Stay Gold {The Outsiders}

Chapter 6: Red Hell

     It took me a moment to process what he had said. Once I had, I almost choked on my food.
     "Who?" I asked, not believing my ears. Johnny gagged on his food and Ponyboy sat there, his mouth hanging wide open.
     "Cherry," Dallas repeated, shrugging his shoulders.
     Cherry? Why would Cherry spy for us? After all, it was her boyfriend that was killed. My mind raced with thoughts of confusion, but I guess not all of them were silent.
     "She came over to the lot the night Two-Bit was jumped. Shepard and some of his outfit and us were hanging around there when she drives up in her little old Sting Ray. That took a lot of nerve. Some of us was for jumping her then and there, her being the dead kid's girl and all, but Two-Bit stopped us. Man, next time I want a broad I'll pick up my own kind."
     "Yeah," Johnny said slowly. I couldn't help but wonder if, like me, he was remembering another voice, also tough and just deepened into manhood.
     "Next time you want a broad, pick up your own kind..." It gave me the creeps.
     "She said she felt that the whole mess was her fault, which it is, and that she'd keep up with what was coming off with the Socs in the rumble and would testify that the Socs were drunk and looking for a fight and that you fought back in self-defence," he continued, giving a grim laugh, "That little gal sure does hate me. I offered to take her over to The Dingo for a Coke and she told me to go to hell."
     I can't blame her. I chuckled at my own thought. Dally could get on anyone's nerves.
     "Man, this place is out of it. What do they do for kicks around here, play checkers?" Dally surveyed the scene without interest, "That was a good idea; I mean cutting your hair and bleaching it. They printed your descriptions in the paper but you sure wouldn't fit 'em now." Johnny had been quietly finishing his fifth barbecue sandwich, but he sighed and looked at Dally.
     "We're going back and turning ourselves in." It was Dally's turn to gag. Then he swore for a while. He turned to Johnny and stared him down.
     "What?" he demanded.
     "I said we're going back and turning ourselves in," Johnny repeated in a quiet voice. I was surprised but not shocked. "I got a good chance of being let off easy," he said desperately, and I didn't know if it was Dally he was trying to convince or himself, "I ain't got no record with the fuzz and it was self-defence. Rosie, Ponyboy and Cherry can testify to that. And I don't aim to stay in that church all my life."
     That was quite a speech for Johnny. His big black eyes grew bigger than ever at the thought of going to the police station, for Johnny had a deathly fear of cops, but he went on, "We won't tell that you helped us, Dally, and we'll give you back the gun and what's left of the money and say we hitchhiked back so you won't get into trouble. Okay?" Dally was chewing the corner of his ID card, which gave his age as twenty-one so he could buy liquor.
     "You sure you want to go back? Us greasers get it worse than anyone else." Johnny didn't hesitate to nod.
     "I'm sure. It ain't fair for Ponyboy and Rosie to have to stay up in that church with Darry and Soda worrying about them all the time. I don't guess..." his voice trailed off. He swallowed and tried not to look eager, "I don't guess my parents are worried about me or anything?"
     "The boys are worried," Dally told him in a matter-of-fact voice, "Two-Bit was going to Texas to hunt for you." That sounded like something that Two-Bit would do. He joked around and everything, but when it came down to it, he would travel anywhere or do anything for the gang. He would put his life on the line for us. We all would.
     "My parents," Johnny repeated doggedly, "I asked if my parents are worried. Did they ask about me?" I could hear the hopefulness in his voice and I felt horrible, knowing that his hopes would be crushed.
     "No," snapped Dally, "they didn't. Blast it, Johnny, what do they matter? Shoot, my old man don't give a hang whether I'm in jail or dead in a car wreck or drunk in the gutter. That don't bother me none."
     Johnny didn't say anything, but he stared at the dashboard with such hurt bewilderment that I could have broken down in tears.
     Dally cussed under his breath and nearly tore out the transmission of the T-bird as we roared out of the Dairy Queen. I felt sorry for Dally, I really did. He meant it when he said he didn't care about his parents. But he and the rest of the gang knew Johnny cared and we did everything we could to make it up to him. I don't know what it was about Johnny, maybe that lost puppy look and those big scared eyes were what made everyone his big brother or, in mine and AJ's case, big sister. But we couldn't, no matter how hard we tried, take the place of his parents.
     I guess that was the way that I felt about Sodapop and Darry. Soda understood everything, well, almost everything, like Mom used to but he was childish and it was mostly me taking care of him, not the other way around. Darry acted more like a parent, but it just wasn't the same. I think Ponyboy felt the same. We loved Soda and Darry but they could never replace Mom and Dad.
     Dally was the kind of person that could take anything because he was hard and tough, and when he wasn't, he could turn hard and tough. Johnny was a good fighter and could play it cool, but he was sensitive and that isn't a good way to be when you're a greaser. I'll admit, I could be real sensitive, too, but the guys expect it, even the Socs expect it because I'm a woman. The gang doesn't underestimate me or anything, it's just that women feel things differently that men do, greaser or not.
     "Blast it, Johnny," Dally growled as we flew along the red road, "Why didn't you think of turning yourself in five days ago? It would have saved a lot of trouble."
     "I was scared," Johnny said with conviction, "I still am." He ran his finger down one of his short black sideburns. "I guess we ruined our hair for nothing, Ponyboy." I knew he hadn't mentioned me for a reason. He had kept telling me that he liked my hair and I did, too.
     "I guess so," Pony sighed. He still hated his hair. In all honesty, now that I've gotten used to seeing him that way, it didn't look all that bad.
     Dally was scowling, and I knew better than to talk to him when his eyes were blazing like that. He wouldn't have laid a finger on me, but it wouldn't help his mood any. If Pony were to talk to him, he would probably clobber him. It had happened to all the gang at one time or another, except for Johnny and I. We rarely fought among ourselves.
     Darry was the unofficial leader, since he kept his head best, Soda and Steve had been best friends since grade school and never fought, and Two-Bit and AJ were just too lazy to argue with anyone. Johnny didn't talk enough to get into arguments, and nobody ever fought with Johnny. Pony kept his mouth shut and I guess I was a bit like Darry; I was level-headed and for some reason, the boys respected me, even the Shepards and their gang did. But Dally was a different matter; if something beefed him, he didn't keep quiet about it, and if you rubbed him the wrong way, look out. Not even Darry wanted to tangle with him. He was dangerous.
     I saw Johnny staring at his feet. He hated it when one of us was mad at him. He looked miserable and I think Dally noticed, too.
     "Johnny," Dally pleaded with a high voice, using a tone I had only heard him use with me, "Johnny, I ain't mad at you. I just don't want you to get hurt. You don't know what a few months in jail can do to you. Oh, blast it, Johnny," he pushed his messy hair back out of his eyes, "You get hardened in jail. I don't want that to hap­pen to you. Like it happened to me..." I didn't know if Dally was going to say anything else, but if he had wanted to, he wouldn't have had the time, because Johnny looked at him, his face completely expressionless, and asked him a question that would have the ability to change his decision to go back home.
      "Would you rather have me living in hide-outs for the rest of my life, always on the run?" Johnny's voice was dead serious. If Dally had said yes, Johnny would have gone back to the church without hesitation. He figured Dally knew more than he did, and in his opinion, Dally's word was law. But he never heard Dally's answer, for we had reached the top of Jay Mountain and Dally suddenly slammed on the brakes and stared.
     "Oh, glory," I whispered, unable to think of anything else to say. The building that we had lived in for the past five days, had smoke rising from the flames that had engulfed it. The old abandoned church on the top of Jay Mountain as on fire!
     Before I had time to protest, Pony hopped out of the car and Johnny soon followed him. Without a second thought, I climbed out, ignoring Dally as he told us to stay in the vehicle. I heard him slam his hands down onto to steering wheel in frustration, but I knew that he would have to park the car and catch all three of us, so I figured I was safe. He was cussing us out, but he wasn't mad enough to come after us. 
     There was a crowd at the front of the church, mostly little kids, and I wondered how they'd gotten there so quickly. I approached a large man and tapped him on the shoulder.
     "Excuse me, what's going on?" He turned to face me.
     "Well, we don't know for sure," the man said with a good-natured grin. I didn't understand how he could grin when there was a burning church behind him. "We were having a school picnic up here and the first thing we knew, the place is burning up. Thank goodness this is a wet season and the old thing is worthless anyway." Then, to the kids, he shouted, "Stand back, children. The firemen will be coming soon." I saw Ponyboy lean toward Johnny and I just barely caught what he said.
     "I bet we started it," he muttered, "We must have dropped a lighted cigarette or something." All of a sudden, a woman ran toward us.
     "Jerry, some of the kids are missing," she exclaimed. The man, Jerry she called him, just shrugged her off.
     "They're probably around here somewhere. You can't tell with all this excitement where they might be." Irritation was mixed with her worry.
     "No," she shook her head, "They've been missing for at least a half an hour. I thought they were climbing the hill..." Just as she finished her sentence, I heard a faint noise coming from the church. Someone was yelling for help and their voice sounded like a child's. The woman's face lost all colour, as did mine. "I told them not to play in the church... I told them..." She looked like she was going to start screaming, so Jerry shook her.
     "I'll get them, don't worry!" When I tried to push past him, he held me back, "I'll get them. You kids stay out!" I ignore him and jerked my arm out of his grip. I ran toward the church, Johnny and Ponyboy close behind me. I wasn't about to go through that flaming door, so I looked for a way in. Johnny lifted a big rock and slammed it through a window. One at a time, we pulled ourselves in and, now that I think about it, it was a wonder we didn't cut ourselves to death. I took a deep breath, and started coughing. The smoke filled my eyes and they started watering.
     "Is that guy coming?" Johnny shook his head.
     "The window stopped him." He had to yell because the crackling of the burning wood was getting louder and louder.
     "Too scared?" Jerry didn't seem like the cowardly type, but who knows.
     "Naw..." Johnny gave me a grin, "Too fat" I wanted to laugh, but I couldn't because I was scared I'd drown in the smoke. "Where's the kids?"
     "In the back, I think." I didn't know for sure but it was the first place that I thought of. We started stumbling through the church.
     I should be scared, I thought with an odd detached feeling, but I'm not. The cinders and embers began falling on us, stinging and smarting like ants. Suddenly, in the red glow and the haze, I remembered wondering what it was like in a burning ember. Now I know, it's a red hell. Why aren't I scared?
     We pushed open the door to the back room and found four or five little kids, about eight years old or younger, huddled in a corner. One was screaming his head off.
     "Shut up! We're going to get you out!" Johnny yelled. The kid looked surprised and quit hollering. I blinked to myself. Johnny wasn't behaving at all like his old self. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the door was blocked by flames, then pushed open the window and tossed out the nearest kid.
     I caught one quick look at his face as I picked up a little girl and set her outside; it was red­ marked from falling embers and sweat streaked, but he grinned at me. He wasn't scared either. That was the only time I can think of when I saw him without that defeated, suspicious look in his eyes. He looked like he was having the time of his life.
     I looked at Ponyboy as he picked up one of the kids. The little boy bit his finger and but he ignored the child's actions and dropped him outside the window. He didn't look frightened in the least. I heard Dally yelling at him to get out. Pony just picked up another kid and dropped him outside. I was coughing so hard I could hardly stand up, and I wished I had time to take off Dally's jacket. It was smoldering under the heavy material but that was the least of my worries at the moment. We dropped the last of the kids out as the front of the church started to crumble. Johnny shoved Pony toward the window and turned to me.
     "Get out!" he shouted at me. I shook my head and saw that we didn't have long before that roof would cave in. He pushed me in the direction of the window and I had no choice but to jump out, for if I didn't, I would have landed on the ground, face-first. I quickly got up and tried to look through the smoke that was coming out of the window.
     Why wasn't he coming out? I thought, worried. He should be out by now.
     "Johnny!" I called. I was about to go back into the church to get him, but Dallas pushed me back. He climbed through the opening and disappeared from my sight. I looked around for Ponyboy and say him on the ground a few feet away. I rushed over to him and shook him, but he wouldn't wake up. "Pony! Ponyboy, can you hear me? Wake up, Pony. Please," I whimpered. I couldn't lose him, I just couldn't.
     I heard a painful cry come from the church. It was Johnny! My heart was beating fast and I felt a single tear roll down my cheek. I swear, I almost jumped for joy when I saw Dally emerge from the building, covered in ashes with a limp Johnny in his arms. Yes, Johnny was hurt, but they were out of the church.
     I rose to my feet to meet Dally as he rushed over but as soon as I did, I started coughing once more as black spots danced through my vision. I couldn't see properly and my lungs burned every time I took a breath. I turned my head to the side and saw Dally's blurry figure leaning over Johnny.
     "Johnny, Dallas, Ponyboy..." My voice was hoarse and I couldn't finish my sentence. I saw someone approach me, but I began to feel light headed and everything started spinning. The sounds around me started to fade as my eyes closed involuntarily.
 
 
 
     When I woke up, I was in a white room. I could hear a rustling noise beside me and when I opened my eyes, I was greeted by the face of a young, kind-looking nurse. When she saw that I was awake, she smiled warmly at me.
     "Oh, good, you're up. How are you feeling, dear?" I ignored her question and asked one of my own.
     "How are Johnny, Ponyboy and Dallas?" She didn't seem to know how to answer and I realized that she probably didn't know which one was which. "Ponyboy is the blonde one, Johnny is the black haired one and Dallas is the......other one." I didn't know how to describe Dally. He just couldn't be wrapped up in one word.
     "Well Ponyboy is fine; he left last night with his brothers. Dallas' right arm is burned slightly, but he'll be alright in about a week and Johnny...." she hesitated. I looked at her, silently pleading for her to answer me. She looked at me sympathetically and I felt my stomach clench.
     No... I thought. We didn't lose him, we couldn't have.
     "I'm not supposed to tell you," she confessed. She sighed, as if she gave up, "He's in critical condition," she blurted out, "If anyone asks, you didn't hear it from me." I sat there, feeling numb.
     "Thank you..." I trailed off, not knowing her name. She then told me that her name was Susie. "Thank you, Susie," I muttered, staring blankly at the wall across the room. She cleared her throat and began to speak again, though I was barely listening.
     "That boy, Ponyboy, kept asking about you. His brothers did, too," she told me. I glanced at her before returning my gaze to the plain white wall.
     "Well I would hope so, they're my brothers." She nodded and left the room quietly to tend to another patient. There was a knock on the door, but I had barely lifted my head when my body was being squeezed by a boy. A boy that was none other than my beloved twin brother. "Sodapop! I need to breathe!" I exclaimed. Darry came over and pulled Soda off me.
     "Be careful with her, little buddy," he bent over, lifted my bangs and kissed my forehead, "We just got her back; we don't need to lose her again." The pain was clear in his voice and I instantly felt guilt for making them worry. He quickly changed the subject, "Rosie, you sure do look like Mom with your hair like that. You always have." I beamed proudly and he sat in the chair that was beside my bed. He grabbed my right hand and held it lightly in both of his. Soda sat on the side of my bed and started rambling on about something that I couldn't understand. I chuckled and kissed his cheek.
     "I missed you two."
 
 
     A few minutes later, Darry and Soda had to leave for work. Not long after they had left, two little boys ran into the room, quickly followed by a young woman. The two boys climbed onto my bed and hugged me.
     "Zack, Theo, be careful!" AJ's voice demanded. They eventually got down and AJ made her way over to me. She pulled me into a bone-crushing hug, which almost made me gasp for air.
     "I missed you, AJ, but I'm starting to miss air, too." She gave me one last squeeze, which made me feel as if she had cracked a few of my ribs. "I was starting to think that you had forgotten about me," I joked. She smiled innocently at me and sat down where Darry had previously sat. We chatted for a while but when Susie told me that I had another visitor, I wondered who it could be. It didn't take me long to recognize the person when I saw their bright red hair as they stood in the door way.
     "Cherry?" She shuffled her feet and wouldn't meet anyone's gaze. "Come on in, we don't bite." She chuckled at my comment and made her way over to my bed. "So, what brings you here?" I spoke casually, which surprised her. I think she expected me to act differently in front of AJ, since she was my best friend.
     "I wanted to see how you were doing," she told me, "I saw the story in the newspaper and I had to come see you." AJ had showed me the article and I almost ripped the paper in half when it said that Soda and Pony could be put in a boys' home and I could be put in a girls' home. It was ridiculous! They shouldn't be able to do that! "I also wanted to tell all of you that there aren't going to be any weapons in the rumble tonight." I had almost forgotten about the rumble. She knew I wouldn't fight, so she was probably telling me so I could tell the boys.
     "Thank you, Cherry. And I'm doing good. I've been better, but I'll live." She looked relieved at the news. She wasn't a bad person and she didn't deserve the horrible reputation that she has with all the greasers.
     "I better get going," Cherry told me, glancing around awkwardly. I smiled kindly at her and nodded. I waved at her and she returned it, before walking out the door.
     "So, how's Dally?" My question caught AJ off guard. She avoided my gaze and scratched the back of her head nervously.
     "Why would you think that I would know?" she asked me, trying to hide her reddened cheeks with her hair.
     "I just assumed that you had gone to see him," I replied simply. I didn't mean to embarrass her. I didn't even know why she was embarrassed. Zack and Theo weren't listening; they had gotten back up onto the bed and were playing with my hair and I already knew about her crush on Dallas.
     "Oh, well, he's fine. He's bothering the nurse though. It was pretty funny," she smirked, "Too bad he can't go to the rumble. Tim Shepard came by to rub it in, too. Says he can't believe there wasn't 'Wanted Dead or Alive' written under his picture in the paper." Dally and Tim had always been good buddies.
     We spoke for a little while but we were interrupted by heavy footsteps that were approaching my room. Two-Bit stuck his head into the room and Ponyboy followed him.
     "Hey, Rosie. How're they treating you?" He strut over to my bedside and inspected my new haircut. "Nice hair, it's tuff."
     "Thanks," I nodded at him, "I'm alright, I just have to wait until Darry gets off from work so he can sign me out and leave," I told him. Two-Bit smirked at me as Ponyboy sat on the end of the bed.
     "Why wait for Darry?" I didn't understand right away but eventually I did. "You want me to get you out?" I sighed but didn't argue. I was getting real bored and Darry wouldn't get off for another four or five hours.
     Two-Bit left the room and I saw him talking to some blonde nurse. Typical Two-Bit. He came back in a few minutes later, his smirk still painted onto his face.
     "Well, Ms. Curtis, you are free to go," he announced, pretending to be a doctor. I laughed and stood up, holding Zack and Theo in my arms. For boys who eat like every meal is their last, they sure are light.
     AJ came over and took Zack from me. She set him on the ground but when he raised his arms up and gave her his famous puppy dog eyes, she lifted him up again.
     "Let's go see Johnny," Ponyboy suggested as he walked out of the room. When we asked a nurse which room was his, she kept telling us that we couldn't see him. Even when Susie came to see what was going on, she wouldn't tell us. The doctor made his way over to us and turned to the nurses.
     "Let them go in," he told them, "he's been asking for them. It can't hurt now."