Disclaimer: I don't own the Outsiders or the song Stuff is Messed Up.

Now we're rockin' the casbah and taking the flack. The genie's out of the bottle. And we can't put him back. All this stuff. It's overwhelming my brain. Can't you see the storm coming? It's coming this way.

Glass was spread along the road and huge hunks layed in front of the window behind the tape. Blood specks were sporadically surrounding the pieces, a large stain in front of the door.

He tried to run.

Everyone stood on the other side of the street all watching and whispering about their thoughts on what happened, why, when, how, who. Who was it that pulled the trigger on the poor old man? Was it the people standing on the other side- that's what we're all thinking.

"Where's Two and Steve?" Soda asked.

No one answered.

"All that blood, man," Johnny spoke.

I rested my hands in my coat pockets. It was only nine in the morning. Most of the town was here watching the cops scratch their heads and try and figure out how this happened...why. Our football game attendance last Friday was at an all-time low.

But everyone was here. They'd shown up for the show.

Darry was over on the corner talking to one of his work buddies. Kathy was with him, just like the rest of us, trying to figure this out.

Marten Dills. Sixty three years old. Grandfather, father, brother, flower shop owner...fifthly stinking rich bastard. He lived in a big brown house on the hill. He came from family money. His father owned most of the businesses in this town. Once he died, ol Marten collected.

He was worth thousands and probably more.

"Dambasses," Dally muttered at two of the cops.

His eyes were red and his tee-shirt dirty and pants barely zipped up. The lights and sirens woke him up just like the rest of us. He was only down here because it's a show.

"Who'd want to rob a flower shop?" I asked out loud. "It's not like it has a ton of money inside."

Dally spewed out some smoke and smirked. "Probably didn't steal a dime."

Soda tiredly leaned into Pony and squinted his eyes. He was up all night with Darry talking. We all heard them. Soda was only trying to help a situation that was unfixable. He was kicking a dead horse.

"Berry says the guy threw the money at the guy and tried to run out the door. Guy shot him in the back of the head and took off. Money's still there and everything," Darry explained.

Dally didn't move. Just stood and stared through the other side.

"That must be the wife," Kathy said, pointing to the crying gray haired woman.

This is the type of scene people wouldn't rush to. It happens. In Tulsa, it's not an uncommon thing, but today it was.

"Darry!"

We all turned to see the two running toward us. Two-Bit, shockingly, leading the pack. He stopped in front of Darry and cupped his knees, trying to catch his breath.

Darry kneeled down and grabbed his shoulders to steady him. "What's goin' on?"

Steve caught up, and exchanged a look with Sodapop.

Two-Bit wheezed. "She...she…" he couched, "I can't...find...'er."

Kathy came over beside them and bent down. "Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. It helps."

He followed her instructions and easily rose up. "Emily," he couched, "she took off. She ain't home. Her bed is made. She didn't stay here last night, man."

"Friend's house?" I asked.

Steve shook his head. "Checked...all morning."

"She took off?" Darry asked the obvious.

Two-Bit nodded then his eyes turned to across the street. "What's...what's that?"

It was like everyone sighed, coming to their own conclusions. Who was going to be the first one to jump? Who was going to be the messenger who was going to get shot? Take one for the team.

"Two-"

"Did someone rob that store?" He pointed over. "Is that blood?"

Dally seemed to slowly back away as the rest calmed the boy whose eyes were fuming red and face flushed. He was just a bomb that was going to leak out everywhere until it blew, killing everyone around.

"Dally." I followed after.

He rested up against a street lamp, lighting another weed. "Fucking kid."

The yelling and cussing began a few feet away. It was finally kicking in. The light bulb was going off.

"Dally."

"She didn't do that!" Two-Bit screamed. "No. Where the fuck...I gotta talk to someone!"

They all pulled him back, shushing him, each trying to explain different stories. It hadn't finally clicked yet. Not for everyone.

Dally slammed his fist against the garbage can. "Fuck."

"Where is she then?"

The other side was starting to stare. Even the occasional cop would look over for a second. It wasn't hard to miss. Just something else to led us down that road. Something else they can see and throw in our faces. Use against us.

I took a stance beside Dally. "You don't think she really-"

"No she didn't!" Two-Bit hollered to someone else. "Tell me where she is!"

Dally threw the bud into the road. His other hand was in a tight fist and his veins were slowly coming out. He was going to blow before him. He was going to kill that kid.

"Maybe he didn't," I whispered. "Maybe-"

"No maybe," he growled.

Two-Bit began to kick nearby objects in a fit. Steve was standing behind, letting it happen. Kathy was standing behind him while Darry pulled him away, Johnny and Pony quietly watching.

Then the question came. It clicked. "Where's Ronnie?"

People started to leave once the body came out and was pushed into the ambulance. The show was over. There wasn't anything else exciting to see. They all just left.

Two-Bit was sitting on the curb, breathing heavily and trying to take in everything. Not even cigarettes could calm him down. He was shutting down.

"Did you two have a fight or somethin'?" Soda asked.

He slowly shook his head. "Nah, we just...talked."

"Dally, have you heard from Ronnie lately?" Darry asked.

Dally slipped his hands into his pockets and looked across his shoulder. "Nah. Ain't seen the stupid kid."

Everyone was quiet. Kathy had made a run to the coffee shop to load up. We were all just standing over Two-Bit, trying to make sense of this ourselves.

"Where...why would she have done this?" Two-Bit could hardly get the words out.

"We don't know that she did," Darry spoke up. "We can't assume anything."

I couldn't take my eyes off the shop. Emily Matthews was a little girl. She couldn't kill a guy. Dallas' brother couldn't kill a guy. This wasn't how it went down. No one was going to listen to that though.

"Maybe we should go look for her," Soda said. "She couldn't have gotten too far."

Two-Bit jumped up off the ground, ready to go. "Fine. Whose car?"

Darry took a step forward. "No just wait a minute. Let's not just jump up and go. She could come back and then what?"

"Really?" Two-Bit asked cold-heartedly. He pointed to Pony. "He didn't."

No one said anything. Two-Bit had never talked to anyone like that before. Now here he stood, telling superman himself where to go like he was batman.

Darry nodded, unfazed. He knew.

"We should split up," Darry instructed. "Cover more ground."

Everyone gathered around him as he took charge telling everyone where to go and who to go with. We were going to do this one right. We weren't going to let history replay itself. Not this time.

"Pony, go with Danni and Dally."

"Why?" Ponyboy whined.

Darry gave him the shut-up look very quickly. "'Cause I said so."

In other words he knew Dally would keep us unharmed. Across the street stood a crowd of people set off and ready to attack. They were fuming. That's why we're all going to stick nearby. Darry wouldn't let me go with Dally under any other circumstances. We needed to be safe.

It was feeding time for them. We were all about to go down.

"I think they're just a bunch of idiots!" she hissed. "They think they can just pull that and not get away with it? My God, maybe they're stupider than we thought."

She kept storming around in a circle. Her parents were over at the Dills' house taking care of Martha. She had been having a sleepover when she was rudely waken up with the news that a guy who acted as her uncle was now dead.

She, though, did not shed a tear. She never did in times like these. Marilyn was hard.

"Would you sit your ass down?" Michael snapped, slipping himself some wine. "You're making me dizzy."

She glared at him. "How can you just be so goddamn calm? Marten was like family!"

Cherry was on the sofa, just watching everything. She should go home and leave this to the family. Just let them have some time. Truth was though; Cherry didn't have a home to go home to.

"Yeah, I heard Dad the first time he said it." He took a drink. "Randy you want some?"

Randy shook his head and continued to bite his nails. He couldn't believe this.

"What about Sam?" Marilyn fumed, continuing her rant. "You don't think for one goddamn minute that they didn't do that! They're killing every one of us!"

Michael smirked at her and took a seat down beside Cherry on the sofa. "Haven't we discussed this before darlin'?"

Marilyn clinched her fists. "Michael, they killed Sam. Dallas Winston killed him."

Cherry swallowed and crossed her arms over her chest. "He's got an alibi. You know that. Why would Dally want to kill Sam anyway? It's not like they knew each other Mar."

Her eyes widened. "You're defending them?"

"No," Cherry snapped. "I'm just saying you should think before you just start accusing people."

Marilyn just stared at her, expecting her to apologize. No one talked that way to her. Cherry was acting like this was Marilyn's fault. She was defending them people and then saying Marilyn was in the wrong.

Cherry breathed out her nose, showing Marilyn that she wasn't backing down.

Marilyn huffed and stomped off to her room. No one went after her.

Michael quickly took his opportunity and placed his arm around Cherry's shoulder. "You alright?" he whispered in her ear. "If you need to talk you know I'm here."

"I know," she answered.

"You really don't think Dallas did it?" Randy turned around and asked her.

Cherry shook her head. "No. His alibi is rock solid. I don't see why or how he would. It could be anyone, Randy. There are stronger men in this town other than Winston."

He nodded and turned his attention back to the window and slowly bit down on his nails. He knew she was right. Winston could have never done it. Everyone was just blaming him.

Stronger men. It was someone stronger who killed Sam. He knew that.

Dally leaned up and turned the radio up again. He'd done that about five times since we'd gotten in the car. We'd driven all across town and found nothing. We didn't know what we were looking for. Emily was gone.

"I don't see why he let you go with him," Pony groaned. "Aren't you in trouble?"

I didn't answer him and tried to focus on how empty the town was. Everyone from this morning was gone. Everyone was gone.

Dally kept driving for the next half hour. We didn't talk much. He didn't sleep too much last night. He had the night shift again and this morning, just had to get up. Dally doesn't function too well on lack of sleep.

"Where are you going?" I asked after a while. "Where are we anyway?"

He held his cigarette out the window. "Somewhere. Don't worry about it."

"You think you know where he took her?"

He didn't answer. He took another puff and cranked the radio up another notch and didn't even move.

Ponyboy leaned forward. "What did Darry say to you?"

I moved him back with my elbow. "It's none of your business."

"Are you in trouble?" he asked again.

"No," I growled. "Leave me alone."

My nerves were shot. Darry and I had been up since midnight talking about what happened with Dally. Kathy went home before that. I was on my own for the most part. I had to defend myself.

Pony ignored me. "Was he real mad?"

"No." Dally took a puff of his cigarette and tried to tune us out. "Where are we going?" I asked again.

We were headed into the country part of Tulsa. I wasn't even sure we were there anymore. We just kept going through the woods seeing only trees and grass and occasionally a stream. The road we were on was all ravel and pavement wasn't in sight.

"Yeah," Pony chimed in. "Dal, why are we goin' here?"

Finally irritated, Dally spoke, "Just shut-up and go with it. We're goin' to find the kids. That a problem with anyone?"

His voice just boomed through the car. Ponyboy and I sat back and didn't say another word. Dallas leaned forward and changed the radio station and sat back, lighting another one.

Soda and Steve took the job and handling Two-Bit. When we left, all we could see was the guy in the same position he'd been in since he found out, just holding himself back from breaking.

Emily was always a quiet kid. She didn't talk much through most of the years I've known her. Our mothers were good friends so as kids we were close. Mrs. Matthews kept me and Pony during the day while my parents worked and Darry and Soda were at school. From what I've been told, we were friends. Once I started school though, and she stayed home, we drifted.

The last time I really talked to her was when her dad left. She stayed with us for a while while her mother put herself together. I was nine and she was seven. We didn't talk after that. We just weren't close.

She'd changed this past summer along with everything else. She was a late bloomer, her momma called it. She developed into her chest, and her nose grew into her face and her butt grew. No one really knew how to look at her anymore. No one expected the little flat chested girl with glasses, a pudgy stomach, and a big nose, would grow into...a babe.

She'd changed fast. Maybe too fast. She left town with a guy she hasn't known a month and left everything. She's never had a boyfriend before but she runs off with some guy who just gave her the time a day. She's out there on her own with someone she doesn't know at all just because he fancied her.

Maybe she should have developed faster. Maybe her brain should have just developed.

"Dally," I said. "We've been drivin' a while." I looked at the now dirt road. "You sure you know where you're going?"

He tossed his bud out the window.

"Is this even a place?" Ponyboy stuck his head out the window. "We're in the middle of the woods. This isn't even a road."

Dally sneered. "Thanks Einstein."

"Seriously," I said. "You know where we're going?"

He turned his head and looked at me and I knew he didn't know where we were...but he knew where Ronnie was.

Ponyboy slumped back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. "Guys, I think we should turn back."

"He knows where we're goin'." I looked back at him.

He rested his head against the window. "We've been driving for hours in the woods. Obviously he doesn't."

I twisted back around. "What is your problem?" He shrugged and looked away. "No, go ahead and say it. You've had a problem since we got in the car, now talk. You were all for talking just a second ago."

"Back off," Dally said.

Pony huffed. "Leave me alone."

"No," I leaned in. "I'm sick of the way you've been acting. All you've done for the past week is whine and cry and yell at everyone. I'm sick of it!"

Pony rolled his eyes. "Ok, Mom."

"Don't call me that."

Dally slightly chuckled and turned the volume up on an Elvis song. I slung back around and sat down in my seat, crossing my arms. "Leave the kid alone."

Trees aren't the most interesting thing to look at when you're in a moving vehicle. The country has never caught my eye. We used to take road trips as kids. Mom and Dad found it exciting to drive through the woods. I used to hate those trips.

If I only knew there wouldn't be anymore.

"Dallas."

"What?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Do you...well, will Ronnie...will he..." He turned and looked at me. "Is he dangerous? Like...will he hurt her?"

Ponyboy shuffled in back and sat up to listen.

Dally's hand gripped the wheel tighter as he turned back to the road. "Nah," he chuckled. "Kid wouldn't hurt a fly. Too soft."

"How do you know?" Pony asked. "You haven't seen him in a while right? People could change."

Dally shook his head and laughed. "Kid's probably still a virgin. Touching girls wasn't his forte."

"I think it's going to storm," Pony stated. "I don't think we should be out here when it does."

I propped my feet up on the dash. "We'll be fine. We're in a car in the woods. It's not like we'd hit anything other than a tree. We'll be fine. Relax."

"You don't know that."

"Well fine...we'll all die. You happy?"

He adjusted himself in his seat, making a squeaking sound. Sheila was groaning along with him. "We should go home."

"Why are you so worried about that?" I kicked the dash lightly with my foot.

"Because I just don't want to go," he snapped. "Would you stop attacking me?"

"How am I attacking you?" I asked, turning around. "You're the one that's sitting back there like a little baby who can't get their way."

"Am not."

"Sure." I spun back around.

Sheila was starting to pick up speed as Dally hit the gas harder.

Ponyboy hummed. "I don't get why I couldn't just have gone with Soda," he grumbled. "Why did Darry have to stick me here?"

"Well I'm so sorry we suck," I huffed. "He probably did because no one else wanted to put up with you."

"No he didn't."

"Yes he did."

"No he didn't!"

Dally slammed on the gas. "Would you two shut the-"

Then it popped. The whole car almost jumped off the ground. Everyone was quiet as smoke starting to come from the hood and the car stopped moving. The great Sheila had just kicked the bucket.

I guess it's all about the dream. The ends justify the means. I'm telling you, shit is fucked up. You know it's all about the dream. The ends justify the means. Justify the means.