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Light and Floaty.
That is what Johnny Cade felt, a total contrast to the burning, antagonizing pain he felt seconds before. He must have been on new pain medication, he figured. Johnny opened his eyes and was met with a blinding light. He groaned, closing his eyes again. He knew that the hospital was really white, but this was ridiculous.
After a bit of adjusting, Johnny reopened his eyes, expecting to be back in the hospital room. He was not expecting to see a vast blue sky. When was he taken outside? He turned his head a bit but saw absolutely nothing besides the fluffy clouds that he was lying on.
Wait.
Johnny shot up to a sitting position. Where was he? This didn't look like the real outdoors at all. Where was everything? If he was outside, there should have been some sort of landmark, right? Or, at least, some sort of rock or plant. But there was nothing. How was he even on clouds? This wasn't possible, right? Even he knew that clouds weren't tangible. They weren't supposed to be like balls of cotton.
WAIT A MOMENT!
How was he even sitting?! He wasn't supposed to be able to move with how injured he was. His spine was broken for Christ's sake. Even the strongest pain medication wouldn't change that fact.
Johnny looked at his arms and found that they were perfectly normal. There was no trace of peeling skin or gnarly, burnt flesh. It just looked like his skin. There wasn't even any sign of bruising or scarring. He wasn't on any pain medication at all. He was perfectly fine like nothing bad has ever happened to him in his life. Nothing was making any sense. What was even happening?
As if heaven was replying to his questions, a smooth, feminine voice spoke behind him. "Johnny?"
The voice was familiar. So familiar. Johnny's hands shook at the sound of it. It couldn't be her, right? No, she was dead. It just couldn't. But, when he turned around, his breath hitched in his throat. His eyes widened impossibly wide. He couldn't believe it. His eyes must have been playing tricks on him.
Standing before him was none other than Mrs. Curtis. Her appearance practically radiated gold as she stepped closer to him, slowly as if approaching a scared animal. She smiled gently, although there was some sadness in it. "Johnny?" she asked again.
Johnny only gaped before snapping out of it. He raised his hands to cover his mouth. "Mrs. Curtis?"
Mrs. Curtis nodded. "You're so young. Life was too short for you."
What was she talking about? She spoke like Johnny was dead. And he was not—
He was dead.
He had to be dead. It made perfect sense with where he was, with his condition, and with Mrs. Curtis being there. There was a pit in his stomach. But he still couldn't believe it. Was he really dead? It felt like he just woke up from a dream. Or maybe he was dreaming still. He was on heavy medication before. Johnny tried to pinch himself, feeling no pain at all, and let out a sigh. So, he was dreaming after all. He would have felt pain if he was awake.
"You passed away, sweetie," Mrs. Curtis bluntly said. "You don't feel pain because there is no use for it here. Just like how we don't have a heartbeat anymore."
Johnny numbly touched his chest and found that there wasn't one like she said. Oh, man, he was dead. He was really dead. He didn't know how to feel about the situation. "Where is here?"
"Heaven. You're in heaven."
It sounded so ridiculous; unreal. He always thought heaven was just made up biblical stories. "Huh." That was all Johnny could say, still in shock as he continued to remember his final few moments before he took his last breath.
Ponyboy and Two-Bit were there. Oh, God, they watched him die. Ponyboy must have been traumatized. He was probably blaming himself for his death.
"I know… You want to go back, right?" Johnny nodded at her question. "But you and I know that you can't."
"So, that's it?"
Mrs. Curtis nodded, scooping Johnny up in a crushing hug. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I wish nothing more than for you to live longer. Sixteen is too short."
Johnny dug his head in Mrs. Curtis's shoulder. It didn't take that long for him to melt in her hold. He really missed this. Mrs. Curtis was like the mother that he always dreamed of having. She was always so kind to him and practically took him in even though he was still stuck with his actual abusive mother. She always made sure to have freshly baked cookies for him and had a comfortable place to rest when at her house. Johnny was always jealous of the Cutis brothers for having such a great mother while he didn't.
When he calmed down, Mrs. Curtis pulled back and smoothed out his hair. He leaned into the comforting gesture.
Johnny looked around again. So, this was it. He would have thought heaven would be a lot more crowded with how many people that died in a day.
"Where is everyone?" Johnny asked.
"In their own little heaven," Mrs. Curtis answered. She clarified what she said when she saw the confused expression on Johnny's face. "Everyone has their own room in heaven where they could live there life exactly how they want it to. It's like their own paradise, a never-ending, good, lucid dream. You decide what happens in your room. You create the scenes. You can even choose to live the life that you never had if you choose so."
"So, this is my room?"
"Yes. This is all yours to create."
"Does that mean… you're fake?"
She shook her head. "I'm real."
"Then…"
"My paradise is with everyone. I can't be happy without my family. At first, I had you all… but you were all fake. It wasn't real enough for me. Real people are nothing like copies. When I saw that you were in heaven, I came over to your room. I had to see you. And, look at you. I missed you so much."
Johnny shyly smiled. "I missed you too…"
The two of them talked to each other for a while, catching up on everything. It definitely felt like it was all a dream. They were so wrapped up in their conversation that they almost missed a bright ball that formed in the middle of the cloudy area.
"Someone else," Mrs. Curtis murmured. The light faded away and there stood Dally in all of his glory. He looked around the scene in shock before patting down his torso looking confused.
"Dally?" Johnny called out and he snapped his attention to the boy.
"Johnny?" Dally asked uncertainly, taking a few steps forward. His eyes sparkled with relieved surprise.
"You died?"
Dally looked back at his body, scrunching up his eyebrows as if recalling everything that happened to him. "I was shot."
Johnny opened his mouth before closing it. He shook his head. Dally couldn't be dead. "I told Ponyboy to take you to watch a sunset."
Dally scoffed. "You and I both know that I wouldn't do that." Dally shook his head. "I'm just waiting to wake up now."
"Dally, you're dead. You're in heaven."
He chuckled in unbelief. "I'm not dead. I'm probably in the hospital, knocked out. I would have been in hell if I were dead."
"You passed away, sweetie," Mrs. Curtis stepped up. Dally turned to her, just acknowledging that she was there. "This is heaven. It's not a dream. You're really here, Johnny's really here, and I'm really here."
Dally was left speechless. He couldn't comprehend anything. Was this really heaven? Well, it sure beats being damned in hell. "So, that would mean… you're actually Johnny and you're…" Was this really happening? Was he with Johnny and Mrs. Curtis again? He thought that that was it. After death, there was no afterlife. That, after everything, Johnny was just gone. Mrs. Curtis was just gone. Whisked away by death. Johnny, if this was heaven, was there! Even Mrs. Curtis who treated him like he was her own kid.
"I thought I would never see any of you again," Dally admitted and before he had time to react Mrs. Curtis pulled him over and crushed him in her hug with Johnny trapped in the middle. Normally, Dally doesn't do hugs, but he allowed that one, quickly relaxing in the hold. He felt everything loosen up as the hold felt comfortable.
"You were too young also," Mrs. Curtis said as Dally closed his eyes.
"It's alright, Mom…" As soon as Dally let those words out, he snapped open his eyes, freezing. He pulled away a bit in embarrassment.
"You called her mom," Johnny commented, and Dally didn't know how to reciprocate. He was mortified with himself for calling Mrs. Curtis that. He was just so lost in the feeling of home that it just escaped.
Mrs. Curtis just smiled, though, like everything was normal. "It's okay. You don't have to be embarrassed about it. I'm actually glad that you called me mom. It makes me feel accomplished. You two, your friends as well, have always been sons to me. Ever since you walked through the doors to my house, I saw you that way. It doesn't matter if we aren't related by blood, we're family, and I will always be your mother… but only if you want me to."
As morbid as it sounded, the two of them were happy that they were there. Sure, their life was short and they weren't there with the gang, their family was forming on the other side instead of falling apart. One day, their family would be complete, they just had to wait.
"Say cheese!"
The flash of the camera was blinding and Ponyboy chuckled as his eyes readjusted. His entire family was there, at least those who were still alive. The heart monitor beeped next to him, but it was almost muffled by the sound of the kids playing. Ponyboy relaxed in his hospital bed as he watched his family talk to each other, passing around his birthday cake. It was his one-hundredth birthday, a special day.
Ponyboy was so happy, his life felt full. Even though growing up was rough, he finally felt like his story was finally finished.
"Hey, Dad, how're you holding up?" his daughter asked, walking up to his side and holding his hand. She smoothed out his wrinkles with her thumbs.
"Everyone here makes me feel old," Ponyboy replied, voice gruff.
"You are old. Triple digits!" She laughed, patting his hand before reaching over to a table to grab a box. "I hope you aren't too old for surprises though."
Ponyboy raised his eyebrows. "I thought I told you not to buy me any gifts."
"I didn't buy you anything. Don't worry." She plopped the wrapped gift on his lap. "Open it!"
Ponyboy rose his hand up, slowly moving it towards the gift. It shook badly with his arthritis. His joints creaked within him and his daughter had to help him to the box. He slowly tore the wrapping apart, opening it, smiling upon seeing what was inside. It was an award for one of his books becoming one of the best-selling books in the world.
"You finally did it," his daughter congratulated. "After all that hard work, you beat Narnia, The Hobbit, and John Green's, Fault in Our Stars. You didn't beat Harry Potter though."
"Nobody could beat Harry Potter. Even after all these years."
"The Bible did."
"The Bible had a religion attached to it."
"And you don't think Harry Potter did?"
"That's true." He placed the award down and his daughter removed it from his lap. "I'm so happy."
"For beating all of those really popular books? I can't wait until they turn yours into a movie. Hopefully, they don't ruin it like they did with Percy Jackson. It'll be really interesting for the whole family to see and marvel at it."
"No, not that. I'm so happy for my life and everyone's here. I'm so proud… You too. You really turned out gold. Stay that way. Stay gold."
"What are you talking about? You're talking like you're about to die."
Ponyboy knew he didn't have much longer. He didn't have any more reason to keep holding on. He was satisfied with his life. It was complete. He was on the last few sentences of his book of life and then it was over. He smiled again, relaxing more in his bed, feeling everything become a blur. His body felt light despite how stiff it was. The room became quiet as he felt like he was being lifted from his body. The last thing he heard before everything turned dark was, "Dad?"
When Ponyboy opened his eyes again, he felt light like he did when he was younger. He opened his eyes and was met with the sight of his old house that he moved out of decades ago. It still looked like it did from his memories. He stopped visiting the house soon after moving out because there just wasn't any point anymore. He looked around, seeing how calm everything was. He shifted his gaze to his hands and smiled when he saw all of his wrinkles and sunspots were gone. So that was it. His story ended and this was the epilogue.
Ponyboy approached the house, passing by Darry's truck. He looked in his reflection as he went by, seeing his youthful fourteen-year-old self but with more wisdom stuffed in his eyes. He heard chatter from inside the house, indicating that people were inside.
When he opened the front door, the chatter stopped, and the eyes of the gang turned to him.
"Pony!" Soda cheered, running up to him, and smooshing him in a hug.
"Soda?" Pony said in slight shock, feeling tears in his eyes. He never thought he would see him again after he was killed in the Vietnam War. The gang approached him, and he wiped away falling tears.
"You're finally here!" Two-Bit chirped, rubbing his head. "We've been waiting for you. What took you so long?"
"I lived a full life."
"Ponyboy?" came a voice Ponyboy that thought he would never hear again. Pony looked through the cracks between the gang members and saw his mother there with a smile in her face. "Oh, baby, you're here. You're really here."
"Mom?" Ponyboy took a step towards her before running into her arms. She hugged him tightly, crying into his hair. With one of her hands, she motioned everyone closer so that it was a group hug. They were finally together again. Her family was full and complete, and it will never break apart again.