Things couldn't possibly get any worse right? Soda was sick and missing, Ponyboy was being impossible, both of his brothers were mad at him. It couldn't get worse? I mean, there was no way that something else would happen today. Well it did! It started to rain. Not just drizzle, but rain and hard. So now not only was Soda sick and missing but he was sick and missing in the rain. The cold, wet, and hard falling rain. You would also think that it would take Darry less than an hour to find his brother since their neighborhood really wasn't all that big. But instead Darry found himself searching for Soda for two hours straight before he saw him soaking wet and walking home.

Darry pulled over quickly. Soda had of course seen the truck and stopped. He was no longer angry at his brothers. Instead all he was feeling right then was cold. Very cold. Soda got in and shut the door, feeling relief the second he did because of the warmth of the car. "Hey kiddo." Darry reached over and held his soaking little brother who was very grateful for the comfort. "Take that wet shirt off." Darry said, releasing him and handing Soda his jacket. Soda did and then put the jacket on, wrapping up in it immediately. Darry flipped the heater on as high as it could go and headed back home.

"Go dry off and get something warm on, quick." Darry said, as they walked in the front door. Soda did and snuggled up into his bed, burying himself in the covers. Darry was in to see him momentarily. "Open, little buddy." He said, pulling the covers off his face and putting a thermometer in his mouth. Soda shivered. "Still got the chills huh?" He nodded. "Well, you're back up to a hundred and four." Darry said, checking the thermometer.

"I hate this." Soda cried. He felt horrible. Physically and emotionally. Everything was wrong. Everything! I used to love living. He thought. I used to be so happy to be alive. But sometimes I just wanna get away from it all for at least a day!

"I know." Darry said, wrapping his brother in a hug and holding him to his chest. "I'm sorry everything's been so awful lately." He rocked him back and forth and held him until he calmed down a bit.

"Lately?" Soda said. "Try this past year. And it ain't your fault anyways."

"Well, I'm not doing such a great job of handling it."

"Nah, Dar. You do good. I know its hard." Soda said. "You are only twenty one yah know? Weather you act forty five or not."

Darry smiled and released Soda from the tight hug, tucking the covers back around him. "Thanks kid." He pushed his hair back gently. Soda was shivering but he was sweating at the same time. "You get some rest, huh?" Darry rubbed his head.

Soda closed his tired eyes. "Where's Pony? Is he ok?" He asked groggily.

It then hit Darry. Where was Pony anyways? "You didn't see him when you walked in here?" Darry asked. Soda shook his head. Darry sighed deeply and placed his head in his hands. He'd gone to find one brother and came home to find the other one gone. Soda opened his eyes and watched Darry, quietly. "Spose he left?" Soda asked.

Darry nodded and rubbed at his eyes tiredly. "I can't ever get that kid to listen. No matter what I do."

"Maybe it's for the best that he went out." Soda said. "It'll give him some time to cool off."

Darry nodded. "You're probably right. But if he ain't back in a half an hour I'm gonna go looking for him. It's dark out and pouring rain." Normally Darry would've left right then to find his youngest brother but he didn't think it would do much good if he did. Pony would probably start acting up again and Darry just didn't wanna deal with it. "I'm gonna go make you some soup." He said softly.

"Hey, Dar?" Soda stopped him. "You guys get into another fight after I left? Was it about me?"

"We got into a fight." Darry sighed. "Not about you though. The school called. He ditched again. I went to talk to him and he didn't do anything except talk smart to me so I got fed up since he aint being doing anything but that recently. I gave him a belting."

"You what?!" Soda sat up as best he could. "Well no wonder he ran off again! He ran off last time you hit him! Why'd you do it again?" Soda hollered angrily, followed by a few curse words.

"Watch your mouth." Darry said. "And that was different."

"Oh yeah, how?" Soda asked.

"It just was." Darry said. "A good whooping was exactly what the kid needed. I ain't ever seen him act the way he has been recently and I'm certainly not going to allow it. I'm fresh out of ideas for how to get through to him. Heck, who knows what he's off doing right now. He's gonna get himself killed one of these days if he's not careful." And I'd never forgive myself if anything happened to him. Darry thought silently.

Soda sighed. "I still think it was a bad idea."

"When I want my kid brother to tell me what to do with the other kid brother, I'll ask you." Darry said. Soda rolled his eyes. He'd heard that phrase to many times.

"You didn't do it hard though Darry, did you?" Soda asked.

"Hard enough to get my point through." Darry answered. "Now go on to sleep, little buddy. You're awful sick. You have been for the past week."

"Well I'm coming with you to look for Ponyboy." Soda said.

Darry shook his head. "No you're not."

"Well I'm worried about him too." Soda argued his point, not wanting to lie around and worry about weather Darry would find their brother or not. He couldn't stand just sitting around when something was wrong. He had to do something! He had to try and fix it!

"I know." Darry said. "But it's best if you get rest." He walked out of his brothers room and into the kitchen to make some soup. Soon lightning could be seen and thunder heard in the dark skies. Every second that passed by Darry worried more, letting his imagination scare him crazy about what could possibly be happening to his baby brother. By the time he had fixed the soup Soda was asleep which was a good thing. Darry could leave to look for Pony without an argument. He put on a large coat and snatched up his keys to go out and search for one of his brothers for the second time that night.