East West Sunset - A Darry Curtis Fanfiction

Chapter Twelve

I opened my eyes slowly. I was looking up at the ceiling of Darry's room, on top of a white sheet. I was still in the clothes I had worn to school that morning, and they felt like they had become one with my skin. Nobody was in the room with me; at the moment, I was alone. I didn't know how I had gotten here. I supposed one of the gang had helped Pony move me to the house and was still here: I could hear a few low voices talking urgently in the kitchen. My arm was pulsing in pain, but at least my vision and hearing seemed to be fine now. I glanced down at where I had been stabbed. It had been neatly wrapped in a clean white bandage, though blood was already starting to ooze through the pristine wrappings. Luckily, however, the worst of the bleeding seemed to be over. 

I reached up to brush my hair out of my eyes with my uninjured hand and sat up slowly. My head pulsed a bit from the movement. My fingers and toes were much warmer now, and I didn't seem to be in shock anymore. The puncture in my arm was extremely agonizing without the adrenaline and shock blurring it away. I placed my shaking hand over the slightly wet bandage.

"P-Pony?" I called shakily.

The voices in the kitchen stopped at once, and I heard two sets of footsteps pace over to Darry's door. Ponyboy poked his head in, looking very worried; behind him, I saw Steve Randle. Steve's face was as white as a sheet, but both of them looked immensely relieved that I was awake. Pony's forehead relaxed at once.

"Diana! You're awake!" he exclaimed, stepping inside the room and sitting gingerly on the edge of the bed. "How do you feel? Are you okay? Can you hear me?!" 

"I'm fine, Pony. My arm just hurts, that's all," I reassured him and winced as a fresh wave of pain attacked my forearm.

"You really scared us, kid," Steve said hollowly. He cleared his throat. "With how much you were... bleeding and all."

I gave him a small smile. "Sorry about that," I said softly.

"It's okay, it's not your fault," he responded quickly. "Pony ran down to the DX and tried to get me and Soda to come help, but Soda was working and couldn't get off. I came as fast as I could, but I didn't really know what to do. You didn't look good, kid, you were pale and your eyes were half-closed..."

"So I ran over to the payphone and called Darry. He had just finished a roof so he came over quick. He was the one who carried you in and helped fix you up," explained Ponyboy.

So I hadn't imagined Darry coming to my rescue. I wondered if Pony or Steve had heard me call out for him; I sincerely wished they hadn't. "Is he still here?" I asked, trying not to let the note of longing and hope into my voice that I felt.

Much to my disappointment though, Steve shook his head. "No, he was called back into work. He'll come over as soon as he can, Soda will too I'd guess."

I nodded, relieved, and sank back into the pillows, releasing a small groan as my arm pulsed in pain.

Steve was at my side in an instant. "Are you okay?" he asked me in concern. His hands fluttered towards me like he was going to touch my bandage, but he stopped himself just before his grease-smudged fingertips could brush my arm.

"I'm fine," I said, closing my eyes. "Thanks for the concern, though."

I felt Ponyboy stand up from his perch on the edge of my bed, and I was slightly aware of Steve's presence moving away from my bedside. "We'll leave you in here to rest then, Diana," Steve said softly. Then he and Ponyboy walked out of the room.

"Bye!" I called out after them, rewarded with a sharp stab of pain in my head from the strain of making such a loud noise. I screwed my eyes up tighter to combat both it and the agony in my arm. I tried to get my mind to clear itself of any thoughts (including imagining how Darry would have reacted to my lifeless and battered body), and soon I was fast asleep.