Ashley Curtis... Ponyboy's sister...

Darry gone mad. - chapter 46

The next two weeks weren't very interesting. So, let's skip right to the good stuff.

It was a Friday night. I was playing poker with Pony, Soda, and Steve. I was loosing, of course. I don't understand that game.

We were playing when all of a sudden, Darry barges in. He was tripping over his own feet, a stupid looking grin plastered on his face.

He put his arm around me, sluggishly. "Hi, Amy!" he said, slurring his words. I could tell, he was drunk.

"That's it!" I yelled. "For the past week, you could barely remember me. And now you're forgetting my name?!!!!! What's wrong with you?!!!!!!!!"

His eyes darkened and his eyebrows(as well as his IQ points, I believe) sank. He looked positively stupid! Dumber than,... well,... I'd hate to say it, but, Sodapop!

He grabbed my arm and Sodapop stood up. "Now, you listen to me, little lady." Darry said, his jaw shifting, mid sentence. "If I want to call ya Amy, I'll call you Amy!!! GOT IT?!!!!!"

He grabbed me by the collar and Sodapop tried to stop him from taking it any further.

I kept a stern face, stood my ground. But he through me to it!!!(through me to the ground, I mean)

I stood up and backed away from my older brother, my role model. Fear flooded into the back of my eyes in the form of tears. Sodapop grabbed me and ran with me out the door. Ponyboy followed. Darry just stood there, the devil slowly taking over his soul.

What happened?

Once we were at the park, away from Darry, we sat on the grass and cried. Not too soon after, Steve showed up. I figured that he wouldn't want to stay with the mad man.

They all let me cry. Even Steve. We waited there all night, waiting for Darry to sober up.

It was about 4 in the morning when someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was Darry. Scared that he might hurt me, I scooted away, screaming, "Stay back!!! If you get anywhere near me, I'll kill ya!!!!! So, BACK OFF!!!!!!!!!!"

I soon realized that Darry was crying. Silently, tears had been streaming down his face, dripping off of his chin. I let him sit beside me so we could talk. The rest of the boys hadn't woken up yet.

"I'm sorry, Ash. I-I didn't mean to... I never wanted to hurt ya..."

He trailed off and I allowed him to rest his head on my shoulder. "Don't worry, Dar." I said. "It ain't your fault... I forgive ya."

He continued to cry. "But it was my fault!" he pleaded. "I was the one who got drunk! I was the one who lost my mind! I was the one who-" he stopped himself. "...Who hurt my little sister..." He put his head in his hands. "How could I do that?!"

I didn't answer, knowing that the question wasn't for me. There was a long pause before I asked, "Why did you drink, Darry?"

Darry looked up, but he didn't look me in the eye... He realized something.

"Destiny..." he said. "She told me to loosen up... She was never really that nice... But I listened... Bet ya she didn't even love me."

"How'd ya figure that?" I asked. He whispered something in my ear that I'd rather not repeat. I replied with a loud "Ew!" making Darry chuckle. The boys started waking up by then.

Darry wrapped his arm around me and we watched the first of them, Soda, wake up.

He looked at Darry, rubbing his eyes. "Darry?" he asked. "Are ya better?"

Darry nodded and we had a group hug. When Pony woke up, he joined in, too. Even Steve joined in!

I was better, too.