The outsiders

Nightmares

I wake up and dally is tossing and turning and shaking.

"No, please don't take her, please." He pleaded. Sweating and shivering

I shake him a little.

"Please sylvia please don't take her." He screams.

"Dally, baby, wake up." I keep shaking

"NO!!!!" He screamed jolting  up. Shivering and swearing.

I wrapped my arms around him and just held him.

"I thought...I thought..." He stammered.

"I know. It's alright I'm here." I hug him.

He just hugged me tightly. I held him tightly, gently stroking his sweat-matted dark brown hair. He shivered a little in his sweat soaked white t- shirt.

"Take off your shirt." I whisper in his ear. He obliges then lays  back down with me.

"You were saying something about Sylvia taking me..." I trailed off.

He grabbed a cigarette and lit it, inhaling and exhaling puffs of smoke.

"Promise me...you won't tell nobody." He said looking at me, his dark brown eyes clouded with indecision.

I nod.

"She abused me...she loved to hit, slap, kick me...but she wasn't the scary one..." He shivered as the memory overtook him.

"No...Brent was the scary one...he was big and tough and hit me and held me down and let her...let her do what she wanted." He coughed trying to stifle another shiver. I was shocked...Dally was the toughest guy I knew...and this had happened to him? How did he do it? How did he not snap?

"He...he" Dally couldn't finish...his dark brown eyes were overtken by darkness. Somehow he willed himself to continue.

"He...hit me all the time...left a lot of bruises...I would get into fights to cover them up...New york was a good place to get into fights...covered it all." He inhaled with his eyes closed, then slowly exhaled, trying to get rid of the shaking that was racking his body. 

I found my voice.

"This was all in New York?" 

He nodded slowly, trying to fight against the memory, that he had so long pushed away, that thretened to overtake his memory.

I wrapped my arms around him and hold him to me, he was starring off into space trying to get his body to stop shaking.

Eventually, he calmed himself down. His dark brown eyes went from fearful and powerless back to cool and tough. It was his usual face, his eyes were the same hardened eyes that had the hatred for the world in them, the hatred that caused him to be so bitter. I sighed as he went back to the tough, cool greaser that always got what he wanted and that nothing could touch. I didn't understand how he did it, how he could go from feeling to cold in such a short period of time.

"Goodnight, doll."