I Can Live Without Love, Can't I?- Sequel To The Outsiders and the Bad Girl

Mikey and Ponyboy

Ryder's POV

I felt dead again, I mean the scenery was white again. I knew this place, but was I really dead? I couldn't of been because something was here to tell me I wasn't dead. I have been seeing Mikey lately in worlds like this, I was dreaming and somehow I was really talking to him. Because he knew evertyhing, knew about that stuff that's been going on in my world. His world is exciting because he gets to see me.

Mikey would've been 21 today if here with me, alive. Anyway, I was standing in this white room I see a lot. I walked around and found someone, alone sitting down in the wide open of the white room. I didn't know who they were, they might not know me and I might not know them. But this person had their knees to their chest, running their through their hair and messing it up. Once I got closer, I knew who it was just by how they acted. It was Ponyboy Curtis sitting there on the white ground.

"P-Ponyboy?" I said quietly. He looked up and once he saw me, he got up and ran over to me, hugging me as I cried into his shoulder. I wasn't dead, because he was here. But why was he here? How did he get here? "It was awfuly, Ponyboy. They beated me, tried to kill me."

"Who did? Who tried to hurt my girl?" He asked.

"My parents." I simply said.

"Hey, kid. Who's this?" I heard. I looked up from crying into Pony's shoulder to see Mikey standing in front of me. I let go of Pony and ran over to him and hugged him. "Woah, everything's fine." He told me.

"Oh, this is my boyfriend, Ponyboy. Ponyboy this is Mikey. Mikey this is Ponyboy." I introduced them. They fist bumped and hugged one another. I watched them talk for a little and then I stood there looking at them and they both shut their traps.

"Are we alive, Mikey?" I asked.

"Yeah, you're both passed out. I came to visit." He said.

"Wait, so this isn't your dream that I am in?" Pony asked.

"No, this is as real as it gets. I have dreams and I talk to Mike all the time about things." I said, Ponyboy stood there and looked like he thought he did something wrong. I gave him the look of 'you didn't do anything'.

"So, is the kid you fought with a lot when you were 14 and 16? Was this the one who originally liked you?" He asked me.

"Yeah, but what do you mean about originally liked me?" I asked.

"This kid shouldn't listen. He also should wake up before his friends start to flip out." Mikey said.

"I can't leave her here alone." Pony said.

"It's fine. I'll be fine" I told him. He nodded and we closed our eyes as he left. I don't know how he left, I mean for me I just fall asleep and then actually wake up awhile later. Ponyboy had left and it was just Mike and I now.

"Who is it that originally liked me?"

"Ponyboy" I was thinking that he was lying to me. But I guess I understand why he didn't want me to know all this. "Look, I gotta go and so do you. They need you and they need answers." He told me. He slowly faded into the light and he was right. The guys needed answers and  needed some closure. I can't leave them there while I'm here. I just can't do that.

I closed my eyes and thought, hoping it would work. It didn't so I closed my eyes again and fell asleep slowly into the darkness.

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"Ryder, wake up! Ryder!" I heard my name being called. I rolled over in my bed groaning. I could still feel the others shaking me and calling my name. I rolled over and laid on my back looking at who ever it was above me. I rubbed my eyes so I could see a little better. It was the Curtis boys, no one else was here in the room and I don't think the other guys were here.

"You alright?" Darry asked. I nodded sitting up in the bed, Soda was sitting on the edge of my bed. Pony sat next to me and Darry stood at the end of the bed looking at me.

"Yeah. What happened after I went out cold?" I asked.

"We don't know. We came by your place to see if you were there since you weren't at our place. Pony ended up passing out and your bracelet. Could ya explain that to us?" Soda asked.

"I don't know what it is. I was on the floor when my father or mother put on my wrist. Have you tried taking it off?" I asked.

"Johnny tried and he couldn't get it." Pony said.

"How long was I out for?" I asked.

"Couple days and Pony woke up 2 days ago." Darry said. I nodded and we all started going down stairs. I walked down behind Soda because the other two walked down behind me. I was tired alright but I was determined to stay awake for the guys. I sat on the couch next to Ponyboy, Soda sprawled across the other and Darry took his chair turning the tv on to the Andy Griffin Show.

"Where's the guys at?" I asked looking around. I didn't know if they were told to leave until I wake up or because they bored without any action.

"Dal and Two are probably out at a party and they might've dragged the other two along. Or they're at the Dingo drinking, eating and talking." Soda told me. I nodded and put my head on Pony as we held hands and watched tv. Like I said, I was gonna try and stay awake.

"I should've never trusted my parents." I said.

"Yeah, what happened anyway? The house was a mess and there was glass everywhere." Ponyboy asked me playing with my hair as I looked at the tv and responded to them.

"My parents came over and for the first ten minutes they were saying how happy they were that Mikey died. They asked how on earth I managed to score a guy like Pony and then friends like you. I stood up to them because I didn't like how they were treating you guys. But that got me no where and my dad pushed me into the wall where a picutre fell and hit me in the eye. Then he and my mother started beating me. I was like half dead by the time my house was destroyed and they brought me upstairs to my room. Where he choked me and put that stupid bracelet on and I don't know what it does. Bascially all that happened." I answered.

"We're sorry. We should've brought you with us all." Soda said.

"Its fine. It was bound to happen soon. I just don't get why now. They didn't care all that much when I was 8-18 and now they care all of a sudden." I said, Pony pulled me closer to him and he kissed my forehead.

"Y'all are cute." Soda said looking at us from the other side of the room.

"Bet we are." I said. I started slowly falling asleep next to Ponyboy. I tried staying awake, but I heard one of them say 'just let her sleep, she needs it with the nightmares she's been having.'. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.