Oakley Curtis

Chapter 4

Soda's POV

I stood outside the hospital room, watching Oakley and Ponyboy communicate.  I heard the click of heels and turned to see Mrs. Thompson, Oakley's case manager walking toward me.  She looked like she had just woken up.  She had no makeup on, her dark curls tossed haphazardly in a messy bun.  She hugged me, "hi Soda," she looked very concerned, "Julie Matthews called me.  Have you heard any news on your parents?"

I shook my head, "nobody will tell us anything," I tried to keep the fear at bay, but it wasn't easy.

"How's Oakley?"

"I...uh...I don't know.  Pony's in there now with Bethany and Johnny."  It was then that a doctor approached the room.

"Excuse me," she touches the doctor's arm, "can you tell me the status of Darrel and Renee Curtis?"

"Are you family?"

She handed a file to the doctor, "I'm Oakley's case manager.  I am very close with the family and I need to know if I need to find other care for Oakley."

The doctor looked back and forth from me to Mrs. Thompson, "We would like to keep Oakley overnight.  She isn't speaking yet.  One of the other doctor's thinks it's the trauma from the accident.

I rolled my eyes and exchanged an annoyed look with Oakley's case manager, "She's autistic.  She doesn't speak."

"Well, the we definitely want to keep her.  She has a concussion.  Her vitals are elevated which means she's most likely in pain.  Does she communicate at all?"

Mrs. Thompson nodded, "she can communicate through an app on her iPad."  She walked through the door and I followed. 

Pony was sitting on the bed with Oakley leaning against him.  I knelt down next to her, "hey Oakley." I brushed a blond strand out of her face.

She didn't look up from her tablet, but she typed in, "hi Soda.  Mom and Dad?"

"I don't know, honey.  Does anything hurt?"  Pony touched an icon on the screen that brought up different body parts.  She pressed the button that said yes, but then pressed the question mark.

"That means something is wrong but she doesn't know what it is," Pony translated.  Damn he picked up on that fast.

I stared at the iPad.  It had multiple icons on it.  Bethany must have seen my confusion, "each icon brings up its own folder.  See, this one has all the types of food that she likes so she can tell you when she's hungry and what she wants."  She pointed to another icon, "this one has all the activities she likes to do."  The park and pool were listed on there, as well as games, reading, coloring, puzzles, and more. 

I pressed the photo album.  It pulled up a bunch of pictures of our friends and family.  Oakley pressed Darry's picture and shrugged.

"Do you want Darry?" I asked. 

She shook her head and hit another icon that brought up the words who, what, when, where, why, and how.  She clicked the word where followed by Darry.

"He's on his way."  I looked at my little sister, "hey Oakley, can I have a hug?"  She leaned into me and wrapped her arms around my neck, "I love you, Oak.  You know that, right?"

She typed into her iPad, "I love you too."

Darry's POV

I texted all the guys when I got to the bus station, hoping one of them would be get it. I wasn't surprised when Dally responded first saying that he and Two-Bit would come pick me up. It was 3:30am, I was exhausted and worried out of my fricken mind.  I don't know how many times I texted my parents, hoping they would answer.

Two-Bit's beater pulled into the parking lot and I jumped in, "what's do ya know?" I demanded before he even put the car in gear.

"Soda, Pony, Johnny, and Steve are at the hospital.  Nobody is saying anything about your mom or dad.  Oakley has a concussion.  They want to keep her overnight for observation.  Some social worker lady is at the hospital and some other woman was there but left."

"The other woman left a number with my mom," Two-Bit said when Dally was finished.

"How are Soda and Pony holdin' up?"

"Pony ain't left Oak's since he got there.  They've been talking and playing games on her tablet and Pony's phone."

I raised an eyebrow, "talking?"

"Yeah through her iPad thing.  It's really cool!"  Two-Bit said excitedly.

"She knows who we are," Dally seemed surprised, "she even asked for ya."

"Really?" It's not secret that I don't pay much attention to Oakley.  I don't really know how to connect with her, "I guess I didn't think she understood much," I muttered quietly, feeling like a total jerk.