tires

fourteen

dallas ran down the steps, as eden sat upright on his bed in utter confusion. about thirty seconds later, a shivering johnny and ponyboy follow dallas into his room.

"what the hell happened to you guys!!" she asked.

"johnny k-killed a-a soc." pony shivered.

her eyes went wide, and straight to johnny.

"why? why are you guys out at this time?"

"well," johnny started "nobody was home so i couldn't get in, and decided to sleep in the lot. pony came along in the middle of the night because dar hit 'em. we decided to wake ourselves up by going to the park where these socs jumped us...i couldn't take it eden i couldn't deal with it. t-they were drowning pony-"

"shh," eden went over and held the trembling boy "i'm so sorry i locked ya out, i'm so sorry johnny."

she couldn't say anything else because she knew if she gave johnny keys or went straight home, none of this would've happened. she felt sick to her stomach. she didn't want anything happening to the boys whatsoever.

besides her thoughts eating her up, dallas changed the boys into his flannels while he gave them fifty dollars and a loaded gun.

"you guys are gonna go to *adress* where the abandoned church is okay? stay there for a couple of days as i get things settled here. i'll pick you guys up soon alright?"

the boys hugged eden and dallas before walking out. eden was still on the bed shaking of nerves.

as if she wasn't already stressed enough. now she had to worry about losing the two brightest boys she knew, still blaming herself.

"hey dal, i think i'm gonna head home alright?"

all he did was nod his head as he was pretty shocked that this happened, all while being high. it just intensified his emotions.

eden made her way outside fast, and walked her
home in the dark. in a different scenario, a quiet walk home would be just what she needed, but with the feeling of paranoia and guilt, she couldn't shake those feelings off with the walk. she needed to wait till dallas picked the boys up in a few days.

once she finally made it to her door, she unlocked it revealing a still empty house. she couldn't care less where they went for the night, she just needed to get out of her clothes and relive her stresses in the shower and cry.

it's what she did best when she felt like shit. she always tries to keep her composure in front of everyone, till she breaks down while she's alone. it was her best trick, a trick used by any broken soul.

so dallas saw right through her. he didn't want to keep her at bucks all night, so he didn't push the issue, but he would make it a point to go and talk to her soon.

so there she was. on the floor of her bathroom crying. it might've been a new fear of hers, but if she lost anyone again, she'd lose it completely. she needed to let it all out now that she was home alone. she sobbed for what felt like hours, which was really a good twenty minutes before getting up and getting her shit together. she washed her hair, her body as well before getting out and drying off. she got dressed in an oversized shirt, then put her hair into a protective style before laying down on her bed, pulling the sheets up onto her, hoping she'd fall asleep at this very second. she wanted her anxiety to just go away so she could just go to bed and feel nothing, so she forced her eyes shut and tried to deep breathe till she finally was asleep.

——————
the next morning would be the worst. her eyes were puffy, a headache knocked at the back of her head as she held it, but was too tired to get up.

then she realized.

"fuck i have work!!"

she promised soda she'd work this weekend instead of taking off and if he sees her in this state, he'll know she knows something.

she just didn't feel like it was her place to say what happened, and she also didn't want to see the look on sodas face if she said anything. it would break her, and it would hurt even more if steve was disappointed in her or hurt by her knowing.

she had to act fast.

her mother always taught her cold water and ice make your face less puffy, so she put an ice cube around each eye after washing her face with cold water. then, she did her hair and got dressed into her last clean dx shirt, putting the rest in the wash.

she quickly grabbed herself some fruit to snack on and used tim's car to go to work since she was too tired to walk. the drive there was too nerve wracking for eden. i mean he had to know by now pony was gone right? once she pulled up to work, she took a drop breath before opening the car door and walking inside.

"hey boys." eden said walking in.

"did you see the papers ed?" soda said, his voice laced with fear.

"no? what happened?"

"well just look at this." soda handed her the paper.

she froze as she read it line by line.

fuck, they're quick. she thought.

the newspaper gave a warning that pony and johnny were missing and wanted for murder.

"you didn't see them at all last night did you?"

"no soda."

"dallas said he heard something about them going off to another state or whatever. he seemed so calm about it."

"well have you ever seen dallas be scared over anything?

"no, not unless it comes to johnny. he knows something eden. plus if johnny wasn't home last night why wouldn't you call us to make sure he was with pony?"

"well, i wasn't home either i didn't know." eden started to get nervous.

"listen, this isn't like you or dallas, so if you really know what going on promise me you'll give this to pony when you see him?" soda handed her a folded piece of paper, most likely a letter she thought. 

"i promise."