“Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold.” Those were the last words I heard before everything came falling down. Johnny was dead. Sweet, innocent Johnny, gone for good. That’s when I snapped. I, Dallas Winston, the toughest guy in the hood, finally broke because of one little greaser with big black eyes. I knew I should have never cared. Caring only brings pain and that was one thing I had already experienced far too much of, especially for someone of my age.

"Never could keep that hair back... that's what you get for tryin' to help people, you little punk, that's what you get..." I said, my voice slightly cracking. I whirled around, and slammed back against the wall. I could feel sweat beginning to pour down my face.

"Damn it, Johnny..." I begged, beating my fist into the wall, making my knuckles turn red.  “Oh, damn it, Johnny, don't die, please don't die..." I couldn’t handle it. The one thing in this awful world I loved was now dead. Why did he have to help those children? They didn’t deserve his help and most of all, Johnny didn’t deserve to die. So in that moment, I knew what I had to do.

I simply turned and stormed out of the hospital, forgetting about Ponyboy. Once outside, I hopped into my car and took off towards one of the local convenience stores. The tears in my eyes blurred my vision and I wondered whether I’d crash. Although, I could’ve cared less if I had wrecked or not, either way, Johnny was still gone and I was alone.

After screeching to a halt outside of the convenience store, I slammed the door behind me and pulled out my heater. I burst through the doors shouting and began scanning the dimly lit store for a cash register. My eyes slightly lit up when I spotted it at the far right corner of the store. An older man with a heavily wrinkled face and a balding head sat behind it, clearly afraid.

“Empty it!” I yelled, motioning towards the register with my heater. The man nodded, his eyes were wide as he unloaded the cash register of all its contents. I hastily grabbed all I could carry and stuffed it into the pockets of my leather jacket before racing back out the door. I had to get the boys quick, as I knew the fuzz would be on my trail soon.

The frigid night air slapped me in the face as soon as I was outside, but I didn’t give much thought to it. My swift glides soon turned into sloppy sprints as the sound of sirens broke the silence. I was going faster than I ever thought possible. My lungs felt as if they were on fire, but I couldn’t stop, not now.

For a moment, I contemplated whether I should just keep running forever, or at least until my heart gave out. Yet, that wasn’t enough; I knew very well that this time I wouldn’t be able to hide the pain anymore. I couldn’t just pretend that I was too tough to care, because the truth is, all of it was just an act, a way for the others to think I could handle anything, and for a little while, I think I began to believe it too.

I snapped out of my trance when the metal glint of a pay phone appeared at the end of the street. I slowed down and inserted a coin into the slot. The phone began to ring. Once, twice, “Hello?” Darry’s voice finally answered.

“I robbed a grocery store and the cops are after me. You gotta hide me. I’ll be at the lot in a minute.” I explained as fast as I could and hung up. I began to run once more, not even looking back when the sound of rolling wheels came into hearing range.

At last, I reached the vacant lot and apparently so did the others. I was going to run to them, but after a moment’s hesitation, I veered slightly to the side. I couldn’t get them involved, this was all on me and they shouldn’t have to pay for what I had done. I came to a stop under a circle of street light when I saw the fuzz pull over and make their way over to me. It was time to let go. Reaching down to my waistband, I grabbed my heater and held it up into the air. The police raised theirs as well, but unlike mine, they were actually loaded. The police fired and I knew it was all over. It was time to see Johnny again.