They'd been friends with Johnny for over three years. Over three years, and all they'd seen were the bruises on his cheeks. He never talked about it, but they could guess. And now they hadn't seen him in a few days, and they were worried.

"You think you should get your old man?" Steve asked Soda, kicking at the pavement.

"Shh…" Soda replied. His angelic faced was etched with concern, his eyes glued to the scene inside the house.

They stood clustered, in view of the window. So far, all they'd seen was his parents, yelling and screaming at each other. There was no sign of Johnny.

"I want to see!" Pony whined. At only eight years old, he couldn't quite see over the window.

"Hush, Pony," Darry said. He clutched Pony to his leg, impairing his vision of Johnny's house. It was too upsetting; he wouldn't understand.

Two-bit's goofy grin was lopsided, hanging off his face in shock. "Where is he?" he asked angrily, "What'd they do to him?"

Steve made a sound of frustration, and kicked the wall of the house.

Soda looked anxious. "Can we get help? Please?"

"You and Pony, go get Dad," Darry said, calmly. Things were getting violent inside – they could see furniture being thrown. "Go," Darry repeated.

"Come on Pony," Soda said. He took Pony's hand in his, and the two ran all the way down the block.

It was a few minutes later, with Pony and Soda still gone, that Johnny came down the stairs. He looked bad, certainly worse than they'd ever seen him before.

There was a gash on his cheek, and bruises around his eye. He was limping slightly, and his shirt was torn.

Steve's face was twisted in pain at the sight; he didn't want to watch, but couldn't make himself stop. Darry forgot it sometimes, but he was just as young as Soda was. And it wasn't like Two-bit was that much older.

Darry put a hand on each of their shoulders. "Come on, let's go to my house. We'll come back with help."

Steve sobbed lightly. "No, no, we can't leave Johnny."

"Steve…" Darry said, trying to pull him away. "Come on, you don't wanna see this." Being the oldest of all of them, he knew the most about what they could see in there.

"No Darry," Two-bit said, "They're coming, anyway. Let's stay here."

"Okay," Darry answered. He stayed protectively between them, selfishly glad that his brothers didn't have to watch.

There was a crash, and all three boys winced. "No," Steve breathed.

They watched as Johnny got punched by his father, and fell down on the floor. He was such a small kid, that kind of hit would surely have knocked him out.

"What do we do?" Two-bit asked weakly. He sounded panicked, not like his usual joking self.

"Let's go," Darry pleaded with them. "We can get help and then –"

He stopped, listening as Johnny's mother swore and screamed.

It was then that Pony and Soda returned with Mr. Curtis; Darry breathed.

"Son? Take the boys and bring them home, I'm going to find the police."

"What will they do?" Darry murmured, already shepherding Two-bit and Steve with his arms.

"Not much, I'm afraid," Mr. Curtis said. "They can get him out of there, though."

"Okay," Darry answered. This would have to do, for now.

The boys went back to the Curtis house, and nervously watched TV while they waited for Mr. Curtis to return. He did not come back until ten o'clock, and only Darry was still awake. The others had fallen asleep on the couch.

Mr. Curtis looked tired, but he was smiling. He was carrying an unconscious Johnny. "Don't worry," he said, to Darry, "He's just asleep, we had his injuries checked. He's going to stay with us for the rest of the week,"

Darry smiled, too. It didn't mean things were better, but at least they were calm for now. "Okay."

"Hey Darry."

"Hey Dal." They'd been friends with Dally for nearly a year, but Darry still wasn't sure what to make of him. He was all right, though, when he wanted to be.

"Listen, you wanna come with me to Johnny's, tonight?"

"To Johnny's?" Darry asked, surprised. They'd never told Johnny about the time they'd been outside his house, and they hadn't gone back since. They had only vowed to be extra nice to him, and to treat him with as much love as they could.

"Yeah. The kid's ankle's been bad all week, have you noticed?"

"Uh, yeah, I did."

Dally nodded. "So I figured we'd go tonight, and see what's going on."

"What good will that do?" Darry asked. Maybe it was only a desire to be ignorant, but he didn't see the point in watching what happened to Johnny. It wasn't as if they could do anything about it.

"You're coming, or what?"

Darry sighed; he should go, if only to stop Dally from going nuts. He cared lots about Johnny, and he often did illegal stuff when he got pissed. "Sure. Come over to my house for dinner, and we'll go after, okay?"

Dally nodded. "See ya later."

They had meatloaf for dinner, which was usually Darry's favorite. He couldn't really taste it, though. It was one of those times when he was nervous because he knew what they were about to see. He decided that this was worse than being nervous about not knowing.

"You ready?" Dally asked, his eyes almost challenging. Maybe he could sense Darry's reluctance.

"Ready," Darry replied. He nodded to his mom, whom he'd already told, and followed Dally out the door.

They walked in silence. Darry could tell that Dally felt pumped, like when he busted someone's tires. He was high off adrenaline, which wasn't what you wanted when visiting people as crazy as Johnny's parents. Darry hoped he wouldn't do anything reckless.

At first, things seemed calm through the window. No one was around, except for Mrs. Curtis. "Where's Johnny?" Dally muttered.

Darry winced, remembering when they asked this the last time. Fifteen minutes passed, before Mr. Cade came into the living room, dragging Johnny by the ear. Darry found himself staring, unlike last time when he could barely look. It was nauseating, really. He had to try hard not to throw up all over the sidewalk.

After another few minutes passed, he glanced at Dally. His face was set and pale, his jaw clenched in unparalleled fury.

"Let's get the fuck out of here," Dally said, at last. He glared menacingly at the house, and then slowly walked away.

Darry stayed there for a second, shaking slightly. He was relieved that Dally hadn't done something, but disappointed all the same. Johnny's parents, they deserved to have Dally beat on them.

"Dal?" he said quietly, sitting beside Dally on the sidewalk. "You okay?"

Dally laughed humorlessly, his face still white. He didn't answer.

"Dally," Darry said seriously. "We can help, you know. If we treat him nice, it makes up for it."

Dally stared him. "Makes up for it? You think being 'nice' makes up for this shit?"

Darry uncharacteristically embarrassed. "No, but, it helps. It makes him feel better."

Dally stood. "Whatever you say, Darry. See ya around." He was gone within the instant.

"Darry, what are we doing here?" Pony whispered, sticking closely to Soda. "I don't like this place."

Darry nodded, he knew how that felt. "I thought I heard something on the way home from school."

"What'd you hear?" Soda asked.

"A – a cracking sound," Darry replied, hesitantly. "Neither of you seen Johnny lately, have you?"

"Yesterday," Pony replied.

"Okay," Darry said, more to himself. "Listen, let's just stay for a minute, okay? Make sure everything's fine?" Things would never be 'fine' at Johnny's, and they knew it.

"Alright," Pony said. He looked nervously at Soda.

"Don't worry, Pony," Soda said, reassuringly, "I'm sure he's fine."

They heard the cracking sound that Darry had mentioned, and their attention went back to the window.

Pony whimpered. Mr. Cade was hitting a two by four against Johnny, who did not flinch. He didn't move at all, in fact. Did not react, did not cry. He was used to this kind of thing.

"Soda," Pony said, tears forming in his eyes. "Please, I don't want to see, I don't want to see."

Soda turned him around and hugged him tightly, "Shh… you don't have to, don't worry." Soda bit his lip. "Darry?" he asked questioningly.

Darry put a hand on his back, "Wait one minute. I just want to make sure he stops."

Soda nodded, bracing himself. He was only fourteen, he wasn't supposed to see this kind of thing either.

"Looks like he's stopped," Darry said, "We can go."

Soda continued to hold Pony, who was still sobbing into his chest. He frowned at Darry. "Darry, why'd you want us to come?" It was accusatory, and Darry felt the words like a bullet. They were too young for it, and he'd made them see it, anyway.

"I didn't want to go alone," he confessed. He did not mention that they'd both come already, when they were little. He'd sent them away then; did that mean he used to be a better person than he was now?

"Come on Pone," Darry said, rubbing his brother's hair, "I'll carry you."

Pony sniffled, allowing Darry to put him on his back. Soda gave Darry one last frown, and then walked along with them. He'd forgive Darry, and Darry knew it. That wasn't the problem.

"I guess they're not fighting," Johnny said. He and Pony were heading down to the Dingo, but he'd wanted to check on his house first.

"Yeah…" Pony said. He was happy for Johnny, but he really hated the Cade house. He had nothing but bad memories associated with the place.

Johnny looked slightly crestfallen though, and Pony didn't get it. "My dad was drunk… I don't get it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they always fight when he's drunk."

Pony nodded; he knew that.

"But… they're not now." His frightened eyes were wide with worry. "So that means they fight because of me."

"That's not true, Johnny," Pony protested, immediately. "Nobody could fight because of you!"

Johnny looked sad. "Sure they could." He gestured at his parents. "They always do."

Pony patted his arm, "They don't matter. Don't think about them." Johnny continued to stare at the house though, and Pony felt his heart break a little bit. The poor guy was always going to care about them, no matter what they did to him.

"Johnny," Pony prodded, "Come on. We were going to the Dingo, remember?"

"Right," Johnny replied, slowly. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Pony said. "Are you ready?"

Johnny took a second, and then nodded. "Let's go."

Pony stood in front of the window. He hated it there, he really did, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him. Where were Johnny's parents now? Were they still screaming at each other, or had he been right all along? Did they fight because of him?

Pony had gone alone. He knew that Soda and Darry would have come if he'd asked, but he hadn't wanted to. This was his own experience, and he knew he'd feel to protected if they came. It wouldn't be the same.

He felt his throat seize up as he heard noise inside. Footsteps and voices. They grew louder, and Pony felt panic take a grab at him. It passed quickly, though, and he stayed where he was.

Yells. The same as when Johnny had been around, the same as always. Pony turned, his mission complete. For once, the crash of falling objects was a comfort to him.

He glanced up, speaking the words in his head. "They didn't fight because of you, Johnny. You don't have to worry."