Lost & Found// Johnnyboy [𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕝𝕖𝕥𝕖𝕕]

Chapter 20

Status: Day 6 at the church; afternoon.

Johnny's POV

Ponyboy and I took off down the hill, laughing quietly as he tugged me along behind him. We ran along the dirt path and up to my mother's house.

Now was as good a time as any for her to officially meet him, I decided. I rapped on the door, and she opened it with a smile. "Johnathan- And you've brought your Tulsa friend!"

Aha. Yes, my.. friend..

I nodded. "Mother, Ponyboy. Pony, my mother." Pony smiled sheepishly, giving my hand a squeeze. I wasn't sure if she saw our intertwined hands, but if she did, she didn't mention it.

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Cade," he said, letting go of my hand to shake hers, much to my dismay.

"Come in, you two," my mother exclaimed, opening the door further for us to walk in. She led us to the table and motioned for us to sit down.

Ponyboy re-grasped my hand under the table. I bit my lip to keep my face from flushing.

"So, how have you two been? I'm glad I finally get to meet Ponyboy, here."

Ponyboy smiled. "We've been.." he hesitated for a moment, "rather well. Y'know how it is.. everything's just been a little hectic lately, but we've been doin' alright," He said, glancing over at me with those green, green eyes. I smiled, nodding.

"Yeah, it's been a little crazy. How 'bout you? What's been happening in Windrix while I've been gone?"

"Well, that old farmer, Bob, 's got himself in a little trouble for getting in a fight with Howard, but it's been otherwise peaceful like usual," She noted, and I nodded along, acting like I could remember who these people were. You know how it is, Mothers and their drama.

"I heard about that," Ponyboy started, and I wondered how in the world he could've heard about something so minuscule from such a tiny town, "Heard it was over his corn plants. Industry's really getting.." I zoned out then, not too keen to hear about the corn industry.

A few minutes must have passed before my eyes wandered over to the window, where I looked up at the sky, and to my surprise, saw puffs of smoke rising over the hills. I peered down at the old church, that was being engulfed by hot red and orange flicks of light.

I blinked, sure what I was seeing couldn't possibly be real.

I pushed my elbow into Ponyboy's side, and nodded my head towards the smoke rising over the hill. "Ponyboy," I murmured, "you see that?"

He stopped in the middle of his sentence, his eyebrows shooting up. "Shit."

"We'll be back soon, mother, but right now, I think we've got to go," I said, already starting to pull Ponyboy from the table. Mother took one look at the horizon and her eyes widened, too. She ushered us out, but not without a warning to be very careful.

We nodded, only half listening. My mind was already halfway up the hill.

The second that door closed, Pony and I shot off, sprinting up the hill as fast as we could.

"You know.." I panted, "You know that's our fault.. right?" I asked. He just shot me a worried glance, with a very small, "mhm".

We could see figures standing atop the hill, and once we got closer, we realized they were teachers.

Teachers, oh my god. That means there are students. I took a look around and it seemed like there were at least 15 kids scrambling about the lawn.

"What are we going to do?!" A round man with black framed glasses cried, "How can we get them out?"

Ponyboy and I shared a horrified glance. We must have dropped a match, or a cigarette or SOMETHING. No matter what it was, we knew it was our fault.

"C'mon," he whispered, taking off for the door of the burning church. I ran after him, my heart rising into my throat.

Pony was able to ram through the weak door, but I heard cracks along the side of the building, signaling that our entrance was not without a price. He dove through the opening, with me on his heels.

I immediately noticed three children cowering in the corner, flames licking at their feet.

"Help!" One of the small girls called out, her voice wavering. I could almost feel her fear radiating.

I dashed around the collapsing columns, around the sort-of-table that had caught flame. As soon as I took a breath, I felt the smoke burning my lungs. It felt like I was going to erupt in flames from the inside out.

"Shh," I whispered, over the crackling of fire, "I'm here to get you out." The small girl nodded, and I hoisted her up. Ponyboy had followed me, and was standing next to an open window.

I carefully handed the girl to him, whom he handed to someone outside of the window. We did this with the second girl, and then all was left was the small boy, who could've been no older than 8.

I started to feel light headed, and my eyes were starting to water. Ponyboy looked worse, only having just recovered from his fever a few days earlier.

"Go," I said, "I got him."

"No, Johnny, I can still-"

I didn't let him finish, because I heard the ceiling board above him start to crack. In one motion, I shoved him hard enough to propel him almost out the door, where he began to cough.

I grabbed the little boy, and lifted him out the window. The round man with the glasses took him from me, whispering a thank you. I tried to reply, but my breaths were becoming short. I tried to inhale, as I side-stepped a flame barreling through the air, but all that came out was a cough.

"JOHNNY!" I heard Ponyboy yell from outside. I started to stumble in that direction, but I was just so tired.

No, I thought. You need to make it out that door.

But it's so far, and I'm so tired. Maybe I could just...

I didn't get to finish my thought, because as I was stuck up in the moment, the ceiling boards above me began to crack. And with no one there to stop them, they broke free. The last thing I remembered was seeing Ponyboy being held back from charging towards the church by a teacher. And I wondered why they were so worried, before everything went black.

a/n: I just wrote all of this 2 seconds ago so sorry for any mistakes!

I just kept procrastinating it and forgetting about it and agh, but I'm glad I got it done.

Anyway, so memory moment here.

I started writing Yellow Roses because I was procrastinating my first French final and now I just took my second French final today! Wow, how time flies. Lmao anyway I hope you enjoyed and I'll see all of you in Chapter 21 on Sunday!