Silent

Chapter 8

Loren's POV

"T-They passed away?" I asked with my voice breaking.

"They were just identified by our team. I'm very sorry. We'll have someone come by tomorrow to talk to you, Darrel, Sodapop, and Ponyboy. Please give the Curtis boys the phone number and have them call me. Have a nice night." The man said.

The line clicked and I was still frozen still. It took me a second to react. They were dead? I looked at the phone in shock and placed it down.

I felt hot tears forming in my eyes. I shouldn't have said they were ok. I just got my hopes up. I was horrified. I just got a call saying that the two people who have helped me through life were dead. They were like my parents... except they weren't...

I wiped the tears falling down my face with my arm and I took a breath.

I went outside in desperate need of fresh air. I sat on the chair out front and put my head in my hands. I couldn't believe what just happened. How am I supposed to tell Darry, Soda, and Pony? They're all just kids. They don't just have someone to take them in like I did...

I guess Darry is a legal adult. But he just turned 20. But Soda's 16 and Pony's 13. Darry's gonna get so stressed out. And what about me? Where will I go? What's gonna happen to me?

I sat there for what seemed like forever running through possible situations of what could be happening.

"Loren?" Someone asked opening the gate. I quickly looked up in a panic. It was Darry. "You ok?" He asked.

"What happened?" Ponyboy asked.

"I-I can't be the one to tell you." I said with my voice breaking. "T-There's a phone number next to the phone that you need to call." I said trying to wipe the tears off my face. They just kept coming.

They all looked at each other and ran inside. Darry called the number and Sodapop and Ponyboy were trying to listen. I walked inside and sat on the couch. I didn't want to get close enough to hear the news for a second time.

Ponyboy and Sodapop looked shocked. Like they didn't believe it. Darry looked numb. Like he already just accepted it. But somehow, they all had the same face.

I couldn't bare to take it anymore. I ran to my room and just cried. I didn't want to believe it. But I felt like apart of me was gone.

*The Next Day*

I had a horrible time sleeping last night. Worse of a sleep than I had when my own mother died. But I'm just worried the nightmares will start again. The recurring one I had with my mom withering away and the girl and the car and dad ended about two years after dad was arrested.

But I got up and managed to get myself presentable. I didn't know what time someone was coming over but might as well be ready for it. I don't need to screw things up for Darry, Soda, and Pony.

I walked into the kitchen and Sodapop was there picking at his eggs. They were just regular scrambled, though. No grape jelly or anything.

"Morning..." I said awkwardly. He didn't respond. I didn't say anything else. I knew he was probably hurting more than I was.

Eventually, Pony and Darry came out and they were ready for someone to stop by. It wasn't until almost 3 that we heard someone knock on the door.

Darry got up and got it. I cleaned the house up a bit earlier and put a vanilla candle out. Mrs. Curtis always had tons of them to remember mom. Now it's a memory of them both.

"Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Hannah Metz. I'll be here to talk to you guys for about an hour."

"Hello, Ms. Metz. I'm Darrel. That's Sodapop, Ponyboy, and Loren." He said motioning to us.

I managed to give her a weak smile. "It's nice to meet you all. So let's get started." She sat on the chair next to the table and we sat on the couch. "Well, this certainly isn't an ideal situation and it's no picnic."

"Wrong choice of words." I thought to myself. I would have said it outloud if I could do it without crying and without getting in trouble.

"I've talked to lawyers and people of the state and we have a solution to this situation." Hannah said. "Darrel, you just turned 20, correct?"

"Yeah, that's right." He said.

"So you legally can watch over Sodapop and Ponyboy, since they are your brothers. So they can go to a boys home, or they can stay here as long as they behave."

"I'll watch them." Darry said quickly.

"Alright." Hannah said writing something on her clip board. She looked at me. "Loren, we have some other options for you. Can I talk to you outside?"

I sighed. "Yeah."

I already knew how badly this was gonna end.

We walked out to the front of the porch and she closed the door. "So there's not gonna be an easy way to tell you everything I have to." She said with a sympathetic frown.

I looked down. "Just tell me. Get it over with."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Darry, Soda, and Pony opening the window and eavesdropping. I would have been annoyed if I was in a better mood. I was too upset to be annoyed, which I didn't even know was possible.

"Alright." She looked at her clipboard. "So your father gets out of jail on August 10, 1965. So later this year. You'll still be 16. Your aunt is in rehab, correct?"

"Yeah, that's right." I said, embarrassed. I didn't tell any of the Curtis' she was checked back into rehab so saying it out loud with Darry, Soda, and Pony listening was painful for me.

"We don't know how long she'll be there for so it's hard to say anything with her. But if you want, you can stay here until your dad is able to take care of you. And that's up to you if you wanna go live with him or you can go to foster care. The deal with that is you and your dad would be put in the system. But I'll go into more detail if that's something you want to consider."

"Well, I guess this isn't really up to me, is it then?" I asked.

"I guess that's correct. If Darrel agrees, we can go with plan A. If not, we can put you in the system now." She said.

I thought for a second. Would he really agree to let me stay here? I doubt it. But I guess it's worth a shot. "I guess I'd rather take plan A over plan B."

"Alright. I'll talk to him. Even though I know they're all listening right now." She said turning around and glaring at them.

I couldn't help but grin a bit as they struggled to close the window and act like it never happened.

But I have a feeling a lot of things are gonna change about them. They aren't gonna be their spunky selves like they were. Here's my gut feeling that a bunch of things are gonna go wrong.