Darling

Forest Fire

⚠️Violence⚠️

Ponyboy and Darlene walked through the front door of their house. Pony had stopped crying, but Darlene still had tears running down her face. Soda was on the couch with Two-Bit, bruised up. Steve had an obvious broken nose and was missing a tooth. Darry had a bite wound on his hand. He looked up at his kid siblings.

"Where have to been?" He asked them.

Pony stared at his older brother blankly and Darlene looked down at the floor.

Darry stood up. "What's wrong?"

"Johnny's dead."

Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and looked at Ponyboy. Soda and Steve had stood up now, shocked.

"Told him about beating the socs. He just died. Told me to 'stay gold'." Pony explained, trying not to cry again.

"Dally's gone." Darlene said suddenly. "He couldn't take it. He's gonna blow." She said shakily. She knew something was gonna happen if they didn't find him. She didn't want something to happen to Dallas too.

---

🥀Dal🥀

Why? Why Johnny? Why not me? Johnny didn't deserve this.

"Do you want to buy one of those?" The man at the cash register of the store asked.

Dallas stares at him sadly and tore a magazine right down the middle.

"You tear them, you have to pay for them. Don't do that!" The cashier said, knowing Dallas probably wouldn't listen anyway.

Dallas slowly walked up to the cash register and looked down at his feet.

"You gotta pay for that magazine." The man said again.

A tear slid down Dallas's cheek as he pulled out his gun.

The cashier froze, eyes wide. "Oh, God, don't shoot." He begged.

"Give me the money." Dal said, and he shoved the gun closer to the man's face. "Give me the money!"

"I'm so sick of you punks." The man said, rummaging through the cash register.

Tears welled up Dals his eyes as the man handed him a stack of money.

"Take it and get out!"

Dallas grabbed the money and quickly ran to the door. Gun shots rang out as he ran through the door, and he felt a painful pressure in his side. He didn't stop to check. He continued to run until he came to an alley way with a phone. He quickly put some quarters in and dialed the Curtis home.

---

🥀Curtis home🥀

The Curtis's, Steve, and Two-Bit were sat in the living room. No one said much. They were all just sitting with eachothers comfort. Darlene wanted to go out looking for Dallas but Darry said that it would be a bad idea to go out this late right after a rumble. Darlene was exhausted and sat on the floor in between Steve and Two-Bit. She had a hard time keeping her head upright. Her eyes would start closing and she would slump to the side. Eventually she have up trying to stay awake and she rested her head on Two's shoulder and quickly began drifting to sleep.

That didn't last any more than a minute though as the phone began ringing suddenly, causing her to jolt awake. She lifted her head back up and Steve went to answer the phone.

"No, it's Steve." Steve said. After listening for a little bit, he passed the phone to Darry.

"Hello?" Darry said and listened carefully, only responding a few times.

"We know."

"We'll be right there." He hung up.

"It was Dally. The cops are after him. We have to hide him."

Despite Darlene's groggyness, she was the first out the door. The group ran as fast as they could to the park. All of them were sore and tired but adrenaline took over.

They could hear the sirens and see the the red and blue flashing lights. Dal's silhouette was visible now. He stopped abruptly as the cops blocked off the street with their cars. The amount of cops seemed unnecessary as Dallas was just one person. One teenage kid. Every cop jumped out, guns pointed at Dallas. Dallas backed up and pointed his gun back at them.

"Drop the gun and put your hands up!" One of the cops yelled.

But he didn't put it down.

Immediately something changed in the cops faces.

No no no no.

"It's not loaded! Don't!" Darlene yelled, rembering how Dallas told her it wasn't loaded.

And then the gunshots.

The gang skidded to a stop, watching Dallas fall to the rough asphalt.

"NO!" Darlene screamed, falling to her knees.

"Not Dally, too! He's just a kid!" Darry yelled, his voice raw and broken.

Dallas was on the ground gasping for air, trying to pull his way closer to his family, but he was too tired. He gave up and rolled onto his back.

The mixture of Pony's wounds, his fever, and watching both his friends dying overwhelmed him, and he collapsed.

Darry and Soda immediately went to help their little brother, and while they were distracted, Darlene crawled over to Dallas's side, sobbing.

"Dallas? Dallas, please."

She placed a hand on his shoulder and shook it gently. No response. He just stared blankly at the cloudy night sky, his eyes glazed over. His lips were so pale.

She grabbed his hand and wailed in pain. She grabbed the bottom of her shirt tightly with her other hand, desperate for the heartbreak to stop.

I can't live with both of them gone. I can't do it.

She couldn't believe this was happening. That she was losing more. That she'd never see them again.

No more sneaking into the drive-in, annoying the Socs, scary drives. No more of that cocky attitude or that stupidly beautiful smirk.

No more switchblades and hanging out in the lot for hours. There will be no more sleep overs or laying on eachothers laps in the living room, or eating too much popcorn together.

No more Dallas. No more Johnny.

Steve came up behind Darlene and grabbed her arm, gently trying to pull her away from Dallas. She held onto his hand tighter, not wanting to let go.

"Come on Darling. We need to go." He said softly.

"No, I don't wanna go!" She cried. "I can't leave him yet!"

As she was pulled to her feet, she felt something. A squeeze. Dallas squeezed her hand.

She gasped slightly and stopped fighting. "Wait wait wait! He's alive, he just squeezed my hand!"

The rest of the gang froze for a second before Two ran up to the cops.

"Call an ambulance right now!" He demanded. One of the cops grabbed the pager from the car and ordered for an ambulance.

Darlene knelt back down next to Dallas, never letting go of his hand.
"Okay. You're okay." She soothed, hoping he could hear her.

"You're not leaving me, too. I need you."

---
🥀🥀🥀
"I'm gonna carry your bones
I'm gonna carry them all
I'm gonna carry you home

I'm gonna bury these bones
I'm gonna write it in stone
That you were my home"

Yeah, I'm not gonna like...sugar coat anything. The story goes on though.