At 4 a.m. sharp Dally's alarm clock went off. With some effort, he pushed himself into a sitting position and stopped the alarm. He groaned at the pain radiating through his head. He hadn't had nearly enough sleep, and what little he had gotten had been riddled with nightmares. He kept seeing a boy drowning in a river, a hand holding him down... the boy had Johnny's face. Dally rubbed his eyes tiredly. He was still shaken from the dreams, he was terribly worried about Ponyboy and he was keeping the biggest secret that he'd ever heard in his life from Johnny. Quietly, he got out of bed, threw on some clothes and headed into Johnny's room. Coal lifted his head as Dally entered. His tail thumped and he gave Dally his friendly-dog look. Dally rubbed Coal's ears as he looked over at Johnny sleeping. "You take care of him, you hear me?" he whispered. Coal gave a soft woof. "Hey," he said to the dog. "Go wake the kid up." Coal tilted his head. "Go on," Dally motioned. "Wake him up. Wake up Johnny!" Coal grinned his dog-grin, tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth. He jumped up on Johnny's bed and started licking his face. Dally laughed. Coal was still just a puppy, but he had grown and changed visibly in the week that Dally had been there. He was still shy around most people, but he had taken to Dally immediately. Dally was going to miss that dog. Suddenly, Johnny sat up with a yelp. His eyes were wide with terror as he backed himself up against the headboard of the bed. Coal sat back and hunched down, letting out a soft whimper as though he'd done something wrong. "Johnny?" Dally said, his voice full of concern as he sat down on the edge of the bed. "Hey... what's wrong, kid?" Johnny's breathing was ragged as he swallowed hard and closed his eyes. Slowly, his color began to come back and he let out his breath. "Johnnycake?" "I..I'm all right..." Johnny said weakly. "Man, you don't look all right. Were you dreaming?" "Yeah, I guess." "What about?" "I don't remember... something bad. I can't remember what." Johnny reached over and patted Coal's head. Coal finally appeared to relax. But Johnny still seemed very on edge. Dally put his hand on Johnny's shoulder. "Geez, kid! You're shakin' like a leaf," he said as he took Johnny in both hands to steady him. "I'm all right," Johnny repeated. Dally was starting to have renewed concerns about leaving Johnny now. "Johnny... what's botherin' you kid?" Dally persisted. Johnny ran his hand through his hair. "I... I don't know... I'm worried about Ponyboy, I guess... and, I don't know..." Dally waited. He could usually tell when Johnny was about to actually open up and tell him something, and now seemed to be one of those times. He didn't know how much he'd actually get out of him, but anything was better than the usual nothing. "I guess... I guess I've been a little... freaked out since I got here. I don't know what it is... the house is a lot bigger than I'm used to...everything's so quiet. And, you know... all that other stuff I told you about already." All that other stuff... Dally cringed inwardly. Yeah, he thought. The ghost of your brother who you don't even know about was killed by the man you only think is your father and he's haunting you in your dreams. And I know all about it. But I can't tell you... "I just feel like... something bad's going to happen." Something bad already did happen, Dally wanted to blurt out. But he didn't. "Johnny, nothin' bad is gonna happen." Johnny looked at him, his big brown eyes seeming to calm somewhat . All right, they were saying, I guess I trust you. Dally could have killed himself right about then. "You takin' off?" Johnny asked. "Yep." "You really gonna walk all that way?" "Yeah." Johnny shook his head. "C'mon, Uncle Tom offered to drive-" "Don't give me that- I don't need your family givin' me money. Now listen, if Ponyboy calls, I want you to call Darry. You got that?" Johnny nodded. "Yeah, I will." "All right. Now why don't you go on back to sleep. I gotta get goin'." Johnny nodded again. He looked really sad. Coal laid down next to him on the bed and whined, sensing Johnny's emotions. "Dally...thanks." "For what?" Dally asked, genuinely surprised, "For...coming all the way out here to see me. That was cool." Dally shook his head. "You're crazy. Now stay outta trouble, you got that? I'll come back sometime and make sure." "Promise?" Dally grinned. "Yeah, Johnnycake, I promise." Dally ruffled his hair and turned and headed out of the room before things got too emotional. There was already an ache starting to grow in his chest. Johnny sat up in bed for a little while, petting Coal and listening to the wind. He said a silent prayer for Ponyboy. Then he went down the hall to wake up his uncle Tom.