Darry parked in front of the hospital and got out, walking inside quickly. Steve was waiting for him in the main lobby. "Hey Dar-"
"Which room is he in?" Darry interrupted.
"On the second floor, room 153." Steve said, following Darry to the elevator.
"What happened to him?" Darry asked, still oblivious to what had happened but Steve was just about as clueless himself.
"I dunno. The doc won't tell me anything. They said they'd only talk to you." Nobody said anything else until they reached the second floor and found a doctor. Darry got a hold of him quickly before he hurried off down the hallway.
"Hey, I'm Darrel Curtis. My brother-"
"Oh yes, we've been trying to get a hold of you."
"What's wrong with him?" Darry asked. "My friend said he passed out."
"Yes. He just regained consciousness a few moments ago. He's fine for right now but we do have some concerns that I must discuss with you, preferably before you go in to see him."
"All-right." Darry said, keeping his cool but jumping up and down with panic inside.
"Well, we're not exactly sure what caused him to black out but we think it had something to do with... well, inhalants."
"What do you mean? Like huffing stuff?" Darry asked. The doctor nodded. "That's ridiculous. Soda wouldn't ever do anything like that. He's a smart kid."
"I know it's shocking Mr. Curtis but we've run some tests and even without the tests there are other small things that lead me to that conclusion. I'm not saying we're sure. It's just what we think caused it. It's not uncommon for kids his age to experiment with that kind of thing. Think about it. Can you remember anything odd about him recently? There are many different affects of inhalants. Mood swings, slurred speech, memory loss, vomiting, coughing, loss of appetite... And it certainly does cause many people to black out.
Darry sighed. "He has been moody lately and I think he may have thrown up the other night but I don't know." Darry sighed again.
"The rash around his mouth." The doctor said. "Surely you noticed that."
"Yeah, I saw it this morning. But I didn't think for a second that..." Darry groaned. "Well." He stuck his hands in his pockets. "I'll go talk to him." Steve began to follow but Darry stopped him. "Alone." He said. Steve stopped and watched his friend walk off to find room 153. Darry found it quickly and entered.
"Hey Dar." Soda said, smiling slightly from where he was sitting on the bed.
"Are you all-right?"
"Yeah, I'm ok. There just making a big fuss over it. It's probably just because I didn't have anything for breakfast or something."
'Or something.' Darry thought sarcastically. "Well, what happened, kiddo?"
"I dunno. I was just working and stuff and then everything went black."
"Well, how do you feel now?"
"Fine." Soda lied. Darry pondered what the doctor had said and the more he thought about it the more he began to worry that maybe their guess about what was going on was correct. Darry realized that a lot of the symptoms the doctor had mentioned Soda definitely had.
"Where were you when it happened?" Darry asked.
"I told you I was just working."
"Working where?"
"Just in the garage with Steve." Soda said.
"In the garage?" Darry asked, remembering that Steve had found him in the bathroom.
"Yeah." Soda lied again.
"Sodapop." Darry sat down next to him on the bed. "You wanna tell me what's going on?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I think you know." Darry said. Soda sighed and looked in the other direction. "Soda." Darry said, his voice becoming firm. He looked directly at his little brother. "Sodapop." Soda refused to make eye contact and Darry went on. "What were you doing before you passed out?" He asked. Soda didn't answer. "Sodapop, I'm talking to you." Darry said.
"I was at the DX with Steve." Soda said. "I told you that!"
"I didn't ask you where you were I asked you what you were doing and I expect you to tell me just that. The very second before you passed out what were you doing?" Darry demanded.
"I- well I- I was getting high." Soda said.
"Getting high off of what?" Darry asked.
Soda sighed. "Gas." He said barely above a whisper.
"Gas?" Darry asked, shocked. "Gas as in gasoline?" Soda nodded ever so slightly. Darry stood up. "Do you have a death wish or something!?" He screamed. Soda winced. "You could've killed yourself!" Soda looked away. "Sodapop Patrick Curtis, you'd better look at me boy." Soda obeyed, thinking that there was no other time he could remember when Darry had ever sounded so much like their father. "Do you have any idea what kind of damage that can cause?"
"I didn't know I'd black out."
"Well what'd you think would happen?! Obviously nothing good can come of it!"
"It makes me feel better!" Soda yelled back.
Darry sighed. "How long has this been going on?" He asked.
"Just about a week." Soda said.
"Well, it ends now. You understand me?" Darry said. Soda groaned. "Hey." Darry grabbed his brothers face. "Do you understand me, Sodapop? Cause I ain't ever been so serious."
"Yeah." Soda said.
"You coulda killed yourself and if not that a hundred other terrible things could've happened. And you sure aint gonna be working at that rundown old place if you're even gonna think for a second about putting that gas in anything but cars." Darry let go of him and sighed deeply. He never would of thought that Soda would do something so stupid.
"Look, I'm sorry ok. I just needed a way to get out."
"Oh you'll get out all-right. You keep up that crap and you'll be dead within days, Sodapop. Listen, if you have a problem, talk to me, to Pony, to Steve. Talk to someone... don't go and poison yourself. That ain't gonna help anything. You're a smart kid. You don't do stuff like that. It just ain't in your character."
"Can we go home?" Soda asked.
"Not yet. I need to talk to the doctor. I'll be back in a minute." Darry said, walking out.
