Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders or the song Decode.

A/N: Thank you all very much for the lovely reviews. :) I love you all. Two updates this week! Cheers for Spring break!

The truth is hiding in your eyes and it's hanging on your tongue. Just boiling in my blood, but you think that I can't see what kind of man that you are if you're a man at all. Well, I will figure this one out on my own.

There's a time when we break down. Emotions crash into us, making us feel what our brain and body is trying to hid from us. It eats away the thick wall our bodies have built up just for this reason. Emotion over powers. Emotions break it down. Emotions break us down. We all break down and it hits us. Everything hits at once and we break.

It's at this time, everything you've wanted to say for so long comes out. You face your demons in a way. It's your body's way of getting rid of everything you've been building up for so long. The wall crumbles down and as painful as it may be, we all need our walls to come down sometimes. We need to face what we've wanted to. We need to let our emotions be free.

I slipped my wrinkled dollar bill into the vending machine over and over again, it never going in. I didn't really want anything. This was just something to do, pressing this dollar in over and over again until maybe, it'd rip. Then I'd be out of a dollar.

Tears were still building up in my eyes. Darry was still with the doctor. What they could possibly be talking about this long, I didn't want to know. I just wanted to stand here, and push my dollar, ignoring the whole world.

"Danni..."

My eyes turned. He was limping. His face was black and there was some blood, not as much as us. Why would there be though? "What are you doing here?"

He used the wall to hold himself up right. He coughed loudly. "Do you-"

"I know." I let the dollar fall from my hands. I walked toward him, my blood boiling at the site of his face. "I know, Randy." I reached out and put all my anger and energy into one hard shove. "What did you do?"

He gawked at me and caught himself on the wall again. "It was an accident!"

"My ass it was a fucking accident!" I went charging. My mind was racing. My heart was in shock. "Do you even fucking see what you've done? There are people here who are hurt! Who are dying Randy and all you have to say is, it was an accident?"

He pressed his face against the wall. He breathed out slowly, his body shaking with him. "It wasn't supposed to be this way, Dan. I promise it wasn't supposed to go down like this. I swear."

I could hear her high heel shoes click from a mile away. I'd gotten pretty used to that sound. I can pick them out out of thousands. Her blonde hair was the first thing I saw as she rounded the corner, stopping once her eyes saw me.

"You bitch!" I turned, going for her instead. She didn't stand tall anymore. She backed away, stammering words I couldn't hear or care to hear. This was our time now. "How could you?" I shook her trembling body. "How could you do that?"

She held my wrists tight, trying to pry them off of her. "I didn't do anything! Don't blame me! I didn't do it!"

"You did to!" I tightened my grip. Randy came over to us, trying to part us. This was about us now. "I know you did, Marilyn! You killed them! You killed them all! You started that fire."

I didn't notice her tears until now. The tears that have been there for some time. I've only seen Marilyn cry a few times and for a minute I stopped and stared at the shiny wet tears falling from her face. They made her look real. I could see the human side of her through her tears. She was showing weakness. Something she never showed. It threw me off. I stared at her.

"Danni, come on. Leave her-"

"Do you care?" I asked, slightly calm. "Do you actually care that you made a mistake? Perfect little Mar made a mistake? That all of this is because of us! You're trying to get us back for something that you have no fucking idea about!" I pushed her body into the wall. "Do you actually give a damn now?"

She whimpered and shook her head. Her sobs were loud and clear. "Get away from me!"

"What did you do?"

"Danni!"

"What did you do?" I screamed in her less than perfect face. Her make-up less face. Her real face. "What did you do!"

She tried to block her face from me and her body was giving up and wanting to fall to the ground. I kept her upright, wanting her to look me in the eyes and tell me. "It was an accident!"

"My brother is in there dying!" My lungs burned with every escaping word. "You have the fucking nerve to tell me it was an accident? I know better! I know you meant to do it! What the fuck did you do?"

Randy grabbed my body around my waist and tried to pull me off of her. I latched my nails into the wall and kept my face in hers. I wanted to hear her say it. I wanted to make her pay. I wanted her in the palm of my hand. I almost had her. I wanted to destroy her. Just like she did me so long ago.

"Tell me!" I shouted louder, more fierce. "Tell me, goddamnit! Own up to it! It's your prize right? Admit it! Admit it to the fucking world, Marilyn! Say it to my face for the world to hear!"

Randy pulled harder, trying to force me away from her. She turned her face and hit it against the wall. "It got out of hand! It was just supposed to be some prank! H-h-he told me it'd work! The fire wasn't supposed to be that big."

"Who?" I squirmed in Randy's arms. "Tell me who! Who told you to do this?"

She sustained her sobs for a minute. Her eyes were red, almost demonic. The look made me stop kicking, stop squirming. My body went limp. She took a strong breath and spoke, "Michael. Michael gave the orders. Now he's dead, Danni. He's dead."

How did we get here?
When I use to know you so well.
How did we get here?
Well, I think I know.

"We're in the same boat!" she shouted directly in my face. "How do you like that, Danni? My brother is hurt to! Not everything is about you all the time!"

Randy let my body fall. I stood and cornered her. "How dare you." I shoved her shoulders, slamming her body into the hard wall behind her. "You did this! We all did this! Do you not get it?"

Randy tried to interfere, only to be shunned out once again by Marilyn's raging voice. "We didn't do anything! It was an accident!" Her tears started up again, drowning her face. "A stupid mistake! All of it."

"What exactly are you talking about?" I got closer to her. She had nowhere to go. She was cornered. "Are you talking about this mistake? Or something else? Because let me tell you Marilyn, this didn't happen just because!"

Her eyes flashed red again. "Danni-"

"Give me one good reason not to go to the cops right now!" I challenged with a scream. "I'm sure they'd love to hear about you burning the town down too! I bet they'd just eat that up along with-"

Randy pulled me away again. "We had a deal!"

My focus went on him. "You broke that a long time ago."

"We'll take you down with us!" Marilyn shouted, parting Randy and I. "Don't think you're just a bystander. We'll make you burn, Danni!"

I went to her again, eyeing her down. "You've already made me burn. You can't do anything to me that's not already been done. We're already being punished! Can't you see that! This whole thing happened for a reason! Because of us and what we did! Because of you!"

"It was a mistake," Marilyn sobbed again, hiding her face this time and shaking uncontrollably. "It was a mistake!"

"And people are dying because of it!" I slammed the wall behind her head with my fists. "My brother is dying because of us!"

"Mine is too!"

Randy's hand wrapped around mine. "Danni-"

I pushed his hands away from me. This was my fight. My fight with my best friend. "You're a monster. You don't even care. You never cared. What was that you told me? It was for the best. Is this for the fucking best Marilyn? Is it for the best now!"

"You don't know anything!" Her tears ran down her red cheeks. "I didn't cause all of this. You were a part of this too! You were our friend! Don't just stand there and act like you didn't play a part too! You stood right there."

Marilyn looks different when she cries. Normally, Marilyn is perfect, slender. Just one look at her perfect face, crystal eyes, bleach blonde hair, and you'd never think she was anything but perfect. That's what Marilyn wants people to think. When Marilyn cries, you can see every flaw she's tried so long to hid. Everything comes out and Marilyn James is one of us. The common people.

My fingers twitched. Anger was coming. "We did something, Marilyn. We did this. This happened because of what we did. What we covered up for years. It's coming down. It's coming down tonight, Marilyn."

"Danni, don't," she warned with a growl. "I'm begging you. Don't do this."

The blood on her face was running with her tears. I wanted that blood to be because of me. I turned behind me at Randy who stood there, horror and sorrow all over his tired, beaten, face. He barley stood up right. These were the people I trusted. The people I put everything in to. I did everything for them. Everything they asked. Monsters. They were monsters.

"Burn in hell. All of you."

Randy grabbed me, forcing me into a wall. "Shut your mouth!"

"You killed them! You killed them all!" I shouted, tears running at the same pace as Marilyn's. "You started that fire and you killed every one of us! You are no better than Sam! You're murders!"

Randy didn't seem so tired anymore. Instead, he was something different. "Who did we kill, Danni? Who are you talking about? Say it! Fucking say it, Danni! You want to act all tough, say it!"

"You killed him. You killed him, Randy."

His eyes were turning red. The mud and blood on his clothes was getting on me. His grip on me tightened, causing me to wince. "Who! Who, Danni!"

"You know who," I spat. "You think you're tough, Randy? You think you're scaring me? You people are nothing more than trash. You run all over town like hot shit when really, you're full of shit. You played a part in this game."

A small grin appeared on his face. "And so did you."

"Who are you?" I yelled with anger. "You're one of them now! You're a monster, Randy. These lives are on your hands! And I'm going to make sure you pay for every goddamn one of them. All of you!"

His grin faded and anger took over. "The hell you will, Danni. I swear I'll-"

"I'm done!" I sobbed, uncontrollable. "I'm fucking done being your puppet. You can't keep me quiet anymore!"

Randy's upper lip twitched. "We didn't do anything."

"You can keep saying that all you want." I shook my head. "It's not going to change anything. Your best friend is dying. How does that feel? How does it feel knowing you did that?"

The anger and fury in his eyes were taking over. He grinded his teeth together and growled, "How does it feel knowing your brother is dead because of your lies?"

My hand made contact with raw skin. I put everything I had into that slap and the sting was heard throughout the hall. I breathed out strongly. My body was shaking from anger and horror and uneasiness. I watched his face twist and him hiss at the pain.

"Bitch."

"Hey!" His footsteps made the ground under us shake. It was as if a monster was after us. I knew better though. This was just the opposite. This was time for the world to drop. The world to turn upside down. Here we go.

Randy's head rotated around, seeing him. "Of course. A fight isn't a fight without Dallas Winston. God fucking damnit!"

Marilyn backed against the wall. She wasn't so strong anymore. She hadn't been this whole time. I stayed by the wall too. Not because I was scared or frightened by this man like her, but to get a good view of this show. It's surprising this is the first encounter of these two. This time, it was for something more though.

"Back. Away. Ape face."

Randy held his arms up. "Original. C'mon, man. Haven't we had enough tonight?"

This was out of character for Randy. He normally wouldn't tussle with a guy like Dally. But tonight wasn't a normal night. No one was themselves tonight. There was a full moon out, and the werewolf in all of us was coming out. Claws and all.

Dally charged toward him. "Looky, looky what we got. The head coward of Tulsa everybody! Can't fight a fight without some help. Come on Ran, you'll never be the man your momma is."

Randy crossed his arms, unfazed by his taunting. "You don't know anything. This was a mistake, Winston. We didn't mean to take ya'll down that way. Our own men are in there. Don't act like your side was the only one affected."

Dally smirked slyly. "That's right. I hear you dumb fucks knocked down your leader. Did he give you those orders or did you think of that little idea yourself? Big move there, tex. Didn't know you had it in you. We all sprang from apes, but it looks like you didn't spring far enough, ey?"

"Fuck off!"

Dally twisted his back and let out a loud laugh. "You know, I've been wanting to do this for a long fucking time!"

There was a big huff as Dally's fist made contact with Randy's gut. Randy almost fell back, though caught himself. Marilyn spoke up for the first time, though to me. "Danni, god! Stop this! Stop it now!"

"You stop it!" I turned and shouted towards her. "You caused this. You end it!"

Randy hurled himself upright, trying to get a breath. "We're sorry. We didn't mean for it to go this way."

"You keep telling yourself that."

I pressed my back against the wall and covered my mouth. It was time.

The elevator bell rang and two men and uniforms came toward us. My body was numb. I stood, facing them, trembling, knowing why they were here and what was going to happen next. I kept my gaze on them as their heavy shoes pounded against the slick floor getting close to us. I didn't take my eyes off them as they pulled Dally aside.

Tears ran down my cheeks, and I calmly stood, watching them handcuff Dally, throw him against the wall, scream at him. I gulped, wishing there was something that could be done. This was what he wanted. Stepping back and watching, wasn't something I was good at. You've got to remember though; none of us are ourselves tonight.

They stood him upright and his eyes met mine. They started to take him to the elevator when I ran after them. I wanted one last thing. I cupped Dally's face for a mere second as he cried out for me.

"I love you, Curtis. Alright?" He was panicking. It was hitting Dallas Winston. Everything was hitting. His wall had fallen. "I love you!"

Tears dripped down my face and I nodded. "I love you too, Dally. I love you!"

He was gone. His feet tried to stay on the ground, but it was a last attempt. He knew this was going to happen tonight. Just not this way or at this time. No one knew this was supposed to happen tonight. Our world rocked. The world dropped on all of us.

"Danni," a faint voice called. Ponyboy.

My back was to him and my eyes were still aimed at that stupid elevator. I didn't want to move. I didn't want to turn around. I let the tears run and my mind win over my body. I let my emotions win tonight. Here we go. Where's a place to hide?

"Danni." Darry. "We need to talk."

How can I decide what's right? When you're clouding up my mind I can't win your losing fight all the time. Do you see what we've done? We're gonna make such fools of ourselves. Do you see what we've done? We're gonna make such fools of ourselves.