Chapter 4: New-Found Demons
A/N: Hi again! How's it going? I'm totally digging all the reviews, favs and follows you guys are doing so thanks a bunch! Really hope you like this chappy! Please review! Thanks!
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Darry's POV:
Steve has to drive us home. I'm shaking too badly. Ponyboy's bloody jacket lies in my lap, his backpack in the rear of the truck. I don't know where little Pony could be. Why would any Soc do that him?! I know they can be real rough with him but this? This is too much! They must've stabbed him. There's too much blood for it to just be a fight. My poor little Pony! Where could they have possibly taken him? Or, dumped his body, I guess. I can't stand to think that my little brother's dead. No, we've lost too much. Too many have already died. I can't lose him too.
"We'll find 'em." Steve interrupts my grave, wandering thoughts.
I glance up to look at him.
"We'll find 'em, Dare." He repeats determinedly.
I simply nod my head and stare out the window again. I want to scream. I want to burst in tears. I want to hit something, shoot something maybe. I just want to know where Ponyboy is and if he's still alive. Steve whips into the driveway nearly hitting the house and Dally's Thunderbird.
"Watch it, Steve. Dally'll kill you if hit his T-bird and I'll kill you if you use all my gas." I growl.
He doesn't respond and simply pulls the key out of the ignition. We climb out and somberly walk into the house. Dallas steps in front of me as soon as we're past the front door, searching our faces and looking behind us for Ponyboy. When he doesn't see him, he glances at my face, silently asking his question with his expression. I shake my head 'no' and hold up Ponyboy's bloody jacket. Dallas' eyes grow wide with surprise and then shrink into pure malice as he grabs the jacket, examining it. I swallow hard as Soda rounds the corner, trying to get to us. Dally shoves Pony's jacket back into my hands and whips around blocking Soda's view and path.
"Hey, c'mon Dal, let me see Pone." He says whining a bit, trying to push past Dally.
"He's not here, kid. Move." Dally growls, walking behind Sodapop, pushing and following him out of the room.
He glances back at us before he walks Soda into the living room. I take Ponyboy's jacket and book bag and walk into my room, trying to calm down at this new information. When I exit, I find Steve and Two-Bit talking quietly in the kitchen and Soda and Dally sitting on the couch in the living room. I stare emptily at my brother and Dal; everything feels like I'm in a terrible dream. Sodapop sits on the couch with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands crying. Dally's right arm is draped over his back; his face down close to Sodapop's talking to him quietly. When I step into the living room, Soda's head pops up, hitting Dally in the jaw as he looks in complete despair at me. I watch Dallas grimace but he doesn't make a move on Soda, who isn't aware of what he just did.
"Where could he be, Darry?" Soda asks tearfully.
I shake my head. "I don't know, Sodapop, but we're gonna find him little buddy. Steve and I are goin' to ask around, see if anyone saw anybody leaving the school parking lot recently."
"I'll come help." He states.
"No, Soda. I'm not goin' to let you get too wrapped up in this. If they did that to Ponyboy, God only knows what they'd do to the rest of us. I'm not goin' let you get hurt. I can't lose you too." I add quietly.
"You're not goin' lose me. You're not goin' to lose anybody!" he shouts before bursting into tears.
I shouldn't have told him this soon. It's too much for him to handle. He only just turned eighteen he shouldn't have to worry about things like this.
"Sodapop, calm down. Please little buddy, calm down. It's gonna be okay, alright? You're gonna be fine. We're all gonna be fine." I murmur sitting down next to Soda on the couch, wrapping my arms around his shaking little self.
Dally shoots me a weird look almost as if he can't believe that I'd actually hug and comfort my little brother when he's crying his eyes out because our other brother could be stabbed to death. I glare for a second and when I see his head turn forward again, I refocus my attention to Soda. He's just sniffling now and his head is resting against my left shoulder. I think he's almost asleep to tell you the truth.
"Oh, Soda." I whisper and kiss the top of his head.
Dally makes a gaging face and smiles for once. Stupid kid. Sodapop stays there for a minute before sitting up straighter and pulling out of my light grip.
"What can I do?" he asks quietly.
"Sleep." I reply. "You're not goin' to be any help to us or your brother if you're tired."
"But I'm not tired!" he protests.
"Steve and I are goin' out. We'll be back in two or three hours. I want you asleep when we walk back through that front door, you hear me?"
"Yeah." He says back downcast.
"Good." I answer, messing up his hair and standing. "We'll be off then. Steve?"
"Right behind ya."
"I'm goin' home ya'll. Call me if you find 'em or if ya need me." Two-Bit says walking for the front door.
I nod my head and he exits via the front door. "Dally you take care of him." I say firmly.
"What'm I? A baby-sitter?" he scoffs appearing to be disgusted.
When I glare in annoyance at him he smirks and gives me his straight answer. "'Course I will Darry. What'd ya think I'm still doin' here? Watching grass grow? Yeah, I'll take care o' the kid. Keep 'em outta trouble with the fuzz." He says grinning while ruffling Soda's hair.
"You do that. If we're gone more than three hours and don't call you, come after us. We'll be near the houses close to the school." I instruct.
Dallas nods and Steve and I leave. I'm still in disbelief. I can't believe Socs would do somethin' like that to Ponyboy. He's just a kid! We drive back to the school lot and see if we can find any other clues of where Ponyboy might be or who took him. After a half hour, we both come up blank.
"Let's ask the person in that house." Steve suggests pointing to a house across the street. "They'd have to've see somethin'"
I agree and we scurry across the street to knock on the occupant's door. A young woman, no older than twenty, answers the door then shrinks back when she sees who we are.
"Ma'am, have you seen anybody drive or walk out of that parking lot recently?" I ask gently but urgently.
"Why do you ask?" she replies suspiciously.
"Ma'am we're trying to find my kid brother. He was last seen in that lot and we believe he was jumped." I answer as Steve sighs.
"Why do you think that? He probably just went home with a friend." She answers beginning to close the door.
"Ma'am! Please!" I raise my voice to a greater since of urgency and she opens the door again. "We found his jacket in that lot and it was soaked with blood. Please, did you see anything?"
"Oh, well, around seven or so two cars pulled out of the lot awful fast. I don't know when they even pulled in." She says.
"Okay that's great. Can you describe the cars or the direction they were heading?" I ask needing more information.
"Well, one was an orange Mustang. I know that for sure. It was a real tuff car. The other one looked like a Corvair but I couldn't tell what colour it was, but whatever it was, it was real dark. Maybe blue or black or something." She says.
"Okay, do know what direction they were heading?"
"Yeah, that way." She states pointing to the left that leads you out of town on this side.
"Okay, thank you very much." I reply, Steve and I heading for the truck.
"Hope you find your brother!" She calls.
"Thank you, me too." I respond climbing back into the truck.
That's how it is for the next hour: driving down that same road asking people if they'd seen the two cars. The ones that were home and were paying attention said yes. I stop at a pay phone and call home telling Dally that we've found a lead and are gonna be a while longer. When I look at my watch, it reads 12:37 am. It's been a long night. We continue to do what we've been doing and we're still finding that they went through here. I just don't know how much longer we can follow their trail before we get out into the country and there are no houses.
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Dally's POV:
The phone rings just as I'm walking to the kitchen to grab a beer. I sigh and pick it up. A few words are exchanged before I hang up and walk back to the kid sittin' on the couch clutching a pillow like it's his own dear life.
"Hey," I speak through my drag on the cigarette. "You're bro called. Said he's gonna be another while longer. You should git to sleep 'cause I certainly don't want you awake when he comes home so he has an excuse to beat my head in."
"C'mon Dal. I'm not even…." He starts but is interrupted with a huge yawn. "…tired." He finishes.
"Yeah, keep tellin' yourself that kid. What'd ya call that then?" I ask grinning back at him.
"Ugh, I don't know!"
"Git to bed. You'll fall asleep soon enough." I command. "Now git." I say draggin' him off the couch and into his room.
He strips down to his underwear and crawls into his half empty bed. I really want a beer, but I doubt Darry'd be too happy with me if he finds me drinkin' when I'm supposed to be aware of what's happenin' around me and the kid.
"C'mon git to sleep." I say flicking off the light-switch and starting to leave the room.
"Dally?" Soda's soft, high voice floats through the air until it meet my ear and makes me turn around. "What if I can't sleep?" he asks. "Would you stay with me?"
I sigh. "Yeah, I'd stay with you. Now git to sleep."
I leave and step into the bathroom needin' to take a leak. As I'm walkin' back to the living room, I hear Soda still tossin' and turnin'. I sigh real loudly and walk back into his room. Man, I'm doin' a lot of d*** walkin' for this kid.
"What d'ya want?" I ask irritated.
"Nothing." He replies sadly.
"What d'ya want kid?!" I nearly shout. I'm sick an' tired of this mess. I ain't a baby sitter. The kid's eighteen for God's sake, why do I have to 'watch' him?!
"I can't sleep without Pone." He whimpers. I hear tears in his voice and close my eyes. The kid's been through the ringer. I know that. I just git fed up with all the responsibility heaped on my plate.
"It's gonna be fine kid. Darry and Steve'll find 'em. You know they will." I say feeling a whole lot calmer.
"Will you stay with me, Dal?" he asks quietly.
"Yeah kid." I say reluctantly. I know I promised I'd do it, but that ain't mean I'm happy 'bout it. I put out my cancer stick and flush it down the toilet. The last thing this gang needs is a house fire. "Where d'ya want me stay?"
"Next to me." He responds patting Ponyboy's empty side of the bed.
Oh boy, now the kid wants a sleep over. Ain't I ever gonna catch a break?
"Yeah, alright, alright, I dig." I pull off my shirt and lay down next to Soda.
It's a strange sensation ya know? I ain't used to sleepin' with somebody else. Ya know: Breathe solo, sleep solo, be solo? Yeah, my only rule. Screw that tonight I guess. Rules on me are meant to be broken. I don't think there's one rule on me that I ain't broken yet. At first, he keeps his distance from me. Then I feel him slowly creeping closer. I git sick of the waiting game and throw my right arm across his pillow and around his scrawny self and pull him closer to me. He snuggles close to me and hesitantly places his arm across my stomach, curling even further into me. I can't help but give a half smile to the darkness and scoot him closer to me with my right arm. After a few minutes, can hear the kid snoring softly and I dig him. I'm beat too. My eyelids start growing heavy and sleep is beckoning. I start to drop off and I hope Darry and Steve find his kid brother. I know it'll tear this gang apart if we lose another member.
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Darry's POV:
Steve and I keep doin' the same thing over and over and over. I'm exhausted, Steve's exhausted, but people keep telling us that they had seen the two cars race past. We're nearly out of town and the houses are thinning out. It's almost two am and I finally turn the truck around and head for home.
"Where're we goin'?" Steve asks confused.
"Home." Is all I say back.
"But - "
"But nothing. We're both tired and it's too late to be knockin' on doors, even on this side of town. We'll pick up here tomorrow." I say with finality.
"Fine." Is all Steve can say back.
We drive back in silence only listening to the soft whir of the tires on the rough asphalt. I carefully pull into the driveway and we both fall out of the truck. I'm exhausted but I know I won't be able to sleep. Steve flings the door open and collapses onto the couch. Dally's jacket is still hanging on the post inside but I wonder where he actually is. I walk into my bedroom and peel my shirt off. I want to fall into my bed but I need to make sure Sodapop's asleep. I quietly push the door open further and find Dally lying with Soda, both of them dead asleep. I smile and quietly leave, walking back into my room and fall asleep. I'm too tired to stay awake, but I'm too awake to fall asleep and not worry about Pone. Without my permission, sleep finds me and takes over. I sure hope we can find him soon. I knows he a fighter but after what happened to him, I don't know for how much longer he can hold on.
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A/N: Thanks so much for reading this chapter! I'm sorry it's a little slow, it'll pick up speed soon enough and then it'll be like a runaway train! No, seriously, it's a little crazy. Actually, I think I'm a little crazy! Oh well! Peace!