For The Love of a Greaser
Chapter 40
Fight For Life
"Abigail!" Eden screamed, running forward toward her sister.
Once there, she fell to her knees, tears falling. She didn't know what to do. They merely stepped into the house, only to find Abigail and her father at the top of the stairs with Abigail pinned to the wall, then being shoved down the stairs a moment later.
"Abby!" Eden choked out, trying to shake her sister.
"Eden, don't," Ponyboy told her quickly, pulling her away enough to stop her from shaking her.
If anything was broken, he didn't want to make it worse.
"No...no, Abby!" Eden cried, trying to pull away.
Her sister didn't move though, staying right where she was, her head tilted to the side at an odd angle. To Ponyboy, it was obvious that her neck was possibly broken, which is why he kept Eden away.
"Two-Bit, do something," Ponyboy tried, holding tightly onto Eden.
Two-Bit quickly made his way over to the phone, dialing 9-1-1. At the same time, Eden's father stood at the top of there stairs with a blade in his hand, his other hand clutching his bleeding side. To be honest, Eden wasn't sure what to think as she sat there, hands shaking as Ponyboy held onto her. In the background, she heard Two-Bit's frantic voice as he spoke into the phone, almost yelling at one point in frustration.
T
As Darry pulled up to the house, he found himself confused as he sat there, the sound of yelling meeting his ears. What was more confusing was the fact that it was Two-Bit yelling, something that wasn't often heard at all given his happy go lucky and laid back nature.
"The heck is goin on?" Darry mumbled, turning off the engine and getting out of the truck, rain pelting down on him once more.
He let out a small groan as he moved toward the house, the rain soaking into his clothes and hair like it had earlier. The continued as he stepped onto the porch, opening the door.
"Would you stop yelling?" Darry said in annoyance.
His breath soon caught in his throat though as his eyes caught sight of everything in front of him, his lips parting and his eyes going wide.
"Abigail?" he whispered, dropping his tool belt onto the ground, quickly going over to her side.
He fell to his knees a moment later, hands shaking, not knowing what to do.
"A-Abigail?" he choked out, his fingers brushing her cheek.
She didn't respond though, merely laying there quietly without a single word. This just made things worse for Darry as he sat there, eyes stinging as he tried to fight back the tears. He didn't know what to do.
"Just hurry!" Two-bit yelled into the phone, slamming it back down onto the receiver afterward. "You did this!" Two-Bit yelled angrily, pointing toward the man at the top of the stairs, Darry's eyes following upward.
Upon seeing the man standing there, Darry felt anger rise within him. Within seconds, he was at the top of the stairs, his hand wrapped around the mans throat.
"Why? Why!" Darry yelled, his voice shaky.
The others merely stayed where they were, watching the scene unfold before them.
At this point, Roger had already dropped the blade, his eyes staring into Darry's piercing blue gaze. He felt a stab of fear go through him as he stood there, bak pressed firmly into the wall. He mustered up enough courage though to spit on his, a fist flying into his face a moment later, knocking him onto the floor. Darry had to hold back from hitting him again as he stood there, hands shaking, mouth twitching. He was so angry, he could hardly contain it.
"Darry!" Ponyboy yelled from the bottom of the steps, his voice frantic.
Darry turned his head to look down the stairs, finding Abigail's chest heaving painfully. She was having problems breathing.
"Abigail," he breathed, quickly moving back down the stairs. "Come on, just hold on," he told her, falling to his knees beside her, taking his hand in his.
He had no clue if she could even hear him, but he was still trying.
"They're coming," Ponyboy said, hearing the ambulance in the distance.
At this, Two-Bit quickly went outside, standing there in front of the house and waving his hands around like a maniac. He didn't want them to pass the house up, especially when they didn't know how much time that they had.
"Over here! Over here!" Two-Bit yelled, jumping up and down, waving all over the place.
T
"Hey, Steve, were ya think they're headed?" Soda asked, watching an ambulance fly by the DX and down the street.
"I don't know, probably a bunch of stupid kids or somethin," Steve shrugged, making a few more adjustments on the car he was working on while Soda tried finishing up the brakes on the other car.
T
"Move out of the way," one of the paramedics said, running in with a stretcher.
Everyone watched as they carefully lifted Abigail onto it, securing her head and limbs.
"Please, she's having trouble breathing," Darry told them, watching as they lifted the stretcher, carrying her toward the door.
Darry followed them out, not wanting to leave her, watching as they loaded her into the ambulance.
"Go on, we'll catch up," Two-Bit told him, standing by the door as another paramedic came in to help the girls' father.
"Alright," Darry nodded, tossing Two-Bit his keys. "Take the truck."
"Alright, now get going," Two-Bit pushed, shoving Darry.
He nodded quickly, jumping into the ambulance before they closed the doors, his hands going to Abigail's as she laid there on the stretched with an air mask over her nose and mouth. He just hoped that she'd be alright, otherwise, he wasn't sure what he'd do. After all, at this point, he couldn't imagine living his life day to day without her in it.
T
"There they go again," Steve pointed out, watching one of the ambulances go by.
They were surprised after another went by a few minutes later, Darry's truck following close behind.
"Soda, we got a problem," Steve called out warily.
"Huh?" Soda sat up, wiping his hands.
"That was Darry's truck followin behind them and he wasn't the one driving it either," he pointed out, earning a curious look from Soda.
"Oh crap," Soda groaned, pushing himself up, before running inside and grabbing his wallet. "I'm done, let's go," he said quickly running off down the street with Steve following behind him, nearly tripping along the way.
"Hey, buddy, wait up!" Steve called.
Soda just kept running though, not bothering to look behind him as he ran. He hated to admit it, but it looked like Dally might have been right all along.
T
"Step on it or we're going to lose her!" one of the paramedics shouted, watching as Abigail's breathing got worse.
He then turned to Darry with a serious look, one hand keeping the breathing mask over Abigail's faces.
"We don't have much time to spare once we get to the hospital, so I need you tell me everything that you can," he told Darry.
"I'll try," Darry nodded, looking down at Abigail.
"I need to know what happened."
"Unfortunately, all I know is that I came home and found her at the bottom of the stairs. If I had to take a guess, she was pushed. "The problems with her breathing started a bit after that. That's all I know," Darry told him, afraid that he wasn't much help.
"She probably has a broken rib or two then. One of them could have punctured a lung," the man informed him, checking her pulse. "She's going to have to go into surgery right away."
Darry flinched when he heard this. Surgery meant waiting even longer and there was no guarantee that she would actually make it out or not in her condition. Honestly, at this point, it was a roll of the dice. He'd have to sit back to find out his chances, find out his roll, and if he was lucky he'd win.
T
"Can't you go any faster?" Eden asked, quickly losing her patience as Two-Bit drove down the street in Darry's truck.
"I'm tryin," Two-Bit told her, wishing that she'd just sit back and be quiet.
After all, he didn't need to blow Darry's engine by over doing it. They'd still get there, even if it wasn't as fast as Eden would like.
T
"Alright, out of the way everyone," the paramedic said hurriedly as he pushed the cart into the hospital, Darry following quickly behind.
He barely even registered what was being said between those around him as they rolled her down the hallway toward surgery, her breathing becoming more of a struggle with every minute that passed by.
"Are you with the young woman that they just brought in?" a nurse asked, coming to stand in front of him.
"Y-yes," Darry nodded.
"May I ask your relationship is to her?" she asked, holding a clipboard in her hands.
"I...I'm," he paused for a moment before continuing. "I'm her fiance," he told her.
He did this in case any other problems were to arise. After all, it was pretty close to the truth anyway. Not to mention, other than her sister, Darry and the gang were all that she had as far as family went.
"And you're name, sir?"
"Darrel Curtis," he told her.
"Mr. Curtis, could you please fill out as much information as you can for me?" she asked, handing him the clipboard and pencil.
He nodded his head as he took it into his hands, following her as she led him through a set of doors for surgery waiting.
"I'll be back in a few minutes to collect it," she informed him, walking back through the doors.
This left him standing there with the clipboard in his hands, finally allowing him to fall into a chair. Even though he didn't want to, he knew that he had to fill the paper out to the best of his ability before finally falling apart.
Name: Abigail Lee Winters
Age: 20
Gender: Female
Weight: 119
Height: 5'5"
Allergies: N/A
Pre-existing conditions: None
Past injuries: Broken arm, shoulder wound
He couldn't really think of much more for that, so he laid the clipboard down on one of the chairs beside him, resting his head in his hands.
"How did it come to this?" he whispered, his finger curling into his hair as he pinched his eyes closed. "Abigail..."
His mind went back to what he'd seen in the house, her body laying there on the ground in a crumpled heap, her head laid to the side, her legs sitting at a slight angle. Even the bit of blood on her temple. He could see it all. He hadn't known what to do when he'd seen her laying there like that, tears swelling in his eyes.
He let out a grunt as he pulled at his hair, the images tearing away at him. He had no clue if she'd make it or not, if they'd been too late in getting her to the hospital. He felt that he might die if she didn't make it, causing his shoulders to shake a bit. He couldn't lose her.
"Darry?"
He lifted his head to find Ponyboy standing there with Eden and Two-Bit, a worried look on his face.
"Pony?" he nearly choked out, trying his best to seem strong.
"How is she?" he asked slowly.
"I...I don't know," he told him, hanging his head. "They took her into surgery a bit ago," he explained, sitting there in his chair.
"Dar, I'm sorry," Ponyboy sighed, coming to sit beside him, leaving Two-bit standing there with his arm around Eden whom seemed just as shaken as Darry.
Darry merely shook his head at this as he looked over at Eden, finding her trying to best not to cry as she held onto Two-Bit. She looked ready to collapse onto the floor any minute.
"Get her a seat," Darry said quietly, letting go of his hair to sit up properly for the most part.
"Who's gonna call Dally?" Ponyboy asked after a moment, looking around at everyone.
Darry stiffened at this, but stood nonetheless.
"I will," he said, moving down the hall and through the doors to find a phone, leaving the others behind to sit there.
"You think he's gonna be okay?" Ponyboy asked, looking over at Two-Bit.
"I don't know kid. It all depends on how things turn out from here," he said honestly, seating Eden down on one of the chair, pulling his jacket from his shoulders and wrapping it around her.
T
Darry stood there in front of the phone, dialing the number that he wanted. A moment later, it was ringing in his ear, until someone picked up.
"Hello?" the gruff voice spoke.
"Hey, Buck, it's Darrel. Is Dallas around?" he asked, leaning up against the wall.
"Yeah, hold on, he's playin cards."
He stood there waiting for a moment, tapping his foot against the wall.
"Hello?"
"Dally, it's Darrel," he said.
"Hey, man, what's up? I was just playin cards with a few of the guys," he told him.
"Somethin happened," Darry said after a moment, staring at the wall in front of him.
"Huh? What's goin on?" Dally asked, unsure of the answer that he'd get. "Darry?"
"It's Abigail," he said after a moment, taking in a deep breath.
"What happened?"
"I..."
"Tell me," Dally demanded.
"She's in surgery right now," he whispered.
"What!"
This made Darry pull the phone away from his ear, wincing slightly.
"She fell down the stairs... It's pretty bad Dal," Darry sighed, running a hand through hair.
It was silent for a minute, putting Darry on edge, before Dally finally spoke.
"I'll be there in a few, just give me a minute, alright?"
"Yeah, sure Dal. When you get here, just ask for me and the nurse will bring you back."
"Alright. See ya in a few."
They hung up after that and Darry was sure Dally was ready to beat the crap outta something. Darry was shocked a moment later though when a group with a crash cart came rushing by, going down into surgery, the doors bursting open. His heart nearly stopped when they went into her room, his breath catching in his throat.
"Abigail," he breathed, running down the hall.
He then watched through a small window as they tried to restart her heart, panic raising in his chest.
"Come on, come on," he whispered, his hand pressed against the window as he watched the electricity pour into her chest. "Abigail...please," he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut. "Please, you have to hang on."
T
Inside the room the doctors were trying frantically to try and fix Abigail's lung, while at the same time getting her heart to start back up, blood soaking a few rags.
"Come on. Clear," one of the doctors called, pressing the paddles to her chest once more, her body jolting upward from the electricity before falling back to the table.
"She's still crashing!" one called out, putting a bit of gel on the paddles.
One doctors eyes caught Darry's, watching the look on his face as he watched through the window, the man's eyes watering. They'd seen that look many times when emergency patients came in. Some made it, some didn't, but they tried their best to get them through.
"Again. Clear!" the doctor called, pressing the paddles to Abigail's chest again, her body nearly leaping off of the table.
There was no change.
"Again!" the doctor yelled, letting the paddles recharge, before pressing them to Abigail's chest once more.
This time, the monitor started beeping back into place, a sigh of relief leaving everyone in the room. One of the doctors then turned toward the window and gave Darry a smile, assuring him that everything was fine again.
"Alright, now lets get her stitched up the rest of the way and clean," he announced, putting the paddles back in their place, the rest of the doctors going back to their jobs in the surgical room.
T
Darry let out a sigh of relief once they managed to stabilize her again, slowly letting his back slide down the wall, until he sat on the floor. Everyone else stood there and watched, their nerves on edge as well.
"She'll make it Dar. Don't worry, she will, she's gotta," Two-Bit told him. "Besides, she's got a stud like you waitin for her, so why would you not come back?" Two-Bit chuckled, trying to lighten the mood a bit.
He then watched as Darry let out a small chuckle, the corners of his lips twitching slightly.
"See? It'll be alright man, just you wait."
T
"Come on, man, hurry up and get outta the car," Dally said in annoyance as he killed the engine and got out, stuff the keys in his pocket.
Again, he'd borrowed Buck's car. He'd even picked Steve and Soda up on the way, finding them running toward the hospital. The stupid kids were dumb enough to try and run the whole way through the bloody rain.
"Idiots," Dally muttered, walking through the entrance and into the hospital.
He went right to the front desk, not bothering to wait for the two behind him.
"I'm lookin for a friend of mine, said he'd be waiting in surgery for Abigail Winters," Dally breathed, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"Ah, yes, just go down that hallway and through those doors. You'll find him there," she told him, pointing down the hallway behind her.
"Thanks," Dally muttered, quickly making his way down the hallway, Steve and Soda running behind him to catch up.
The moment they pushed through the doors, they found Darry and the others sitting over against the wall, Darry butt on the floor while the others sat in chairs. Dally could see through one of the little windows where they trying to sew someone up, unsure of who it was.
"Darry," Soda cried, making his way over to his brother.
Dally merely stood there, watching Steve take a seat in one of the chair. He found it a bit curious that the kid didn't even say anything.
"So, anyone mind fillin me in?" Dally asked, raising an eyebrow in question as he looked at the others.
Eden wasn't able to make eye contact with him as she sat there, pulling Two-Bit's jacket around herself a bit more.
"Her dad pushed her down the stairs," Two-Bit grunted, gritting his teeth. "Broke her neck a rib or two. Even busted a lung or something. They just got done restarting her heart to," he explained, waiting for Dally to go off.
It didn't take long though, before Dally's hand curled into a fist, his anger rising.
"They had to do what?"
"Her heart stopped and they had to restart it," Ponyboy pipped up from his seat.
Dally didn't say a word though as he turned toward the other wall, pressing his forehead against it, before slamming it with his fist. It was obvious how much hearing this bothered him. After all, how could it not bother him? He still had a heart after all. He couldn't help, but to be mad though, feeling himself itching to punch the man that caused it.
"Where is he?" Dally grunted, turning toward Two-Bit.
"I don't know, probably in the other hallway or somethin. Abby got him with a blade, so they're probably stitching him up or takin him for a scan or somethin," Two-Bit told him. "Personally, I don't give a damn as long as he stays away. The bastards drunk."
"Doesn't give him an excuse," Dally nearly spat, looking over at Eden whom hung her head.
She wasn't sure how to take any of it. In fact, she still wasn't quite sure what had happened, but she wasn't sure she wanted to be around her father right now. Truth be told, she hadn't even realized that he was drunk.
"Sit down. I don't need you doing anything stupid right now," Darry said firmly, still sitting there on the floor.
"Fine," Dally grumbled, plopping down in one of the seats as he leaned backward til his chair was balancing itself. "But I'm gonna kill that guy."
"Not unless you want her to kill you, you won't," Darry pointed out, only lifting his head to eye Dally for a short moment. "She'd kill you if you did anything stupid."
"Yeah, whatever man, whatever."
As promised, I got the next installment out the same day. I hope that everyone liked it and wasn't left wanting to kill me? Lol. Anyway, don't forget to REVIEW and MESSAGE me with your thoughts, opinions, ideas, and feelings on this chapter/story? I LOVE hearing FEEDBACK. It keeps me HAPPY and helps me WRITE. SERIOUSLY IT DOES! Plus, a happy ME equals a happy YOU. So REVIEW! Thanks everyone and keep an eye out for the next one. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK? IDEAS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME.