Dally's Baby Sister//Ponyboy Curtis

Nineteen//Baby Pictures

AMELIA

MY JAW DROPPED as soon as Dally said, "Johnny's parents called." I wanted to cry, scream, and possibly punch something. However, I couldn't move. I stood frozen and tongue-tied. Soon enough, my hands started to shake. 

"I know that it's not exactly the news you want to hear, but-" Dally stopped to cough slightly "-they want us to pick up his stuff. They're gonna move to Hawaii since they have the money for it now, and because Johnny's grandfather's got health issues."

"Hawaii," I mumbled to myself. All of a sudden, I felt the side of my fist come in contact with the wall. I hated them. I hated them so much, and they weren't even my parents. Grandfather, right. More like they want to spend the rest of their lives in Hawaii so that they could celebrate.

"Yeah," Dally said. He looked out the window for a couple seconds before looking back at me. "Tomorrow, we'll head out to their house. They said that we could have whatever we wanted, but they also wanted us to sell what we didn't want. They'll take the money to help pay for Grandpa Cade's health insurance."

"None of this is fair, Dallas. Why can't they just stay here? Their son is buried here, don't they know that?" I said. My eyebrows were furrowed and I ready to full-on cry my eyes out. I was so angry, sad, and tired at the all at the same time that this news was just then placing the cherry on the "Let's-Try-To-Make-Amelia-Winston-Miserable" ice cream sundae. I've about had enough. I was fourteen years old, and I've already experienced a beautiful soul die, my brother getting arrested, a court hearing, the struggle of buying a new house, and now I was about to experience cleaning out a dead person's room. If this is as good as my teenage years are going to be, I wonder what else would happen. 

"They didn't show up for his funeral, Amelia. It's easy to say that they don't care! Be ready by tomorrow morning. They won't be there. They're going to see a movie at the theater. We'll have all the time in the world to get Johnny's things in order. We got lucky that they called before they went ahead and just sold all of his things for the money," Dally said. Tears were brimming in his eyes and he went into the bedroom, quietly shutting the door. I stood there for what seemed like hours, listening to Dallas cry, begging God to wake him up through loud sobs. It broke my heart. How dare I be so selfish and throw myself a pity party? Johnny's dead, and now Dally has to live with that. Before that, a Soc died and Johnny had to live with being his murderer. Before that, Ponyboy ran away and Darrel had to live with worry about his youngest brother and whether or not he was alive. Before that, everything was fair game. 

"God, why? Damn bastard, why did he have to die?" Dally sobbed out. Tears brimmed in my eyes. I started to cry. I never heard Dally cry like this, especially over someone he lost months ago. However, I understand why. It doesn't get easier. Really, I feel like it gets worse every day for him as he lets it sink in that Johnny really is dead. 

-<3-

THE NEXT MORNING was spent gathering up cleaning supplies, boxes, and other things to pack up Johnny's things. I couldn't stop crying the entire morning. It was almost like Johnny had died again somehow, and I was just now hearing the news. I missed Johnny so much. I wish I loved him the way he loved me, I really did. Don't get me wrong, I love Ponyboy, I really did. He was so sweet and caring and I'm so elated that he loves me back, but I feel like if Johnny had someone to love him, to hold him and care for him, that he wouldn't have felt like dying was the best option for him. I felt like Johnny would've known such a world of good that he would've been devastated to have died the way he did. I imagine him loving a girl so much that he would literally die for her, wait out in the pouring rain for her, write a book for her if he had to, anything just for that lucky girl. I imagine him fighting his third degree burns just to be with that girl for as long as God let him, and just living happily with the love of his life. He wasn't lucky enough to have that, unfortunately. He deserved the world, and yet he didn't get it.