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Many were known to seek shelter in the Curtis house what with the unlocked front door. Sometimes the siblings would wake up to unfamiliar people who were grateful for the help. But Darry didn't have too much faith in the intentions of his neighborhood and made sure his little sister's door and the window was closed. Just to be safe.
So when Virginia woke up to the sound of her front door opening, she felt her heart hitch in her throat. She could've sworn she heard a groan too- and not the old wood, but more of a person. A man or boy to be precise.
Virginia nestled her cheek into her pillow, debating quickly whether it was safer to stay put. She silently wondered why tonight of all nights she woke up. But a desire to see who crawled into her house was so intense, she could practically feel curiosity pulling her out of bed.
Sighing shakily, she snuck a glance at Ponyboy. The poor boy was on the verge of snoring and his eyelashes fluttered against the brim of his cheek.
"Hey, Pony? You up?" she whispered, tapping his shoulder. Strangely enough, Virginia fearful that her hushed inquiry would somehow travel downstairs and awaken a beast.
Ponyboy stirred gently and he twitched his nose, her question passing over deaf ears. He slithered an arm under his pillow and hugged it, finding relief in the cool temperature underneath and finding himself at peace.
Virginia patted the side of his head with two fingers and inhaled a breath of courage, carefully swinging her legs over her outstretched brother. Once she felt her toes hit the floor, she quickly pulled the blanket over Ponyboy's hips and stared at her bedroom door.
Suddenly, she felt like she was transported to a gloomy castle. And she was a prisoner, waking from her woeful slumber to help some damsel-in-distress- more like a knight in shining armor tend to his battle wounds at the brink of dawn.
Blinking away the haze of midnight away from her eyes, Virginia let her fingers linger on the doorknob just a few seconds longer before carefully turning it. She cringed at the sudden squeaking of the hinges and tried to slip herself through the narrow crack of the door and the frame without dramatically blasting the entire damn thing open.
Her heart skipped a beat when she took the first step down the attic stairs and a mysterious thrill overtook her senses at her late-night adventure. Instead of feeling like a castle prisoner, she felt like a spy in one of those 40s noir films that her father used to watch. But instead of being the doe-eyed love interest, she was the dashing intelligence agent and it felt like a tremendous burden to uncover the mystery.
Crouching down right in her all-seeing spot at the top, Virginia tried to squint amongst the pitch darkness into the small living room to try and make out a familiar face in the dim moonlight that had bled through the half-folded blinds.
There was a body on the couch. His knee was propped up and the other dangling off lazily. A hand was pinching a part of his face that she couldn't quite pick out- maybe when Darry said reading in the dark under her blanket was a bad thing, he did know what he was talking about.
