darlin' || the outsiders

5

ponyboy curtis

i was standing in front of dallas while elsie laid in between us. she was motionless.

"is she even breathing?" two-bit asked, his hands buried in his pockets. dallas sighed and laid his head against elsie's chest.

"her heart is beating." dallas said almost relieved as he came back up from her chest.

"thank god." i whispered, wiping my eyes. two-bit crouched down next to dallas and sighed quietly.

"when is darry gonna get here?" dallas yelled, gripping elsie's black sweater.

"i don't know, but he's probably speeding. just give him a minute. god damn." i sighed. dallas flipped me off before putting his attention back on elsie.

just then, darry pulled up in our old, blue ford truck. it was a gift from our parents when he turned 16. he had just gotten his license and they let him drive it around the neighborhood. i was 12 when that happened and soda was only 14. it was only a few months before our parents died.

"darry, where the hell have you been!?" dallas yelled in darry's face.

"driving, now butt out, dallas." darry practically pushed dallas out of the way. i kneeled down on the side i was on, facing darry as he examined elsie without touching her. there was blood going down her face to her chin and stained her hair red.

"let's take her home." darry whispered, scooping her up into his arms and carrying her to the car. dallas and two-bit shuffled to their feet, dallas reaching for her black underwear.

"why the hell does she smell like alcohol?" darry asked, placing her down in the back seat, her head on dallas' lap.

"i'm guessing whoever did it forced her to drink what was in this flask." two-bit handed the flask to darry, and his face morphed to an angry, violent frown.

"this is gavin's." he muttered, throwing the flask on the floor of the car, and we all piled into the seats.

i sat up front with darry, dallas had elsie's head on his lap, and two-bit had her legs. she may be short, but she is long for her height.

••••
we got inside the house, darry carrying her bridal style and went to open his bedroom door. we all gazed at him in silence as he placed her down on his bed, shutting his eyes, and lifting her shirt off. he had gotten elsie's underwear back from dallas, and slipped them on her- with his eyes shut the whole time. he then walked to his drawer and found one of his black t-shirts and walked back to elsie, pulling it over her head and then carefully drawing her thin arms through the sleeves. he then put her under the covers of his bed, saying "i'll take the couch.".

he was muttering some things under his breath when he finally walked back out, leaving the bedroom door barely open. he was pissed. 

••••
darry curtis

it's been a night and elsie still hasn't waken up.

"i'm going to beat gavin's ass." dallas broke the silence. i mean, the silence in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"how do you know it was him?" soda asked. i knew he believed it was gavin, but he wasn't there. he didn't see the scene.

"because his flask was there. he's the only one with a capricorn flask." dallas said, waving his hands as a way to add power to his words. "and let's be honest, the guy's a creep.".

i looked up from the newpaper i was reading and nodded.
"i got a bad feeling from him the day he first showed up at school. he prayed on girls but not like dallas." pony said, and dallas looked up with a pissed look on his face.

"hey!" dallas said.

"he would grab random girls' asses, and pull them into the janitor's closet to rape them. i guess elsie is no different." pony finished, his voice getting quiet towards the end.

we all got quiet again, soda gripped his shirt in his hands before standing up and walking to his room. we all watched him like lost puppies, and i don't think he noticed.

"we need to go after him!" dallas said, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "c'mon darry, you gotta let us.".

"i'm not ya dad, dallas." i sighed, putting my nose back in the newspaper. dallas looked at ponyboy and johnny who were sitting together on the floor.

"i say do it." johnny finally said. "he assaulted her, he deserves it.".

"i like ya thinking, johnnyboy." dallas said, standing up and leaning back, popping his spine. pony stood up quickly and walked over to the table where i was sitting, and grabbed a cracker off my plate.

"get your own." i said in a monotone voice. pony rolled his eyes before loudly biting into the saltine cracker.

"gEt yOuR oWn." two-bit mimicked me and i looked up from the grey paper. two-bit made wide eyes at me before taking a swig from his bottle of beer.

i sighed and wrapped up the newspaper and placed it on the table, behind pony.

"i'm going to fight him." dallas said, rolling his leather sleeves up. i looked at him with a skeptical look; not that he can't fight him, but the fact that he wanted to go after him in general.

"don't waste your energy on him, dally." i turned my head to see elsie standing in the doorway. my shirt looked like a dress on her, she looked adorable.

"elsie!" johnny stood up and ran to her, taking her into his arms. she ran her arms around his neck and buried her face into the crook of his neck.

"are you okay?" pony asked her, walking closer to her. she took her face out of johnny's neck and nodded quietly.

"i'm just sore." was all she said.

"are you well rested?" i started. "you were out for over 24 hours.".

"i guess as much as i could be." she said quietly, placing her hand against her head.

••••
word count: 1022