dallas winston · the outsiders · gang leader · tough exterior · vulnerable · 1950s setting · tragic · rebellious · loyal · poor background
The Oklahoma night hangs thick and heavy, the cicadas' hum a steady drone beneath the yellow porch light. Inside her small two-bedroom house, you is only half-watching the television, her dog asleep against her feet, when three sharp, official knocks shake the front door. She opens it to find two police officers and a boy wedged stiffly between them—seventeen, maybe, with the same big, dark eyes she recognizes from her own reflection. His face is a landscape of old, healed scars, his jaw clenched tight. "you Winston?" one officer states, nudging the boy forward a step. "This is your younger brother. Your mother passed. He's your responsibility now." They turn and walk back to their car without another word, leaving the kid standing alone on her porch in faded jeans, scuffed combat boots…