throat. Would she pull the trigger. I inhaled sharply as I heard a 'click' come from the gun, I felt my heart stop as it pressed against my head. No, no, no...Tears trickled down my face as I waited for the blow to come...
I had done everything I could...I didn't want to die now, but what could I do?
Everything had been taken away from me. Everything...but maybe one person...or maybe a whole gang of people. Sodapop...and all the greaser guys. I loved them all like they were my family. They were my family. I only got to say bye to Sodapop, though...
I love you Sodapop.
*Bang*
Everything flashed in red for a second, the world flashed. A loud thump sounded from in front of me. My vision came back, I was able to see again. My hands were clutching my pants tightly, I was waiting for pain, anything. But I felt nothing. Nothing but confusion...
"You and Lise were my world..." Came a weak voice from it front of me. Mom? She was lying on the ground, a gunshot wound right above her heart. She was bleeding badly...What was she doing?
"What're you..." I started, my lip quivering.
"Lise was sick. We went to the doctors that day..." She inhaled, gasping in pain and squinting her eyes. "She had a tumor in her...b-brain...she was going to die soon. We didn't tell you...because even though...we're your parents...I could always tell you loved her more..."
"But why did you try to kill me!?" I shouted. "What did I do? I-I didn't want to be lied to!" My eyes grew wide.
"Because you could be sick too! My mother had a tumor in her chest...you could have something wrong with you. I didn't want to love you..." I was watching her, watching her slowly die in front of me, knowing there was nothing I could do.
"I wanted to kill you...so you wouldn't get close to me or anyone else...but it didn't work..." She coughed, blood splattering over the ground. "I-I'm sorry about everything...I didn't want you to like life...it would've been easier to kill you if you didn't...but you...hung on...through...every...thing..." Her voice was fading away, becoming softer and softer. "Your picture of Lise...take out of...frame...there's some papers..." She smirked up at me, before her head slammed against the ground. And just like that she was dead.
I didn't feel anything. I was so numb at the moment. I couldn't think, I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what to feel...She was gone. She was dead. Her body was still before me, not making any movements. She was faking it...
"You...wanted to kill me but for a good reason..." I cried for awhile. I knew it wouldn't do anything, but it made me feel better. It made me feel so much better. I'd rather cry into someone's chest, I'd rather have someone to hug, someone to kiss me and make me feel better. I needed to get help...I wasn't going to be blamed for this. I stood up, walking away from the scene with no emotion. I wouldn't be...I was...I could be sick like Lise. I could die like Lise did. I didn't wanna die.
I ran back to the Curtis house, slipping in through the door unnoticed. Soda wasn't on the couch anymore, nobody was in the house at all. It was dead quiet. I really didn't want to be alone at the time...Where was Sodapop when you needed him?
"The cops..." I ran to the phone, dilaing 911. "Hello? Yes, I have somethin' to report. I heard a gunshot comin' from that empty lot...I was walking by...too afraid to do much...I think someone's hurt there...okay, thank you." The door slammed, telling me someone had entered the house. Or, it sounded like quite a few people.
"Kaylyn!"
"Sodapop!" I ran over to him, hugging him tightly. His arms wrapped around my stomach.
"Where did you go, you had us all worried sick." I smiled at him, looking into his beautiful blue eyes. I was so happy I got to see them one more time. But what mom said...I had to go get a check up. Soon. I had to know wherther or not I was really sick. But, how was I supposed to tell Sodapop?
"Soda...I have to go get somethin'," I sighed. "I have to go to the...hopsital again." He looked at me curiously. "I might have this...tumor or somethin' and it'll...if I do have it...it could...kill me." I looked up at him. I can tell you my heart shattered into a million tiny little pieces. I could see his smile drop, his heart broke. He closed his eyes, never letting me go in the process.
"Why does this always happen?" I asked, leaning my head against his. "I love you, Soda, I don't want to die." I think I just hurt him even more, 'cause I could literally see all his happy, carefree feelings fly out the window. His good, happy attitude was destroyed as soon as those words left my lips. "I have to get Lise's pictures. Come with me." I grabbed his hand, pulling away from him. We jogged to my house, telling Pony and Darry we were just going for a walk. They could tell something was wrong.
My house was once again unguarded. I didn't see why they couldn't just clean it up and let me move back in. I ran up the stairs, right to my room where my picture of Lise is. It was lying on my bed where I had left it.
"There..." I grabbed the picture, sitting down and opening the back of the picture. Soda sat beside me, silently, still frowning. I felt so bad for making him upset. But what if I had lied to him? What if I told him everything was okay? Would things be better than this? I handed the back of the picture to Sodapop, letting the picture and a few hidden papers slip out. I looked at them. One picture was of a child's drawing, the other a doctor's note.
"Name: Lise Jones, Age:5, Diagnosed: Tumor around the head are. Having pains. Slowly eating away at the tissue of brain. Not long to live." I read the note out loud, so Soda wouldn't have to look over my shoulder to see it.
"So, that's how she died? With the same thing...you..might have." He had trouble finishing the sentence, but he got it through. I nodded my head. I placed a hand on my head. It was throbbing painfully again, it hurt badly now. It was so painful to look at the things that reminded me of Lise.
"Yeah. And this is...?" I picked up the drawing. It was Lise's first drawing. I smiled...It was of me and her, standing side-by-side around a house with flowers. And it in handwriting on the top of it, in Lise's handwriting. It said 'I love you, big sister' in bright red crayon. I could feel tears slipping down my cheek as I thought about the picture. She made it for me when I was real sick, when I could barely move. Lise took care of me the whole time, giving me whatever I needed and acting like she was the mom for the day.
'I love you big sister, and I always will. You're there for me and I'll be there for you!' I could still hear her soft voice, see her shining green eyes and long hair. Her sweet little smile, her high-pitched but adorable laugh. I could remember everything about her now. How could I not have seen she was so sick? I leaned against Sodapop, silently crying into his shoulder. I couldn't do this now. Was I sick like her? I was scared, sad, ashamed, and confused. Everything I had thought...was it a lie? Why was I being lied to? Is everything that happened to me a lie?
"C'mon, Kaylyn, let's get home. We've gotta tell Darry about the hospital." I helped me up. I hugged him again, burying my face in his shoulder. I loved him so much, he was just the perfect person to me. I didn't want anyone but him, and I sure hoped he felt the same.
"I love you so much." I murmured, my grip on him not loosening. I didn't want this to end, I wanted to stand here forever. But I couldn't, I had to get this over with, I had to find out if I was going to live past 16. Soda pulled me along, back to his house. My house. I finally had a good home, where everyone loved me, where everyone loved me like I was their sister.
I was home.