The Outsiders Alternate Ending

-Only Part-

Let me know about any mistakes I made writing this, and thanks for reading! 😊

I wake up with bright lights shining through my closed eyes, a smell of bleach burning my nose, and birds tweeting through the window. When I open my eyes, I'm blinded by the fluorescent hospital lights bouncing off of the white room I'm in. Strange, I don't remember going to visit Johnny or Dallas.

When I try to sit up, I feel a piercing pain in my lower abdomen. I look down and finally notice that I'm the one in the hospital bed. Pulling the blanket up to further investigate the pain, I see bandages around my waist.

I think for a second about what could've happened to me when I remember, last night was the rumble. I shake my hand a little, trying to jog my memory. Dallas had shown up, Darry was chosen to start the rumble, and some guys were beating me. I should've known better and not gone, one of them must have pulled a blade on me. I'm lucky I didn't end up like Bob. Although, if I'm in the hospital, then I should go see Johnny.

I slide out of bed with a few winces and "Oww'''s. I look around the room and see my clothes lying on a chair to my left. I struggle to get my clothes on, then wobble over to the door.

I open the door a bit and peek through it. The hall seems to be clear, so I step out of the room and look at the sign next to the door to see what room I was in. It says room number 207 Johnny's in room 313; I just need to take the elevator up a floor to see him. If I walk normally and don't wince, then I should pass as just a visitor. Getting to lean against the railing in the elevator is a relief.

Luckily, there is no one else in here or I don't know if I could have been able to keep up the facade. I wonder where Sodapop and Darryl are.

Typically when I'm sick they never leave my side, let alone being stabbed. They must have gone to work.

Right as I finish my thought, the elevator doors open. A man in scrubs walks by the doors and smiles at me. I awkwardly wave, trying to act as normal and not in excruciating pain as possible.

I definitely was not expecting it to start hurting this much more from me walking. Already this far along, I continue on my trek.

As I wobble down the hallway, my eyes bounce from reading door numbers to making sure that no one's walking down the hall towards me.

I notice that I'm next to room 309 when I get a sharp jolt of pain in my wound. This has to be the worst pain I've ever felt, even worse than when I broke my wrist somersaulting off of the porch.

Once most of the new pain has gone away, I continue to walk down the hall, keeping a hand on the wall for stability. I finally get to room 313, taking a deep breath before pushing the door open.

Johnny's looking as pale as ever, his breathing deep and ragged. I open my mouth to speak, then close it, not wanting to disrupt his peace. I walk over to the chairs by his bed and unintentionally collapse into one, wincing from the impact.

Johnny rustles at the sound. He stops, then turns his head in my direction, letting out a small groan while keeping his eyes shut.

"Johnny?" I ask, my voice coming out gruffer than I expected, for not having used it for only a day. His eyes flutter open and he winces at the bright lights, like I just did a few minutes ago. I force myself up and out of my chair to go turn off the lights for him.

"How're you holding up?" I ask him, looking away from his sunken face.

"Could be better..." His voice sounds frail and raspy in this state. I decide not to ask him any more questions, so I won't have to hear the pain in his words.

I grab Gone With The Wind from his bedside and look around a bit to find where we last left off. Once I'm able to find it, I continue on reading it aloud. The pained look on his face dissipates slowly as the words flow out of my mouth.

I finish off the end of the book and he looks up at me with a smile barely big enough to notice. He opens his mouth a little as if he's going to speak. I lean towards him so he doesn't have to speak loudly. For a few seconds, all I hear is his raspy breathing.

"Thank you for being my friend..." He says it in a way that scares me. It wasn't like it was part of an everyday conversation. He says it...almost solemnly.

"I could say the same to you..." My voice echoes back with the same tone as Johnny's. I don't like this. I don't like this at all. I try to chuckle a bit to get rid of this feeling but if anything it just makes it worse.

"I'm gonna miss you..." No, he can't say that. Not right now. Not when he's hurt like this. It's gonna make me think that he's dying, but he can't die. Not when we still have so much to do together, full lives to live.

"You're not going to have to worry about that for a long time," My eyes start to water as I say this, going against what I'm saying, "You've still got a long while left." I look up, trying to force the tears back down. It doesn't work. Instead, I settle for covering my face with my arm.

"I hope you go have the great life you deserve Pony," I finally realize, Johnny's going to die and there's nothing I can do about it, "For me."

With that his voice goes silent, breathing going along with it. I'm stuck. I don't know what to do with myself, so I just sit there, curled up into a ball. When more tears start to spill out, I don't bother to wipe them.

After a few minutes, I need to get out of here. I pull myself up with difficulty not just from being stabbed. I start to walk over to the door with my head down. I hear a click and the door opens, I look up to see Darry with a relieved look on his face.

"You're okay!" He exclaims and pulls me into a hug, still being careful of my injury. When I don't say anything back he pulls away and looks at my face, his hands on my arms, "What's wrong?"

I look down to the ground on my left, hoping he'll notice. He lets go of me and walks over to Johnny. I stay where I am until I hear a gasp from Darry. I then remember what I had been trying to do before and walk over and out the door. I walk into Soda while I try to exit. He also pulls me into a hug, forgetting that I'm hurt until a cry escapes my mouth.

He releases me and looks me over to check if I'm okay. Darry steps out of the door behind us. Soda and I both look over at him, he has glossed-over eyes and a red face. I look over to Soda and can see the realization in his eyes. Darry never cries, it'd have to be something big to make him.

"He..." Soda says, trailing off as he speaks. I nod my head, still unable to say it.

The three of us sit down on a bench in the hallway. Soda's arms are around me while my back is on his chest. Darry sits on the other side of Soda with his hands in his lap. We sit there for what seems like hours, even if it's probably just a few minutes. Eventually, a nurse walks down the hallway, a look of confusion on her face.

"You boys okay?" She says sweetly, with a strong southern drawl. I look down to the ground as Soda tenses.
Darry is the first one to speak up,

"Our friend, Johnny, just died," His voice comes out dryly as he speaks. I look over to him once he's finished talking and notice his face has gone back to its hard, statue-like state.

"Oh, my," The nurse says as she walks into his room. She comes out shortly after, a solemn look on her face, "I'm glad you boys were here for him,"

Darry stands back up, "We should go tell the gang," He waits for Soda and I to stand up as well before he starts to walk away.

Before we can follow after him the nurse stops us, "Does he have any family that we need to call?" She says, her sweet tone softened.

"We're all he's got," Soda replies before walking after Darry. I trail after, my hands on Soda's arm,

"We'll get through this, we've got each other." He whispers down to me, hugging my head into the crook of his neck. We continue on out of the hospital and home, thinking of how much our lives have just changed.