Halloween wasn't as anyone had planned it, but if Dally had been that stupid to bet money he didn't have and someone hadn't been there to not let that happen, Halloween may not have been fun but it was, at least, not too wasted.
Now, Dally was full on drunk that night and in the morning he was full on hung over. Woke at 12 and still after all the times he had drunk his brain hadn't gotten used to the headache you get. I laughed when he struggled to get down the stairs at noon.
Darry took back Buck's car and I guess he thanked him. He also said I was a real idiot for saving Dally with a pool game against a fully grown man, but I just said it was a spontaneous moment and we left it at that without arguing anymore.
"Don't laugh at me doll." I looked at him, but Dallas was so hung over, I let it slip.
"Ya want breakfast Dal'?" I asked in the middle of cracking up because he held his head and moaned 'bout the headache.
"Nah."
"C'mon, Darry instructed me with a list of things to get done, and one of them is to feed ya, so ya have to eat anyway." I walked to the kitchen, folding up the list Darry gave me and reached 'round the table to grab the chocolate cake.
"Where's everyone else?" Dally sat down.
Darry had gone to work, Soda and Steve were somewhere, and Pony, Two and Johnny are somewhere else, but that was a rubbish answer. "What, ya don't like me being here?"
"Hey I didn't say that." He laughed. "Hey, no, I like ya being here."
I smiled cutting him a piece of cake.
"What happened last night?"
"What do ya remember?" I said, hoping I wouldn't have to tell the whole story again 'cause I had to tell the whole gang at least five times.
"Me playing pool." He paused. "Oh and drinking. Drinking a lot." He tapped his head.
"Do you remember me beating the man's ass in pool?" I looked into the cupboard and brought out some pain killers.
"Ya can play pool?"
"Sure I can play pool."
"Where's the money then?" He ate some chocolate cake and refused the pain killers, saying he could handle the man drilling in his head.
"I didn't take it."
"YA DIDN'T TAKE IT." He shouted, standing up.
"No I didn't take it." I said calmly. "I don't want a death wish."
He sighed, dramatically and sat back down again, eating the cake.
"Do ya want me to have a death wish?"
"No." He said quietly.
"So where's Johnny and Pony, man?" Dally looked at me.
"Gone walking somewhere. Don't worry, their with Two-Bit."
"Why didn't ya go with them?"
"I mean someone had to stay here and Darry didn't want me to move because he said something 'bout the man coming and hurting me." I shrugged. "So he gave me this enormous list of chores."
He laughed and lay down on the sofa, once he had swayed into the lounge.
"Ya got a switch Dal'?" I asked, longing to fiddle with something.
"Always, but ya not havin' it."
"Why?" I moaned.
He stayed quiet, but anyway, when I didn't get an answer, I switched on the Tv.
"Hey, it's ya birthday in four days, isn't it?" I said, knowing the answer, but I wanted to know what to get him.
I didn't get an answer.
"Dallas." I said looking at him. I chuckled. Asleep. Fast asleep, even though he had been sleeping for the last 7 hours.
I got up, leaving him in the lounge. I picked up my list of chores and unfolded them, scanning my eyes over the paper to see where I hadn't ticked.
Remember to feed yourself.
Try to open the shed.
I cocked my head to the side and looked out the window to see the shed standing, on the patio, alone.
Opening the back door, I walked to the shed. The lock looked battered, like it had tried to be forced off and the wooden door remained closed. I struggled with it, kicking, hard but it wouldn't budge.
"Waste of ya time." Dally said, making me jump.
"Jesus, I thought ya were asleep." I tried to pull it open again but it didn't move.
"Just stop. It's not going to move. They've tried and failed." Dally stopped my arm from pulling the handle even more.
"And they don't have a key?" I pointed to the lock. "If they had that, it would make it a whole lot easier."
Dally stayed quiet, but I had an idea. If Isla was anything like Pony described her, I'm pretty sure I knew were the key was. "How long has it been closed?" I asked, walking back into the house.
"I dunno. 3 years."
I smiled sadly. The same amount of time, Isla had been dead for. "See ya."
"What... where the hell are ya going?" Dally tried to follow me, but gave up. He probably knew I was coming back out again.
I walked up the stairs, to my room, that was still exactly how I found it the day I came in. I hadn't unpacked my suitcase, and I didn't dust the room either. I walked up to the wardrobe and off the handles, I blew off the dust, opening them slightly. If I was hiding something, I would have hidden it on the top self of my wardrobe and that's exactly what Isla did.
I pulled down the jar, standing up on the top shelf and looked at the key hidden inside and the note folded up neatly in quarters.
I guess if you find this, I'm sorry. I know you asked me sooooooo many times if I had the shed key and I had lied but, there. I tricked you and you didn't know. I won and you lost. Love you guys, and well now you can open the shed.
Isla x
I smiled. Isla would have been 13. Bit younger than me and Pony and it made me sad. She had gone to young, but what frustrated me was that I still thought she was out there. Somewhere.
I folded the letter back up and walked downstairs. Off the list, I crossed off try to open the shed and I put the glass jar with the key on the table.
"Hey, Dal'." I called, once I had walked back outside. "I have something to show y—" I scanned the back garden. "Dally? Shit. Oh my God, Dallas." I closed my eyes and hoped Dallas would be standing in front of me again. I went back inside and to the front door that was left slightly open. Off the side, I grabbed Soda's switchblade, that he left behind and I jogged out the house.
I walked down the street but stopped when I saw three people running towards me.
"What the hell are ya doin'." Pony screamed. "Ya can't walk on the streets on ya own."
"Ya sounding more and more like Darry." I said, carrying on.
"Where ya goin' anyway, man?" Johnny stopped walking so I did to. I didn't have a crush on him anymore, but he was my best friend and his sad looking face made my heart melt.
"Goin' to find Dally." I said and Two-But chuckled.
"Just go home." He said. "It isn't safe."
"I am perfectly safe." I said and started to walk.
"Just go home."
"Just go home." I shouted and looked at Two-Bit. "And leave Dallas on the streets."
"He can handle himself." Pony said.
"When he's hung over and driving a car." I put emphasis on the word car. "Don't get me wrong, I know Dally can handle other people, but can he actually handle himself?"
"He'll be fine." Two-Bit reassured. "We're all Dally's best friends and we all want to see him safe, but sometimes ya just got to let him go. Ya need to learn that. Just let him go and do whatever. He'll cause trouble and then spend the time in the cooler, and wait 'till Darry busts him out."
"But what happens if Darry runs out of money, or Dallas Winston commits a crime that means he can't be bailed out of." I said but Two-Bit picked me up and no matter how much I tried to get out of his arms, he wouldn't let go.
"Ya worry too much." He said when he put me back on the sofa.
"That's my personality. I worry too much." I stood up. "And I will worry 'bout the safety of my friends, if they come back with cuts and bruises and maybe an injury that cannot be reversed.
"Ya need to stop. Ya too young to worry." Two said and I calmed down, a bit.
"Ya can't go in the kitchen." I said when Two-bit asked if any of us wanted drinks.
"But I want a—" Two stammered.
"Beer, I'll get it." I didn't want them seeing the key. That was something, I wanted to show them all at the same time. Out of the fridge, I got a beer and gave it to Two-Bit, who was dealing out cards.
"Ya wanna play, Clums?" He said, taking a swig out of his can.
"Sure." I sat down and he dealt me in. I didn't know how to play, but soon enough, I caught on to the rules.
*****
"What did ya get Dally last year for his birthday?" I asked them, once we had finished our third game. I lost all three, but that was fine. They looked at each other and for a split second I thought that hadn't heard me, but Johnny answered quietly.
"Nothing."
"What do ya mean?" I put my cards in a fan and looked at the poor hand. "I swear I always get the thrash cards."
"He was kind of in the cooler."
"Kind of, or was." I said, looking at Johnny, who was solemnly staring at his hand.
"He was." Pony continued. It seemed easier for him to say but I wasn't sure why.
"What for?" I asked and once again they looked at each other.
"Last year," Johnny started and then stopped. "Bob Sheldon—"
I cringed at the name and suddenly regretted asking.
"—beat me up."
"Badly." Two-Bit intervened. "He came home badly bruised and cut up, blood everywhere and rusty stains formed on his jacket."
I looked down embarrassed. "I'm so sorry." Since I had met him, I always wanted to ask where he got the scar from, but I was too polite to even ask Pony. "And Dally?" I already knew the ending of this story but I just didn't want to be right. From when I had first seen Dally, I knew we would be friends, not cause he had a bad start in life, same as me, but because we just seemed to click at the first look and now, it seemed that I knew exactly what he would do, especially when he was angry. "He was the one who beat Bob up after, wasn't he?" I remember a night, when Bob came 'round mine and Randy's, just 'cause he didn't want his parents seeing him covered in blood. I fixed him up pretty well, 'cause Randy had no idea what the hell to do with a bandage and alcohol. Bob, stubbornly refused to go to hospital, which would have been so much easier, but he didn't want to and I wasn't 'bout to force a boy, three years older than me, who was still extremely mad to do something he didn't want to do.
"The police picked him up and sent him straight to the cooler." Two continued. "I dunno, something to do with Bob's parents bribing them to pull some charges which meant, Dally came out a good few weeks after his birthday."
"Oh." I stayed quiet, trying to find a conversation topic, but nothing was coming up.
"Why didn't ya let me in the kitchen?" Two-Bit said, crushing the can in his hand.
"Something I found, but I need to show the whole gang." I grinned. "At the same time."
They looked at me strangely, but we played the game and after, just watched Mickey on the tv.
*******
It was late in the evening when the rest of the gang came home. Darry seem exhausted and Steve and Soda had matching cuts on their cheeks. They weren't large but they were noticeable. Darry stormed off into the kitchen, whilst Soda and Steve answered everyone's questions. I caught onto the loose ends of their conversation, but when I had heard enough, I went to see Darry in the kitchen. He was mad, but not mad enough to take everything out on me.
"I did all my chores." I shrugged and he laughed.
"Even the shed?"
"Have ya seen it?" I said calmly, leaning on door frame. "I think ya should see it first, I mean ya already in the kitchen."
He looked at me, weirdly and I was surprised he hadn't already seen it on the table. Looking out the window, he said the shed looked the same, which of course it did.
"It wasn't my place to unlock it." I picked up the jar and held it out to him. He placed his hand in the jar and unfolded the letter. Darry's face loosened up a bit, from slightly angry to sad. A small tear trickled down his face as his eyes darted across the piece of paper, reading Isla's writing over and over again.
"Where.. ya.. how.. find." His words were all muddled and I couldn't even try to understand what he was saying. I smiled sadly when he sat on a chair and wiped his face from the lonely tears that fell slowly down his nose. "Thank you." He said and I nodded, leaving him on his own in the kitchen.