Stay Gold

Three months go by, I'm now five and a half months pregnant. In just a few short months, I'd be a mother. It was a scary thought, I won't even be 18-years-old, and I'm already going to be a mother. A single mother. A poor, single mother. Way to go, Elaine, way to go.

Dallas fleed Tulsa after our fight a few months ago, I hadn't seen him since. Rumor has it the boys in blue were after him and he had to get out of town. I didn't buy it, though. He took off because he didn't wanna take care of his baby...something HE helped make. What a coward. I couldn't exactly blame him, however. I didn't want this baby at first either. I felt like my life was over at first, but at least I have support from everyone. This baby is so lucky to have everyone in his life. Even though I don't know the gender of the baby, I just called it a "he" because that's what I hoped to get---a bouncing baby boy.

I still hated Dally for leaving me when I needed him the most. Or maybe I pushed him away. I don't know. I don't know a lot of things anymore. Don't get me wrong, I missed Dally so much, more than I've ever missed a person before. It got to the point where I'd ask everyone everyday if they had seen or heard from him. Eventually I stopped asking, because I got sick of hearing the same answer over and over.

I still never understood what was so 'beautiful' about pregnancy. This shit was awful in my opinion. I've gained fifteen pounds, my clothes barely fit me, I'm always hungry, and to top it all off, I was a raging puke machine 99% of the time. I wouldn't even wish this upon my worst enemy. Or maybe I would.

Probably.

I guess the kinda-cool thing about being pregnant is feeling the baby move around and kick, and getting to listen to his heartbeat whenever I went to the doctors. I guess it wasn't so bad after all.

It was Friday night and the gang was going to the movies. I decided to tag along because it feels like I hadn't been out of the house in a lifetime. It was gonna be a pain to walk though, due to my swollen...everything. It seemed like I had to stop and take a break from walking every five minutes.

"Hey...guys...slow...down..." I panted, making an attempt to sit my fat ass on the curb.

"Come on, preggers, you're slowing the whole group!" Two-Bit called out.

"You try having a little human in you, it takes a lot outta ya," I said, pulling a cigarette out of my purse, lighting it. I knew smoking while pregnant was bad, but even my doctor told me if I quit, I'd stress the baby out and probably go into premature labor. I took a drag off my sweet cancer stick. "Who's paying to get into the movies anyway?"

"We were just gonna sneak in through the fence like we always do," Ponyboy said.

I cocked my eyebrow at him, blowing smoke at him, "You're kidding, right? Do you see how big I am?"

"We'll just push you through the hole," he laughed, gesturing for my cigarette.

"You're outta your everlovin' mind, Pony. So outta your everlovin' mind."

"You'll fit! I'm tellin' ya."

"I dunno, Ponyboy, she is kinda round..." added Two-Bit, who was laughing his ass off at this point.

"Shut your trap, you're gonna give me a complex," I snapped. I finally stood up from the curb after about ten minutes.

As we walked towards the drive-in, we passed by Dally's place. There was a car parked in front. Part of me got slightly hopeful that he finally came back to take care of the baby with me. But then reality set in. I knew he wouldn't come back, why would he? There isn't anything here for him in his mindset. Was there really anything for me here? I mean, I made great friends and all, but do I really want to raise my baby in a town where he's gonna fear getting jumped by Socs when he's older? Maybe by that time, the Greasers and Socs war will be over.

We finally got to the movies, although it took a good hour before we got there on a count that I can't move too fast. Normally it would've taken like twenty-minutes. We saw some action movie with a lot of car chases in it. It wasn't my type of movie really. We started walking toward the exit.

"I think I'm gonna go my separate way, guys," I started, "see you at home?"

"You sure, Elaine? It ain't a real good idea to be walking the streets alone, 'specially in your condition," said Soda, looking concerned.

I nodded and pulled out another cancer stick, "I'll be fine. I got a blade on me," I said, lighting up the cigarette and taking a long drag.

The main reason I wanted to go by myself was to go scope out Dally's apartment. I wanted to know who was there. Maybe it was someone who knew where he was, or at least I hoped.

I got to Dally's apartment. Car gone. No one in sight. I walked to the door, standing on my tip toes to reach the spare key on top of the door frame. I almost had to kick the door open because it has a habit of getting stuck. I forgot how annoying that damn door was. The stairs almost killed me. I felt like a turtle because I move so slow now. I slowly turned the knob that would open Dally's door. As I walked in, I smelled the stench of stale cigarettes and spilled whiskey. I missed that smell, to be honest.

"Hello?" I called out, "Anybody home?"

No response. I slowly made my way to the back bedroom where we used to sleep. As I got closer to the bedroom, I began to hear a strange sound, something that sounded a lot like sobbing... A lot like Dally sobbing. "What the fuck?" I thought. I went closer to the door and the sobbing grew louder. This time I was for sure it was Dally. I took a deep breath and turned the doornob slowly.

"Dally! Wait... What the fuck are you doing?!" I screamed, starting to panic. A loaded pistol pressed to his temple. I had one of two options here. I could either save his life or end it.

I ran faster than I ever thought I could, just to get to the other side of the room. He wasn't gonna take the easy way out on me, if I could help it. I did almost a barrel roll as I tackled him to the ground, grabbing for his gun. We struggled around on the floor until I finally slapped the gun out of his hand. I felt my body hit the wall followed by a sharp pain in my right shoulder. Dally nowhere in sight. The gun was on the floor, but no Dally. Oh, god, why does my shoulder feel like it's on fire?! I was starting to come to, realizing where I was once more. The stinging in my shoulder was getting more intense, so I decided to rub it. "Ouch! Fuck. Son of a whore!" I shouted in my head. I then wondered my shoulder was wet and somewhat sticky. Looking at my hand, I realized what had happened. The loud boom. Me hitting the wall. The stinging in my shoulder. Blood everywhere.

I got shot, and here I was--left on the floor to bleed.