He was fifteen years old. In most peoples opinions, that was too old to be sharing a bed with your brothers. Ponyboy didn't care. He couldn't. He had terrible nightmares nearly everytime he fell asleep and it really took a toll on him. He'd wake up screaming every night when he was sleeping alone. If he wasn't alone, he'd have quiet nightmares. The nightmare that he could easily wake up from and calm down quicker...even though he never really did fall back asleep after.

Sleepless nights were normal for the teen. He wasn't getting anywhere near the recommended eight hours of sleep a night. He was getting more like three hours at the most usually. Some nights he wouldn't even sleep. He tried not to most of the time. Sometimes he'd start to hallucinate from the lack of sleep. Ponyboy was convinced that he sometimes fell asleep with his eyes open because he was exhausted. Nobody knew, of course, and if they did, they never said anything. He'd take small naps during school, never sleeping long enough to give himself a nightmare. He'd sleep the last few minutes of class before the bell. The teachers always asked questions. He'd make a joke about how it was school and everybody fell asleep in school. After track practice, he'd take a shower and fall asleep there. He knew he wouldn't sleep long in the shower because of the water pouring down on his face. He'd wake up choking a few minutes later but it was worth it to him. He was exhausted but was too scared to sleep at night.

It was nine thirty and it was a school night. Darry sent Ponyboy off to bed. Of course he protested but it never got him far with his oldest brother. He knew his brother cared but he wished he'd understand a little more. Sodapop, his other older brother, understood that Ponyboy wasn't a fan of sleeping. He didn't know that his brother was awake most of the night but he didn't need to. He tried to get Darry to push his bedtime back a little bit. Some days, it'd work. Most days, though, it didn't.

The young greaser had slid in bed next to Sodapop. Without hesitation, the older brother threw his own arm over his younger brothers chest and pulled him close. He mumbled a sleepy goodnight before he fell asleep, expecting his brother to fall asleep soon afterwards. Unfortunately for Ponyboy, he did fall asleep soon after. He tried to fight it but he was running on two hours of sleep in four days. It was catching up to him.

Thunder cracked in the distance, causing the young teen to jump. He wasn't expecting a storm. It caught him off guard. He turned to look at his friend with his long, rusty colored side burns. "Maybe we should go find Johnny and then off to our house," he suggested.

"Sure, kid," the older male grinned, turning on his heels and sprinting down the street.

Ponyboy turned, cocking his head to the side. That was odd. Two-Bit didn't run unless he had to. He looked up to the sky, expecting to see the sky green. If there was a chance for a tornado, then that'd explain why his friend was running. To his surprise, there were only gray clouds. Instead of wasting his time by coming up with different possible reasons for the strange action, he took off at a sprint after him. He was a faster runner than Two-Bit ever would be so it was only a matter of time before he caught up with him.

The young greaser slowed to a jog as he caught up with his friend who was still running, pumping his arms hard. It was amusing for the boy to watch. While his friend was putting in so much effort to run, Ponyboy barely had to put in any effort. Running came natural for him. He was fast and could pace himself better than most people he knew.

The two skidded to a halt when they heard loud, crackling sounds. Suddenly, they weren't standing in the middle of the street in Tulsa. They were on Jay Mountain, staring down the church in Windrixville. Ponyboy felt his stomach drop. He remembered. Why would he suggest going to find Johnny when he knew Johnny was dead? How did he just forget that? He was too busy kicking himself for his stupidity to realize that Two-Bit had taken off towards the church. He was ripped from his thoughts when the scream reached his ears. It was Two-Bit.

Ponyboy took off towards the church and pushed his way into the burning building. "Two-Bit! Two, where are you?!"

"Pony, help!" his friend yelled in response. He followed the voice and saw Two-Bit standing in the corner with Johnny and Dallas.

"What the-" Ponyboy started to question but then he remembered where they were. They were in the fire. He was not going to lose Johnny and Dallas again and he definitely was not going to lose a third friend.

He swallowed his panic and felt adrenaline course through his body. He ran to a window and pushed out the wood blocking it. "Please, Pony, I'm t-too young to d-die," he heard Johnny sob.

"You ain't gonna die. Not again," he said quietly. So quietly he hadn't even heard himself.

The fire screamed from behind him. He felt the heat raise but he didn't know how that was possible. It was already hot. He turned around and grabbed Johnny by his shirt. He yanked him to the window and pushed him out of it. Dallas jumped out after him, muttering something that Ponyboy couldn't hear because of a scream. Two-Bit's scream. Two-Bit's scream startled him so much that it didn't register until afterwards that Johnny and Dallas had jumped out into nothing. They were gone.

He whipped his head around to see Two-Bit crumple to the floor with wide eyes and a burn down the right side of his face. He reached out and grabbed a strong hold of the older greaser before he could hit the ground. "Stay with me, Two," he said frantically, dragging him to the window. But all the strength he had diminished with each passing second. He turned to look at Two-Bit once more but was shocked to see that the scene changed.

He wasn't in a fire anymore and he didn't see Two-Bit. He was at the park. When he turned around to look for his three friends, his face was met with water. He was being drowned again. He breathed in in shock and fought as hard as he could to get away from who was holding him down. He rattled his brain to figure out who it was. Who was the Soc that Johnny had killed? When he was pulled out of the water and given the chance to take in a deep breath before being pushed back under, he remembered. It was Bob. But he argued with himself. Johnny didn't kill Bob. He did. Right?

No, he thought, furious with himself. He had thought that it was him when he was delirious and recovering. But even then, he was only lying to himself.

The hand on the back of his head was gone and the boy pushed out of the fountain, gasping for air. He turned around and saw Two-Bit standing there, his eyes wide. He allowed his eyes to trail down his body when he saw it. He saw a knife sticking through his stomach. His body turned unnaturally pale.

Ponyboy jumped into action. He grabbed ahold of his friend but before he could do anything, he was shoved to the ground by hands other than Two-Bit's. He was being pinned to the ground by the Soc with the blue madras. But he still saw Two-Bit. The blood dripping out of his mouth. The blood was dripping down onto Ponyboy's face. Since the Soc with the blue madras was invisible was pinning him down, there was no escape from the blood of his friend that was threatening to drown him.

He watched as the life drained out of his friend's face. He wanted to reach out and touch him, hold him, beg him to live. But he couldn't. Two-Bit's body gave out and he fell on top of Ponyboy, dead.

Ponyboy woke up with a sob lodged in the back of his throat. He looked around frantically, looking for any sign of the fountain or that church but he saw nothing. He was in bed with his brother holding him tight, keeping him safe. But he couldn't keep the younger brother safe from the monsters that haunted him in his sleep.

Lifting Sodapop's arm and slipping out of bed had been the easy part. He slipped on jeans and didn't bother with a shirt. He went into his notebooks and ripped a piece of paper out.

Bad dream. Need to see Two-Bit. Sorry. Don't be mad.

-Ponyboy

He slipped on his shoes as he rushed out of the room as fast as he could without being too loud. He set the note down right next to Darry's coffee pot. He figured that that'd be the first place Darry would notice it. He knew he'd be up before Sodapop would be anyways. Then, soundlessly, he slipped out of his house and ran at full speed towards Two-Bit's house.

They lived in a small neighborhood. Everybody knew everybody. Not to mention that it wasn't that far of a run from one end to the other. That being said, it only took a few minutes for Ponyboy to make it to Two-Bit's house. He slipped around the back of the house and went to the window he knew to be Two-Bit's. He banged on the window loud enough for anybody in the room to hear but quiet enough not to wake Mrs. Mathews or Two-Bit's kid sister.

Two-Bit, who was sleeping off a hangover, heard the obnoxious banging on his window and groaned, sitting up in his bed. He was irritated that somebody would wake him up. Then his senses hit. Who would wake him up at that time in the night? He looked over at the clock and saw that it was only twenty past two. Maybe it was an emergency or maybe it was just somebody looking for trouble.

The hungover greaser hobbled over to his window and opened the blinds to see his crying friend standing there. He immediately opened up the window and pulled Ponyboy in. He was crying quietly but his body was shaking with sobs. Before he had the chance to ask what was wrong, the young boy threw his arms around Two-Bit and hugged him as tight as he possibly could. Ponyboy had been so scared that his friend wouldn't be there. He needed to make sure he was alive. He needed to physically touch him, see him, and hear him.

"What's wrong, kiddo?" Two-Bit asked after a minute or so of crying and hugging. Without letting go of his friend, he led the pair to the bed so they could sit down. "Is everythin' okay?"

"I had a nightmare," Ponyboy admitted, his face in Two-Bit's shirt. He didn't want to let go yet. He wasn't ready. He was still terrified. He couldn't bare to lose another friend.

"Where's Soda?"

"Wanted you...Can we lay?" he asked shyly.

"Of course kid," Two-Bit answered gently. He pulled his friend to the other side of the bed and got under the covers. Immediately, the fifteen year old snuggled against the nineteen year old's body. "Do your brothers know you're here?"

"Left a note," Pony mumbled, nuzzling his face into the older boy's chest.

"Wanna tell me what this is about?"

Ponyboy closed his eyes and relaxed his body against his friend. He started telling the story of his nightmare. He let out every little detail from the color of the sky to the look on his friends' faces. Two-Bit listened intently and felt pain for his friend. Everybody felt that Ponyboy was too young to feel so much. He seen so much in his life as such a young age. He wasn't tough like the rest of them. He wasn't a fighter. He was a dreamer. But sometimes his dreaminess got the best of him. It caused him to have nightmares that everybody thought would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Ponyboy admitted something to Two-Bit something that he wouldn't even tell his brothers. He told everybody that he never could remember his nightmares, but that was a lie. He remembered them all. He remembered every little detail about each nightmare he had. He could tell you what nightmare he had on a specific date. He couldn't escape his nightmares. Most dreams, you wake up and then forget what you dreamt of soon after. Nightmares, too. Ponyboy, though, remembered dreams from when he was a kid. He remembered everything like that. He couldn't help it. No matter how hard he tried to forget, they wouldn't leave.

He had dreams of the people he cared about dying. Most of his dreams went similar to the dream he had just had that night but that one was a little worse than he was used to. Usually it was made up situations and that helped Ponyboy out but that one had been realistic. It was everything he had been through. The jumping he got on the way home from the movies. The drowning in the park. The fire in the Windrixville church. Even Two-Bit being stabbed in the back. Originally, it had been Bob. But Ponyboy's dream put Two-Bit's face where Bob's should've been. Sometimes, in his dreams, he was the one who was killing his family and friends. He had dreams that he was the drunk driver that killed his parents. He had dreams that he was a Soc jumping Sodapop. He had dreams that he was Johnny's father. He had dreams that he pushed Darry's ladder so he would fall off of the roof. He had dreams that he was Steve's old man. He had dreams that he was a gang member in New York, making Dallas the hard and cold person he had been. He remembered every single dream. Every single outcome. Every single reaction. He felt like a monster for killing his friends and family in his dreams. He felt like a monster even if he wasn't the one hurting or killing them just because he dreamt it up.

Two-Bit felt like somebody had punched him in the chest. He was feeling so sorry for his friend. It was like something he never could imagine. He only felt pain when he thought of his father, the Curtis parents, Johnny, Dally, and Ponyboy. Ponyboy was the only one who was still around who made Two-Bit feel such heavy emotions. He felt sorry for the poor kid. He went through so much in such a short time. Everybody understood that Ponyboy had bad nightmares and was scared. They all understood his need for comfort. Even Steve, who used to think that Ponyboy was a tag along kid, knew how scared the young greaser got. He didn't blame him. He wanted his best friend's brother to be okay, not scared. If Sodapop sleeping with him made it more tolerable, then so be it. Two-Bit immediately understood more about Ponyboy than anybody ever had. Ponyboy didn't want the comfort of people. He didn't just want to be held and told it was okay. He wanted the confirmation that everybody was okay. He wanted to know that nobody was hurt. He wanted to know that he wasn't a monster. It wasn't the nightmares that scared him. It was the thought of his nightmares being true.

"I'm so sorry," Two-Bit whispered, stroking Ponyboy's hair. They all learned that stroking that kid's hair was the best thing you could do for him. Both his mother and his father had done that to comfort him when he was sick, sad, or scared. Even when he was angry. It always had a bigger effect on him than the other two Curtis brothers. All of them picked up the habit. Even Dallas had done it on a few occasions before he died. It calmed them all when they did it to Pony. It felt like the Curtis parents were still there. But it wasn't calming Two-Bit. It calmed Ponyboy, though, because it was Two-Bit who was doing it. That calmed him because he knew Two-Bit was there and he was okay. Afterall, that's the reason he ran to his house in the first place. To make sure he wasn't losing somebody else.

"Please...don't leave us. I can't lose another friend..."

"I ain't goin' nowhere, kid," he said quietly. He was hoping he'd be able to put Ponyboy back to sleep so he'd be well rested. He had noticed that his friend was exhausted. He would walk past his classes at school to check on him just to see him sleeping. He noticed the dark bags under his eyes and how he walked like a zombie everywhere he went.

"Promise?"

"Yeah, kiddo," he said gently, "I promise."

That was all Ponyboy needed to hear. He felt his body dozing off and he let it happen. He let himself drift off into what he hoped to be a peaceful sleep. When Two-Bit realized that he younger friend was no longer awake, he, too, allowed himself to fall asleep.

The next morning, Darry found the note immediately and started swearing up a storm. He wasn't mad. He was scared. He was worried. He ran into the room his two younger brothers shared and shook Sodapop awake. "Huh, what?"

"Up. We need to go get Pony."

All Sodapop needed to hear was Ponyboy and he was up. He was pulling pants on while trying to ask Darry what was going on. While he was also getting dressed in his room, Darry told his younger brother that Ponyboy had a bad dream and needed to see Two-Bit. He explained the note. When Sodapop asked how long had Pony been gone, the oldest Curtis brother only sighed. He had no idea but he was going to find out.

Two minutes after finding the note, the duo were in the truck and speeding towards Two-Bit's house. They ran around the house, hoping to get Two-Bit's attention in his room so they wouldn't have to wake the two girls in the house. They'd wake them if they had to but they wanted to avoid that. They saw the open window and Sodapop didn't hesitate but to climb in. He immediately calmed down when he saw one of the sweetest things he'd ever laid eyes on.

Both of Two-Bit's arms were wrapped tightly around Ponyboy as if he was protecting him and comforting him at the same time. One of Pony's arms was rested on Two-Bit's stomach with his head on his chest. Sodapop thought back to when he would see Ponyboy sleeping. As he thought more about it, he realized that it's been a while since he saw his baby brother asleep. When he had seen him asleep, he had never looked that calm and...peaceful.

Darry seemed to be thinking the same thing. He felt almost bad to wake his baby brother but he had to bring him home. He knelt down beside the bed and shook Ponyboy, trying not to wake Two-Bit. He was unsuccessful and woke up Two-Bit but not Pony. "Darry?" the eighteen year old mumbled sleepily. "What're you doin' here?"

"Well my little brother is asleep in your bed," Darry pointed out, keeping his voice light. He was confused as to why he had a bad dream and ran to Two-Bit's instead of waking either of his older brothers.

"Oh yeah," his friend said, more awake. He looked down at the boy sleeping on his chest.

"Why?" Sodapop asked, sitting next to Ponyboy and trying to coax him awake.

"Wanted to make sure he was okay," Ponyboy answered with a small groan from just waking up. He was annoyed that he was interrupted in the middle of a good sleep. He was exhausted and didn't have it in him to get up so he just laid there still with his eyes open. "Bad nightmare. Needed to make sure it wasn't real."

"Want me to tell 'em what you told me, kiddo?" Two-Bit asked, stroking Ponyboy's hair. This brought a smile to Darry's face but not Sodapop's. Soda wanted Ponyboy okay and he wasn't okay if he was running out in the middle of the night because of a nightmare. Ponyboy nodded, giving his older friend permission to share his secret with his brothers.

All three Curtis brothers sat quietly while Two-Bit explained what Ponyboy had told him. He kept stressing the fact that Ponyboy didn't want comfort. He wanted reassurance. Darry didn't quite understand what he meant by that but it was slowly making sense to Sodapop. Soda quickly got what was being said. His baby brother had nightmares about the people he loved dying. He woke up freaking out like that because he thought somebody was dead. He wanted somebody to assure him that it was okay. That's why it took a long time to calm him down. Nobody told him the right thing. They said it'd be okay. They said he was safe. Ponyboy wasn't worried about himself being safe. He wanted everybody else to be safe. A few minutes after Two-Bit had started talking, it clicked to Darry. He stared at Ponyboy in sorrow only to see that the young teen had fallen back asleep.

Darry and Sodapop took Ponyboy home and thanked Two-Bit for looking after him. "Guys..." Two-Bit started saying but he hesitated.

"Yes, Two-Bit?" Darry pressed, Ponyboy in his arms.

"I don't think he's been sleepin'. He sleeps in class a lot. Maybe you should...I don't know. Let 'im stay home from school today? Let him sleep?"

Darry didn't even have to think about it. "I'll keep 'im home today. Feel free to stop by if you want."

"When don't I?" Two-Bit grinned as he shut the door behind the Curtis brothers. They weren't sneaking out of the house from the window. They didn't want to wake the youngest brother.

The next night, when Ponyboy woke up crying from a nightmare, Sodapop and Darry comforted him. Instead of telling him it'd be okay, they told him that everybody was safe. Nobody was hurt. Everybody was okay. They asked him if he wanted to talk about his nightmare. He shook his head no and told them that it didn't matter anymore because he knew it was only that: a nightmare. But he did ask Darry to sleep with them for the night. Silently, Sodapop and Darry agreed that the nightmare had to do with Darry. Neither complained. They only wrapped their arms around their baby brother and stroking his hair until he fell asleep with a small smile on his face.