Bowfootedbastard

Dallas froze. He hated to admit it, but he froze. Ponyboy disappeared, and he froze. He did not move. He did not yell like Johnny did. He did not cry. He froze. He felt like he was back in his dad’s house again, helpless, unable to do anything. He had ice in his brain and ice in his bones. But the moment Johnny touched him he began to melt.

Slowly his ears melted and he could hear Johnny speaking, “Dal, Dal, can you hear me? Do you hear me?”. He spoke softly, kindly. “Dal, you’re okay, come back to me,” His lips melted too, letting out a soft whimper. “Oh, Dal,” Johnny whispered. He rubbed his hands up and down Dal’s arms, trying to warm him up. His eyes melted and tears began to slowly leak out. Johnny sighed and held him closer, wiping the tears off as they were created. 

He glanced over at Johnny. His eyes watered once again. Dallas sat down on the floor. “Dal, are you okay?” “Yeah,” he said, shakily, “I’m fine. Um, what-” he sighed, “what happened?” Johnny stayed quiet for a moment too long. “Joh-” “Pony disappeared and you froze and wouldn’t say anything or move or look at me and Darry doesn’t remember anything at all.” He spoke quickly, eager to get it all off of his chest. “Oh,”

“We- we should go find him, um, maybe it was just a prank? It is Two-Bit’s birthday, after all,” “Okay, we’ll go down to Two-Bit’s,” “Okay,” “Okay,” They both slowly stood , neither eager to deal with the problem that lay ahead. Dallas sighed. “Are you okay?” “Yes” “Okay” Dallas reached for the door and pulled it open.

They both walked out, Johnny shut the door behind them. Darry was in the kitchen, cooking. “Whatcha doin’, Darry?” “Bakin’ the cake for Two-Bit, you two wanna help?” Darry crooned, he seemed to be in a very good mood. “No, we’re good, Dar,” Johnny said. Darry gasped. “Well look at you gettin’ out of your shell, that’s the most I’ve hear you speak all week,” Johnny blushed. “Thanks, Darry, we’re gonna go get Two-Bit,” “Okay, well I’m just gonna pop down to get some frostin’ for the cake,”

Dallas gently guided Johnny out of the house, “What the hell happened in there?” Dallas demanded the moment they were outside. “How am I supposed to know?” Johnny asked. Dally pushed Johnny along, “Come on, we can yell as we walk,”

 Johnny scoffed. They both talked quickly, ranting and yelling. “I’m just as confused as you are, Dallas,” “Oh don’t you Dallas me, you’re always running around with Pony, so where did he go?” “I don’t know!” “Sure,” Dally rolled his eyes. Johnny and Dally both grow silent, sinking into the realisation of what's happened. 

“That- that wasn’t normal, was it?” Johnny whispered. “Obviously not,” Dallas muttered. “Don’t gotta be so mean about it, Dal,” “Oh, we’re back to Dal now, are we?” They fell into a comfortable silence. Content.

Johnny stopped walking when he noticed the blood on Dally’s jacket. Then he jogged to catch up to Dallas and cover up the stain along his arm. “What are you doin’?” Dallas barked, surprised by the sudden feeling of Johnny leaning on his arm. Johnny leaned up, “Might get a few questions if you’re walking around with blood on your jacket, Dallas,” 

“Blo-” Dal looked down at his jacket, noting the large blood stain from Pony’s bleeding hand. “I forgot about the blood. I- I keep forgetting… Why do I keep forgetting?” “Darry isn’t gonna find Pone, and somethin’ bad is gonna happen, I can feel it,” “Don’t- don’t talk like that, man,” “Something bad is happening, Dal,”

Dallas sighed. He dragged his boots against the sidewalk. “This is some supernatural sht. Like Bigfoot, or somethin’” “Pony ain’t Bigfoot,” “Well you can’t say that this isn’t weird. He- normal people can’t disappear,” “Well maybe he’s Superman or somethin’... Not Darry Superman, but like- alien superpowers, you know?”. 

“What’s his superpower?” “I dunno,” “Can we call him Orphan-Boy?” “Dallas, really?” Dallas threw his head back and laughed. He stopped laughing, head still tilted up. The sun was fading down, still bright, but nearing sun-set. He turned to look at Johnny. “We forgot again,” He spoke quickly, as if he was scared he would forget the words as he spoke them. Despite the bright, shining sun beating down on them, they both felt ice cold. Frozen to the spot. 

“Is he doing this to us?” Dallas whispered. He hated the feeling. The feeling of not being in control. He hated not remembering, and knowing he wasn’t remembering was even worse. There was already plenty he couldn’t remember, plenty wrong with him, he didn’t need some thing poking around in his head! “Is he?” Dallas yelled. Johnny’s dark eyes stared back up at him, “I don’t know, Dal,”

He took a breath, nostrils flaring. “What if Darry forgot? What- what if he forgets Pony entirely?” Dally’s voice was full of grief, more than Johnny had ever heard before. He shook slightly as he talked, the words seemed to hurt to say. “I just don’t know, but I don’t plan on findin’ out,” Johnny said, quiet but firm. 

~~~~~

Ponyboy Michael Curtis. That was his name.  He reminded himself of this. He walked up to the faded yellow house. He knocked on the door. Little Brenda Mathews opened the door, a nice girl, dark red curls, green eyes, perfectly trusting. “Hi Bren!” He said, bouncing on his feet. “Two-Bit here?” “He’s in his room,” “Thank you,” He smiled, showing all his teeth, walked forwards and was promptly stopped at the door. 

“I gotta ask to let you in,” She said, seeming to take pleasure in bossing someone older than her around. His eye twitched, very slightly, but very much there. Brenda’s eyes narrowed, “Momma!” she yelled. Not taking a single eye off of him. “Ponyboy Curtis wants to come in!” A woman’s voice hollered down, “Do not yell in my house Brenda Mathews!”

Brenda bared her teeth and muttered. “Stay here,” she said to the boy. She walked down to her mother’s room, leaving him alone. He would have preferred to start with Brenda, but she was much too defiant, asking too many questions, noticing too many things. Two-Bit was more trusting, he would be easier, and he would be missed much more. 

He felt a glimmer of remorse, just for a moment. But that was washed over by many more emotions, anger, sadness, betrayal, jealousy. How come Two-Bit even got a mom? When his was dead and buried! It wasn’t fair!

He raised his eyes to the sky and took a deep breath. He noted the sun’s position. Almost sunset. Time to move. 

~~~~~

Two-Bit sat on his bed, pondering. He felt… sad. He didn’t know why. Nothing bad had happened recently, if anything it was all going great! Johnny was finally getting out of his shell again. The Curtis brothers were finally healing, they were all healing. So why was he still so sad? 

He sighed a deep, lonely sigh. Tears pricked at his eyes once again. Today was his birthday, he was going to be happy, goddamn it. 

He would go to the Curtis house in a few hours and laugh and joke and act mad at Dally for saying that he and Johnny got him a present when they all knew that it was all Johnny’s idea. And then he would open the present and laugh at the gift he got and chase them both around for hugs. And he would squeeze Johnny til he started screamin’ and the Dally would come to pull Two-Bit off and he’d hug Dally and get shoved off. And he’d laugh and say that he could see a little smile from Dally. And when he would turn around he would see a tiny smile on Dally’s lips, looking down at Johnny who would be laughing at them both. 

And he would eat chocolate cake and watch Mickey Mouse and listen to Steve mutter “happy birthday” and he would smile, and then Steve would ignore him for the rest of the evening. And he’d still find a little present tucked into his jacket that next morning when he went home. 

And he would open the present he said Darry didn’t have to get him and listen to him say that all 3 of them pooled for it when they all know that Darry did most of the pooling. And he would open it and it would be entirely practical and no fun at all but it would save his life at least once. And he’d listen to all the grumbling from Soda and Pony about how it was a waste of money and he’d say it was fine because he loved it. And he’d make up situations he could use it in. “Well now if Pony ever turns evil a screwdriver could be mighty useful” 

He’d make funny faces behind Darry’s back the entire day and get everyone to laugh. And it would be great, in theory. So why was he dreading it? Why did his whole body shake when he thought of celebrating another birthday? Was it because he knew that was the day his father left? Or was it because he knew that his father never truly left, still there in his family’s last name and that one scar on his Momma and every single time Two-Bit looked into a mirror?

That sickly cold sensation spread over his body again. The rumbling went down to his toes and up his fingers and into his head and it would not leave. 

~~~~~

Brenda came back to the door. “She says go ahead,” stepping back and letting him into the house. “Thank you,” he said. Brenda pointed him to Two-Bit’s room. 

He shoved open the door, Two-Bit lay on his bed. “Hey man,” Two-Bit said, “What are ya doin’ here?” He said nothing. Two-Bit smiled and tilted his head. “Get me somethin’ for my birthday?” He nodded. “Well what is it?” “Follow me,” “Sure, but where are we goin’?” “You’ll see,”

Two-Bit laughed. “Tryin’ to be mysterious, huh?” But he still stood and followed him. He still followed him. He still trusted him. Even though it would lead to his death. He still trusted.

~~~~~

“Okay man, where are we goin’?” “Trust me,” Two-Bit laughed. “I do, Pony, I do, but you’re acting weird. Is everything okay?” He turned back to look at Two-Bit. They stood in the middle of the woods, dark oaks all around them. Soft green grass under their feet. Low light from the lowering sun shone down on them. 

“I’m fine,” he said. “Look here” he pointed to- a bush. It might have had flowers earlier in the year, but it did not now. Just a bush. A regular old bush. Two-Bit’s voice softened. “Oh Pony, listen. I know there's been a lot going on for you, but it’s okay to talk about it. You won’t be less of a greaser for it. A lot’s happened to you in the past year,” Two-Bit shut up as he watched a brown snake slither out of the bush. 

“Pony get back!” Two-Bit yelled, pulling him away from the bush. “That’s a copperhead!” Two-Bit grabbed his shoulders and yanked him further away from the bush. He shoved Two-Bit off, and walked closer to the bush. “Pony! What in the hell are you doing?” Two-Bit howled. He lunged to grab Pony and he stepped on the hissing brown snake. Two-Bit shoved him away from the snake, his leg twisting painfully. 

The snake lunged. It bit. Pain shot up his leg. Blood trickling down his converse. Two-Bit screamed. His leg throbbed and he shook. “Pony, Pony. I need you to go get help! Please Pony!” Two-Bit screamed as more snakes slithered out of the bush, biting and hissing.