Reunited | Dally's Little Sister

forty six

CH 46

Sage P.O.V.

As soon as those words left Two-bit's mouth, Soda and I both took off. I vaguely remember Steve yelling at us about driving us there, but we weren't fully thinking things through. All I knew is that I had to get to that house.

Darry was already in the truck waiting on us, impatiently tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. Soda nearly threw me in the when he opened the door, trying to make me move faster. Darry then floored it before the door even shut.

The truck was filled with nothing but silent worry as Darry broke nearly every law trying to get us to that hospital. The man who only displays calm and restraint was now fidgeting to no end. It didn't take a genius to know he feared what we were about to walk into.

I broke the silence, making both men jump as my whisper of a voice sounded like a shout. "What happened?"

Darry took a few deep breaths before he said, "All I know is that there was a fire at this abandoned church. The three of them were bad enough that they sent them to the hospital in an ambulance. Besides an address, that's all I know."

There was another few minutes of silence before Darry asked me if Dallas has said anything about this whole situation. "No. We didn't talk much this week. And when we did, he was pretty vague about what was going on with the boys. I didn't know the whole story until Soda told me today." I kept the part about how pissed I was at them all to myself. Darry already had enough to worry about without having to keep my anger in check.

I don't know how much time had passed, but it felt like nothing short of forever. The hospital we pulled into wasn't too large which made finding out where our family was easy. Darry took charge of the situation and asked the first person in white for directions.

After rounding a few hallways, I saw Ponyboy sitting on a bench outside a room. I had to do a double take with his hair bleached, cut short, and grease free. I stood frozen on the spot as the Curtis family reunited with each other. It was one of the first times I had seen Darry cry and it wasn't something I wanted to experience again. Soda had nearly thrown Pony in the air when he reached him, sporting a smile that would make even the coldest of hearts warm. All they had was each other and I think Pony now realizes just how much he means to them.

After giving them a few minutes of privacy, I walked forward wanting to know how my brother was. If he wasn't out here, he had to of been in a room. Which wasn't a comforting thought at all. Pony saw me first and had the smarts to look guilty. "Where's my brother?" Pony pointed to a room down the hall and I turned to walk that way without another word.

I only made it a few steps before I felt someone behind me. "I don't need a damn babysitter."

Darry's voice filled my ears, "I know you don't. I only want to see how your brother is doing." I knew that wasn't the only reason, but I didn't have enough fight in me to argue.

I heard Dallas before I saw him. A nurse stormed out of the room with my brother's annoying laugh following after her. Typical of him to show zero respect for anyone trying to help him. But it gave me a little hope that he was going to be fine.

I rounded the corner and stopped. My brother was sitting up in bed with his arm wrapped up in a thick white bandage. Looking over him, I didn't notice anything else wrong with him. His smug smile fell when he saw me standing in the doorway.

"This is a new look for you." I tried to start the conversation light to see how bad of a mood he was in. It wouldn't do anyone any good if the two of us got into it in a hospital.

"Yeah, well if the dumbass down the hall wouldn't have jumped into the burning church, I wouldn't be sitting here." I wasn't too sure if he was talking about Pony or Johnny, but Darry cut in before I could ask. "I don't know everything that happened, but I do know you tried to keep Pony out of trouble. And I can't thank you enough for that."

Dally seemed to squirm at the complement and brushed him off. "You would do the same. Don't mention it." Darry hovered for another minute before he left to either go find Johnny or be back with Pony.

I moved from my place in the doorway and sat down in a chair placed a few feet from the bed. "What happened?"

He started playing with the sheets and said, "Went to grab them, took them to get food, and then the church was on fire. Now we are here."

I hit my hand on the chair which caused him to look over at me. "Dammit Dallas. For once I just need you to be straight up with me. Good for you for trying to keep the cops off Pony and Johnny, but it wasn't even needed. I had to find the whole story from Soda because you couldn't trust me enough to keep a secret. The one person who has actually killed a fucking person. So, no. You do not get to sit there and play the tough guy card and try to brush this off. Ponyboy nearly got you and Johnny killed for being a little bitch and running from home because Darry had enough of his shit. And Two-bit of all people knew about the damn fire before I did. Do you know what it feels like to be told you were in a fire and sent to the hospital with zero other details? Well let me tell ya, it fucking sucks. I just lost my best friend and here I am thinking you might be next. So cut the shit out, Dallas and just tell me what fucking happened."

He was silent for a moment, seeming at a loss for words at my little rant. I could tell he was trying to figure out if he wanted to slap me for talking that way to him, or actually do what I asked. It shocked me when he started going through the details of the last few hours without any snarky remarks. "I went to go grab them after we all found out that Soc wasn't dead and the cops would be staying out of it. The kids looked like shit and I was being generous and took them out to grab a few burgers. On our way back, we saw the church was on fire. Pony was blabbing about the gun or something thinking it was their fault and told me to get closer."

He paused and shook his head. "I should've drove off then, but I hesitated and the damn kid jumped out. Next thing I knew, both of them run into the burning building to get the kids out and shit went sideways so fast man. Pony came out of the window with his back on fire. I hit his back to get the fire out. I guess I hit him a little too hard and knocked him out. I had to drag Johnny out of there when the roof started to collapse. He looked bad."

I didn't know what to say. I wanted so bad to be mad at Pony for running in there to begin with. But kids would've died if he didn't. I felt like I could go back and forth with this all day. The gun that my brother probably gave them might have caused the fire. But if it wasn't for Pony running from home, they wouldn't have been in the church in the first place. Or maybe if the stupid Soc would learn to leave us alone, none of this would've happened. So many damn people to blame and there was nothing I could do about it.

"How's Johnny?" I looked back at him and shrugged my shoulders, "I don't know. I came to your room first to see how you were. But I can go see."

I got up to leave but his two words made me stop. "I'm sorry."

I looked back over my shoulder and gave him a small smile. "I just don't want to bury anyone else. I don't think I could handle it."