Hi. Don't own. I hope you enjoy. Bye!

I don't remember much after that. I wasn't completely unconscious, but wasn't awake either. Everything looked like the special effects in Star Wars, all light and blasting sound and a babble of voices.

I woke up in an unfamiliar bed, although I didn't panic. I was too tired to care if I had been kidnapped by exceptionally generous kidnappers or if I was dead or whatever. I wondered if dead people felt tired.

"Pony boy?" A woman in pajamas asked shining a light in my eyes. I blinked. "Good, your reactions are fine." I seethed angrily, wondering if there was any possible way she could test my reactions without blinding me by a white light.

"Would you like to see your family?"

I shrugged. "Sure." I wasn't really in the mood, but I figured my siblings would want to see me. Darry was probably disappointed that I wasn't going to get that scholarship now, Soda was gonna be loud and my head hurt quite enough as it was. I braced myself for the entourage of people, but I hardly noticed when my family walked in.

"Uh, hi?" I asked questioningly, wondering why no one was talking.

"Hi Pony." Darry said quietly, not looking me in the eyes, the exact same way he had looked when he had told us that mom and dad had died. My heart sank.

"Who died?" I asked as a joke. Yeah, I know, it wasn't particularly funny, and became even less funny as I surveyed the room. Everyone in the gang was there, all of them looking anywhere but at me. They all looked fine, and there wasn't really anyone else I would care about...except me, the person lying in the hospital bed. "Oh." I said quietly, realization dawning. It took me all of two seconds to assess what I had to do. If I was really dying, I was a goner, quite literally. But I didn't have to make my last few...however long I had, a living hell for everyone else.

"Well that sucks ass." I exclaimed, grinning widely. I almost smiled for real when they all looked up at me in surprise at once, like dogs that had caught scent of a cooking hamburger.

"What did you say?"

"I said that sucks?" Geez Darry, are you hard of hearing now as well as emotionless? When no one made any further comment I asked (as casually as I could under the circumstances) "So... Just one quick question before we change the subject...actually a couple questions, one, what have I got, two, how long?"

"No one ever said you were dying." Steve growled at me.

"He did." I gestured at Darry who had his 'I'm-gonna-tell-you-some-awful-life-changin-news' face on. "And him-" Soda was biting his lip, obviously trying to not show emotions, "And him-" Johnny with his puppy dog eyes, "-Also him-" Lastly I gestured to Two-Bit who wasn't smiling and hadn't cracked one joke. "So really Steve, you're the only one who hasn't told me that I'm dying, so I repeat, what, and how long?"

"Pony boy-"

"Darry, I swear to god, if the next words out of your mouth don't answer my question, I will take out this needle thing that's probably doing something important." I gestured to the IV in my arm.

"Brain tumor. Only about 2 months." Darry said bluntly. "But, I've talked to the nurses and there are possibilities-"

"Darry, No. Get me the hell out of this hospital right now and let me go home. Of let me "Ylose on the streets, I don't care, but I'm not consuming your time, money, and hopes by having some doctor poke around inside my head."

"Pony, you could live almost half a year more with medicine-" Soda prompted gently.

"Yes, and what a good year that would be. I repeat, I want out of this hospital. and if you wont let me, I am old enough to become an emancipated minor and I will."

Steve chortled. "Kid, you don't have the brains to live on the streets."

"Apparently I don't have the brains to live at all so might as well spend my remaining time out of a hospital." Two-Bit laughed brashly at that. Everyone looked at him.

"Hey, the kid has a point!"

The nurse re-entered, probably protecting Two-Bit from a severe beating from Darry.

"Excuse me?" I asked the nurse, using my best 'adult voice.' "Hi, we have made a decision that I would rather die at home without any medication except aspirin and the occasional tylonal. So...can we sign some papers to get out of here? He's my legal guardian. He can answer an further logistical questions you have. I would like to be out of here within the hour, if at all possible."

"Uh..." The nurse obviously wasn't used to being talked to like this by a child. I rolled my eyes.

"Darry, could you please help her out? Preferably not in here so I can get ready to go home. The rest of you can leave too."

The gang shuffled out, a couple sparing glances back at me. As soon as they left, I wrenched the IV from my arm and closed the door and the shades to the window. I sat back on my bed, the sudden movement making my head spin and my vision blur.

I put my face between my knees and took deep breaths. So, this is what dying felt like. In a way, I was relieved. Relieved of all stress. The only reason humans have stress is because of the future. Test next monday? Who will I marry? Will I be successful? What will happen next?

None of that mattered anymore.

There was only one dead line that mattered. And I mean a literal dead line. I wondered if this meant that I should start going to church again.

I was feeling better, and took advantage of this brief moment and began to put on my civilian clothes. I looked at my reflection in the window. It was dark out, probably the night after the track tournament.

My hair was a mess and there were bags under my eyes. I brushed my hair to one side, then messed it up again, realizing it didn't really matter.

I knew that this was my chance to cry-I would be attacked by an onslaught of sympathy from this moment until my dying day.

But I couldn't bring myself to tears. Maybe it's for the best. I thought.

Maybe I was being selfish, but in this situation the line between selfish and selfless is practically non-exsistent.

I thought of my family after I died. The worst thing was, it wasn't hard to think of. nothing would really change. I was so different from the rest of them, I hardily talked to them anyways. If there was an afterlife, I wouldn't miss them, and I knew the feeling was mutual.

So I did shed a tear, but It wasn't one of sadness that I would have to leave-I was regretful.

And I only had 2 months to change that.