Perspective《Dallas Winston》

thiry-two: epilogue

Dreamin' by Mounika

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Ponyboy's POV
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It'sbeen 10 years since Dally passed away, and lot has happened. Johnny ended up only getting sentenced 10 years prison time because it was an act of self defense, the one ginger haired Soc even defended him in court. Said his name was Jimmy. When he heard about Ivy and her kid and what happened to Dallas he felt awful bad, being given his girlfriend really cared about Ivy and all. He's alright, I suppose. He moved out of Tulsa to hell who knows where a while ago, his girl McKayla ended up marrying Curly Shepard of all people. That was sure something I never saw coming, Curly marrying a Soc. She's a real sweet girl for a Soc, she has the same effect on Curly that Ivy had on Dallas. They balance each other.

Ivy visits often, a few times a year whenever she can. She writes and calls often; I always look forward to receiving a letter from Ivy in the mail. She constantly sends all of us pictures of her and her son Archer; he looks just like Dally if he had blonde hair. She always brings Archer with her when she visits, he's only 9 but he's a cool kid. I've met him multiple times, its hard to tell his personality at this age but I can tell he's gonna be one wise cracker. He even made Darry's head spin one time by wise cracking him back and forth, now that's Dally Winston's kid.

I'm currently a writer, since I went to college with a scholarship in track but swapped to literature midway through. I make pretty good money, and I enjoy what I'm doing. Ivy loves reading the stuff I write, she always sends mail about how she wants a sneak peak on my next work.

Speaking of Ivy, she's doing pretty damn well too. She went back to school and got her GED, and proceeded to find a career. She used all her knowledge on space and stuff to land her a job as an astronomer. Of course she had to attend college for a degree, but she did pretty good. I'm happy to see her doing so well in life, I haven't seen her happier since she was with Dally. Speaking of which she always visits his grave when she's in town, we personally paid for a grave for Dally. It isn't much, but its his.

As for everyone else, things sure aren't the same as they once were. Sodapop and Steve got drafted to war, only one of them made it back. Sodapop was supposed to be sent back home before his 19th birthday, but he never wrote back or showed up. We had a personal ceremony for him, I'm honestly still mourning even though it was 8 years ago. He didn't deserve what he got, but at least he went out with purpose. It what Soda would've wanted.

Steve wasn't the same person when he came back from the war. He became a raging alcoholic, married and divorced twice. He still lives in Tulsa, but we don't associate with him much anymore. No one really liked Steve except Sodapop, so when Sodapop was gone he kind of faded away with him. Its sad to think about, but that's just a sign of the times.

Darry is doing well though. He has his own construction business, with workers and good pay and everything. He's still bummed he didn't get to go to college, but at least he's got a good job with just a high school diploma. Strangely enough Sodapop's passing brought us closer together, we only had each other left. I guess that was one good thing out of it.

Two-Bit kind of just disappeared. No one's heard from him or seen him in years. I hope he ain't dead, or at least he's doing good somewhere else. Maybe one day he'll just turn up out of the blue with his same leather jacket and Mickey Mouse shirt wanting to go run amok somewhere. As wild as he was I miss Two-Bit.

Johnny recently got out of the slammer, he ain't the same. No one would be after all that time behind bars, but I'm surprised he didn't change as much as I expected he would. He wasn't shaky or scared of much anymore, he never hesitated to rip someone's head off anymore. Prison made him tough, but he was still puppy dog eye Johnny. I could have the same conversations with him that I once did when we were teenagers, they were just a bit different now. He never wants to talk about jail or what happened in those ten years, if anyone brings it up he gets tense. Not scared tense, angry tense. Johnny was never one to scare, but I didn't dare ask him about any of that.

Times have changed, people have come and gone. Tulsa has changed, as did the folks within it. The social class rivalry died over time, it's just people. No specifc east and west side, just Tulsa. A town full of people being people. That's all I ever wanted to watch Tulsa become. A place where people could just be people.

Still this small town holds some of the greatest and worst memories I have. Regrets and times I wish I could relive just one more time. I still have a long life ahead of me, but I already feel like I've seen it all. Lived too many experiences to count. There are people much older than me who have lived through less than I have already, but there are kids younger than me who can say the same thing. I'm excited to see where this life will take me, how far I can make it in this world. I can't wait to look at this place from a different perspective.

Fin.

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976 words

Aw fuck...I'm crying again. Thank you all so much if you read this far, I'm going to write one more bonus chapter after this. One that depicts Ivy's first visit back to Tulsa. I love you all who enjoyed the story, thank you for reading. Stay Gold.
- Julie