𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒏'//𝑫𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒔 𝑾𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏×𝑶𝑪

💥|TWENTY-SIX|💥

💥|SUMMARY OF LAST CHAPTER|💥

While walking home from work, two socs corner Angela in an alley. They're drunk and tell her to warn Johnny that they're coming for him. They cut her face and try to assault her, but she gets away and runs home. She gets home and tells Darry they have to find Johnny. Darry agrees. After some convincing, they go upside down and find Johnny in a ditch down the street, half-conscious. Darry calls the ambulance while Angela holds Johnny and hums to comfort him. Darry goes with the ambulance and Angela goes home and sleeps with Soda and Pony in her bed. She and Soda have a nice conversation before falling asleep.

💥|END OF SUMMARY|💥

THE NEXT DAY I called Dally and told him that Johnny had gotten jumped and was in the hospital. He went MIA when I told him. Three days later, he is still MIA.

I was starting to get sick of the sanitizing smell of the hospital. The bright white walls and fluorescent lights were starting to give me a headache. It was three twenty-one in the afternoon. Bea had agreed to drive me to the hospital after school and now we marched up the hall. She had a look of wryness as she glanced around at all the hospital equipment.

She hated hospitals. Nobody could really blame her for her hatred for them. A hospital was the last place she saw her father. "I'm here for Johnny Cade," I tell the woman at the front desk.

"Relations to the patient?" She questions lazily, not even looking up from the documents she was working on.

"We're his friends," Bea answers, her fingers rapping against the tall wooden counter; from either being impatient or nervous, I didn't know.

"Okay, you can go up there with his nurse, Miss. Jackson." The receptionist tells us, gesturing to a tall, middle-aged woman who is writing something down on a clipboard. "Rachel, could you take these ladies to see the patient in room 208 while you check his vitals?"

The nurse, Rachel, nods, giving Bea and me a friendly smile as she beckons us to follow her. Bea and I trail behind her; the sounds of heart monitors, hacking coughs, and quiet mumbling crowded my ears, making it hard to think.

I glance up at Bea. She wasn't paying any attention to me. Her big blue eyes skewed across the hospital as we walked. Tension pulled at her face, her lips forming a tight white line. I slip my hand into hers, successfully pulling her back from her trance-like state.

Bea gives me a small, unconvincing smile as she squeezes my hand lightly as if to tell me she is okay. I give her a small smile in return, keeping my hand interlocked with hers as we step into the elevator.

Rachel presses the button for the second floor and steps back, leaning against the wall. I watch as the doors close, and seconds later, they reopen now on the floor above.

Rachel walks out first and we follow behind, passing the lines of doors. She stops at the door labeled 208 and opens the door. "Hey Johnny, I've brought something I think you'll like." She says.

My heart spikes with joy when I hear his weak reply "More pudding cups?" Johnny's awake.

The nurse chuckles at his guess. He must've been awake for some time if he was already making friends with his nurse. "No, visitors, actually." She replies.

Before Johnny can say anything, Bea and I rush into the room. "Hey, Johnnycake." I grin rushing to his bedside. I halfway sit on the bed and hug him gently, careful of the IV sticking from his arm. Johnny lays unmoving, and as I pull away, I see a grin on his busted-up face.

"Nice shiner," he comments as I move to let Rachel check his vitals.

Subconsciously, I reach my hand up to gently caress the bruise from the night I got jumped. "Thanks," I reply with a grin.