Ponyboys POV

I walked down a street that had houses basically falling apart. It was around seven in the morning, and the sun was already starting to rise. I was kind of scared to get to this Matthews person's house. I kept thinking: 'Who was there?' 'Did the people I'm looking for still live there?' 'Do I have any other family?' I was so lost in thought that I didn't even realize I was walking past the house marked on the map until I accidentally hit the mailbox. The mailbox was fine, but my stomach wasn't. After getting my composure I looked up at the house in front of me. It was nice, for the kind of Neighborhood it was in. it was white, and had a black roof, and black shutters. The front door was yellow, and there was a small garden on both sides of the house. I could see the back yard from where I stood. There was a football lying on the ground.

football.

I had played that sport once, I was sure of it, but with...who?

'Well, here goes nothing' I thought. I walked past the gray ford falcon in the driveway and walked up to the door. I took a deep breath and knocked. I could hear someone rustling around inside.

A few seconds later the door flung open and an older lady, about forty or forty-five, was standing there. She had long sand colored hair with a hint of gray. She looked at me confused. "I'm sorry, who are you?" She asked in a heavy country accent. I realized that the clothes I was wearing were probably more expensive than her whole house, and it must have been weird to see me standing in her doorway in this rundown neighborhood. "Uhm, hi" I said, trying to find the right words. "Is there someone here named Matthews?" I asked, in the most innocent tone I could manage. her face softened a bit, and she said in a calm upbeat voice, "You're speaking to her, the one and only!" She was very cheerful now. "Oh, uhm ok, my name is Ponyboy Curtis and I-" her face immediately fell into anger, and she stared at me. I stopped talking, I was kind of scared now. she was Matthews and she could give me answers.

"Now you listen to me kid!" she said angrily. "This ain't Funny! This is some real serious shi-" She stopped mid-sentence and stared at my face, before grabbing my chin and looking turning it to the right. "The birthmark..." she said, so quietly I could barely hear her. she licked her thumb and rubbed a spot on the bone right next to my eye. "It really is you..." she said, a bit louder.

"Uhm, Miss?" I said, a bit confused at her change of tone. "Is something wro-" Before I could finish, she hugged me so tight I couldn't breathe. "Oh My God, I thought we would never see you again!" She was still hugging me. "Uhm...E-ex-excuse me Miss, B-but I c-c-can't b-b-breathe." I said between gasps. She immediately let go and stared at me. "Right, sorry" she said, not sounding so apologetic. "Oh My God you even look like her..." She murmured. "Who?" I asked blankly. Who was 'her'? "Annie, you have curves and everything..." She suddenly snapped out of her daze and ushered me into the house. she started throwing question after question at me.

"Are you hurt?"

"No"

"Were you abused?"

"N-no?"

"Are you still a Virgin?"

"I uh- Think...so?" I said kind of thrown off guard. "I don't really remember." I added, hoping she would take that as a good enough answer. she thankfully did and backed up into the kitchen. She leaned against the cabinets and put her hand to her head. She then looked at me "The others, are they back to?" I nodded. "Oh, what are the boys gonna say!" she exclaimed. "Boys?" I was confused "what boys?" I asked. She went a ghostly shade of white. "You...Don't remember? Your brothers, Darry, Sodapop... Keith...Dally...Johnny...Steve!" She slowly got faster and faster as she became more panic stricken. "The people who love you and raised you...partially" she added, I shook my head. I wished I remembered for her sake. Somehow, she became even paler than she was before, and her eyes were as wide as saucers. She seemed to think for a moment before leaving the room, muttering "I'll be right back" or "Stay there" or something along those lines. I took a moment to study the house.

It was a Very open house, with only a small archway separating the Living room from the dining room, Kitchen, Bedrooms, and Bathrooms. The walls were blue, and the baseboards and ceiling were white. There were two blue couches facing each other with a small oak wood coffee table In the middle. there was a tv playing 'Breakfast at tiffanies' and there was a clock on the wall. Pictures hung on the walls as well. One caught my eye. It was of seven, small children, all different ages.

The biggest one, who was in the middle, had dark brown hair and ice blue eyes. The one directly to his right looked like Miss Matthews, Except he had blonde hair, and Gray eyes. Next to Miss Matthews' son was a smaller boy who had light brown skin, black hair, and black eyes. I decided that He was the one Zander reminded me of, even though I had never met the boy, at least I don't think. On the other side of the boy in the middle, Directly to his left, was another boy, who looked as if he could kill you right then and there. He had curly blonde, almost white hair, and blue eyes, lighter than the boy in the middle. Colder than the boy in the middle. Next to the toe-headed kid was another blonde. He had wavey wheat-gold hair, and chocolate brown eyes. He looked alot like the kid in the middle. The boy next to him had black hair, and brown eyes. He looked kind of mean, but I could tell him and the Wheat-gold haired boy were friends. Lastly, there was one, small child who looked to be about four or five. he had curly auburn hair that was just past his ears. He had bright green eyes and freckles. He looked like if Bambi became human. He looked like the spitting image of the boy in the middle, but younger and different hair and eye colors.

I hung the picture back on the wall. I didn't want to look at it anymore, it gave me a weird feeling.

I continued to look around.

The kitchen was a normal kitchen, with an oven, microwave, and cabinets. The dining table had seven chairs, but by the looks of it, Only Miss Matthews lived there.

speaking of, just then Miss Matthews came back into the kitchen.

"You...You should go take a shower, get changed, and then you can come back out here, and we can talk." She handed me a white t-shirt, black jeans, and white socks. "You can take off your shoes or put them back on when you get out." She said, then pushed me into a bathroom at the back of the house.

I looked around the bathroom, it was cute and cozy. The wallpaper had blue, white, and black flowers scattered around, some overlapping the others. To my right was the sink and right beyond the sink was the toilet. The sink countertop was blue and white marble, and the cabinet was white wood. To my left, right in front of the sink, was a giant cabinet that went to the ceiling. It was full of white and blue towels. right next to the cabinet was a marble shower that had curtains pulled back as if it were a window instead of a shower.

I looked in the mirror. I shockingly recognized the person staring back as the youngest kid in the photo. except, older. I was right about my hair, it was auburn, but more on the red side, it was cut in a wolf cut Mullet, and had a lot of volume. It was too wavy to be called curly, but too curly to be called wavey. My bangs were covering parts of my forehead, and they fell into my eyes, causing me to be a bit blind. when I moved my bangs, I saw my bright green, emerald eyes. I looked on the side of my head where the lady rubbed her finger and saw a semi-noticeable brown spot on the side of my face, right next to my eye. It was the birthmark she was talking about. I took off my glasses and my clothes, studying myself in the mirror. She was right, I didn't have muscle like a boy, I had curves and dips like a girl, which was odd considering I am a boy, No doubt about that. I got in the shower and let the hot water run down my body.

About ten minutes later, I got out and put on the clothes the lady gave me. they were a bit big but it would do. I walked out to see Miss Matthews sitting on the couch with some almonds on the coffee table in a bowl. I sat down opposite of her. she gave me a look, as if she was itching to ask a question. I asked one first, hoping that maybe her answering would jog my memory and maybe I would be able to help her more afterwards.

"What...Happened?" I asked, Hesitating a little.

She sighed. scratching her arms. I grabbed an almond. It tasted really good, and oddly familiar. Had I eaten this before? I continued to eat while she spoke.

"Well, it was your first day of kindergarten" she started "you were really excited to go to school. you weren't supposed to start until the next year but when we were signing Sodapop up for school, they wanted to test you and you were already ready to start school." She paused before continuing. "The boys said they were going to hang out around the football field after school, so I told them to be back by dinner, and make sure you got on the right bus to come home." She took a shaky breath. "Well, around 3 o'clock the bus showed up, but you weren't on it. so, I assumed you were with the boys, but just to make sure, I called the school. They told me you got on a bus, but they were not sure which one. they asked all the bus drivers, but none had seen a kid that looked even remotely like you. I knew something bad had happened. and when I heard that five others went missing, and a bus was stolen, I put the pieces together and I broke down. I had failed Darrel and Annie." She was crying now "When the boys got home, I told them what happened, and they all threw a fit. Darry and Keith went out to look for you but that did no good. Sodapop and Johnny were sobbing, and Dallas and Steve just stood there." She then looked at me. "We loved you a lot, we still do. Every year around your birthday we'd buy chocolate cake and eat it as a celebration. it was your favorite flavor after all."

I stared at her blankly. I didn't know what to say. what do you say?

I looked anywhere but her and my eyes landed on something on side table next to the couch. it was old newspapers I hadn't noticed my first time I looked around. she noticed what I was looking at and frowned, but reached over and grabbed the old headline and gave it to me. It read:

Tragedy strikes, once again.

I read on.

Date: August 5th, 1955

In a shocking turn of events, six children have gone missing after boarding a stolen bus in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The incident has sparked a frantic search by local authorities and concerned community members, as fears for the safety of the missing children continue to grow.

The incident unfolded on August 3rd when a school bus was reported stolen from Will Rogers elementary school. The bus, which was supposed to transport students' home after school, mysteriously vanished from the designated parking area. It is believed that the perpetrator(s) gained unauthorized access to the bus and posed as a school bus driver to lure the kids inside the bus. after getting the desired number of kids, they drove off undetected.

The identities of the missing children have been released by the authorities. They are Zander Brooks, Philip Walker, Frits Connor, Ariana Patton, Kyoko Kawakami, and Ponyboy Curtis. Each child's family is devastated and desperate for any information that could lead to their safe return.

Local law enforcement agencies, including the Tulsa Police Department, have launched an extensive search operation. Multiple teams of officers, detectives, and K-9 units have been deployed to comb through nearby neighborhoods, wooded areas, and other potential hiding spots. Additionally, aerial searches using helicopters equipped with thermal imaging technology are being conducted throughout the region.

Authorities are urging anyone with information about the stolen bus or the whereabouts of the missing children to come forward immediately. They have set up a dedicated hotline * * * for tips related to this case. Callers can remain anonymous if desired.

Parents and guardians in the community are understandably shaken by this alarming incident. Many are questioning how such a security breach could occur within the school district. School officials have assured parents that they are working closely with law enforcement to investigate the circumstances surrounding the stolen bus and to implement additional safety measures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

I looked up at Miss Matthews, A million questions running through my head. I was confused, to say the least. She looked back at me "They stopped searching" she said, anger in her voice. "They said that in 99% of missing children cases, the children were dead within the first seven to twelve hours. We didn't believe them...for a while. eventually we had to come out of the daydream you were going to come back and live on." She paused then continued. "We never got over you, we just couldn't continue when you were never going to be able to. It took a while but a month ago I was able to convince Keith, Darry, and Sodapop to move out. They said it was because they didn't want me in this big house alone, but I knew it was because of the memories that they had with you, they couldn't let them go. But they had to move on, it's been eleven years..." she trailed off. "E-Eleven years?" I asked, dumbfounded. Eleven years? It couldn't have been that long, could it? I don't remember any of it... at all. I jumped when I heard the phone ring. We both looked up at the phone. "That must be the boys," she said, standing up and walking over to the phone. before picking it up she turned to me and said: "Go get some sleep, we can talk some more later" It was only 12 pm but I obeyed, I was tired anyways.

I walked into the room at the end of the hall. When I walk in, there are two twin-size beds with white sheets and blue blankets. 'I'm starting to see a theme here' I thought. I sat on the bed next to the window and looked around. there were two wooden wardrobes, two dressers, and two full length mirrors, one for each bed I assumed. I looked out of the window, the sunlight hurting my eyes. I saw the backyard, and that football. I remember the backyard, playing in it at least. I laid my head on the pillow and was immediately hit with tiredness. My eye lids felt heavy, and my breathing was becoming even. and before I knew it, I was asleep.

A/N alright that's it for today, even though no one is going to read this lol