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Unpleasant Discoveries

Dally's POV

As I walked into the Curtis' living room, I was suprised that Pony was no where in sight. He still hangs out with us during the day like he always had before. He just doesn't talk as much as he used to.

"Where's Pony?"

"He and Soda are in the bedroom gettin' dressed. We woke them up about twenty minutes ago," Two-Bit answered me with a mouth full of food.

"Keep your mouth shut will ya? I'll go see what's takin' them so long," I said before walking down the hallway to the bedroom.

"I don't think I can. I'm worthless! What good am I to you?" I heard Pony yell at Soda before I had a chance to open the door. What was going on? I stood there at the door trying to listen to the rest of the conversation, so I could figure out what was going on.

"You're my brother and you help me get through each day. We need you Pony, we all do. Please, stay with us. We need you," I heard Soda plead with him. This was really bugging me. What were they talkin' about? Why was Pony so upset that Soda had to plead with him? Before I could think about it anymore I heard Pony starting to talk again.

"I'll try, Soda. But I can't say that I'll make it." Something's not right. Why would Pony say somethin' like that? But Soda's voice brought me back to the conversation once more.

"I love you, Pony and I want you to know that. I'm here for you, anytime you want to talk. I'm here for you." The room was quiet once again, except for the quiet sobs of Soda. I carefully opened the door to find Pony wrapped in one of Soda's big hugs. Neither of them heard me enter the room. Something was going on and I wanted to know what it was.

"Dally, when did you get here?" Soda asked as he and Pony turned to face me.

"A few minutes ago. Two-Bit asked me to see what was takin' ya'll so long. How long does it take you two to get dressed anyhow? Two-Bit said that he woke you up about twenty minutes ago," I said hoping that one of them would explain what was going on.

"We just got a bit side tracked. That's all," Pony said refusing to look me in the eye.

"Come on. Let's go get somethin' to eat," I said as we began to walk down the hall.

"Sure. What did Two-Bit cook anyway?" Soda asked as we walked into the living room to see Two-Bit stretched out on the floor eatin' something that resembled food and drinking a beer while watchin' T.V.

"It's a surprise. Take a bite and tell me what you think," Two-Bit said grinning at us.

"Well, I always said I liked surprises," Soda said walking over to into the kitchen and dipping out some kind of cassarole lookin' dish on to a plate. He took a bite of it followed by a huge gulp of water.

"What did you think of it?"

"Do you really have to ask? What's in this? Never mind I don't think I want to know," Soda said walking over to the trash can and dumping the remains of the dish into a trash can.

"Hey, you're wastin' my food. I would have eaten it," Two-Bit complained.

"Here take these," Soda said handing me some bowls, then going off to get a box of cereal, a carton of milk and handful of spoons.

"Hey Johnny! You want some cereal?" Soda shouted.

"Sure, it's better than eaten that stuff," Johnny said getting a dirty loook from Two-Bit.

"I see how it is, but that just leaves more for me to eat."

"Help yourself to that stuff, man. I don't even think a goat would even eat that stuff," I said looking at Two-Bit's latest breakfast creation in disgust.

"Dally, I'm not pourin' your cereal for you. Get over here and pour it yourself, you lazy bum," Soda said to me handing me the milk. I took it from him and poured myself a bowl of cereal and then passed the milk off to Johnny. After we all had finished eating Pony and Johnny decided to go for a walk around town. We made sure that they both had a blade before they left and told them to be back by four.

"Soda, what's going on? I heard your conversation with Pony this morning and I want to know what's going on," I said him once Pony and Johnny had both left.

"Pony wants to kill himself," Soda said so calmly that it scared me, even though I knew he wasn't calm about it inside.

"What? Why would he want to do that?" I yelled at Soda. I knew I shouldn't yell at him, but I couldn't control my anger. Why would Pony hate his life so much that he'd want to kill himself?

"I don't know. He said that he was useless and that he let us down," Soda said almost in tears.

"I can't believe we haven't noticed it before now," Two-Bit said in shock of what we had just found out.

"I can't either. He said that he couldn't bring himself to eat anymore cause it postpones death. I just can't believe that he would think something like that," Soda said with steady streams of tears rolling down his face.

"We got to make sure he doesn't do anything to himself. We got to go find him and Johnny now," I said hoping that he hadn't done something already.

"No, Dally. He promised me that he'd try. I have to trust as much as I want to check on him. They're should be back soon anyway."

"Fine, but if they're not back in a few minutes. I'm going to go look for them."

"Don't worry, Dal. They're coming up the driveway now," Two-Bit said as he walked away from the window and back towards the couch.

"Hey, guys. Did we miss anything?" Johnny as asked as he and Pony walked inside the house.

"Nothin' much," Two-Bit said glancing back at Soda.

"I'm going to go take a shower," Pony said as he walked to bathroom and and turned the shower on.

"You need some help with anything," I asked when I noticed he was going back to his room to get something.

"Yeah, can you help me find some clothes?" I heard Pony shout from his room. As I walked in his room I spotted a a t-shirt and a pair of supposedly clean jeans that he could wear. I handed him the clothes before walking out the door. A few minutes later he went into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

"Johnny, did Pony say anything to you?" I asked him after I was sure that Pony couldn't hear us.

"Not really. What's going on?" Johnny asked sounding really worried.

"Pony told me that he wants to kill himself," Soda said quietly.

"When did he tell you this?" Johnny asked his eyes wide with fear for his friend.

"This morning after we finished getting dressed."

"I asked him if he was okay and he told me he was fine. Why would he lie to me like that?"

"Don't worry, kid. He's just going through a hard time right now. He needs a little time to adjust," Two-Bit said not very convincing.

"Soda, when are you going to tell Darry?" I asked curious about how the older Curtis brother would handle the news.

"I guess I should tell him when he gets home from work."

"Yeah, I'll hang around 'til he gets home."

"He said he'd try to get home early tonight so that he can check on Pony and me."

"The sooner the better."

"What about Steve? He needs to know," Two-Bit said glancing at the door to the bathroom where we could still hear the shower running.

"Whenever he comes over here, I'll tell him."

"Can we please change subjects? This is driving me crazy," I said not wanting to think about it anymore. A few minutes later Pony came out of the bathroom wearing the clothes I had given him earlier. I was glad that Pony couldn't see all the strange looks we were giving him. We sat in the living room all day playing cards and joking around, until Darry came home. Johnny quickly made up an excuse to get Pony to come into the bedroom with him, recieving a funny look from Darry.

"What's going on?" Darry asked totally confused, once Johnny and Pony had left the room.

"Darry, we need to talk," Soda said more serious than I had seen him my entire life.