Oakley Curtis

Chapter 10

Two-Bit's POV

"C'mon Oakley," I held onto her hand as we walked from the car into the Tulsa Autism Center. I had been working as a personal care assistant for Oak for about two weeks now while Darry and Soda worked.

We went into the center to wait for her therapist. All the kids at the center had different severities of autism. I sat down in the waiting room and Oakley sat on my lap, "whose gonna play with you today?"

"Sarah." I had to laugh. Sarah was her all time favorite therapist. She liked the others, but she loved Sarah. 

Unfortunately, for Oakley, it wasn't Sarah...it was Alyssa.  Oakley stomped her foot when Alyssa came out to get her.  She threw her backpack on the floor and started whining, "Oakley, you have fun with Alyssa," I lightly chastised.

Oakley started to cry and rock back and forth, "I know I'm not your favorite," Alyssa said gently as she knelt down next to her, "but we can still have fun."

Oak continued to cry.  I shot Alyssa a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry."

She brushed off my apology, "we don't take this personally." She brushed a dark blonde strand behind her ear, "what do you want to do, Oakley?  We can jump on the trampoline or we could swing."

Oakley stopped crying and glanced up at her.  She grabbed her iPad, "swing."

Alyssa helped Oakley stand up and I handed her Oakley's backpack, "thanks." She held Oakley's hand, "ready to go swing?"  Oakley started pulling her, "good job calming down and telling me that you want to swing!" Alyssa praised her.

I knelt down, "bye Oak!  Dally and Johnny are gonna pick you up."

Oakley threw her arms around me and gave me a tight hug before following after Alyssa.  I couldn't help but chuckle.  She is way smarter than most people give her credit for.

Soda's POV

I came home from work that evening, to a very exasperated and exhausted Dally, Johnny, and Ponyboy. The house looked like a tornado went through it and Oakley was sleeping soundly on the floor, "what the hell happened?"

"Oakley," Pony whispered. I could tell he had been crying.

"What happened?" My heart started pounding.

Dally spoke first, "I think she realized that your mom and dad ain't coming home."

"Whaddya mean?" I demanded, not fully sure I wanted to know the answer.

"Me and Johnny picked her up and they said she kept pointing to your mom and dad on the iPad. She was asking where they were," even Dal seemed shaken, "they distracted her long enough, but when we got home, she started making that tablet call for your parents."

"I don't know what happened." Pony jumped in, "she started throwing stuff an' she tore apart mom and dad's room. I tried to get her to calm down, but nothing worked," he wiped a tear away.

"Did anyone get hurt?" I asked.

"Oak scratched her face and yank out some hair, but I was able to get her into a bear hug," Dally said as he stared in awe around the room, "that kid is strong when she's pissed."

I gently lifted Oakley. She had a few visible scratches, but nothing major. She actually looked quite peaceful, "she must be wiped after that meltdown," I murmured as I walked into her room and tucked her in.

Dally and Johnny started picking up the living rooms while I comforted Pony, "I don't even know what happened, Soda. She was just a screaming. Johnny sat by the door cause she kept trying to run."

"Hey Pone, ya did the right thing. You made sure she was safe and didn't harm herself too bad."

"I've never seen her like that," he whispered.

"She's gotta lot to process, ya know? It ain't like she can really talk about it. I don't even know how to help her process this whole thing." I put my hair around him, "ya did what you could."

After that, we cleaned up the living room and my parents bedroom. The covers of the bed were all over the floor... "I bet she was looking for them." I murmured to myself. This whole ordeal is hell for us. I can't even begin to imagine the hell she is going through.

Oakley's POV

I knew the word meltdown. I knew what it meant. I also knew that I don't remember anything about my meltdowns. I remember that I wanted to show a picture to mom, but I couldn't find her. My tablet couldn't go any louder. My mom hides in her bed sometimes, but she wasn't there...or in her closet. I was in the blue zone, then the red zone. Then, I opened my eyes and I was in my room. I heard meltdown. I pressed my iPad, "Darry? Soda?"

Darry came into my room. He sat on my bed, "I miss mom and dad too."

Finally, I thought as I cuddled into my brother, some one gets it.