I did a thing and Idk how to feel about it yet.
Ponyboy wakes up in a cold sweat, the bed empty of Sodapop. He was probably up late talking to Darry about bills they were trying to hide from Ponyboy. He rolls over to try and go back to sleep, but his heart is pounding in his ears like he'd just run a mile sprint. So instead he decides to get a drink of water. When he steps into the living room, the house feels darker and quieter than it has ever been; there are dark droplets on the walls and a metallic smell in the air.
Dally is hunched in the middle of the room, breathing heavy, deep breaths. He stands up slowly, uncurling to reveal he was taller than he normally seemed, taller even, by nearly a foot, than Darry. His dark hair now glowing a platinum blonde in the minimal moonlight coming through the broken door that hangs off the frame. He turns to look at Ponyboy like an owl, ice-blue eyes piercing through the darkness as his head twists around first, followed by his body that unravels until it faces Ponyboy.
Chills race up Ponyboy's arms, and his heart skips a beat at the unnaturally wide smile that splits Dally's face in half. He tilts his head and leans forward to observe Ponyboy with a distinctly satisfied hum.
"Dal?" Ponyboy whispers, dread creeping up from his stomach.
"Pony, did I wake you?" The voice is perfectly normal, a slightly New York-accented drawl coming from Dally, not at all what Ponyboy would've expected coming from this- this thing.
"What- what's goin'on?" Ponyboy's voice is barely audible to his own ears as adrenaline floods his senses. Dally's grin gets impossibly wider, his strangely pointed canines alongside even more canines where there should be molars, Ponyboy notes dreadfully.
"You are no longer grounded. We can be friends again." Dally's voice is tinged with laughter, like he was entertained much more than he'd ever sounded before.
"What'd you do?" Ponyboy can't keep his hands still as his gaze trails over the dark spots again, then down to the pool on the floor, then down to Dally's feet, next to the couch, where an arm was lying just visible around the corner. Bile rises in the back of Ponyboy's throat when he recognizes the friendship bracelet he'd given Sodapop years ago, the one he never took off-
"I made it so we can be friends again." Dally sounds so pleased, like a cat that's left a dead bird on his owner's doorstep, and Ponyboy is sick at the comparison.
"Ain't you happy? I did good."
Think I'm Getting Butterflies, but it's Really Something Telling me to run Away. - Uncanny valley? Au snippet, I have no idea wtf Dallas is supposed to be anymore.