I was lying in bed, thinking about Ponyboy, Darry and Dally. Why had I done it? Why had Ponyboy done it? Was he just trying to be tuff by saving those kids? I tried to answer these questions in my head when a thought occurred to me, none of this would have happened if I stopped Dally hitting on Marcia and Cherry. It was all my fault that Ponyboy and Dally were in hospital. If I didn’t stop Dally, the girls wouldn’t have asked me to protect them, Bob wouldn’t have gotten angry, I wouldn’t have had to kill him, and we wouldn’t have had to hide in the church where the fire started.

I wonder how the rumble would be going. I really wish I wouldn’t be here and be fighting in it instead. I hope Ponyboy and Darry are alright. I wish they could sort it out between themselves, it’s like they’re forgetting me, or they think I don’t have any problems. Well I do have problems; the biggest one right now is that I’m dying. And I was feeling sleepy. 

When I opened my eyes, the doctor was standing next to me, “You were calling for Ponyboy and Darry.”

“What else was I saying?” I asked the doctor.

“I think you were saying something about a rumble.”

“Oh, okay.”

I was asleep for a while now. The rumble was probably over. If we won this rumble, the socs would never bother us on our territory again. Greasers all around the area would be able to live in peace. Sudden, I heard fast and heavy footsteps outside the room. Someone turned the doorknob and came in, heavily breathing, as if they had been running for a long time.

“Johnnycake?” it was Dally’s voice. “Johnny?”

I tried to turn around and open my eyes. “Hey,” I tried to call happily but it came out as a soft whisper.

“We won,” Dally panted. “We beat the socs. We stomped them- chased them outa our territory.”

I thought about that for a while and then reality hit me- fighting wasn’t worth anything, it just added to injury and sadness. “Useless… fighting’s no good…” I was feeling really anxious now.

Dally licked his lips like he was nervous. “They’re still writing editorials about you in the paper. For being a hero and all.” He was talking too fast and it was hard for me to understand properly. “Yeah, they’re calling you a hero now and heroizin’ all the greasers. We’re proud of you. Buddy.”

This was a great moment in my life- Dally was proud of me, it was all I ever wanted. “Ponyboy.”

Ponyboy came closer to hear what I was going to say. I hope he got the book that I told Dally to give to him. “Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold…” all the conversation really made me weak and I ran out of breath. I started to sweat a little as I tried my best to stay up, but it was no use. The experience was actually better than I thought it would be. It was like going to sleep. Finally, I admitted defeat. I let my head sink into my pillow and I stopped trying. It was the most beautiful moment of my life, while the machine next to me showed a flat line and a high-pitched whistling sound.