spiders scare me

The time was nearing 2:00am. You sat on the edge of the couch cushion, biting at your nails and bouncing your leg up and down anxiously. Your brother, Sodapop sat on the opposite end from you, his head slumped back, his eyes heavy. Your brother Darrel sat in his armchair. Darry held the paper with one hand and the phone in the other. He was calling everyone he could think of in the neighborhood who might have any idea where your twin brother, Ponyboy, might be. You and Pony were closer than any other siblings anyone had ever seen. Normally, you were never apart. Ponyboy had lived 9 minutes on this Earth without you, but you have never lived a single second without him. You knew you shouldn't have left him at the drive-in, but you had gotten a headache that was killing you, and you had needed to get home. He had Johnny with him, and Two-Bit had just walked up right before you left. You figured he would be fine.

Darry hung up the phone for the thousandth time, right as the door creaked opened slowly. Ponyboy slipped inside, closed the door behind him, and leaned against it. He rolled his eyes and sighed when Darry threw down the newspaper, stood up, and started right in on him.

"Where the hell have you been?! Do you know what time it is?! Well, it's two o'clock in the mornin', kiddo!", Darry hollered at him.

"Hey, Pony, where ya been?", Soda asked him.

You had sprung up as soon as Ponyboy opened the door. You worriedly looked him over for injuries, wondering what could've happened to him to make him so late and thinking maybe he had gotten jumped again.

"Where were you? Are you alright? Did something happen to you?", you asked him quickly, searching his eyes for any kind of clues. You pulled him into a hug.

"I'm fine, don't worry," he whispered in your ear.

He pulled away and walked past you towards the bathroom while answering everyone's main question of his whereabouts.

"I fell asleep in the lot."

"You what?!", Darry spit out at him.

"I was talkin' to Johnny, and I fell asleep in the lot. I didn't mean to!"

Ponyboy flicked on the bathroom light and tried to shut the door, but Darry caught it and swung it open again. He pointed at Pony while trying to make every syllable he spoke perfectly clear to his youngest brother.

"Yeah?! Hey! And I can't even call the cops, because y'all'd be thrown into group homes so fast, it would make your head spin!", Darry snapped.

Soda peaked into the bathroom from behind Darry. You stood next to him, getting a sick feeling in your stomach. You shared a knowing look with Soda. The two of you had to step in between Darry and Pony's fights often, and you both knew that this would be a bad one if things weren't calmed down soon.

"Come on Pony, let's go to bed now," Soda said, urging your brothers to drop this.

Neither Pony nor Darry paid him any mind. Pony continued his argument with your oldest brother.

"Look, I said I didn't mean to!", he stated. He pushed by Darry to storm out of the bathroom.

"'I didn't mean to!' 'I forgot!' That's ALL I EVER HEAR FROM YOU!" Darry's voice was rising higher and higher.

"Both of you, please, just STOP!", you begged.

Your eyes were starting to water. It broke you, little by little, every time you saw your brothers so angry with each other. You weren't sure how much more of this you could take or how much more the family could take before breaking into pieces.

"Come on, Darry! Just-," Soda tried to butt in, but Darry didn't let him. He got in Soda's face and stunk his finger in his chest.

"SHUT UP! I'M SICK AND TIRED OF YOU STICKIN' UP FOR HIM! YOU HEAR ME?!", Darry yelled, the veins in his neck prominent.

"DON'T YOU YELL AT HIM!"

Pony was barely able to get his last statement out. What happened next was like slow motion right before your eyes. Darrel whipped around to confront Pony. It was a split second decision, but he had completely lost control of himself as he threw his hand back. His big, calloused palm struck Ponyboy right across the cheek, forcibly pushing his head sharply to the side and completely knocking him off of his feet onto the ground. It went scarily quiet in the house. The only sound was your gasp. You clasped your hands over your mouth. If everyone's eyes had been any wider, they would've popped out of their sockets. Ponyboy looked at Darry with such betrayal on his face. It was heartbreaking. He glanced over to you with tears in his eyes.

"Ponyboy, I-I didn't mean to!", Darry stuttered.

Ponyboy didn't stick around to listen. He jumped up and booked it out of your house like he was on fire. You and your other brothers made a beeline for the front door and watched him disappear into the darkness of the night. You didn't hesitate to head right out behind him. Soda stopped you by grabbing your shoulder and pulling you back into the living room.

"We need to let him cool off, (Y/N). He'll be back," he spoke to you softly.

"No! We need to go after him, Soda!", you insisted.

Darry wore an anguished expression. What had happened between him and Pony was already torturing him as the reality of the entire situation really set in. He wasn't about to let another kid sibling out of his sight tonight.

"Don't you dare step one foot outta that door, (Y/N)...," he warned you.

You weren't scared of your biggest brother, and you didn't care what he thought. Ponyboy was the only thing on your mind. You had to get to him right now, no matter what it took. He needed you. You gave Darry a death glare. Your rage consumed you. You could feel your heart hammering away in your chest, your head still pounding to the same beat. You walked over to him and looked up into his eyes.

"OR WHAT, HUH?! Or what, Darrel?! You gonna slap me too?!", you snarled at him.

He looked at you like you had just punched him in the gut. That probably would've hurt less than hearing what you had just said to him. He turned and leaned heavily into wall, using it as a crutch to stay upright. He finally surrendered to the crushing pressure of the exhaustion and pain he had been feeling since way back when your parents had first passed away. Everything he had been holding in. With his face pressed against the cool drywall, he stayed silent, but his shoulders shook as heavy tears left trails down his cheeks. It wasn't just crying. It was the slow, quiet unraveling of the icy facade he had been trying so desperately to maintain for far too long.

"Oh, (Y/N)...," Soda muttered to you sadly.

You had no choice. You had to do whatever it took to get him off your back, so you could go find Ponyboy. No one said anything else. You took this as your opportunity to leave. You grabbed your jacket before running out the door and down the street in the direction you had seen your twin brother take just a few minutes before.

You knew Pony probably better than even he knew himself, so you knew he would be heading right back to Johnny in the lot. Your feet pounded on the pavement, and your lungs burned. You slowed down as you neared the lot, but no one was there. The fire by the old car seat was still smoldering, and you saw all the newspapers laid out where someone, Johnny no doubt, had been using them to cover up with. You thought for a minute about where they may have gone to, and then you decided that the park would be where you would check next.

You still hurried, but you didn't run this time. You crossed your arms over your chest to try and keep some of your warmth. As you approached the park, you heard a commotion. Water splashing and people shouting. You walked past a blue Mustang. No way it belonged to anyone from this side of town. You could see the water fountain now, the center piece of the park, and several Socs were stood by the edge. You felt your blood run cold when you had gotten close enough to see what was going on. They had your brother held under water as he struggled against them. They held his arms and his legs, and two of them were pushing him under by his chest and shoulders. He was yelling for Johnny and gasping for air anytime he was able to fight his way back to the surface of the water. You ran up on them and started pounding on anyone you could reach.

"LET HIM GO!! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!", you screamed at them.

They didn't acknowledge you in the least bit, and your hits were doing nothing to them. You could tell they were drunk. You continued to plead for Ponyboy's life between your sobs. The Soc who you assumed was the instigator of it all fell in, or maybe was pulled into the water by Ponyboy. You weren't completely sure. All you could do was stand there and watch while your twin, the closest person to you in this world, gradually wore himself out and eventually stopped fighting back altogether. He completely went unconscious. Fully submerged and fully at the mercy of his assailants. Your throat was aching from all the screaming that was coming out from it.

You hadn't noticed Johnny at all until this very moment. He walked up beside you, and the silver glint of the switchblade in his hand caught your eye. Before you had time to process what he was doing, he had already plunged the blade into the side of the Soc who had been calling all the shots. Johnny pulled it back out just as swiftly as he had pushed it in.

"Johnny, oh my god...What the hell did you just do?", you said to him horrified.

Blood poured from the Soc's wound, staining the water red. All of his so-called 'friends' ran like cowards the minute they saw the blade, not even checking on him or attempting to get him into their car. He tripped while trying to get out of the fountain and fell to the ground. Before he passed out, he had been reaching towards the blue Mustang as it sped off.

You used all the strength you had in you to drag Ponyboy's limp body from the bloody water. You could just barely pull him over the edge. Then, he plopped back onto the concrete with a wet thump.

"P-Pony...Ponyboy...Wake-up! Please, wake-up!", you implored while kneeling beside him and shaking his shoulders. You were soaked now too, your whole body shaking and teeth chattering from the cold and the shock.

He started to gurgle, so you rolled him to his side. He coughed up a large amount of water.

"That's it, Pony. Get it all out," you said to him.

He was breathing now, but he remained unconscious. You laid him down onto his back again once he had stopped coughing.

You sat up straight and looked around. To your left was the Soc boy. He wasn't moving anymore, not even his chest rising and falling. He was sprawled out, a huge pool of blood surrounding him. He was dead. No doubt about it. Johnny had killed him. Little Johnny had killed someone. Johnny, who was scared of his own shadow is now a murderer. As you observed him, you noticed the rings on the Soc's right hand. This was the guy who had beaten Johnny to pulp and threatened him with everything under the sun just a few months ago. He was the reason Johnny even carried that damn blade now anyway. He had scared Johnny so bad that day. Scared him so badly that he was going to do whatever he could to make sure he would never get beaten like that again, and he did. You knew he had only done what he had to do to protect himself and save Ponyboy's life.

Johnny was right in front of you. He sat with his back against the fountain. He was shaking too, paler than you had ever seen him. His brown eyes stared straight forward, out of focus. He didn't say a word. The Soc's blood dripped from the tip of his switch, which he still held tightly in his hands.

"Wh-What do we do now, J-Johnny?", you choked out to him.

𓂃𓈒⟡・𓂃𓈒⟡・𓂃𓈒⟡・𓂃𓈒⟡・𓂃𓈒⟡・𓂃𓈒⟡・𓂃𓈒⟡・𓂃𓈒⟡𓂃

note: i liked this one quite a bit! not sure if i should keep going or not. i think if i went too far into this, it might become too similar to 'the aftermath', which is my multi-part fic about the last few chapters of the book from curtis!sister's pov. but, maybe i could take this one until the fire at the church? idk! yall let me know if you want more parts of this one! :)