Burnt Bridges//Horror Thriller

Bad Plans Lead To Bad Performances

[TW: Mentions of abuse, mental illness, and major character death.]

Ponyboy was a very simple-minded 16-year-old boy. He was a daydreamer, open-minded, and loveable. He was incredibly intelligent, skipping a grade even.

Ponyboy didn't want to consider himself a troubled teenager, but he did seem to be attracted to people who were defined that way. Either it be his friends... or his boyfriend. Ponyboy had been dating Curly Shepard for one year.

It was a full year full of nightmares.

Their relationship was something you would see in a PSA to warn you about domestic abuse. Darrel did everything he could do to warn Ponyboy about how dangerous Curly was. He was up to nothing good.

Curly was an abuser, cheater, and drug addict.

Ponyboy was in that phase where he was attracted to someone like Curly. Someone he knew his family wouldn't approve of. It was an inner-feeling of thinking he could fix him. Ponyboy knew that wasn't possible, but Curly was in his heart for good.

Although, Ponyboy knew it would be the end of him. All they did was fight- Curly would steal his things to sell for money. Curly would hit him or force him to have sex. Ponyboy was miserable, but he felt like he would be nothing without Curly. Pony was being morally and physically torn apart.

Ponyboy also found himself indulging in some of the things that Curly brought around him. Ponyboy smoked tobacco, but then it turned into marijuanna. Then it turned into pain pills, pain pills turned into Xanax and Adderall... It kept escalating. Curly would sell him the idea of these drugs to Pony as if they would help him. The Xanax would help calm him down, the Adderall would help him focus... He was forcing ideology like that to get Ponyboy to give him the money for the drugs.

Ponyboy found himself constantly trying to detox from one drug to the other.

He fell for Curly's games every time; he loved him. Pony couldn't say no to someone he genuinely loved. He wouldn't expect someone who loved him to hurt him on purpose. He knew deep down that Curly had horrible intentions, but he would always find himself letting it go.

...

Pony was laying face down in bed, sobbing his eyes out. For the millionth time, it was tears caused by Curly Shepard. Curly had beat him after Ponyboy told him he wouldn't give him money to get a fix. Ponyboy was putting his foot down so Curly would stop hurting himself with all of these drugs... he was only 17, he was killing himself with all of these drugs. Pony was scared of losing him that way. It was horrible.

Curly did not appreciate being told no. He took it as Ponyboy trying to control him. So he beat him, physically. Then emotionally degraded the boy. Curly told Ponyboy to get the fuck out of his face and don't bother coming around until he would give him the money.

It broke Pony into a million pieces when stuff like this happened. He didn't know how much longer he could take this, but it was almost an everyday thing by now. Ponyboy didn't want to give him the drug money...

A losing battle.

Ponyboy was hoping to cry all of it out and feel better enough to collect his thoughts. He was too busy crying to even hear the knock on his bedroom door.

Johnny had always been here for Ponyboy. It broke his heart to see Ponyboy give so much to a relationship that gave nothing back to him. It was frustrating to watch.

Johnny knew a thing or two about being abused... he had all of his experience from his home-life. His parents weren't good people. He could see all that behavior present with Curly and how he treated Ponyboy. It made Johnny more than upset.

Johnny had comforted and been there for more than 100 occasions of Curly hurting Pony. Johnny didn't know how to help his best friend, so all he could do was hold him sometimes. Ponyboy didn't mind- at least he knew that Johnny cared about him.

Johnny could hear his friend crying from where he was on the other side of the bedroom door. Of all the years he had been friends with Pony, he never suspected that this would be how their teen years looked liked. Johnny walked inside after knocking one more time, trying to get the crying boy's attention. He knew better than to let the other soak in his despair.

"Ponyboy?" Johnny said carefully. He shut the door behind him as he approached the bed where his friend laid.

Ponyboy's breath caught in his throat when he heard someone speak. He coughed a little as he lifted up his head to look. He relaxed when he saw it was just Johnny. Pony knew Johnny was used to seeing him like this.

It was disappointing.

"H-hey..." Pony said, his voice shook. He tried to smile but gave up on that very quickly.

"What happened, honey?" Johnny said gently. He took off his shoes and got into bed with his friend. He was sweet with him.

"Same old shit." Pony said. He was sharp and bitter with it.

"What was the fight about this time?" Johnny asked. Johnny opened up his arms, Pony was quick to crawl into his arms.

"He needed money..." Ponyboy said. He closed his eyes and tried to drift off mentally.

Johnny was familiar with this antic of Curly's.

"Your skin is hot to the touch from flushing... he hit you?" Johnny asked, but he knew the answer was yes.

"Yeah..." Ponyboy didn't want to go into any kind of detail. It was upsetting.

"When you're ready... I think I have an idea of how you can leave him." Johnny said. He wanted to give Ponyboy a chance to breathe and come back to the situation when he was ready. Not so overwhelmed and whatnot.

"Thank you... Do you think you could just lay with me for a while?" Ponyboy asked. They cuddled every now and again. It was comforting, but it didn't overstep their boundaries as friends.

"Yes." Johnny laid back against the bed. Letting Ponyboy readjust against him.

What a little nightmare they were living in.

...

"Okay... now repeat the plan back to me." Johnny said. The two of them had gone over what Ponyboy was going to do to break up with Curly. Johnny was determined to help him and get this over with.

"Tell him I'll give him the money if he'll go to the movies with me. Go to the movies, have a nice date, break it off when it's over. Call you Darrel to come pick me up." Ponyboy said. They didn't think it would be safe to get a ride home from Curly after breaking up with him. They suspected he might be a little unhinged.

"Should I let Darrel know our plan beforehand, or no?" Ponyboy asked. Johnny shrugged, he didn't think it really mattered which way it went. Darrel would probably be ecstatic that Pony was even breaking up with Curly. It would be a dream for him to get that nightmare teenager out of their lives.

"Doesn't matter. Maybe not. He tends to show up early to things and might blow your cover." Johnny said. Ponyboy agreed to that.

"Welp... that's all then. I'll send Curly a message and wait. Hopefully by the end of this week... I'll be free from him." Ponyboy smiled excitedly. He hugged his friend close.

"Thank you so much for all of your help. It means the world to me." He said. Pony had a smile on his face that had been rare to see this past year.

"Anything for you." Johnny said. 

{...To Be Continued...}