Darrel's POV:
"Darry, what's going on?" Ponyboy asked me as we were driving to the hospital. I continued staring off into the night sky, keeping my eyes locked onto the moon. There weren't so many stars out tonight as usual. I felt a tear roll down my cheek.
"Darry," Ponyboy grabbed my arm. I flinched away.
"Okay, I'm sorry," he said, facing forward and staring down at the dashboard. I started to feel bad for acting snappy with him.
"I'm sorry, Ponyboy. The problem is that this isn't something I need to have happening right now," I said with a pause, "Sodapop, he's in the hospital."
Ponyboy looked up at me and whispered, "Why?"
"I don't know. I cut the damn girl off when she was trying to tell me!" I slammed the wheel, with more tears running down my face. I know I was scaring Ponyboy and acting too out of control. The situation was only going to get worse.
"Darry, calm down. We need to have a good attitude when we're there for him. He's going to be too overwhelmed," Ponyboy said.
"I know," I responded, "I know."
~~~
We got to the hospital about 20 minutes later. When we got there, I quickly parked the car and we rushed inside to the front desk.
"Hello, I'm Darrel Curtis, here to see Sodapop Curtis, my younger brother?" I told the receptionist.
"Yes, he's in the room at the end of the hall over there," she said, pointing to her left.
"Thank you," I said, and Ponyboy and I ran down as fast as we could. When we got to outside of his room, we came to a quick stop. The door was opened and we saw Sodapop laying on the bed with a black eye and a bunch of bruises. He had his eyes closed.
"Oh my god," I whispered, putting my hand up to my mouth. Ponyboy looked at me with a tear rolling down his cheek, putting his arm on my shoulder. I began taking small steps towards the bed.
When I reached his side, I gently put my hand on his arm. His eyes slowly opened.
"Darry?" he said. His voice sounded strained.
"Yeah, Soda, I'm here," I responded, wiping away a few tears. I could see Ponyboy doing the same out of the corner of my eyes.
"Ponyboy, are you okay?" Sodapop asked. I looked at Ponyboy. His eyes and face were red as he wiped away the last of his tears. He nodded.
Sodapop turned his attention to me, "Darry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything lately, Darry. I need you to understand me, please." He reached on top of the bed rail for my hand.
"Marty, I don't want to be with her anymore," Sodapop said, adjusting himself in the bed and wincing at the pain he was in. I squeezed his hand tighter.
"She's been really toxic, Darry. I don't know what to do. She's so controlling," Sodapop said, starting to cry, "I can't stand it anymore. I miss you guys."
I didn't know what to say. I couldn't believe what he was telling me. It didn't make sense. I remembered reading the note and how Marty seemed to be coming off but at the same time, I remembered everything they would do together. It just didn't seem right.
"We miss you too, Soda," I said, "Don't worry yourself now over her, you already have too much happening at the moment. Just relax, everything's going to be taken care of."
