I do not own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton does :)

"Ponyboy."

Ponyboy scanned around the area with his eyes. Somebody was calling his name, but he couldn't quite figure out who it was.

"Forgotten 'bout me already?"

The voice sounded familiar, but there was nobody in-front of him. Was it a ghost that was speaking?

"I'm right here, kiddo."

When Ponyboy turned around, he smiled. It was Sodapop. His brother.

"Soda, you're here," Ponyboy smiled, walking over to his brother.

However, he was stopped by a sheep. Many sheep actually; much more than a single flock. They were all running around, and when Ponyboy awoke from his shock and looked up, he cried when he saw that his brother was gone.

His brother was a lost sheep.

"Soda!" the boy shouted, however the sheep were running around insanely, so bad that he nearly got stampeded over when he was knocked down. "Soda, come back!" But he didn't.

Then, as if by magic, the sheep all galloped away. Ponyboy looked around in amazement, searching for his older brother, however was instead greeted by the brother he wasn't so happy to see: Darry.

"Where've you been?" the man asked dangerously, marching over to the younger boy. Ponyboy backed away, however there was nowhere to go now. He was back in his room.

"D-Darry," Ponyboy whined, holding his hands up as if to defend himself. Darry just shook his head and smirked at the boy.

"You've been bad," the oldest Curtis stated, and then stormed out of the room and locked the door. Ponyboy gasped and ran over to the door, trying his best to open it but failing.

"Darry, let me out!" the young boy begged.

His room was getting darker, and there was a shadow that kept moving among the walls. Tears ran down Ponyboy's face as he clenched the door handle tightly – so tight that his palm began to bleed.

"It's just me, Ponyboy," a rough voice claimed. Ponyboy breathed out heavily, his sobs rattled because of his irritated throat. "C'mon now, Soda's here to make it all better."

The shadow moved again, disappearing, and out of nowhere came Soda. Ponyboy smiled, with tears still in his eyes, until he noticed the state of his big brother.

Sodapop was in his jeans and shoes, however his DX cap and DX shirt were both gone. His chest and stomach were covered in cuts and welts, and the bottom of his jeans were soaked in blood.

The once handsome face was now terrifying. Sodapop's nose was bent right out of shape, and his nostrils were purple with small amounts of blood leaking onto his lips. His bottom teeth had all been smashed up, however his top teeth were bright red, and his gums were gushing with blood. The teenager was sporting a black eye – which wasn't black; more like a mix of purple and red. And it was terrifying.

"Ssh," Sodapop chuckled, holding a finger to his destroyed mouth. "Darry will yell at us."

Ponyboy squeezed his eyes shut, wanting nothing more for his big brother to be transformed back to normal. He wanted his big brother back, not this thing that scared the life out of him. Not this…not this thing that seemed so real.

When the boy's eyes opened again, the thing that claimed itself to be Soda was gone. Ponyboy smiled, however when he heard leaking coming from his closet, the smile faded.

The boy tried to ignore the noise, however it was irritating him terribly. He had completely forgotten about Darry now, and was only focused on his closet. That was until he spotted Sodapop's DX cap on the floor, right next to the door of the closet.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Ponyboy stood up and slowly approached the cap. It was spotted with red paint; at least that was what Ponyboy hoped it was. Picking the cap up, Ponyboy turned to the closet; he'd have to face it sometime, especially with that awful noise.

The door creaked when Ponyboy opened it.

Sodapop wouldn't be happy to find out that Ponyboy dropped his beloved DX cap to the floor. But hopefully he wouldn't mind; the sight would be a shock to anyone, even Sodapop himself.

Ponyboy whimpered as he stared at the sight in-front of him. Sodapop's DX shirt was wrapped tightly around his neck, as the boy was dangling from the clothes rack. His mouth was wide open, making the blood from his mouth drip to the floor. So that was what the noise was from?

"Soda…" Ponyboy cried. Sodapop's eyes were rolled to the side of him, and when Ponyboy looked, he saw there was a message written on the wall.

…You did this, Ponyboy…

Ponyboy stumbled back onto the floor, and he couldn't help it: he screamed.

XXX

"Ponyboy, wake up kiddo," a voice ordered softly. Ponyboy's eyes flew open as the boy shot up. "Hey, hey, it's okay, baby."

The youngest Curtis panicked when he realized when he wasn't at home, however relaxed when he realized he was in Darry's truck. He was safe now.

"You were havin' a nightmare," the man told his brother gently, shaking his head. "Guess it's my fault, huh?"

"No," Ponyboy answered quickly, reaching out. However, he groaned in pain and pulled his arm back down; his stomach was hurting him.

"You just relax, kiddo," Darry said. "I'm takin' you to Mrs Mathews; she's gonna look after you while I'm at work. Now I don't want you doing anything alright? I've told her you're not allowed to leave the house and you need to spend the day resting." Ponyboy frowned. "Hey, don't look like that. Betcha haven't had the best sleep; the way you were carryin' on then."

Ponyboy sunk down in his seat, blinking rapidly to stop himself from crying. That was such an awful nightmare, and when he stared down at his wrist and realized he still had the bracelet with the lost sheep on it, he shuddered. Darry turned to his younger brother and noticed he was observing the bracelet…the one that an awful stranger had given to the boy.

But Darry wasn't going to remind of Ponyboy of what happened the night before. He was sure Ponyboy had learnt his lesson about talking to strangers anyway.

"If you're sick, Mrs Mathews promised she'd call me, so don't worry 'bout that," Darry smiled. "And when I'm done with work today, if you're well enough, we might be able to go out for somethin' to eat." If Ponyboy was with him, it was fine. Nobody would dare try to take his baby brother away from him if he was there; he'd murder the first person who even looked at Ponyboy the wrong way.

They pulled up to the Mathews house a few minutes later. Ponyboy went to exit the truck, but Darry told him not to move. The boy waited quietly while Darry got out of the truck and retrieved something from the back-seat, and even though Ponyboy wanted to see what the thing was, he was far too weak to move around.

Darry opened the passenger door, and Pony saw that he had a large blue blanket in his hands. The youngest Curtis looked at his brother, however Darry just smiled at him and pulled his youngest brother out of the truck, wrapping him in the blanket and picking him up.

"I can walk just fine," Ponyboy protested, squirming as Darry carried him to the front door of the Mathews' house. "They're all gonna think 'am a baby."

"No; they'll think you're sick, like I've told them," Darry responded, squeezing his brother close to him.

Even leaving Ponyboy with Mrs Mathews, a woman who he'd known for years, scared Darry. What if she was a bad person? Of course Darry knew she was anything but, however since Sodapop had gone missing, Darry didn't really trust anybody. The man knew that he had to go back to work though; if he didn't, he wouldn't be able to provide for his littlest brother, and he'd be damned if his little brother got sick – even though he already was.

Mrs Mathews was at the door almost as soon as Darry knocked. The woman was grinning like crazy, however gave Ponyboy a sympathetic look when she saw the state of the youngest Curtis.

"Oh no, poor dear. I've heard you're feeling poorly."

"He's very poorly," Darry stated. "And he'll need a lot of rest. Can't have this one bein' sick now, can I?"

"Of course not. I've got some medicine in our cupboards - for fevers - so we won't have a problem if your temperature gets a little out of hand, okay, Ponyboy?" Mrs Mathews smiled at the young boy. Ponyboy nodded into Darry's shoulder.

Darry grinned nervously. He was a bit worried that Ponyboy would get sicker if Mrs Mathews gave him medicine; the oldest Curtis didn't know half of the stuff that he'd put in Ponyboy's food and drinks recently, and adding anything to them would definitely have an effect on his baby brother, the man was certain of it. But he just bit his lip and went along with it; Mrs Mathews would probably get suspicious otherwise.

"Keith an' Janie are still asleep, so you could get in my bed if you want to. I mean, I'm sure even Keith wouldn't mind if you wanted company you could-"

"No thanks, that's fine," Darry chuckled coldly, wrapping the blanket tighter around Ponyboy. He really didn't want to let his baby brother go; if Darry could, he'd take Ponyboy to work with him, but he knew his boss wouldn't be too happy – at least he thought that -, and Pony probably wouldn't get any sleep either.

Mrs Mathews just smiled. "Alright then, you should get off to work, Darry. Pony will have a great time here, ain't that right?"

"He needs to rest," Darry reminded her. "And he'll need a lot a' fluid too. Remember to call me if anything happens, like if his fever goes up or he's sick," Darry rambled, hesitantly placing Ponyboy on the ground. "You be good, alright? I'll call at lunch." Though Darry secretly hoped that when he did call at lunch, Ponyboy would be asleep. "I love you, little brother."

Darry grabbed Ponyboy one last time before he left and hugged him hard. Ponyboy would only be out of his sight for a few hours…but a few hours was too much really. But he couldn't afford to miss work; his boss had been kind enough to let him off for a few days because Sodapop had gone missing, but if he missed any more he knew he'd be pushing the limit, well, he thought that.

"Love you, Darry," Ponyboy murmured into his brother's chest, and then pulled away. "See ya later."

The oldest Curtis swallowed and smiled, patting his brother's shoulder and walking away rather sharply. He waved goodbye to Ponyboy and Mrs Mathews, and then angrily got into the truck, slamming the door hard. Mrs Mathews flinched as Ponyboy rubbed his forehead, holding his blanket over his shoulder. The older woman smiled down at the boy, and rubbed his hair gently.

"Right then, let's go inside. Your big brother has made your needs very clear," she chuckled, placing her hands on Ponyboy's shoulders to guide him into the house.

Meanwhile, on a road someplace near, Darry was clenching the steering wheel tightly. If Mrs Mathews or Two-Bit screwed this up…they'd be sorry.

AN: I'm so sorry it's been like over a month since I've updated. Like some of my other stories I got a little stuck XD Any ideas for the next chapter? Thank you to everybody who has favorited, followed and reviewed this story so far; I can't thank you all enough :)