Survive: A Darrel Curtis Love Story

Chapter 3

~ Chapter 3 ~

Blair Creed's Point of View

I leave them in their sleep, heading up to the balcony and crawling out a window to the roof. There are only a few sturdy spots, so I sit down and pull my legs to my chest. I can't sleep with them right there. It's not that I don't trust them. I don't trust many people and strangers that show up to my hideout at midnight are suspect in my mind, though this could all be nothing more than a quick joke by teenagers. 

I can hear the. Talking quietly beneath me, but I can't quite make out the words. To focus, I close my eyes and tilt my head to the sky. I take the cigarette out of my mouth and blow a ring of smoke into the air. Who are these boys? Why am I even helping them? 

They just look so young. I'll find out in the paper tomorrow and I intend to. 

I leave quite early in the morning for the store. I wrap a shirt around my head to cover my hair so they don't recognize me from yesterday. The money gets shoved into my pocket and I head out. By the time they wake up, hopefully, I'll be back. 

And that shirt worked, nobody's recognized me as I waited outside the store for it to open. The worker let me in and I noticed the fresh papers weren't in yet. I go to where my crate was yesterday and pick it up, adjusting it on my bony hip. I walk around for a few minutes and grab a few extra of certain things before taking them to the counter. Maybe I should just come back tomorrow for the next paper. 

As an old guy--Doc--checks me out at the front, a few people enter the store. He finished checking me out and I grab the crate, taking it out the front. As I walk, I see the paper kid running inside. I turn and follow him. 

"Hey, kid, can I get a pape?" I ask. He turns around and nods, pulling one out of his bag. I toss him a nickel and he throws me the newspaper. I catch it in the crate and I feel my heart racing, itching to read it. What if it isn't in the paper? No, they're from Tulsa. That's close by, we would know about his.

As soon as I reach the church, I see movement inside. They're awake. I open the door and they're right on the other side, looking as if they were about to leave. They freeze when they see me right in front of them.  I nod for them to go back and I step in, closing the door. Inset the crate on the ground and untie the paper. The front headline has their faces on it. 

"The story's out," is all I manage to say. "You can't go, everyone's gonna know in a matter of hours."

DELINQUENT TEENS WANTED IN CONNECTION TO THE MURDER OF ROBERT SHELDON
Boy Found Stabbed to Death at Community Park After a Reported Jumping.

When I flip the paper over to the back, three new photos have been added to the missing persons list. 

Ponyboy Curtis
Age: 14 years old
Hair color: Brown hair
Eye color: Green eyes
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 134
Identifying Features: None 
Last Seen: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Date Missing: October 18th, 1965
Possibly dangerous

Jonathan Cade
Age: 16 years old 
Hair color: Black hair
Eye Color: Brown eyes
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 122
Identifying Features: Scar on cheek
Last Seen: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Date Missing: October 18th, 1965
Possibly dangerous

My eyes drift below their pictures all the way to the bottom of the page. My picture has been on this list for a decade, moving down slowly. As soon as two more people go missing, my name will no longer fit on the page and I will be clean. Not that it even looks like me anymore. I was nine when I left. I'm nineteen now. The only thing the same about me is my hair, my eyes, and my freckles. Maybe that's why nobody recognizes me. Plenty of folks have red hair and brown eyes.