Forever Apart (Johnny Cade) {The Outsiders}

Fifteen

I tossed my trash out into the wind and watched it fly into some trees. I didn't want Johnny to go to jail. I didn't want to go free while he took the fall. I wanted to run away with him, like we talked about before this mess happened.

Then I smelled smoke.

"Jesus Christ," Dallas sighed. I looked up and saw the old church we had been hiding in at the top of the hill burning to the ground.

There was a school bus parked in the dirt trail and little kids were screaming and crying. I jumped out of the moving car and Dallas hit the brakes so hard, Johnny and Ponyboy hit the front seats with their heads. "Hey! Margaret!" Dally yelled.

"Some of the children are missing!" A schoolteacher cried to the bus driver.

"Maybe you didn't count right," the driver huffed.

"No! No I'm sure of it. I'm..."

A little girl screamed as loudly as she could inside the church.

I didn't hesitate. I ran to the burning church. I ran to the porch and the front door.

"No! No! You get back here, you little shit!" Dally yelled. Johnny jumped out of the car and Ponyboy followed. "I guess-I guess we're just gonna run into the fire," Dally huffed. "What an idiot." Dally jogged from his car to the church as well.

"Peggy!" Johnny yelled. "Peggy!"

I ignored his yells and threw a giant rock into a boarded up broken window. I pulled the boards to the ground and black smoke flew right into my face. I coughed and coughed but refused to stop. I climbed inside and Johnny climbed in behind me.

Dally grabbed Ponyboy's arm and pushed him from the church. "Don't you go in there!" He ordered.

Johnny and I walked low to the ground and dodged the flames and wooden pews. The girl was in the back corner, screaming and crying for help. "Over here!" Johnny grabbed my hand and we ran to the girl. I knelt down in front of her and reached for her hands.

"It's gonna be okay," I said. "We're gonna get you out of here." I picked her up and held her on my hip. The little girl buried her face into my shoulder and held on as Johnny and I walked back through.

Dally punched and kicked a hole in the wall just a few feet away from us and we quickly went to him. I gave him the girl and he set her on her feet in the grass and she ran to her teacher.

"Alright, Peg, get out of there, now!" Dally growled at me. I turned around to grab Johnny's hand.

"Johnny?!" I screamed.

"Two more in here! Over here!" Johnny yelled at me. He followed the walk and went into a different room where there were two little boys. I turned from Dally to follow Johnny but he grabbed me by the waist and picked me up. Dally threw me into the grass behind him and then climbed into the church.

"Dally!" I looked down to see flames on my pants. I screamed and backed on the ground toward Ponyboy. He took his jacket off and pat my jeans until the flame was gone. Then, he helped me to my feet and pulled me away from the church.

Just on the other side by the corner, I watched Dally kick through the wall and they helped the kids out onto the grass. Ponyboy and I ran to the corner and guided the kids back to their teachers. "Johnny! Dal! Get out of there!" I screamed into the black smoke.

"Johnny!" Ponyboy yelled.

I could hear Johnny scream in pain and Dally yell at him. Then the roof came caving in. I grabbed onto Ponyboy and I screamed at the burning church.

When the firefighters and the ambulances arrived, they put the fire out and got Johnny and Dally out of the church as well. They took Johnny to the hospital in his own ambulance and didn't waste a second. Dally was passed out and put into an ambulance. They insisted I go with him because of the burn on my leg and the smoke that was in my lungs.

I climbed into the ambulance and watched Dally's chest rise and fall as he breathed. His face was covered with smoke and there were wood chips in his hair.

I couldn't stop crying. I cried and cried until it was physically impossible to cry anymore.