✓ | falling ➝ j. cade

xvi. source of gravity

❝STEADY ME. BE MY SOURCE OF GRAVITY. WHEN MY WORLD'S UNRAVELING, SAY YOU'LL NEVER CHANGE.❞
- ALESSIA CARA, STONE

×

Exactly three nights later, Theodosia Mickelson's mind began to wander as she absentmindedly washed the dishes. As it had done time and time before, it wandered back to a particular Johnny Cade. That didn't surprise the girl. She and Johnny were a confusing pair. She didn't know if they were together or if they weren't. It was a known fact that they had feelings for the other, so why did they not act on them? Theodosia pondered this often., especially at night when her mind had nothing else to be occupied with. Then again, there still felt like there was plenty she didn't know about Johnny. She had never met his parents before. She wondered about them, too. Did Johnny get his looks from his father? And did his mother teach him his manners? Were they both quiet and reserved like their son? What were they like? Little did the redhead know, this question would be answered in less than a mere hour.

On the same side of town, a few blocks away, Johnny Cade's parents were fighting again. The meek boy was used to it, but it didn't mean that he didn't flinch every time he heard one of his father's beer bottles hit the wall. Johnny sat on his bed, motionless and with a tight jaw to keep him from screaming. He hated listening to his parents fight. He hated it. Though the Greaser would probably never admit it out loud to anyone but Ponyboy, he was terrified to stay in an unhappy, unhealthy relationship, especially one like his parents'. He didn't understand how either one managed if all they did was fight. Deep down, Johnny knew it was why he hadn't tried to make something official out of him and Theodosia. It wasn't that he didn't care about her (He did. Oh God he did.), it was the "what if"s that made him stop in his tracks when he almost-almost-asked what they were.

And then, his bedroom door swung open so hard the boy half feared it would fly off its hinges. It was Johnny's father, drunk and angry as ever. And with a two by four in hand. Without thinking about it, he scrambled off of his bed. His father narrowly missed Johnny's face with the first swing, which made him considerably angrier. Even while intoxicated, if Johnny's father was determined to achieve something, he would. So, he made sure the second hit struck his son. It did, right square on the shoulder. Johnny didn't let out a sound, though the board made him slightly lose his balance. The third hit came so quickly Johnny didn't have time to register what was about to happen until after the fact. This one came to the side of the face. He tried to back away from his father, sure not to look him in the eyes as he did so.

Johnny bumped into the bedroom wall. He knew what came next. He tried to brace himself for it the best he knew how.

___

He didn't remember getting himself out of his house. Or when his father stopped hitting him - either with his fists or his two by four. All Johnny Cade knew was that everything hurt. The pain was almost enough to override his fear of being out in the dark completely alone. The boy was vaguely aware of the fact that his feet were taking him somewhere, somewhere familiar and homey. He decided not to question his feet. Johnny had always trusted them. They may've been outrun a few times, but they never let him down.

At first, Johnny dimly thought of the Curtis house until he realized, no, he was heading the wrong direction. It didn't dawn on him where he until he had arrived at his desired destination. The Greaser had walked himself to the Mickelson residence. He thought about walking himself to the Curtis house, but his knuckles were against the door knocking before Johnny felt like he could turn his feet around.