I Can Wash Away The Pain ×Johnnyboy×

Introduction

×Whole story will be told in Ponyboy's point of veiw, just like the book.×

It was a chilly spring morning, and the sound of birds outside my open window woke me up. I shoved my head under my pillow and groaned, the breeze from outside was coming in and I didn't feel well enough to deal with it. Soda wasn't in the room so I couldn't complain to him, and lord knows if Darry was asleep or not. I lazily got up and made my way to the window, and just as I was about to close it, I heard a little voice come from the other side.

"Hey Pony"

Johnny was walking to my window and I poked my head out.

"What are you doing outside at this hour? It's freezing oh my god, come inside you must be dying out here."

I ran out of my room and met Johnny at the door. Darry was still asleep in his room because I heard him snoring, and I didn't know where Soda was, until I tripped over him while trying to silently let Johnny in the house.

"Oh..hey Pony, how's it going?"

"May I ask, why are you on the floor?"

"I was too tired to walk all the way to the couch. The floor was closer."

"Alright. Fair enough."

Johnny walked in and I stood up. Soda went to the couch because I made him and I made my way back to my room with Johnny. I sat on the bed and he awkwardly stood around, looking at the papers and books I had lying around everywhere.

"So Johnnycake, why were you outside at this hour?"

"My parents are fighting again..my moms drunk and my dad took most of his anger out on me.."

"Aw Johnny.."

I turned on my lamp and looked at him. He had a busted lip and a gash in his eyebrow that I didn't even notice at all before.

"Oh my god! Did he do this??"

"No..my mom did. He cut up and bruised my back."

"Lemme see."

Johnny walked over and took off his jean jacket, I already saw little splotches of blood on it, and his shirt was worse.

"What did he do to you?"

"He pushed me into a mirror, cut me up pretty bad. I changed my shirt before I came here but that didn't help."

I gently lifted the back of his shirt and took a good look at his back. There was little pieces of glass still in his back and he was bleeding a lot.

"I'll go get the first aid kit. Stay here, Johnny."

I walked out of the room and saw Darry walking out of his room.

"What are you doing up so early, pony..?"

"The birds woke me up. Have you seen the first aid kit?"

"Yea its in the bathroom, why? Did you hurt yourself again on that dumb broken chair?"

"Surprisingly no, Johnny's here and his dad hurt him pretty bad."

"Poor kid.. need any help?"

"Nah..I think I got it. If I need help with something I'll call you. Also, I tripped over Soda earlier. He was sleeping on the floor. I made him get on the couch."

"Typical..."

Darry walked away and I got the first aid kit from the bathroom. I walked back to my room and saw Johnny there with his shirt off and just sitting on my bed, quietly looking through my notebook of sketches.

"You draw really well Ponyboy"

"Thanks.."

I sat behind him and pulled out a pair of tweezers from the box. I touched his back and felt him tense up.

"Sorry Johnny, I gotta hurt you a bit.."

"Its fine, its not as bad as what I go through every day."

I felt that little lump in my throat, I didn't like hearing what goes on at Johnny's house. It makes me all emotional.
I held my breath and gently pulled a small shard of glass out of Johnny's back, causing him to wince a little bit. He said it wouldn't be bad, but I still felt bad. I managed to take the rest of the glass shards out of his back and clean the gashes with rubbing alcohol. He was tense and I could tell due to the muscles in his back looking more defined than before. I rubbed my thumb over a bruise and sighed, then grabbed gauze to wrap around his torso. After doing so he hunched over and flipped through another notebook of drawings I had, and just looked at them one by one. When he got to the end he closed the notebook and sat it down, taking his head in his hands. I heard him sniff, and it made me jump a little bit.

"Pony I don't know how long I can take this! Its too much on me man, if this goes on any longer I'll....I'll kill myself!"

I looked at Johnny rocking back and forth, then I put an arm around him in a friendly way.

"It'll be okay Johnny, you'll get through it..don't say that.."

I rubbed his arm and felt him just lean in closer to me. I held him close and listened to his small shaky breaths.

"I don't know, Pony.. I'm scared that I won't"

I felt a tear fall on my leg, and a few more following it. He had his head on my chest and I just held him.

"Don't cry Johnny..I promise you'll make it"

"No I won't Pony! I want to die! I've wanted to die for most of my life, I want to go back to when my mom actually cared about me."

"I know Johnny.. but please just stay strong. For the guys, for me?"

Johnny stayed silent and nodded a little, then spoke up.

"Okay.."

"Just remember that you have us. Thats all that matters."

Johnny nodded and closed his eyes, I felt him get a little heavier, meaning he was asleep. I picked him up and laid him down properly on the bed, then covered him up. I laid down and faced away from him, then drifted back to sleep.