Prologue

Last words are a funny thing. I'll bet you never gave much thought to what you'll say right before you die. No one does, I'd reckon. But when the time comes for someone you love…last words will stick with you. They become a part of the living left behind.

Elvis Presley's last words were "Okay, I won't."

John F. Kennedy said, "You certainly can't," just before his death.

Marilyn Monroe's last sentence was "Say goodbye to Pat, say goodbye to the president, and say goodbye to yourself, because you're a nice guy."

Only the famous people get to have famous last words.

More famous to myself and my friends were the last words of Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston. Before dying, Johnny said, "Stay gold, Ponyboy." We all knew in the back of our minds that Johnny would die. He didn't die as suddenly as Elvis, or JFK, or Marilyn. He wasn't there one moment and gone the next.

But Dally was. When the bullets tore into his chest, Dallas simply said my name.

A/N: If you stumble upon this fic of mine (one of the first I ever wrote!), please be aware I am editing/re-writing it. There is a sequel that goes along with it, All the Pieces of You that I have struggled with writing because the source material for it (this fic) is vastly different than my current writing style. So I am editing this one to fit how I write now in the hopes that it will help me get all the ideas I have in my head for All the Pieces of You onto paper. 5/2/2019.