Stay Gold

“C’mon Elaine, don’t look so down in the--”

“You shut your trap, Ponyboy Michael!” I nearly shouted, wincing in pain. “It’s your fault I’m in this mess.”

Fake hate filled my eyes. It was more anger than anything. The expression on Pony’s face instantly changed from reassuring to throwing a hissy fit. He didn’t say anything though; he just stared down at his feet.

“I’m sorry man, I didn’t mean to yell at ya,” I pleaded. “I’m just a little...livid.”

The truth is, I was a little more than just a “little” livid. I don’t think there was even an emotion on how I was feeling. Don’t get me wrong, I was in pain because of my appendix, but my emotions were just raging. I was madder than heck at Ponyboy for dragging me here. And even madder because I was about to have an operation. I looked that doctor straight in the eye and told him it would be over my dead body before he cut me open. Good ol’ Ponyboy reminded me that I was near my “dead body” if I didn’t have the operation. Darry finally convinced me that I needed to have it and that everything would be okay. Only, he didn’t say it quite like that.

“If you die because you wait too long to have that surgery, I’ll bring you back to life then kill you again, little girl.” Although it doesn’t sound too threatening from my point of view, it sure as hell was pretty frightening coming from a man who towered over you by at least a foot, maybe even more.

“I still don’t like this idea,” I groaned, pulling my knees close to my chest. And I really didn’t like the idea. I hated it. I had been treated like a sewing utensil all day, now they were hack me up like a piece of meat. Even the thought of it made me cringe.

“Breathe, babygirl,” Soda said sitting beside my bed. “You dig okay.” His voice put me at ease, even if it was just a little bit. All three of the boys were at my bedside. At this point, I didn’t want to be alone. I wanted comfort, stability. I didn’t want to be left alone now that the medication a nurse had injected to me, finally kicked in. I saw double everything. Everything around me spun. It was mad wicked. The last thing I remember before drifting off into a drug-induced slumber, was hearing someone that sounded a lot like Dally.

* * * *

I didn’t remember waking up from surgery. But I guess it was because they had me so soused out on hospital painkillers that it caused a bit of memory loss. The medicine made me irritable, made me wanna sleep. Every time I would try to sleep, someone was sticking a needle in me. Someone was asking me questions. People were treating me as if I were a ivilid; like I wasn’t even capable of eating. It wasn’t the boys, though. It was the hospital staff. Darry had to tell them a few times to take a hike because they were getting me too agitated. I’d have peace and quiet for maybe fifteen-minutes. Then the next round would start. And so on.

I was so happy when I finally could sleep. I’d do the same thing I would do if I was home -- snuggle up next to Ponyboy and Sodapop. Of course, they would both have to take turns sleeping next to me throughout the night because the bed was so cramped and they didn’t want to hurt me. One would be next to me while the other would be on the floor. Darry was smarter about our sleeping situation though. He was curled up in a chair in the corner of my hospital room. I had a hard time sleeping for more than about half an hour. I was hooked up to so many tubes and wires, that it made me uncomfortable. Eventually, I rolled over onto Soda, and that was my new bed for the remainder of the night. The first night, I slept so deeply that I didn’t even budge the slightest when the nurse gave me my morning painkillers. All of us slept in until the later hours of the morning.

“Wake up, you greasy bastards!” The voice of Two-Bit Matthews called out. It made my skin crawl and my heart nearly jump outta my chest.

“Wha...” I said groggily. “Oh, hi, Two-Bit. What’re you doing up so early?” I was shocked because him and Dally got boozed up last night. I figured Two-Bit would be sleeping off a hangover, not visiting me in the hospital. I sure wouldn’t have visited me -- not with the way I was lookin’. Or feelin’, for that matter.

“Why don’t you get a job?” Darry called out from the other side of the room, “Instead of harassing everyone when they’re feeling lousy.”

“Calm down there, Superman,” Two-Bit said cooly. “I brought a gift for Elaine -- from a Mr. Dallas Winston.” I wondered gruesomely about what that “gift” was. For all I knew, it was a booby prize. I wanted no interest in any funny business with that man. Or boy. Whatever he was...whoever he was. I was quite surprised when Two-Bit handed me a bouquet of flowers, instead of something crude and obscene in nature, like I had originally expected from Dally. My jaw dropped down to hell, I was sure. “He wrote a note, too,” He added. That surprised me even more. I snatched up the note from Two-Bit and tried to make out what it said. Just like I thought, Dallas had rotten handwriting like his rotten personality. I knew I was exaggerating though. He was okay sometimes.

Elaine,

Heard yer feelin’ like horseshit so I thought these would cheer you up. Sorry fer putting you through hell the last few months. You dig okay.
I’ll make it up to you somehow -- sometime soon. Take care of yourself Elaine. You’re pretty tuff.

Dal.

His letter made me wonder what he had planned. It scared me a bit. But what scared me more is that I was gonna let him take me out somewhere. He could do that thing he did to me before. Those dirty things...

Not that I would complain much.