Smarty | A Curtis Sister Story

15

Darry and Soda went to change out of their works clothes. Dally came in late as usual, and him, Johnny and Pony sat in the living room with Two-Bit and Steve. I joined them after I brought all the desserts I made into the living room. 

"Hey, can you hold this?" I asked Steve, almost throwing the pie onto his lap, while trying to find a place to put more platters. Why do I do this every year? Beats me. 

My two oldest brothers came out when I was coming back into the living room with a deck of cards in my hand.

"Wow," Darry says stunned when he saw the array of desserts. 

"I know, I'm sorry I made so much." I apologize.

Soda came up and reached for a cookie behind me. "No no, this is great." Soda is the one who gets the most hyped up. Him, Ponyboy and Two-Bit get the most jittery, but that's only because they have no self-control. Valentine's Day is sugar central for those three. 

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"I'll get it." I say when someone knocks on the door. I was out in our poker game, I'm obviously not very good. We'd been going for an hour, poker gets boring after a while. 

I opened the door, and saw Miguel. He almost said something, but I quickly rushed us onto the porch. "Hey Miguel, what are you doing here?"

"It's Valentine's Day doll." He answers, but I barely heard him. I was looking around to see if the boys could see us through the living room window. He kissed me on the cheek, and then I finally put my attention to him. "But there's something else."

"What is it honey?" I ask. I was getting nervous, what was he going to tell me?

He starts, "I found something out, and I was debating whether I should tell you or not, but now I think it's better for you to know than for you ..." 

"Just tell me." I cut him off. 

"Okay, umm," Miguel says, "you should sit down for this." He pushes my shoulders onto the couch on my porch. 

"Miguel, you're scaring me..." 

"Just listen Smarty." I shut up immediately. He takes a deep breath. "I'm just going to come out and say it. My brother killed your parents." 

He said more, but I couldn't hear it over the ringing in my ears. Marco killed Mom and Dad? There's no way, the driver left after the accident. I snap out of my daze and cut Miguel off. "How do you know?"

"I found some papers and put two and two together. I asked him about it, but he just shooed my away. Then we got in an argument and I told him I was going to your house." He pauses, looking at me. I was staring at the wood floor, shocked. I never thought I would know the man that killed the two people I loved the most. But, he lives only a few houses from me. That must have been why Marco was acting so weird around me. "Smarty, I'm sorry."

He came to sit down next to me. He put his arm around me, in a side hug, and pulled me closer. I let a tear slip, but I told myself not to. Miguel was NOT to see me cry. I look out into the street, at the way the sky gets when the sun is setting. I thought I saw a dark figure, but I brushed it off. It was nothing. 

Miguel stands up again. "I will not stand for this. I am going to the police, to tell them about my brother. That's why he left probably, to get away from the cops. He's going to pay for what he has done."

The next part happened so fast. There was a figure there, and he was coming closer to us. I thought it was just my imagination, I see things sometimes. But, it didn't look so imaginary. I stared and stared at it until I realized that there was an actual person there. And he had a black thing in his hand. The closer he crept, the more terrified I felt. My heart sped up when I realized what it was. 

 Shots fired: one, two, three bangs. I yelled at Miguel as he fell to the ground. "No no no!"

Everything was suddenly in slow motion. I rushed to his side. "Miguel, Miguel! Oh my gosh, Miguel. Somebody call an ambulance! Miguel, honey, no . . . no," he didn't say anything: he was definitely in shock. His hand moved to his torso, he brought it up covered in red. I held his hand while saying. "I'm going to kill Marco."

"No," He says hoarsely, "don't ... do anything." 

He was having trouble breathing. "Miguel, don't talk."

He doesn't listen. He moves his arm slowly and grabs a box from his coat pocket. "For you ... for ... for Valentine's Day." He coughs. 

He moved his hand weakly to give me the box. It had small amounts of blood on the exterior. I opened it, it was a heart-shaped necklace. "I love it Miguel. I love you."

"I love ..." He couldn't finish what he was saying, he had lost too much blood. He laid his head back on the ground. He took his final breath, and his grip loosened on my palm.

"No Miguel, you're not dead. C'mon Miguel ..." I was in hysterics.  "MIGUEL! MIGUEL NO NO NO! C'mon, get up. GET UP! C'mon Miguel, you're not dead. Miguel ... NO NO NO!" I started to drum on his chest, it wasn't moving. I was mad at him, he left me. You could hear my sobs from a mile away. They covered the sound of the ambulance, and the sound of the boys coming outside. I didn't pay attention to them, I drowned the rest of the world out. Only me and him. How could he do this to me? How could he die right in front of me? I want him, I need him. And he's gone.

I put my head on his chest, it was covered in red mess. I wailed from deep in my stomach. He was gone. "Smarty ..." Darry said, grabbing my arms gently and trying to pull me away.

"NO!" I tell him, my head still in his chest, my grip tightening. I breathed in his scent, the cologne he put on. He smelled so nice. 

"Smarty c'mon," Darry says, pulling me harder. I clench Miguel's lifeless body harder, but Darry was stronger than I am. He pulled me away from my boyfriend, and then the paramedics shuffled him away. The picture of his deceased body would stick in my mind forever. 

I couldn't look anymore. I put my head into Darry's chest and hugged him tight, bawling into his shirt. He rubbed my back and shushed me as the sound of people rushing around me filled my ears. It felt like I'd been crying in Darry's shirt for hours. 

"Smarty." Darry says gently. I fought the urge of disappearing into Darry's shirt, away from this horrible world, and picked my head up. The wind on my dry cheeks made them hurt, but the tears did not stop flowing. "Hey, I gotta go talk to one of the policemen."

"No Darry, don't leave me." I plea. His expression was sad, he was upset for me and for Miguel, the boy he despised. He reluctantly left me. I felt empty again as Ponyboy came and hugged me. 

"I'm so sorry Smarty." He says and squeezes my waist. I hate those words; I'm going to have to hear them for a while now. Somebody else comes and hugs me from behind so I'm sandwiched in between them.

"C'mon, let's clean you up." Pony tells me.