𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐓𝐒 & 𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐁𝐎𝐖𝐒 | ponyboy curtis

7

I WOKE UP to a shuffling noise coming from beside me.

I rubbed the sleep away from my eyes and lifted my head up, squinting at the sunlight pouring in through the crack of a window.

Looking around the unfamiliar building, all of the memories from the night before came crashing over me like a wave. I sighed, pushing myself up into a sitting position.

I glanced around and spotted a small, brown rabbit hopping along the dirt covered floor. It paused in front of me, staring up at me for a bit before it hopped away.

Maybe this won't be that bad, I thought.

As I prepared myself to stand, I realized that Ponyboy and Johnny weren't in their spots from earlier. I furrowed my eyebrows as I noticed some smudged writing in the gravel of the floor.

Went to get supplies. Be back soon. — J.C.

That message answered where Johnny was. I grabbed the stick dedicated to helping me walk and stood up, deciding to go and look for Pony.

After dusting the dirt off of my jeans, I limped towards the back of the church, keeping my eyes peeled for the boy.

I found Pony's silhouette sitting on the back steps, humming a song that I had forgotten the name of while staring off into the distance. He was trembling. I couldn't tell if it was from the chilly morning air, or the thoughts racing through his mind.

I walked down the steps and took a seat beside him, admiring the view of the country. The ground went on for about twenty feet before it suddenly dropped down into a hill, allowing you to see for miles and miles.

It reminded me of being on a Ferris wheel, even though I had never been on one. I would always see people riding them in movies.

"Do you think Johnny's gonna come back?" Pony questioned, not looking away from the scenery.

"Why wouldn't he?" I huffed, huffing my knees to my chest as I furrowed my eyebrows.

"What if he's already been gone a whole week and we just slept? What if he already got caught a-and he's waiting for the electric chair since he's not spilling where we are?"

"Pony, you're being—"

"What if Dally's been killed in a car wreck o-or something—"

"Pony."

"—and no one knows where we are, and we just die up here, and turn into skeletons, and—"

"Ponyboy Michael Curtis!" I snapped, causing him to face me with wide eyes and a trembling bottom lip.

As much as I didn't want to admit it, I thought about what Pony had said. What if something happened to Johnny? What if something happened to Dally? What if something happened to us?

"I get it, okay?!" I shouted, standing up off the steps. "You're scared! I am too! But we have to look on the bright sides if things. Saying stuff like that ain't gonna help anything! Matter of fact, it's just gonna make it worse!"

My eyes had gotten watery and I was pretty sure that I was about to start bawling like a baby.

"I don't wanna think about those types of things, Pony!" I yelled. "I don't wanna think about what would happen if Johnny and Dally died, and I don't wanna think about what would happen if we never got to go back home. Hell, I don't even home to go back to."

Home.

I did have a house to go back to.

But that house wasn't home.