Chapter 12

(Time stood still)

Darry's POV:
I couldn't believe it. The gang was going places. Harley had gotten into USC with a full ride. But then I realized I would have to clean up the pieces of a broken Ponyboy when she left. Wait, where are Pony and Harley? I immediately sobered up and looked around and didn't see Harley still since she went to deal with Ford, but then Pony was gone. Where did he go? I felt my heart start to race. SHIT! "Hey Soda," I said tapping Soda on the shoulder. "Did you see where Pony went?" Pony looked at me without any concern at all. "No, I haven't," Soda said with a slur of being drunk. "He probably went to our room to get something," Soda shrugged. Then all of a sudden I heard three pops of what sounded like gunfire. My heart dropped.

"Two-Bit, turn that damn radio off!" I roared as I ran out the front door. The music stopped and I heard the gang run out behind me. I saw Ford standing over two bodies holding a gun. I couldn't see who the bodies belonged to, but this couldn't be good. Ford looked up at me with a shit-eating grin, pointed the gun against his head, and fired. Ford dropped to the ground with a thud. I ran past him to the two bodies on the ground and to my horror it was Harley slumped over Ponyboy. I turned around to Two-Bit feeling for a pulse on Ford. He turned to face me with a grim face shaking his head to tell me that Ford wasn't alive. Soda and Steve were looking at me frozen in fear and tears were starting to brim in Soda's eyes. "Steve," I said with a wobbly voice. Keep it together, I told myself. "Go call the cops for an ambulance, and Mrs. Adams." Steve nodded and ran back to the house. I felt for a pulse on Harley, it was there but faint and thready. I looked down at her back and I lifted her shirt. There were two large stab wounds in her back, but there seemed to be blood seeping from her front. "Two-Bit, help me flip her," I said. Two-Bit helped me flip Harley over and off of Ponyboy. Soda gasped and turned around and threw up. Harley had three bullet holes in her. Two in her chest and one in her stomach. How in the world is she still breathing? I had to focus on my baby brother though. Pony looked better than Harley, but still looked worse for wear. Bruises were scattering his head and arm and when I lifted his shirt his ribs appeared to be bruised. I felt for his pulse, it was stronger than Harley's but his breath was still shallow. Come on guys, hold on. Please hold on. Before I knew it Steve had run out to us and was helping Two-Bit put pressure on Harley's wounds. The cops and the ambulances arrived at the scene.

"What can you tell us, sir?" The cop said as they loaded Pony and Harley into the two ambulances. "What I know is that my friends and I were throwing a party at our house for our friend Harley, who is the girl who was shot because she got a full ride for USC," I said with a sigh. "She had gone outside to confront her brother who was calling to her from outside. The next thing I knew I heard three gunshots and I ran outside to Ford, who is Harley's brother, standing over my brother Ponyboy and Harley holding a gun. He looked at me and then shot himself in the head. That's all I got." The police officer stared at his notepad for a minute and then looked at me. "Anything else?" I asked. "Or can I go with my brother to the hospital?" The police officer nodded, and said "I'll be in touch in case I have further questions." I turned and walked to the ambulance and got into it with Soda as they closed the doors. I glanced over to the other ambulance and saw Two-Bit and Steve getting in with Harley. At least someone is with her. God knows where her parents are.

I watched as the EMTs worked on my brother. "How is my brother doing?" I asked in concern. Soda was holding Pony's hand and rubbing it and had tears running down his face. "He is stable, but I wouldn't be surprised if he has some cracked ribs and a concussion," One of the EMTs said. "But we won't know anything else until we get to the hospital." I gulped and tried to keep tears from streaming down my face. I thought this wouldn't happen again. Before I knew it we pulled into the hospital with Harley's right behind us. As I got out I heard what sounded like flatlining as Harley was unloaded and I saw EMTs performing CPR on her. My heart dropped. "What happened!" I shouted as Steve and Two-Bit stumbled out of the ambulance wide-eyed. "I don't know," Two-Bit stammered. "All of a sudden, she just stopped beating." I gulped. Shit, Shit, Shit. Then all of a sudden Mrs. Adams came running up. "Where is my granddaughter?" She asked me. "They ran inside with her," I said in a whisper. Then the world seemed to stand still.

During that time waiting to hear about Pony's and Harley's status it felt like time stood still. I had to explain to Mrs. Adams what had happened, and she startled bawling. I felt so guilty. "I'm so sorry," I choked out. "What for?" Mrs. Adams said with a croak. "You've done nothing but help her. This is her parent's fault for not doing anything." She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. Then I saw one of the doctors come out and we all jumped to our feet. "Ponyboy Curtis's family?" The doctor said. We all nodded. "How is my brother doc?" I asked worriedly. "Pony is stable," The Doctor said. I sighed in relief. "He had cracked and bruised ribs. He also had a fracture in his left arm and a concussion. We have him under sedation so he can heal and we will wean him off the sedatives so he can wake up tomorrow morning. He is in room 312 when you want to go and see him." Thanks, doc," I said. The gang and I got up to go to his room. I hesitated because I also wanted to hear about Harley, but I wanted to be with my baby brother. I looked at Mrs. Adams with worry. She looked at me wearily. "It's ok," Mrs. Adams said. "I'll come with you. It's important to be with your brother, and I would like to be there with him because if my conclusions are correct he was trying to be there for my Harley and I want to be there for him too." I was so touched. I hugged her. "We'll be here for Harley, too," I said in a whisper. I heard Mrs. Adams sob then she touched my cheek sweetly. As we started moving towards the elevators, Mrs. Adams was whispering with the receptionist about something and then came to join us.

When we got to Pony's room, looking at him brought tears to my eyes. He had a black and swollen left eye, bandages wrapped around his torso, and a cast on his left arm. Soda and I ran to Pony's side. I brushed Pony's hair off his forehead while Soda held Pony's right hand with tears streaming down his eyes.

It was a long time before we heard anything about Harley. We were all almost falling asleep in the chairs that the nurses brought us when the doors came open and Harley was wheeled into the shared room with Pony. I felt my heart drop. Harley had a breathing tube shoved down her throat, her chest was moving up and down with the beep of the machines, IVs galore coming out of her, and bandages covering her from her chest down to her waist. "What can you tell us about Harley's condition?" Mrs. Adams asked with a choked cry. The doctor looked at us all hesitantly. "It's ok, they're all family," Mrs. Adams said nodding at me, Soda, Steve, and Two-Bit. The doctor nodded. "We were able to stabilize Harley for a time when she got into the OR, but she crashed a couple of more times when we were trying to control the bleeding, but we were able to get her back," The Doctor explained. "We were able to get the bullets out, but Harley had a collapsed lung from the two bullets, and a bullet ripped through her stomach so we had to repair her stomach." I felt my heart drop and I felt like I wanted to throw up. "We won't know what the full extent of her injuries is until she wakes up." "Thanks, doctor," Mrs. Adams whispered. Mrs. Adams went over to Harley and held her hand, then she looked back up at me. "I'm going to try and get a hold of my daughter, by going over to the house, do you mind keeping an eye on Harley, and updating me if something happens?" "Of course," I said. Mrs. Adams rushed out the door.

The next morning….

Pony's POV:

I felt like I was floating, but then I could hear voices around me that sounded familiar. I floated closer to the voices, and when I did so I felt twinges of pain in my ribs and my left arm, even my face ached. The pain is what totally woke me up. I groaned.

"Pony, you awake?" I heard Soda ask me softly. "Yeah, I'm awake," I said through gritted teeth and I slowly opened my eyes. Soda was hovering over me worriedly. Darry was on my other side looking over me with worried eyes. Then the memories started coming back to me about Ford and Harley. My eyes fully snapped open and my breath started catching in my throat. "How long was I out?" I asked frantically. "Calm down, honey," Soda said soothingly and holding my hand. Darry stroked my hair trying to calm down. "It's only the morning after the party last night, little buddy," Darry said softly. I looked around frantically and saw Steve and Two-Bit looking at me worriedly and then I saw Harley in the bed next to me with a tube shoved down her throat and she wasn't moving besides her chest moving up and down with the machine. My heart sank. I tried getting up, but Darry gently pushed me down. "Let me see Harley," I begged my brothers. "What is wrong with her?" I asked as my voice broke. Soda and Darry looked at each other wearily. "What aren't you telling me," I asked. "What do you remember, honey," Soda asked sitting on the side of my bed. I gulped. "I remember Ford stabbing Harley," I said shakily. "Then I remember him beating me up, but I started fading out and the last thing I remember is three gunshots ringing out." I shifted my gaze between my two brothers.

Darry sighed. "It appears Ford shot Harley three times as well, little buddy," Darry said cautiously. My heart dropped and I looked over at Harley with tears brimming in my eyes. "We aren't entirely sure what happened, but when we came out, Ford shot himself in the head," Darry continued. Tears started rushing down my face and I whispered, "Ford wanted Harley to hurt like he did, and wanted everything to be taken from her. He didn't think she deserved what she got." Darry and Soda looked at each other again. Then, Mrs. Adams came in and smiled at me. "It's good to see you awake kiddo," Mrs. Adams said hoarsly. "Were you able to find Harley's parents?" Darry asked her. Mrs. Adams shook her head. "I went by the house and all of their clothes were gone, and so were their cars," Mrs. Adams said shakily "It looks like they hightailed it out of Tulsa and aren't coming back. They left everything else. I called an emergency meeting with a lawyer to talk about Harley's living situation. That is why I wasn't back last night. From getting to know Harley these past years and even better these few months and granted she will be a legal adult in a couple of months, I'm working on getting her emancipated. I'm getting all the kinks worked out." My mouth gaped open. I was stunned. How can parents leave their child in the hospital? Let alone one that was almost killed by the other child. I tried getting out of bed by Soda stopped me, shaking his head no. I was tired so I started falling back to sleep.

The next week…..

Narrator POV:

Within the next few days, Pony was able to be discharged and it was a huge relief.

The only problem was that after school, he didn't want to leave Harley's side.

Mrs. Adams was able to get an emergency emancipation for Harley.

Mrs. Adams bought the Cooper House.

Steve and Two-Bit are moving in to be closer to the gang with permission from their families of course.

Harley was weaned off the ventilator.

Harley's POV:

Everything hurt, but especially my chest and my stomach. They felt like they were on fire. But I knew I needed to wake up to make sure Pony was ok and no one else was hurt.

I slowly opened my eyes and I slowly tried scootching myself up to a sitting position with excruciating pain shooting through my abdomen with the effort. Pony was passed out asleep on the chair next to me. Soda and Darry were asleep on the other bed in the room. My grandmother was asleep in the chair at my feet. Steve and Two-Bit were in the other recliners asleep.

I looked at Pony's sleeping face and noticed that it was bruised but they were fading and so was the black eye. How long was I out? I could've sat there all night and watched Pony sleep. He looked even cuter when he was out and he looked a little bit like Soda too with a hint of Darry in there. I tried to fight the urge to push his hair out of his face, but I couldn't. Then Pony startled awake and blinked at me in confusion and then he smiled. "Harley?," Pony said in a whisper mixed with disbelief. "Hey buddy," I said. "How are you feeling? Are you ok?" Pony looked at me in shock but shook it off. "I'm fine, nothing but a broken arm and a few bruises," Pony said. "Why are you asking about me? You're the one who has been out for a week." So that's how long I've been out. Shit, I'll have so much schoolwork to make up. Pony must have seen the look of concern on my face because he asked, "Everything ok? Do I need to get a nurse?" I shook my head. "Everything's fine, Pony. Don't fret," I said soothingly. "Just worrying about school." Pony shook his. I looked at the call button and pushed it for a nurse to let them know I was awake.

The nurse came in and looked at me bug-eyed and she frantically called for the doctor. All the commotion caused everyone to stir. Before they could say anything the doctor rushed in to check me out and pushed some pain meds and asked me how I was. I was truthful that I was a little soar, but other than that I was fine. The doctor shook his head in disbelief. If I was good tonight, he was going to be letting me go tomorrow afternoon. As the doctor left I looked at my grandmother and asked, "What day is it exactly?" "It's Friday night, a week from the incident," She said. "I'm so glad you're awake, and we have so much to tell you and you have so much to tell us, sweetheart." I gave her a wry smile. "Why don't you start," I said. My grandmother swallowed and said, "Well, your parents ran out of town sweetheart, so I had to get you emergency emancipated since I thought that was what you would have wanted. I'm going to be your landlord, so you can stay in your house and Two-Bit and Steve are moving in with you to keep an eye on you." I rolled my eyes and gave Steve and Two-Bit a grin. They cackled but seemed to be at the edge of tears themselves. This made me feel guilty. My grandmother continued, "Your brother shot himself, sweetheart. Ford is gone." My heart dropped and I had mixed feelings. I never felt this way before. I felt happy and sad because I'm happy Ford couldn't hurt me anymore, but I wanted my brother to be able to be able to find something better for himself and now he couldn't. Pony looked at me in concern. "You ok, Harley?" Pony asked hesitantly. "I'm fine," I replied hoarsely. "I'm just processing. Yes, I'm glad to be emancipated from my parents. Good riddance. They weren't much parents anyway." This got a chuckle from the gang. "I'm just sad that Ford couldn't prove himself without football, but also happy that he can't hurt me or you guys again." Tears started to tumble down my face. "I'm sorry guys," I sobbed. "I brought this mess into your lives." The gang looked at me in horror. "Look at me Harley," Pony said pleadingly. "You're the best thing that has happened to me this year. You helped me find myself after Dally and Johnny. You helped me become a better version of myself. Heck, you helped the gang be stronger and see their potential. You also gave us all a grandmother." The whole gang chuckled and nodded. "Come here guys, I need a group hug," I said. I got a group hug that night and it felt good.