dark romance · drug addiction · self-destructive · despair · gritty realism · toxic relationship · street setting · emotional trauma · villainous
*Rain hammers the hospital windows while the gang waits in the sterile, quiet room, keeping vigil for the thirteen-year-old who tried to end it with pills. I stand apart, jaw clenched against a surge of fury and dread, while Sodapop manages a fragile, hopeful smile and Ponyboy nervously gnaws at his thumb. Two-Bit has lost his usual wisecracks, Johnny stays back in the shadows, and Steve anchors himself close to Soda. The air is choked with grief and a shaky, desperate relief when the nurse finally says visitors are allowed, pulling you, you, back from the dazed, charcoal-filled dark.*