~your p.o.v~
I woke up to a sound of someone clearing their throat. I slowly opened my eyes, yawning. Was it all a dream?
I was leaning against Dal's shoulder, who was still sound asleep. I slowly raised my head, looking to see who woke me.
A doctor stood in front of me. He looked to be in his fifties.
"You're here for Jonathan Cade, correct?" He asked. I nodded sleepily, rubbing my eyes. Guess it wasn't a dream after all.
"I have some news about your friend."
I was immediately woken up by these words. I shook the other two boys, waking them up.
"The doctor's here, he's got news about Johnny." I told them. They seemed to also immediately wake up after what I had told them.
We all looked back to the doctor, waiting nervously.
"Your friend got real lucky. He was real close to getting stabbed in a fatal part of his abdomen that would've killed him in minutes if not seconds." The doctor began explaining. This piece of information already made me feel sick. What if he had been stabbed there instead?
"It's real hard to tell how he'll turn out. Stab wounds like this can be tricky sometimes. Mr. Cade is in critical condition, but at the moment he seems to be okay. He could be fine after this, he could pass away in weeks, it could even happen in days. There's no telling what will happen." The doctor finished. I gnawed on my lip nervously, afraid I'd start crying again.
"So there's a chance he'll be alright?" Ponyboy asked hopefully. The doctor nodded.
"I can't promise it'll happen, but there's still hope. You're free to visit him if you want, but not for too long. He needs his rest. " With that, the doctor left.
We sat in silence processing the news. We all exchanged glances, unsure of what to do.
"Should... Should we go see how he's doing?" I asked. Ponyboy nodded, but Dallas didn't answer right away.
"I think I need a second." Dallas finally said, his voice sounding numb. I nodded.
"We can wait, then." I spoke softly.
I bet we looked weird here, out of place. A girl with mascara stains running down her face, her hair up in a now messy high ponytail, wearing a Letterman's jacket far too big. Two beat up boys, covered in cuts and bruises while their clothes were drenched in blood. The blood of Johnny.
Dallas stood up. He must've been ready.
Ponyboy and I stood up as well, and I struggled to remember Johnny's room number. Someone told me last night, but it was hard to remember. So many things happened last night, no wonder I could hardly remember a number.
"Do you remember the room number, Ponyboy?" I asked. Ponyboy nodded.
"Yeah, follow me."
And so we followed him. We walked through a couple doors, past a couple rooms. Many of the rooms had the door wide open and you could see inside. There was rooms full of the injured and sick, I could hardly stand it. It made me feel uneasy, seeing all of those people suffering.
We finally made it to a room and the door was wide open. We all couldn't help but look at each other again, it was almost a silent agreement that we were doing this together. No matter what we faced beyond this point, it would be together.
For now, anyway. Who knows how it'll be once I'm gone. I'll be alone, but they'll still all have each other.
We stepped in and Johnny's eyes slowly fluttered open. A weak smile appeared on his face and I could practically feel my heart break.
"Hey guys..." His voice was raspy and all of us approached him slowly.
"Hey, Johnny. How you holding up?" I asked quietly. He let out a shallow breath.
"Hurts. I'm okay, though. I'm getting used to it hurting."
"We won the rumble. They broke the rules and used weapons, so we won." Dallas assured Johnny, leaning down next to him.
Johnny shook his head subtly.
"Fighting ain't no good. Doesn't get us anywhere except where I am now." Johnny said.
I looked over to Ponyboy and he was crying. I reached out and put my hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner.
I kneeled down next to Johnny, studying the state he was in. He looked like he was tired and he seemed to be in pretty bad shape.
"The doctors said I was real lucky to have survived. I don't see how my situation is lucky at all, it just hurts all the time now. When I breathe, when I talk, when I think about it..." He trailed off, a groan of pain passing his lips.
"Oh, Johnny..." I felt myself beginning to cry.
"H-hey, it's okay. Don't cry for me." He smiled sadly at me and reached out for my hand.
I laced my fingers with his.
"What happened to that kid who stabbed me?" Johnny asked all of the sudden. My stomach dropped.
"I did something real bad, Johnny."
"What'd you do?"
"I-I shot him. I feel horrible, Johnny. I never meant for any of this to go so far." I sniffled. Johnny's grip tightened on my hand.
"You did it to defend someone you cared about. I get that. I had to do the same thing."
Before I could answer a nurse entered the room.
"Johnny, your mother's here to see you."
"I don't wanna see her." Johnny spat bitterly. I was startled, I had never heard him use this tone.
"But she's your mother-" Johnny cut the nurse off.
"I said I don't wanna see her! She's probably just here to tell me all the trouble I've caused being gone-" Johnny was cut off by a pained cry and he suddenly passed out. I felt panic wash over me.
"Is he okay?!" I asked nervously.
"Johnny!" Ponyboy sobbed, looking at his unconscious friend.
"He's okay, he's just exhausted. You should leave, he needs his rest.
I took one last glance at Johnny and carefully slipped my hand out of his. We left the room without another word.