Chapter 14: Can't Take It

Mark screamed and broke into my thoughts. I looked in Terry's yard and saw Bryon. He was laying face down. This reminded me about the night of the dance. Bryon had yelled Mark's name also before he even reached him. We all ran over to Bryon and Mark carefully turned him over. Aw, gosh. He looked almost as bad as Johnny did the night we found him in the lot after he had been jumped. Whoever did this to him must have been ticked off like crazy.

"Help me get him inside!" commanded Mark. We did it, because Bryon wasn't the only one here that was hurt. Mark was probably scared as heck. He barely showed it though.

We carried him inside and put him on Terry's bed. Terry got a wet rag and Mark started wiping Bryon's head.

He came to minutes later. Mark was the first to speak.

"Bryon! You okay? Don't move man."

Geez he looked bad.

"Who did this to you?" asked Mark.

"Shepards," Bryon barely managed to say.

Terry let Bryon stay there. I guess he didn't fell like moving at all.

"I'll call the old lady. Then we'll go look up the Shepards." Bryon spoke up then.

"Mark! Can I talk to you personal like."

"Sure. Clear out guys."

We knew better than to say no at this point and time. Mark came out later on and picked up the phone. He told us to turn the record down though. He sounded like he was even more bitter. When he got off the phone. I asked,

"When are we going for the Shepards?"

"We're not."

I got puzzled.

"How come?" asked Terry.

"Because we're not!" Mark yelled. He then went back into Terry's room to Bryon.

We all sat down to play another game of poker. I'm not sure how much money I collected that day. We all were talking.

"Man is Mark pissed," started one of the guys.

"Yeah," added Terry. "Why do you think he changed his mind about going to get the Shepards?"

I jumped in.

"Bryon probably told him not to."

Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. Terry spoke up.

"I don't think that's it. If I looked like that, I would get as many people as I could to get revenge."

"I know. But Mark told me Bryon's changed. He said he's been acting more safe nowadays. He said it happened ever since the guy at the bar they knew had died. But what makes it worse is that his girlfriend's brother ran away."

We just kept talking. Mark stayed with Bryon all night. I decided to head home. I walked in and the whole gang was sitting in the den.

"Hey, Trix! Long time, no see!" said Two-Bit cheerfully.

"Where ya been?" asked Steve not tearing his eyes away from the TV

"Collecting money," I said pulling out a roll of bills.

I sat down and watched some TV I smelled some food and I quickly lost my appetite when I saw that Darry was in the den and not Soda.

After I had that interesting meal I went to sleep. I didn't feel like staying out tonight. Seeing Bryon being messed up like that brought back even more bad memories. Days later, it was the same old thing. Mark was back to himself after a while and Bryon was in bed resting. Two days later something happened that made me decide to do something. On that night someone came to the door. It was Terry Jones. He was nervous by the way he was looking at me.

"Uh. Can I speak to you and Curtis for a second?"

"Sure. Pony!"

Ponyboy came up to the door and we stepped outside. Terry was kicking the ground.

"What's wrong?" asked Pony.

Terry was quiet for a moment. I thought I was going to have to beat it out of him. He sighed and said.

"Mark was caught."

A feeling went through me. I knew exactly what he meant. Ponyboy didn't.

"What do you mean?" he asked. I answered. This was hard enough for Terry.

"Pony. Mark has been selling drugs."

His eyes widened.

"But there's more to it," Terry added.

"What? How did the cops find out."

"That's the weird part."

He paused and finally said,

"Bryon told them."

I thought I was about to faint. Bryon was Mark's best friend, his brother. Why would he tell on him. Ponyboy was frozen solid. I ran inside the house. I closed and locked the door. I didn't want to talk to anyone.

It was two o' clock in the morning. Everyone was asleep. I can't believe this is happening. I have lost three of my friends. I might as well say four. I sat there for a long time. I came to a conclusion. I grabbed a suitcase. I packed all of my clothes. I got another bag and put my valuables in it. I put the stuff out of my window. I wrote a quick note. I didn't explain much. Pony would know why I did this.

I climbed out of the window and shut it. Before I left I looked at my house, then I left. I walked around with my stuff until I found an unlocked car. I put my stuff inside. I looked around. There was no one. I hot-wired the car and drove off. I couldn't stand to live in Tulsa anymore.

On this day, I kinda regret leaving. I probably got Pony and Soda put into a boy's home. But I know they would find a way around it. I drove all the way to Georgia. I still live there. While I was there. I was surprised to find my second girlfriend there. We got back together and got married. We had one child. He was a boy. She let me name him.

I named him Danny Mark Curtis. Danny was a mixture of the two friends I had that were no longer living. The middle name was after my dangerous, but caring friend. Later on, I found out Ponyboy's theme was published. I knew it was his theme, because it had the same title and same starting line. I never knew he put that much into his writing. It was a best seller. Which is the reason I'm telling you this story. Ponyboy wasn't the only Curtis that had pain. I'm sure Darry and Soda would like to tell you their side of the story. But I just wanted to tell mine.

Well, that's it. I hope you guys are okay with the ending. I know I had a little trouble with this story, but I hope I fixed majority of it. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you about up and coming stories. I plan to do a sequel to this story. Don't worry. It will be original. I seem to be better at that. I also plan on doing one more Outsider fic before I move onto other categories such as Boy Meets World, Holes and other stuff. The next story will be about kinda a gang war. The greasers have a new gang moving in and there's going to be a little action going on. I'm kinda excited about this one. After that, expect a Holes or Boy Meets World fic. Then I'll move on to the sequel to this story. Catch you later!

Coming Attractions

-Defending Your Side-NEXT!

-Untitled Boy Meets World fic-COMING SOON!

-D-Tent Represent-COMING SOON!

-Untitled sequel to Another Brother, Another Story-IN PROGRESS