East West Sunset - A Darry Curtis Fanfiction

Chapter Thirty-Four

The police came later that morning after Soda called them. The whole gang had come over to the Curtis house, and they lounged semi-threateningly on the furniture as the police questioned us. Nobody said more than what was necessary; none of us wanted to remember the moment when Darry fell over that railing. There was an unspoken rule, too, that none of us wanted to break. You didn't rat out the perpetrator. You couldn't. We couldn't say anything about Arnie being guilty of Darry's murder, or else we could be targeted by his gang. Besides this, the police would refuse to search if they knew Arnie and his family were negatively involved. Everyone knew that the powerful, wealthy families of Tulsa bribed the police to keep them safe from prosecution and arrest, so trying to get them to investigate Arnie as a possible murderer would be impossible. They wouldn't listen to us at all and probably would just leave without helping us.

Our fabricated story was simple. We told the police that we had been driving around, having a good time, as teenagers did in the evenings, and we had stopped at the bridge to watch the water. We implied that a few drinks had been shared between the overage members of the gang, and that Darry had stumbled over the railing whilst intoxicated. It made my blood boil to lie through my teeth about his accident, especially to make him seem like a reckless drunkard, but I couldn't see any other option. We needed to get a search going, and unfortunately if we told the truth that might not be possible.

"Thank you for your time today, gentlemen. And lady," one of the police officers said once the false story had been told, giving me a nod. "We will start the search immediately. I recommend staying here for the day by the phone in case we find... anything."

"And keep off the drink," the other officer added. 

I bit my lip so hard I drew blood. How dare he-!

I didn't respond as Soda showed the officers out of the house. Nobody said anything, though Two-Bit tried to give a weak smile. It all fell flat. I was too preoccupied with the thought of the police finding Darry's body somewhere downstream, cold and lifeless...

I stood up, my heart pounding traitorously, and made my way to the bathroom. Vomit swam up my throat. I leaned over the toilet bowl; my head swirled in a confusing fog of fear and worry and guilt. I didn't throw up, though. I wouldn't let myself. I shoved any thoughts of guilt from my head and focused on dulling the anxiety. I needed to keep my focus on what mattered right now: supporting Ponyboy and Soda in the search for their brother. I straightened up, left the bathroom, and returned to the living room, ready to support Soda and Pony.

Everyone looked kind of shocked as I stepped into the room, like they had expected me to stay in the bathroom for a long time and hide away from them, hide away from reality. But I was done with that now. No more hiding.

"Are you okay, Pony?" I asked him softly.

He stared at me, a stricken look seizing his face. "I'm okay."

Bryon couldn't look at him, I noticed, and kept his eyes glued to the ground. An unlit cigarette dangled absently from his lips. His eyebrows were drawn close over his nose, his lips were pressed together tightly, and his eyes glistened with what I couldn't believe were tears. His facial expression and pose was echoed by every other member of the gang. I remembered then that not only had Soda and Ponyboy lost a brother, and I had lost the love of my life, the gang had lost their leader, their guiding star. Without Darry, we were all lost. I only hoped that our love of him would keep us together instead of driving us apart.

Soda re-entered the room at the same time I did, and I noticed that his face was grayer than it had been before. Talking to the police and lying to them about how Darry died had affected him the same way it had affected me; I guessed he was feeling as hollow and angry as I was. "They said the only thing we can do is wait," he said hoarsely, sinking onto the couch next to Pony. "So I guess we'll have to."