Darling

If You're Falling Asleep

Just a heads up! A lot of chapters from here on continue to have heavy subjects.

The morning had finally come. Darlene had spent the night tossing and turning, just want each dark our to go by a bit faster. It was 6:15 AM, and the sun was just coming up, casting a blue tint into the Curtis home.

The heater had only just kicked on. She was shivering and rubbing her feet together, wishing she had another blanket or a sweatshirt. Two and Steve were still asleep. Soda, at some point, went to his room with Pony, and she could hear Darry shuffling around in his room, getting dressed.

Darlene's only plan for the day was to go to the hospital and visit Dallas

That is if he's still...

She wrapped the blanket around herself and stood up, her legs shakey and weak. Her stomach was still sore and just the thought of moving her mouth made her cringe. It hurt to swallow. She slowly walked to her room down the creaky hallway. She turned on her light and dropped the blanket. She tightly closed her eyes as the cool morning air hit her, goosebumps forming on her arms. She wrapped her arms around herself and went to her dresser, pulling out some comfortable loose pants and a simple t-shirt, and brought them with her to the bathroom. She turned on the shower before stripping from her dirty clothes. She stepped under the hot water and sighed as it ran over her sore body. Her shoulders relaxed and she thought for a moment she could fall asleep in the shower.

She washed herself and stepped out of the tub. She squeezed her hair out with her towel and slipped into her comfortable clothes.

She left the bathroom and was met with Soda standing there, about to knock.

"Oh- you okay?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No."

She walked past him and went to the kitchen to grab some water. Soda watched her. Tired, sluggish, sad. It was like his sister had broke.

She had.

She took a few sips of water before Darry finally stepped out of his room. She immediately set the glass down and walked to him.

"Darry, can we please go check on Dallas?"

"Oh, Darling, it's a bit early -"

"I need to know he's okay or I can't relax." She said and pulled out a cigarette, not caring if Darry didn't like it.

There was no way she'd be able to do anything without knowing he was okay.

"Okay. Give me 15 minutes." Darry agreed, and she sat back down on the chair with her smoke, listening to Two and Steve snore.

---

Darry drove her to the hospital as soon as he finished his coffee. Right as the car stopped moving, she got put and walked to the entrance, Darry trailing behind her. They stopped at the receptionists desk to find out the news.

"Good morning. How may I help you?" The receptionist asked kindly.

"We're here for Dallas Winston. We wanna know how he's doing." Darry said.

The woman nodded and opened up a drawer and began looking through files. She stopped on one and opened it, reading what was inside. Darlene held her breath, thinking she was reading Dally's file for an awful long time. She prepared for that "I'm sorry, he didn't make it."

"Yeah, he's doing alright."

"Really?" Darlene asked.

"Uh huh. He got out of surgery about an hour ago, but he's stable. You could visit him in a few hours if you'd like." She smiled.