The Divided-Johnny Cade

03

TW: abuse
if this is a sensitive topic for you, i would recommend skipping this chapter
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Johnny swung his front door open and hesitated to step inside. His parents were in the living room, screaming at each other. As he walked inside he tried to sneak past them. He didn't want them noticing he was home. He didn't feel like being a target. As he snuck through the kitchen as silently as possible, he stepped on a pan that on the ground. It made a loud banging noise, and both his mother and father immediately stopped yelling to look at him.

"What do you think you're doing?" His mother scolded. Johnny just shrugged. It's better when he doesn't put up a fight. "You don't know? You didn't even say hi. You won't even speak to your own mother?" She screeched. Johnny stood there for a moment until he decided to say something. "I was just-" "Oh shut your mouth." His father snapped. Johnny's eyes darted around the room, desperately avoiding eye contact with his parents. His father marched towards him and he felt like he was about to puke. He knew what came next.

His father grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him close. "You gonna talk back to us again?" Johnny shook his head, still avoiding eye contact. "Look at me when i'm talking to you!" Johnny looked directly at this father, peering into the emptiness within him. Johnny's father was a terrible man with no empathy for anyone or anything. He never had remorse for anything he did.

His father let go of Johnny's shirt, which made him stumble just a bit. He proceeded to slap Johnny right across the face. Johnny winced at the pain. He had hit him right on his scar from the socs. The slap was so forceful that Johnny stumbled backward into the kitchen counter. Johnny had no time to catch his breath as his father continued to beat him. Johnny fell fully to the floor this time, and his father gave him one last kick to the ribs. He then opened the front door as he muttered "man i need a smoke.." Johnny stayed on the floor a moment, heavy breathing. "Oh get up, you're fine." His mom commented. "Serves you right. If you ain't gonna be nice when you come home then don't come home at all." she hissed. Johnny stood up wearily, his ribs were a little sore.

Johnny walked to his room and shut the door as quietly as he could. He took his jacket off and threw it on a lonely chair in his room. He sat down on his bed, feeling numb inside. Johnny was immune to the abuse at this point, it had been happening pretty much as his life. He learned to just walk it off. Besides, this time wasn't really that extreme. Just a few hits and one kick. Despite his general numbness to it all, he still hated his life. Nothing about it was good. If it wasn't for his friends, he would've killed himself a long time ago.

As he was deep in thought, something else popped into his mind. Katherine. He wondered what kind of extravagant life she had. Rich, smart, beautiful girl. In this area it didn't seem like a person could be anymore privileged than that. Johnny longed for a life where he didn't have to worry about any of the shitty stuff that he didn't worry about. But also, he wouldn't wanna be a soc. He just wanted to be somewhere where there weren't any socs or greasers, just people.

Although he loved his friends, they didn't fully understand what he went through. They all cared for him like family, but they all had someone. Sure, Dally had no family also, but he didn't care. As far as Johnny was concerned, Dally was the most resilient person in the world. He didn't let anything get to him. Johnny wished he was like that. Ponyboy always told Johnny it was a good quality to be a little sensitive, and that it was better that he wasn't a emotionless rock like Dally, and Johnny agreed. But he wondered what it would be like to be stone cold.

Johnny was deep into thought until he eventually drifted off to sleep.

He dreamed about the country. Galloping across fields with his friends. Rolling around in the grass. Most importantly, in the dream he was smiling. So carefree. No parents, no greasers vs socs. Just fun times with his real family. That's all he ever wished for.
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Katherine  pulled into her driveway and quickly jumped out of the car. It was past sunset, which was her curfew for the time being. She knew her parents were gonna be livid. She anxiously unlocked her front door and stepped inside. "Where have you been?" Her father immediately yelled. "It's completely dark out, do you know how worried i've been?" Katherine's father towered over her. Her blood ran cold, her father scared her. He was a super strict and stern guy, any mistake and there was a major chance he would flip. She caught a whiff of his breath. 'Beer..' she thought. He'd been drinking.

"I'm really sorry.." Katherine said apologetically. Then, Katherine's father slapped her hard across the face. "This has happened too many times!" He shouted. Katherine was on her hands and knees on the floor, shaking. Her father had never hit her before. Tears began to fill her eyes, and her version had become blurry because of the tears. Her father continued shouting at her, but she couldn't hear any of it. Her ears were somewhat ringing, and she was lost in thought.

Katherine thought about her life. A lot of people thought she had it made. With her expensive clothes, nice house, nice car. But in reality she wasn't happy. Honestly a lot of the socs weren't. She'd rather be sad in a nice house rather than a tiny shed, but it didn't change the fact that she was sad. Money can't buy happiness. She felt so alone. Her friends were fake, and her boyfriend was an asshole. Her mom died and her dad was quick to be abusive. Tears started dripping onto the floor, she saw herself in the reflection. The stereotypical soc girl. That only made her cry more, the fact that nobody cared. Everybody would just brush it off as rich people problems. 'At least you have money..' they'd say.

Katherine was snapped out of her spiral when her dad pulled her up off the floor and shoved her against the wall. "Listen here Katherine Greenwood" He looked her right in the eyes, almost losing his balance because of how tipsy he was. "You will obey my rules" He burped, the smell of alcohol strong. "O-okay.." Katherine quivered. He let go of her and stumbled off to his room. Katherine quickly ran up to her room.

When he made it up to her room she shut her door and slumped down on the ground, head between her legs. She sat there and cried for awhile. She eventually got up and looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were extremely red and puffy, and her mascara was running down her face. There was a big red mark on her right cheek too. She lightly touch it with her fingers, it was warm due to the impact. She sighed heavily and began getting ready for bed.

She washed off her makeup and put on her silk nightgown. She sat down on her bed and looked out the window. She thought of all the people out there, and wondered what their individual lives looked like. She wish she really knew people. Well, she knew people. But she didn't really know them. All she wanted was a true, genuine friend. A shoulder to cry on. Someone to be excited with. Someone to go through life with. That's all she ever wanted, and no amount of money could buy that.

She laid down on her bed, looking at the ceiling. She felt her eyes sting with incoming tears, but she squinted them away. "No more crying.." She whispered to herself.

She turned over on her side and attempted to fall asleep, and eventually, she did.
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They think nobody understands what they go through.