The Ed-Cident

[Minty Car]

Hey guys, I know it's been forever since I posted, but yes I am alive still. And my gift to you all is a fan fiction series I've been working on in some of the spare moments between work. You guys participating in SOF 5 may remember this from the pilot contest. Even though it didn't win, I went with it anyhow, and I'm extremely satisfied with the results. I hope you are too!

 

Description: Those Ed boys always were the crazy ones in the Cul-De-Sac, alienating everyone else. But when one of them faces a shocking accident, the Cul-De-Sac kids can't help but show compassion... to some of them at least.

 

Rating: PG-13 (Mentions of Death,moderate to grotesque violence, moments of suggestive nature, Occasional vulgar language)

 

The Ed-Cident

 

Chapter 1: The Day Time Stopped

 

Oh how the dog days of summer brought out the worst in the Ed boys. Mostly it was in Eddy, their greedy leader whose dreams consisted of jawbreakers and money, but the other two weren’t any better by association. Edd was a genius who could have probably better used his summers studying up, but perhaps his brain needed a break after nine months of school. Who knows? Ed, well, Ed really didn’t have much better to do. If he was left to be he’d be reading bizarre comic books in a bathtub full of gravy, so maybe being outside was good for him was what his parents had always told him. Regardless the three Ed boys had become best friends over the years, even if everything they did fell completely on their faces and they never got those jawbreakers. But everyone had fun and no one was hurt. For the longest while, no one was hurt.

---------------------------

 

It was a hot summer day and the Ed boys were preparing to do what they usually did: scheme to make money. It didn’t matter how many times they failed, Eddy still brought another scheme to the table each day. Today, meeting in Eddy’s garage, he laid out some blueprints on the working table his Dad normally used for carpeting business. Today’s plan was especially ridiculous.

 

“Alright boys,” Eddy began. “Today we’re going to cool off the kids of the Cul-De-Sac AND get their money all in one fell swoop!” Eddy almost practically sounded like a madman as he said this. “We’re going to create…. A FLYING FREEZER!”

 

Edd was not convinced, as the glum expression on his face showed.

 

“Eddy, of all the ridiculous things you’ve come up with, this definitely ranks up with the craziest ones like the cardboard bus and your Squirrel scam.” He said. “I mean, how are we going to create a flying freezer?”

 

Eddy just smiled right back.

 

“Oh Double D!” He said. “You can be as unconvinced as you want, but that means we’ll just split the earnings between me and Ed. All you gotta do is tie the Freezer to my brother’s car and woolah! A flying freezer.”

 

Double D almost wanted to laugh. “Are you kidding me?” He said. “Freezers are way too heavy to just up and fly when you accelerate the car back!”

 

“You’re right Double D,” Eddy began. “We need to create a holding device for the freezer so it’ll stay still as it flies!”

 

Double D just sighed. “Well let’s just give it a try then, now huh?”

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About two hours passed, and the boys were almost ready. But first Eddy decided to inspect the Cul-De-Sac to inform his “customers” of the new product. They were all around Kevin’s house playing Spin the Bottle. Eddy didn’t say anything for a moment as he listened in.

 

“Alright Sarah.” Kevin said. “Your turn to spin the bottle.”

 

She spinned it and it rattled on and on until it pointed directly at Naz.

 

“Alright Naz, truth or dare.” Sarah asked.

 

“Dare!” Naz said, feeling adventurous today.

 

Sarah gave it a brief thought. “I dare you…. To kiss Kevin!”

 

Just then a look of horror enveloped her face as she heard this. But before she could give any sort of verbal response, Eddy jumped in the middle.

 

“Hey there suckers!” He said.

 

“What do you want, Ed boy? “Kevin said back, his tone evidently irritant.

 

Eddy chuckled. He had a good feeling about this one.

 

“If you’ll all come to the center of the Cul-De-Sac, you’ll get notably refreshed!” Eddy said with much enthusiasm.

 

Although most of kids knew what was coming, they decided it would be fun to watch another Edsaster.

 

Eddy then went to the car, where he saw Edd and Ed milling about carelessly it seemed.

 

“Ed, you big dofus!” Eddy said. “Go and bring up the rear!”

 

“Ok Eddy!” Ed said.

 

Ed then went up behind the back of the car and picked it up. Eddy, having gotten into the car, screamed in a girly fit of fear.

 

“ED!” Eddy yelled. “Put me down!”

 

Ed did as he was told and proceeded to do nothing behind the car. Meanwhile in the car, Eddy was attempting to figure out how to actually work a car. He put the keys in, but didn’t realize he had to turn the keys and push the breaks.

 

“Work you stupid thing, work!” Eddy yelled at the car, as if thinking it would magically fix the situation.

 

The Cul-De-Sac kids just watched in amusement. Kevin, irritated at Naz for earlier, decided to take his frustration on the Eds.

 

“Dorks!” Kevin heckled at Eddy.

 

Eddy stood up on the edge of the car seat. “Shut up Kevin!” Eddy yelled. He then stepped back and slipped onto the brakes. As he did this, the edge of his shirt caught onto the motor stick, sending the car into reverse at 15 mph. And then suddenly, a yell could be heard from Eddy’s garage.

 

“Ed look out!” Double D could be heard screaming.

 

But it was too late. The car was stopped only by Ed’s muscular frame. The Cul-De-Sac kids cringed in horror. Eddy was able to pull the emergency brake and finally stop the car. Eddy got out looking nervous, but quickly put back on his nonchalant, cool and collected façade back on. He was clearly the only one not recognizing the severity of the situation.

 

“Ed, you big lump, get out from under there!” Eddy said. Upon pulling Ed out from under, it was evident Ed’s left arm was broken, his lung was possibly punctured. His face was a pale white and his dilated as though he was a statue.

 

After a few seconds of discomforting silence, Ed’s brother Sarah couldn’t hold back tears any long.

 

“B-Big-g-gg-g-g- Brot-t-t-ther-r-r-r-r-r-r” she began to wail. She and Jimmy then got Ed’s mom and everything was a blank for the kids from there. No one had ever been really hurt before, even with all the recklessness of the scams and the games. But everyone knew, as the sirens went off endlessly in all of their heads that nothing would be the same ever again.

 

 

 

[Minty Car]

Chapter 2: Hospital Visit

 

I couldn’t believe what had just happened. I still can’t even put it into words. All I know is that Ed is in ambulance truck, and I was in a car with Ed’s dad, whom I was somehow just meeting for the first time and Jimmy to the hospital. The first several moments were simply silence, trying to take in the situation and understand what was happening. Finally Ed’s dad broke the tense silence.

 

"What happened to him Edward?" he asked me. I had lost focus when he asked me, so I was slow to respond for a second.

 

"We were just doing one of Eddy's scams and it all went wrong." Double D replied. I felt so horrible, in ways words couldn’t describe at the time.

 

“Eddy’s the little, yellow wearing runt right?” He asked back.

 

I felt uncomfortable about answering back because I didn’t want to throw Eddy under the bus because of my own failures in the past, but at the same time he was the primary culprit.

 

“Yes sir, Eddy is the little guy.” I said back hesitantly. “I don’t know where he is right now.”

 

Jimmy then spoke up out of nowhere. “Well he’d be in this car if he were a true friend!”

 

I was kind of taken aback. Jimmy really didn’t have a relationship with Ed at all, even with his sister being his best friend, so the outburst seemed out of the blue. But he had a point. Where was Eddy right now? He had to be coming I thought.

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Finally, we arrived at the hospital. The drive felt like it had taken forever, even though it had really been about 20 minutes. That might have been more because I wasn’t used to long drives outside of the Cul-De-Sac than anything else, or maybe it was the situation I was in at the moment. Getting out of the car, I realized that this was the first time I’d been at a hospital in my older life. Being as cautious as I was I’d never had to come here, and I’m glad of such. Being here now made me glad of it as I saw so much disgusting people and things just going through the entrance. There was a man with pale skin and red, dark lumps being dragged in by a stretcher, probably for some sort IV treatments was my immediate guess. Suddenly, he began to hack and his spit began flying towards my direction. I instinctively ran ahead, charging right into Ed’s dad. He turned back and looked annoyed.

 

“I can tell you’re not used to this sort of place, but no need to be a wimp about it!” he’d said to me. I felt really bad about it, but I felt like apologizing wouldn’t have alleviated his mood by a whole lot, so it stayed in my head.

 

At the reception desk at the front, there was a portly lady sitting there typing into a computer. Ed’s dad tried to talk to her, but she put a finger up in the air to signify that she needed a minute before responding to him. He somehow looked even more impatient then before after this, which still managed to shock me at this point.

 

“Madam, my son is injured and in this hospital! I need to know where he is!” His voiced sounded less angry then desperate.

 

“What’s your name, and your son’s?” She said. She sounded like she had heard this so many times before, and her voice came across as fairly “Whatever.” Not quite suitable for dealing with such a high volume of likely distressed people I felt.

 

“My n-name is Tanner, my son’s name is Ed. He’s 11 years old a-and suffered a-a traumatic injury.” He said, stammering just a little.

 

“Go to floor 3, that’s where pediatrics are at.” She said, immediately returning to typing on her computer.

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Mr. Tanner waited for a second hoping for a room number, but left upon realizing that he’d gotten. I tried my hardest to keep up as he was running, just barely catching him and Jimmy on the elevator. I heard him mumble some word (It sounded like snitch, but that made little sense) but I tried to just ignore it. We got to the third floor after a few stops as several other people needed the elevator, but most came and went quickly so only the three of us and a few other people got off on the third floor with us. We didn’t go too far until we reached room 315.

 

There, we saw a few familiar faces outside of the room. Sarah was there, still teary eyed and not entirely done. Rolf was sitting in the corner of sorts, looking like he wasn’t even sure why he was here. And there was Nazz, surprisingly by herself. Sarah then ran up to her dad and started crying into his arms. As unsettling as this situation was, it was equally unsettling to see her so vulnerable, vicious Sarah. Mr. Tanner then walked into the hospital room to be with mother and son imaginably.

 

I felt like the odd man out as I didn’t really want to be around Sarah at such an uncomforting moment, and Rolf seemed his own sort of… damaged I guess. So I kind of took a chance and went to go sit next to Nazz. I say chance because I really didn’t talk to her and she always associated with Kevin, who was as anti-Ed’s as it got. So yeah a slight chance for me. Nazz was sitting on a bench by herself, just seeming to try to pass the time. I then took the leap and sat down next to her!

 

…. And she had no response as if she hadn’t even noticed.

 

It was deeply discomforting, and I had no real idea what to do now. I decided that the only real option was to just talk to her after several seconds. So I gently tapped her on the shoulder, and she sharply turned to face me.

 

“Oh hey Double D.” She said.

 

I gulped involuntarily. “H-hey Nazz,” I said, but it came out partially slurred. Sorry we’d have to meet at somewhere like this.” I sounded more composed right then.

 

“Yeah I agree. This is really saddening that something so rough could happen to kids like us.” She said. “Really makes you think about perspective.”

 

Somehow I had managed to follow her every word despite sweating a river under my sock hat, making it extremely uncomfortable to wear. 

 

“Yeah, I agree. Makes you look back on so many things could have gone wrong over the years.” I said in response.

 

There was a moment of silence, likely one of remembrance for her as it was for me. I thought of all the hard falls we’d taken over the years from trees, all the tumbles from stairs and fences, all of the dangers of our lives. And yet we’d been entirely unscathed for the most part.

 

Well until now that is.

 

I suddenly began to tear up without thinking about it. I pulled my hands over my face to try and shield myself from her, but it only made it more obvious what was happening. She then handed me a tissue and I thanked between blowing my nose.

 

Then, seemingly out of the blue, Kevin showed up. I should have realized he was here with Nazz, even if he hated us. He was close with her and he’d follow her like a lapdog even if he truly didn’t want to go where she went. At that moment I was face to face with him, as he was essentially glaring me down.

 

“Hey Eddork, you’re in my seat.” Kevin said, his voice seething with irritation that masked anger. But right now, I really didn’t feel like getting pushed around.

 

“Kevin, you weren’t here when I sat down. It’s not reserved for you, and there are several seats elsewhere.” I said, although I was shaking as I said it. I clearly wasn’t the intimidator here.

 

“Move dork or else!” He yelled back, much more viciously than before.

 

“Kevin!” Nazz said, giving a glare back much worse than the one Kevin had given him. Kevin realized quickly that he’d lost the fight, and walked away sulking towards Rolf. Nazz then looked at me.

 

“Sorry about that. We had an issue earlier today before what happened, and he’s being… weird.” She said. “It’s nothing to do with you though.”

 

I felt relieved in a way to be backed up by someone not named Ed or Eddy, almost like I had some

sort of credibility. Of course turning to my side, I saw Kevin’s eye locked for aim right at me. Then 

Nazz started talking to me again.

 

“Say where’s Eddy?” she said. “I know he’s self-centered, but Ed’s his friend right?”

 

It had been bothering me all day really since we’d left the Cul-De-Sac:

 

Where was Eddy?

 

Then suddenly, the doctor stepped out of the room…

[Metal Snake]

This is some cool stuff. I will point out though that in the first chapter, I've never known Eddy to call Ed a doofus (he usually calls him "idiot" or "big lug") and "Ed-boy" is what Rolf says, not Kevin. It's fine, however.

[Minty Car]

Chapter 3: In Hiding

 

Meanwhile…

 

I was running, running as fast as I could. I didn’t turn back one time to see if anyone was tailing me I was so scared. I just hopped into my room through the window, pulled down all the blinds and hid right under the mattress.

 

My room was the only safe place for me lately. It was the only place I safely hide away from the suckers if a plan fell through, which happened every now and then. Like today for instance. Everyone was crowding around us and some of them looked really, really mad. Even the ones who didn’t, like Sarah oddly enough, had a history so I couldn’t stay there. I had to hightail it out of there and my room was the only real safe house now a days. I waited impatiently, but eventually I fell asleep. I knew because when I woke up I was sucking on the leg of the bed which was as disgusting as it sounded.

I then peered through the blinds of the window, and there was absolutely no one outside. None of the kids, none of the parents, not even the animals. It felt uncomforting, so I decided to go out and see what was going on. Walking out the door and into the street, there still was practically no one in the area. It was odd. I walked around to the playground and still no one was there. But on the way back, I finally did see somebody, and it was a living person thankfully.

---------------------------------

“Heya Eddy!” Johnny said in a somewhat exasperated tone before sneezing.

 

Of all the Cul-De-Sac kids to run into, Johnny was probably one of the few I didn’t really mind running into. He was a bit more to himself and although he was an occasional victim to my plans, he never really seemed to hold onto a grudge beyond that day or so. He looked like a ghost today though, with a runny nose and a pale complexion.

 

“Johnny you don’t look so good. Are you doing alright?” I said. I tried to sound at least kind of polite, but he just kind of looked real stone faced back.

 

“To be fair, I’m actually kind of sick.” He said back before hacking up a storm. I instinctively leapt far back away from Johnny “Sorry Eddy, I hope I don’t get you sick too.”

 

“It’s ok, just don’t give me your Ebola or whatever it is.” I said back just wanting to get my word in already. Now he definitely looked aggravated with me, but I was too now.

 

“Say, do you know where everyone went? I totally lost track of everyone not too long ago.” I was glad I finally made some progress.

 

“Well I was in my room sleeping when whatever happened, but I did look out my window at some point a-and…” Johnny suddenly began to trail off, as though he’d lost his thought.

 

“What did you see Johnny?” I asked with great worry. He clearly saw something and it would help me figure out what was happening

 

Johnny then leaned into Plank. Plank is this piece of wood Johnny made into an imaginary friend, and it’s really annoying. It’s like he believes it’s actually real or something. After a moment or so of “talking” with Plank, Johnny looked back up at me.

 

“Well, I really don’t remember, but Plank does.” He said.

 

I rubbed eyes out thoroughly. I had a feeling this was going to be quite ridiculous.

 

“Well, what did he see?” I asked, really impatient now.

 

After “consulting” with Plank again for the second time in as many minutes, Johnny looked back at me and shoved Plank in my face.

 

“Plank told me that a strange, red truck came by… it was really loud and that was what awoke us…”

 

He began to trail off again.

 

“Yeah, go on go on.” I said, trying to mask my impatience with enthusiasm.

 

“Well, the only other thing he remembers is that… it came for Ed.” Johnny finally finished.

 

Suddenly everything was suddenly clear to me. I was entirely right to run away after the car thing: they were kidnapped!

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I still wasn’t quite sure how to handle the doctor’s news. I mean, he obviously was in great pain no doubt, but the pain looked almost entirely physical. Never could I have even begun to imagine that he was in-

 

“A comatose state. He’s alive, but unresponsive.”

 

A coma to be short with it. He’s practically a breathing vegetable. She explained in a calm manner that came across a lot better than most probably could, but the gravity of the situation made it too much for any of us to bear. Sarah hadn’t really stopped crying since the actual moment and it certainly didn’t stop here. Rolf moaned in his corner at how this loss was as difficult as the day his third aunt removed had been devoured by the wolf men, which I thought was a warlord but I never bothered to ask him.

 

Even Kevin, who never liked Ed because of me and Eddy, had a brief spell where he looked clearly pained upon hearing the news.

 

My mind just raced after those words. It raced with the ideas of alternate realities, ones where Ed isn’t there and I am instead, one’s where somehow I get Eddy to call off the plan. I just wanted to close my eyes, open them, and see a new reality. Unfortunately, it wasn’t changing and I knew it.

-----------------------------

 

Shortly after that, the doctor allowed us some supervised visiting time, but nobody took the offer. They didn’t want to have the image of a breathing vegetable in their minds I would imagine was the main reason behind this. But I knew that I couldn’t turn down the offer since I know Ed would do the same for me. After a moment to regain my composure entirely, I walked into the room and it was quite filled actually. Ed was attached to a machine through a mask that was pumping in air for him. For the first time in my life I didn’t want to know about the science behind something, this was just too human to attach numbers and equations to. He looked so peaceful, as though he was living in his dream fantasy right now. Even feeling his hand, it felt warm as any other day.

 

Then I ran my hand by his rib cage area and it just fell flat down on him. This must be why he needs the machine, his lung was practically flattened by the wheel. What a miracle for him to even be here right now. But I couldn’t think of miracles for longer when facing him. All I could think about was the guilt I carried as luggage now.

 

I then fell into his chest and began to cry. Not just sob or tear up a little. I mean just cry and cry and cry as many tears as I could handle. Now that it was just me, Ed, and his parents I had nothing to hold back anymore from anyone. I tried saying I was sorry repeatedly to Ed, but it just came out all mumbled and jumbled. Even after my time was up I didn’t finish, I just lightened up the amount of tears. Finally after I stopped, Mr. Tanner showed up behind me.

 

“You ready to go Edward?” he asked me. I nodded back.

 

The car ride home was silent the whole way. The two of us (Jimmy had left earlier with Sarah and walked back to the Bus Station rather than wait on us) were all ready to put this day behind. As we pulled into my driveway, I waved as he drove a few inches away to the Ed residence. I was about to finally put this awful day behind, when suddenly something leapt at me from the bushes. It was dirty and rancid, and for a split second I feared I was about to get rabies to make this even worse.

 

But then I realized that it was a person. I knew who it was too.

 

“Eddy! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? DO YOU NOT REALIZE WHAT’S GOING ON?” I yelled, my instinctive response upon being attacked.

 

He then skittishly looked around as if looking for someone or something. In particular.

 

“Did you escape?” He asked me.

 

“What are you talking about?” I shot back at him. This was beyond absurd. First he doesn’t show up after HE hurts Ed, and now he’s attacking me. What’s going on here?

 

“…. The kidnapper! He took Ed right?” Eddy asked almost fearfully.

 

At that precise moment, everything between the two of us changed forever.

[Minty Car]

Chapter 4: Peculiar

 

I was being clutched tightly by this strange man who was claiming to be my friend Eddy. Well it actually was him, but I just couldn’t believe the garbage flowing out of his mouth. I threw him off of me and could have ended it right there and move on. But I couldn’t, because like Ed, he was essentially family.

 

“Eddy, don’t you realize that Ed was seriously hurt?” I snapped at him, my voice rife with anger. “He’s at the hospital right now!”

 

Eddy seemed shaken by this. It either wasn’t what he wanted to hear or not what he expected to hear, and it clearly showed on his face.

 

“What do you mean hurt?” He asked. For the first real time, his face began to showcase genuine worry. “Ed’s a big boy, I’m sure he’s fine.” Now he was trying to sound more assured in his words.

 

“No Eddy he’s not!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. “He might die! This is no joke!” I really didn’t regret yelling at him so loudly, as he just wasn’t getting it and someone needed to snap some sense into him.

 

Now he was truly getting it. He began squirming and scratching the big red mark on the side of his neck. It was his nervous tell; without fail whenever he was truly nervous or scared, it lit up like Rudolph’s nose and that was exactly what he was doing right now. For a moment, I waited for a response, thinking I could explain the situation to him and try to make sure he didn’t overreact egregiously.

 

But then after a moment or two of dead silence he just ran off. At first I wasn’t quite sure where he went, but then I saw the light emanating from the front door of his house and realized he was just avoiding the situation. I decided that I’d been through enough that day to force Eddy to understand everything, so I decided that I’d deal with it after a night’s rest as it was already 20 past 11. So I went to bed, hoping tomorrow would be better, but slowly accepting the reality that it probably wouldn’t.

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I awoke the next day at a shockingly late 8:55 AM for me. I was usually up at 6:30 AM every day, but I assumed the stress of yesterday’s events had really taken their toll on me and I just needed the extra 2 and half hours to sleep some of the stress off. After the morning routine of showering and eating some buttered toast (which saddened me as one can imagine) I stepped outside of my front door. It was very quiet, which wasn’t entirely shocking. Many of the neighborhood kids didn’t get up until about 9:30, and even some like Kevin slept in past 11. Still there was usually Jimmy and maybe Sarah around playing or even Rolf caretaking the animals in his backyard, so it did feel a little unnerving for almost none at all. I took a small stroll around the cul-de-sac and did finally hear somebody talking very softly.

 

I looked into one of the fenced alleyways and saw Jimmy talking in a soft, quiet tone with one of his stuffed animals, I believe it was a rabbit. Anyhow I walked up to him.

 

“Why good morning Jimmy.” I said to him.

 

Jimmy must have not realized I was there.

 

“EEEK!” He screamed right at me. The pitch of his scream resonated harshly inside my eardrums for a second, even evoking a small tear in my eye the same way an onion would have made my eyes water up. I quickly cleared my face off to try and talk to him.

 

“Sorry about that Double D. I overreact kind of easily.” He said, sounding really remorseful.

 

“No problem, it happens.” I began. “What are you doing on this early morning?”

 

He stopped for a second to properly word his thoughts. “Well I was just kind of bored honestly, as

Sarah is still in a bad state because of yesterday.”

 

That made sense. It would have been traumatic for anyone to see what had happened yesterday but it had to be especially hard for her since Ed is her brother.

 

“What is she doing right now?” I asked.

 

“She’s in bed still.” He replied. That kind of relieved me to an extent when I first heard it.

 

“Oh she’s still sleeping?” I asked, kind of feeling that I shouldn’t have asked right after I did.

 

“No, like she’s just lying in bed. Like she’s just not wanting to even leave her room.” Jimmy said, his voice sounding increasingly distressed. “I don’t understand Double D! Why is she so distraught about her brother when she barely interacted with him before this all happened! I DON’T GET IT!” His yells turned into crying by the end of his little speech.

 

I felt bad and just gestured for him to take a seat on the ground with me. I really didn’t know how well I could really explain things properly to him, but it needed to be done.

 

“Jimmy, I don’t entirely understand what exactly is going through the mind of your sis- err Sarah. I think she’s always loved her brother even though it isn’t always clear through her actions, and would never want something bad to happen to him. And then when something bad did happen, her true feelings did show and right now she’s experiencing the rough part of caring for someone.

 

Jimmy nodded throughout to indicate that he seemed to understand what I was saying, at least on some level. I really hoped I’d given him some sort of relief to at least survive the day.

 

“Well I hope I’ve helped you and I can do what I can when needed, but I have some chores to do, so I need to go.” I said to him. Just as I stood up to leave, Jimmy pulled down lightly on my shoulder, indicating he wasn’t quite done yet.

 

“One question and that’s all.” He said.

 

“Alright, what is it?” I asked.

 

“Well, when you started you’re little thing you almost called Sarah my sister.” He said. I suddenly felt very embarrassed. How could I make such a simplistic mistake?

 

“O-Oh I’m sorry. I just kind of slipped with t-that I guess-s.” I stammered through. I felt rather stupid at that moment, and my downward look definitely sold that I’m sure. “You two are just so close is all, so yeah it just slipped.”

 

Jimmy didn’t look concerned at all. “No, it’s not an issue at all. I kind of like it in fact.” He said. “I mean not like blood siblings, but like the true best friend sort of thing.”

 

It had me thinking a little bit. Who would I consider a “brother” of mine? I think Ed for sure, the loyalty has always been there. I would have said Eddy before yesterday, but now I don’t know. I quickly excused myself and prepared to do my chores for the day.

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The majority of the day after the morning conversation was spent doing various chores, from cleaning up the various sticky notes my parents communicated with me through to cleaning the freezer out. By the end of it all, it was already past 3:30. I had a lull between then and dinner time, so I decided to try and catch up with Eddy. I wanted to clear up whatever was going on in his head and get him to go over and see Ed in the next few days. I figured a day’s rest would help him calm down after the news.

 

So soon after finishing, I went over to Eddy’s house. I waited for a few seconds after knocking on the door, when I saw an eye peek through the eyehole in the door. Just as quickly as it appeared it disappeared. I waited for about three minutes, and then suddenly I heard an odd sound from the back of the house. Like “whoop!” or an “ooof!” sound, like something falling hard. I went to the back of the house, and I saw an odd figure, looking like a person.

 

I then realized that it was Eddy!

 

“Eddy!” I yelled at him. He sharply turned towards me, and cowered back as quickly. He then took off to the north of the house, and I gave him chase. He really wasn’t that fast so up until we were in the alleyways, I was right behind him. I had a chance to catch him, but I decided to try to reason with him once more.

 

“Why are you doing this!?” I yelled to him. “I just want to talk to you!”

 

Suddenly, he threw a silver rimmed, metal trash can right at me. I had a second to react, and already losing stamina, I was tripped up and out of breath. He must have looked back because I heard a maniacal laugh of sorts going on and on until it eventually faded away from what I could hear. I was just puzzled by this above all else. Was he mad at me? Was he also struggling with what was going on?

 

What is your deal Eddy? Was the only thing that was still in my mind as I hobbled towards my home to shower and eat.

--------------------------------------

The next few days were mostly a blur. I don’t remember exactly how many days passed between the Eddy chase and the next real significant day, but about 3 or 4 sounds right. So about 4 days since the accident, or DSA for abbreviation, I had a minimal amount of chores that day so when they were done I decided to pull from my secret stash. My secret stash was an area where I hid my allowance that I earned from these chores. It was only secret because Eddy had duped me a few times into “investing” it into the scams and I would never see it again. Then when I stopped he kind of pestered me about it, so I eventually lied about not having one and it’s been that way ever since.

 

Anyhow on that day, with Eddy doing his odd actions and everyone else in their own worlds, I decided to go get a jawbreaker or two. And no I didn’t have a special time or day when I did this usually, but times had been tough so maybe a sweet, succulent jawbreaker would do the trick. It was only a dollar and with $15 in hand, I could get as many as 15! Well not really with taxes but it would be enjoyable nonetheless. So I took the walk over to the candy shop, which was a 40 minute walk, but it was a refreshing and breezy walk through the woods of Peach Creek. When I got there, no one else was in there so I felt it was my lucky day to sit and enjoy the jawbreakers I had earned through my allowance. And for the first 15 minutes, it went that way. And to be honest, I was shocked at how decidedly average it was, at least today. It was a large sour flavor that quickly came and went. At least it was only a dollar so after two of them to make sure it wasn’t a singular bad breaker, I got 4 cookies to eat.

 

And for a little longer I ate in solace.

 

And then suddenly the door to the shop opened, and in walked Nazz. She seemed really hot (no, I mean heated hot!) and exhausted. I didn’t really think she considered me as her friend even though we’d had the heart to heart conversation at the hospital. I just thought she was being polite to me in a time of need and that was all. So to my surprise, she came over to where I was sitting.

 

“Can I take a seat with you Double D?” She asked.

 

“Yeah sure of course you can.” I replied. I instantly became sweaty as she sat down in front of me.

 

“I didn’t realize you had money on you. I just assume you do the scams because you don’t have any.” She said.

 

“It’s my personal allowance. I don’t let Eddy know about it or he swindle it from me.” I replied.

 

“So he’s stolen it from you before?” She asked.

 

“Well, I wouldn’t say stolen as much as convinced me to give it to him for… his benefit.” I realized what she had originally meant as I said it.

--------------------------------------------

 

The two of us talked with one another for about the next 15 minutes before she said she had to leave to go to some practice of hers. I figured she would be in a rush, as she got picked up at the shop, so I didn’t bother to ask and just started walking home myself. I was beginning to think maybe we were friends after all. After the initial nerves went away, it wasn’t that much different from talking to anyone else in the world, I thought.

 

Maybe the girl problem was an overthought problem after all I thought to myself.

 

As I thought this to myself, I looked up on the rugged forest road to see a bike coming right at me!

[Minty Car]

Chapter 5: Long, Slow Days

 

The bike came charging at me with viciousness like I’d never seen. Its wheels were rolling and rolling like tires on an SUV and it seemed almost like a car was coming at me. The rider clearly had great control as the bike never veered outside of the straight line path it had created. Of course I could marvel for only a few seconds as I could tell that it was coming right at me! As it rolled and rocked it's way closer and closer towards me, I fell down and began to plead.

 

“Slow down!” I yelled. “Please don’t hit me!”                                       

 

It was no use though, it just kept coming, maybe even faster after my pleas. Then suddenly as it was inches away from me, it just stopped. The rider pulled back hard on his brakes, creating significant tread marks in the dirt. Then the rider stepped off, revealing who I had feared it to be all along.

 

“Kevin!” I yelled, although it was hard to act surprised. After all who else in the neighborhood had a bike that they flaunted so much.

 

“Hey Double Dweb.” He said, his voice sounding emotionless as he said it.

 

“I thought it was dork you always called me and the oth-“ I started saying, but then he slapped me hard against my right cheek. It really wasn’t that hard, but I was shocked that he would hurt me. Sure, he didn’t really like me that much, but I always felt that was by association with Eddy and Ed (well, mostly Eddy) Now I was beginning to feel otherwise.

 

“Shut up.” He began, sounding genuinely angry for the first time. “They mean the same thing don’t they?”

 

I was beginning to become scared. It didn’t seem like he was thinking rationally, more like a jealous girlfriend or the shady villain in the corner finally revealing his overpowering strength. I didn’t really know where all this was coming from, but then he suddenly leapt on top of me, pushing down on my arms with his sheer strength. I had no ability to fight back, I was cornered.

 

“WELL, AREN’T THEY THE SAME THING!?” He yelled right into my face.

 

“Y-y-“I tried to say yes, but I was too terrified. My mouth and my mind just weren’t cooperating to get it out. Whatever confidence and composure I’d gained in the past few days was completely gone right now. Kevin then stuck his right index finger into his mouth, getting it all soaked up with his wet, sticky saliva. He then swiftly took it out of his mouth and stuck deep into the canal of my right eardrum.

 

“Wet willie! Or maybe a wet Eddward? What do you think?” He said, laughing heinously at me. I was squirming around in agony as I couldn’t get the wetness out of my ear. “N-N-Neither!!” I yelled back at him, wiggling around as I tried to escape.

 

“Now, now relax for just a little longer.” He said with a snarky smile across his face. “I only have a single message for you and I’ll only say it once: stay away from Nazz. Forever.”

 

I was actually a little taken aback. “That’s what all this is about? Your crush on her? I assure you me and Nazz are friends and just that.”

 

“It’s not a crush. She’s my best friend and…” He began before stumbling off. I must have hit a nerve. But he quickly recovered to finish.

 

“Well, hopefully you get my drift and leave her be. Or there will be a lot more trouble.” He said. “And remember: this never happened.”

 

He then finally loosened his grip on me, and stood up in front of me. I breathed a sigh of relief, having escaped with only wet Willie and some dirt marks on my clothes. I was relieved in a way to have gotten out with such little damage to my person. But then I felt a tug from behind my shirt, pulling tightly as if it were a chain. This clearly wasn’t over yet.

 

“You know, that would have been enough in most cases with you Double Dork, but then I remembered the last time. You actually had the guts to stand up to me. In a way I madly respect that, but in another way I have to reign that in. Words aren’t enough anymore it seems to make sure the point.” He said, his tone becoming more sinister the more he talked.

 

Before I could even have a split second decision on how to approach my situation next, it hit me. Kevin’s fist hit me square in the right eye, and it was a thousand times stronger than the slap. If the slap had been like a wet noodle at the pool getting you in eye when you weren’t paying attention, the punch was like getting hit by a boulder. It was truly a knockout blow. I gradually lost my balance and eventually slipped into unconsciousness.

 

The last thing I heard before passing out was another warning by Kevin, but I heard it in spurts, so it sounded really broken. “That shiner…remind…

warning…mirror…”

 

And then I was gone

 

XXX

 

Meanwhile…

 

Waking up was a drag lately. I would wake up, eat, and usually just go right back to sleep. Every now and then I would maybe watch a movie, but I always did it alone. I didn’t want to be with anyone right now, and I figured no one really wanted to be with me. At least that was what I thought. Anyhow it had been about five days since the accident, and this was the first day I was up more than two hours at any one time during the day. I was mostly fighting the urge to go back to sleep and hide away because I knew that most people didn’t do this and I couldn’t keep it up much longer. It was about 3:30 or so when the doorbell rang. I was still eating some chunky puffs from breakfast from at least three hours ago. I still wasn’t ready to interact with people, so I ignored the ringing that occurred roughly every thirty seconds for about five minutes before I could take it no more. I put on a sweatshirt to hide my lack of clothing as I only had a bra on. I’m probably too young for a bra still honestly, but as mom always said “it’s never too early!”

 

…Well actually she said that on Christmas morning when Ed wasn’t ready to get up, but that’s beside the point!

 

Anyhow, I put on the sweatshirt and opened the door and saw exactly who I thought it would be.

 

“Hello Jimmy.” I said, sounding rather out of it still.

 

“Sarah!” Jimmy began shrieking as he saw me. “I’m going to need to help you get cleaned up and looking comfortable. You look really rough right now.”

 

“That’s because I am really rough right now. I can’t stand the things happening around me, and I don’t want to come out.” I sounded really hoarse and sad as I said this as I could hear myself talking.

 

Jimmy then puffed up his chest a little and took a deep breath.

 

“Sarah, I am worried about this. I understand you’re upset about the things that have happened recently, but you cannot just shut out the world because the training wheels are off right now.” Jimmy said this with much more confidence than he usually showed. Still I couldn’t let him me tell me when I would be happy and when I would be sad.

 

“Jimmy, this is j-just a phase. It’s part of being sad, I’ll eventually get out of it.” I said, but with very little of the dominating tone and confidence I normally had. “I just need some time to take this all in.”

 

“I understand that you need time to fix this, but this isn’t the normal sort of fix it yourself problem. This is what friends are for. This where that shoulder to cry on is so helpful or that person with the listening ear is so helpful. Sarah, you’re only going to get by with a little help from your friends, and I’m one of them.”

 

His words had touched much so much so quickly that I lost it. I began to cry, but quickly motion him in so no one else could see me cry. I was just balling hard, and once inside I essentially made Jimmy my handkerchief as I just cried all over him. He merely just patted me on the back and kept me close.

 

“Let it all out, let it all out. You’re always going to feel much better once you empty yourself all out of the sadness.” Jimmy knew this well, having had several good cries himself over the years, many around me. I guess in many ways this was a repayment for all those times. Eventually after about 10 more minutes, I finally stopped crying. It wasn’t a choice, I just finally ran out of tears I guess.

 

“So do you want to talk about it now or is the crying enough for one day?” He asked me. I thought deeply for a moment about talking about it, about how I felt about my brother and what happened was changing my thoughts entirely. But I was also running out of steam right now, and what had happened was a hugely important step.

 

“You know what Jimmy? I don’t think I’m ready to talk about it yet” My voice was shaking hugely just getting right here. “But how about we try and go outside for a little bit?”

 

For the first time all day, Jimmy really smiled. “How about we take a walk through the forested area and go get some jawbreakers at the store? We can see some great sights and get some candy. You up for that?”

 

“That sounds great Jimmy! I’ll go get my extra allowance change and go get some jawbreakers!” I said back. I got it and then got fully dressed and we went out for the first real time in five days.

 

XXX

 

Stepping out, it was extremely refreshing. The sun was beating down on my head, but it was much more energizing then the artificial air that ran through the A/C of our house. Also we didn’t see anyone on our way to the alleyways so I was just sort of easing my way back in. I know Nazz was at dance practice and Rolf usually was stuck in his farm pen a lot as farm animals in a cul-de-sac presented a unique challenge, and Johnny was only just getting over a cold. This made it easier to start adjusting back to a regular routine of getting outside. When we got to the alleyways, I finally broke the silence between me and Jimmy.

 

“Hey Jimmy?” I asked him.

 

“Yes Sarah?” He replied.

 

“Why is it that you’re always there for me? Why are we so close to one another?” I asked. All I hoped was that it wasn’t the romantic answer. I always was taught to try to ignore romance until high school, although at 11 years old it was getting tougher each time.

 

“Because you’re like my sister.” He said.

 

Well… that was something. Lovers certainly don’t say that their like siblings, but it sounded a little awkward. “What do you mean?” I asked.

 

“Well, I mean we’re like siblings really. We spend a lot of our time together, we bring happiness to each other and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Am I right, sister?” He said, with a little bit of a pep at the end. It sounded awkward when I first heard it, but admittedly it sounded a lot more sensible with that explanation.

 

“How’d you come up with that one, Jimmy?” I asked.

 

He kind of lost some of that enthusiasm as I asked. “Well to be fair I didn’t come up with that one. Double D did.”

 

I fell into silence as I heard his name. I hadn’t even realized that I hadn’t seen him or Eddy in those days. Well, I had seen Double D at the hospital, but he’d kind of avoided me I think. Either he didn’t want to deal with me sad or he was too scarred from the moment too. But regardless I was surprised to learn that Double D was thinking of me even now.

 

“Well that Double D sure can see things like that. It’s a shame that Eddy bogs him do-“ I had begun saying when suddenly I look up to see Kevin on his bike coming right down the alleyway. I tried to wave and didn’t even try to move out of the way. Jimmy and I had to jump to the deep right to get out of his way. I landed right on top of a trash bag and got some of the stench on me. Jimmy immediately pulled me up.

 

“Oh my Sarah! That stench! Sarah do you want to head home and change out of this and shower? It’s really-“ I cut him off as he began to drone on.

 

“Jimmy, I’m fine. I’ll change when I get home. Let’s just go get those jawbreakers!” He was quiet for a second as I sounded a little harsh on him. But he gradually smiled as he recognized that it was more like the real me. “Let’s do it girlfriend!” he said. I frowned at that last part, but didn’t let him on at the time.

 

Not too long later, we reached the forested back way to the candy shop. It really was beautiful out there, covered almost entirely by trees and wildlife. We saw a rabbit cross by us along with a few furry squirrels.

 

Jimmy was definitely right: this was exactly what I needed I thought to myself at that moment. Outside of Kevin almost running us over, this has been very relaxing. As I thought this to myself, we approached the bridge crossing to get over to the other side.

 

As we were crossing it, we and Jimmy were stopped in our tracks! From afar, it almost looked like there was a body in the middle of the pathway. This had never happened before, not even once, so we were really concerned. As we moved forward, we could tell for sure it was a person.

 

“Jimmy, what should we do?” I asked, gulping down a huge breath of air within. “What if that person is… dead?”

 

“Well, it’s go up close and check it out. See if their breathing or not. If he’s not, we’ll go find a telephone and call the police.”

 

Police. Man, we had never had the police come by, and I hoped for this guy’s sake they never would. With a deep breath in and out, the two of us moved in close and picked up a stick. Getting close, the person looked not much bigger then us.

 

“Jimmy, turn him over. I wanna check his heartbeat and see what we can do.” I said. And as Jimmy turned him over, horror invoked us both.

 

“DOUBLE D! OH MY GOD!” I yelled. He looked like he had been beaten up by a crowbar or something, his right eye was purple and swollen shut, his ear dripping wet with spit, and his cheek red from a hard hit to that area too. Jimmy, shaking terribly all over at this sight, still managed to put his head to the unconscious Double D’s chest.

 

“He’s breathing!” Jimmy yelled. “We can still help him if we act quickly!”

 

I ran back as fast as I could and grabbed our little red wagon we used to vary each other in. Now it was the scene of another tragedy, the second in a week.

                                                                               

XXX

 

Later…

 

I awoke to a bright light. My immediate thought was that Kevin had come back and kidnapped me for more terror, thinking he was entirely fixated on me and could stop it all by hiding me away from Nazz. However, as I stood up and looked around, my sight hindered by a swollen eye, I realized that I was on the coach of Ed’s home. What was I doing in Ed’s house? Wasn’t I just dying in the forest?

 

“Hello? Is anyone home?” I said, my voice echoing throughout the house. I felt sore all over from the attack, but I was glad to be alive really so I tried my hardest not to dwell on it. Just then, Sarah walked

into the room.

 

“Sarah? What’s going on here?” I asked.

 

She just grabbed and hugged me right then, her eyes reddened as if she had been crying at some point today.

 

“You’re so lucky Double D! We just happened to be going that way when we found you on the ground!”

She had begun to shriek a little bit, she was clearly shaken up about this which couldn’t be good as she was already handling her brother’s accident very roughly also. “What happened Double D? What happened to get you beaten up so bad?”

 

I didn’t know what to tell her. Kevin was so well respected in the Cul-De-Sac. If nothing else he was the anti-Eddy and that meant something to these kids. I didn’t think she’d believe me, so I had to come up with something else at least for now.

 

“It happened so fast that…  I didn’t see the person.” I said, stumbling through my words. “I just… I didn’t even have a chance to fight back.” I don’t really know how much she believed me right then, but she didn’t push it further. She then gave me a bag of ice to help reduce the swelling.

 

“I can’t thank you enough for all this. Who knows where I’d be right now without you two.” I said as I rested the ice on my eye, having cool relief hit me almost immediately. “I’d love to stay even longer, but I need to go home, shower and go to sleep, put this difficult day behind me.” Sarah looked at me disappointedly, but relenting.

 

“Actually, I have one more thing to ask you about. When is it possible for me to see Ed?” I asked. She looked back. “You can come with me tomorrow.” She said. “It’ll be the first time back for since the day, so it’ll be good to not go alone.”

 

 I nodded back to indicate yes and then ran across the Cul-De-Sac towards my home. I ran to hopefully avoid being noticed with the huge bruise. I did thankfully, and did exactly as I told Sarah I was going to do. Except after showering, I dressed back into day clothes, a black t-shirt I had never worn before and dark grey sweatpants. After checking that the coast was clear I ran across to my only other true friend’s house. I tapped mightily on his window.

 

“Open this window Eddy!”

[Minty Car]

Chapter 6: Angry

 

“Eddy open this window right now!” I shouted at the window. I was not in the mood to deal with any more jumping through hoops and ladders. I needed to see him right away. The blinds that covered the window from the inside lifted up a small bit to reveal the eyes of a human inside. Of course I knew from the beginning who it was. He studied me for what was likely a quick moment, but felt never ending. Then as quickly as the blind had been pulled up, it dropped swiftly back down to hide the inside of the room away from the outside world. Before I could angrily bang on the glass some more, the back door opened. Out of it, the head of Eddy peeked out. Eddy looked as if he’d just woken up with the neatness of his usual yellow sports shirt and his two strands of hair atop his head. He then turned and looked at me.

 

“You have five seconds to enter before the door closes. Five, four…” He went on, sounding rather bored with what was happening. I quickly ran in through the doorway to the bedroom and landed on Eddy’s bed. I then stood up quickly, not wanting to look too comfortable and make Eddy uncomfortable. Eddy then stood in front of me.

 

“Whoa Sockhead. I couldn’t tell at all from the window, but man you’ve gone really casual.” Eddy began, eventually bursting into a light laughter before long. “What’s with that? Not really your style right?”

 

I grunted rather audibly, annoyed that this was the very first thing we’d be talking about. “I had an incident today and I needed to change urgently. This is definitely not my first choice stylistically.”

Eddy then nodded sporadically, either indicating agreement or indifference. Regardless I continued on.

 

“Where have you been lately?” My voice began to take on a much harsher tone then it did in the opening minutes, and it clearly hit Eddy too as he began to squirm a little. “Well?” I asked.

He then looked at my eye and twitched back a little bit. ”Uggh, what’s with the shiner on your eye?” It clearly grossed him out in the same way the sight of blood grossed me out. I wanted my answer more than to answer him, but I figured it would open things up easier.

 

“It was the urgent incident from earlier. I was attacked and it could have gotten worse if Sarah and Jimmy had just been passing by and helped me out.” I said.

 

“Who got you?” He asked. I shot a glare for a moment hoping it would indicate to drop it but after two minutes of a stare down I saw this was going nowhere.

 

“Who would you pick to beat up an Ed?” I asked. “I think we both know the answer.”

He looked out the window again, looking at a particular house for some reason. It must have helped him gather his thoughts. “Kevin?” He asked.

 

“Duh.” I said back. “Who else?” I had a “pretty obvious” look on my face. Eddy’s face showed a look of grave concern and maybe a tinge of fear.

 

“H-H-H-HOLY CRAPOLA!” He yelled at me while jumping up to grab me by my shirt. “If he’s doing that to you, what’s he going to do to me!? Oh man Double D, this is really, really bad. We need to start packing our bags for the big guy upstairs!” He was truly terrified, shaking all over his body, his normal cool guy façade completely melted with my words. I didn’t move one bit before I spoke once more.

 

“Relax.” I said, my tone soft and calm with a gentle volume to try and bring the heat down. It didn’t work as he just started his fearful rambling once more. It was at this point just mumbling and crying mixed in and I could tell calm and collected wasn’t going to get the job done. So I picked up the chair Eddy had in front of his desk in his room and threw it down hard on the ground. Although my lack of strength caused practically no damage to the chair, it got Eddy’s attention and he cooled off considerably.

 

“If you would have let me finish I would have been able to explain to you that I was specifically targeted because I really enraged Kevin back at the hospital on the day Ed went to the hospital.” I said very matter of factly. Eddy looked at me with a surprised look on his face.

 

“What did you to anger him that bad? Over explain the science of blood flow or something at the wrong time?” He asked with a smirk on his face. Now thinking back on the incident back at the hospital, I should have seen the red flag with how mad he got at such a morbid moment in our lives.

 

“W-well, I-I…” I started to get nervous, knowing Eddy would either think I was full of it or would just laugh it off. “Well, he was mad because I was trying to be friends with Nazz and he got jealous I think. I made it worse by standing up to him.” I started to tear up a little, remembering the moment the punch came down. Wiping my eyes out, I saw exactly what I feared: the little guy was laughing his butt off at me.

 

“Oh man Double D, that’s a good one!” He said. He then saw my face and realized I was serious.

 

“But whatever, because that’s not why I’m here. I’m here because you won’t be there for Ed! What is wrong with you?” I yelled at him, clenching my fist.

 

He then backed up, eventually sitting on the floor in front of his bed. “B-B-Because-s-se it’s my fault. I can’t stand knowing everything is my fault! I don’t want to be liable!” He said, but as I heard this, I felt his voice didn’t match his words. He didn’t sound like an emotional wreck like I did initially, or a depressive mess like Sarah had been. He just sounded like normal Eddy, like nothing was wrong and he was preparing for the next scam.

 

In all honesty, I didn’t believe him at all. But I couldn’t let this be the end, his words were just one thing. His actions were another.

 

“Eddy, you need to grow up. This isn’t about you, it’s about everyone else. One of your best friends may die any day now and you’re too scared to visit him? People aren’t like that, I’m certainly not like that, and…” I feared to continue, but I couldn’t turn back now. This had to be delivered. “… and my friends aren’t like that either.” He looked at me, his eyes turning red, one of the first real showings of emotion all night. “Tomorrow, I’m going. That’s your last chance to prove to me that you can grow up with the rest of us.” I then stood up and walked towards the door.

 

“Goodnight Eddy.” I didn’t look back once after that.

 

XXX

 

Later that Night…

 

When did Double D become such a jerk? I thought to myself. Who is he to just come into my house and tell me how to act and what to do? When did he change from my friend into my dad!?

 

Everything about Double D was pissing me off lately. Talking to girls? Standing up to Kevin? Being the sympathetic one? “

 

THAT’S MY JOB!” I yelled loud into the ceiling, not realizing that no one was there to hear. However I immediately got an earful from Dad.

 

“Shut up and go to bed Eddy! It’s almost midnight!” He screamed from the living room.

 

I could tell because I’d had this happen so many times over and over. My parents were the worst, always yelling and telling me not to be another Travis, who is my brother. They tell me he’s a deadbeat working odd jobs, currently with the local circus, but I know their lying. He’s too smooth for that sort of dead end lifestyle. Too cunning to be in one spot. I bet he’s a spy or something with his skills. Yeah, he’s that kind of awesome.

 

But Double D was right about one thing, and only one thing: I needed to see Ed. I wanted to see how bad the damage could be mitigated. Could I explain away my mistake? Maybe chalk it up to a mechanical error? Maybe catch Double D in something and deflect it all away from me? All of these were significant possibilities, but none of them could become fully realized without being able to see Ed. So while I was pained to go to that hospital and face mortality itself, it must be done I thought. I would tell Double D in the morning that I would come with him.

 

XXX

 

The Next Morning…

 

The morning after getting the tar beaten out of you is almost as bad as the actual beating itself. I just wanted the pain to go away. The pain is continuous without any letup in length or severity, with the overly bruising wound itself a constant reminder of the event that brought it about. Thankfully for me the swelling around my eye was considerably better to the point to the point where it looked less like an attack wound then just any other sort of eye injury, at least to the untrained eye. I could open it a bit more than before too, so maybe the usage was getting back too. Nonetheless it still would be a few days before it really got back to normal I realized, so I kept ice one when it was possible. It was only 11:30 when I finished cleaning the toilet bowl, my main chore of the day, so I went up to study some of my biology sets. I had until 2:00 before I would go with Sarah and Ed’s father to the hospital, so I had time to kill. It’d been awhile between all the scams and everything else in life that I’d had the chance to just sit down and continue my scientific pursuits.

 

Unfortunately today would not be the day. I hadn’t even finished pulling out the set when the doorbell rang. I quickly rustled my way down the stairs to see who was at the door. It was Eddy, looking like his usual self.

 

“Good day Eddy.” I said. “What are you doing here?” He was dressed in a black and white striped collared shirt while also wearing waist high cargo shorts. It really didn’t fit with the shirt, but knowing Eddy he likely knew and didn’t care. He wore his fake smile like a door to door salesman at that moment as he did throughout life.

 

“Well I thought about what you said to me last night and you’re right. I need to see the big lug at his time of need, regardless of what could happen next. Can I come with you when you go to see him?”

He asked, sounding a bit more somber then he had the night before. Something still kind of left me uncomfortable with where was possibly taking this, but I also knew Ed was one of the “Ed boys.” There had to be a soft spot right?

 

“Well, I’ll have to make sure with Sarah and Ed’s father but it can probably be arranged. Meet us at Ed’s house at 2:00 alright?” I said. He then brightened up quite a bit.

 

“Alright you got it Sockhead! See you then!” He then just kind of made his way out with little explanation and looking a lot more upbeat then when he was when he arrived. It was that sort of thing, along with his stupid never-ending smile that gave me unease about him.

 

I then took a look at the front yard and saw that Eddy had recklessly run through the geraniums in the flower bed. He had trampled through the soil and hit part of the flowers, greatly weakening them.

 

Dammit Eddy! I thought to myself. You can be so irresponsible sometimes! I put my heart and soul into this flower garden!

 

I walked up to the flowers and saw that it was a little better than it seemed; the main damage seemed to the soil and ground the flowers were nested in, not so much the actual flowers themselves. I began making a note to sod over the soils and flowers again before leaving when I heard a sound. I knew it instantly: It was the sound of a bike and it didn’t take a huge guess to realize who it was. This time though, he wasn’t alone. He brought Nazz along with him.

 

“Hey Double D, how’s it going?” she asked, happily oblivious to the pain her friendship had brought me. Of course I wouldn’t break that, certainly not with death staring right at me.

 

“G-Good.” I said, taking a huge gulp in and out as I said it.

 

“What’s up with your eye dude?” She asked. Kevin’s smile lit up. “Yeah, it looks really bad man. Maybe you should see a doctor about it man.” He was able to sound almost entirely sympathetic, but I knew the front he was heading.

 

“Just took a rough fall down some stairs. I’m starting to get better already, so hopefully it continues that way.” I struggled to not being anything beyond the collected façade I was heading.

 

“Well hopefully you continue to get better dude, and we’ll see you later!” She said enthusiastically. Kevin then nodded, and they began to ride away. Just as they were passing the next house over I looked over and saw Kevin mouth to me the words “double dork. HAHA!”

 

I didn’t do anything except walk back into the house. As I walked in, I felt anger. Not the normal annoyed displeased sort of anger you get from a bad test grade or being told you have to clean the refrigerator and the toilet bowl in the same day.

 

No, this was the wronged sort of anger.

 

The anger you get when you know someone is walking around with a smirk on their face knowing what they have done and maybe even enjoying it. Kevin definitely was that sort of person. My anger built up quick and I wanted to yell so badly, but I didn’t want to alert anyone around the house. I walked around the living room, grunting mindlessly in a haze of sorts before I finally acted. I walked up to the wall of the living room and just punched it. I gave it no thought, just punched the wall with all my might, all my stored up, trauma induced anger. Dust floated in the air around me and I couldn’t believe the sight when I finally had a good look: The area in the wall I punched was almost entirely demolished. It went from just about 5 inches off the divider on the floor to almost the middle of the wall, exposing the plumbing and other wires that ran throughout the wall. I never even realized I had any strength, and now I began to see there was something hidden in me. And then before I knew it, I passed out.

 

XXX

 

When I woke up, I had a humongous headache. The wall still had a giant hole there, even more shocking now that I was calmed down then during my rage before. It was deep, almost the outside wall of the house and deep in the structure. I guess I’d come up with a ridiculous explanation later I thought at the moment. I walked into the kitchen and looked at the clock.

 

“1:33! AYE CRUMBA…. No wait…”

 

I abandoned that thought and ran up to my bedroom and got dressed in preparation. By the time I was done with that, it was 1:50 and it was just about time to go. I was looking forward to see Ed again, maybe hopefully his condition had improved or something had changed in treatment to give some optimism. It was pretty unrealistic, but I had to hold some sort of hope for the future. Just anything to keep things alive in my mind. I was also mostly glad that Eddy was coming, but now concerned with his attitude. He seemed too nonchalant and relaxed to be so supposedly concerned for Ed. I know people have their own unique ways of grieving, but Eddy’s seemed either fake and forced or extremely peculiar. Regardless though, this would be the moment of truth for us all. As I finished collecting my thoughts I grabbed my ID and left the house to cross the street towards Ed’s house. Waiting next to the car was Sarah, her Dad, Mr. Tanner, was in the car starting it up. I looked around quickly and soon enough saw Eddy running right towards us. Sarah groaned.

 

“Uggh, what are you doing here you buffoon?” she asked in an aggravated tone.

 

“Aren’t you guys going to see Ed? I want to come too!” He said, again way too enthusiastic for it all.

 

Sarah caught on to it too. “So now you want to go see him? Where were you the day it happened? Why just now huh Eddy!?” Eddy clearly got angry and got up into Sarah’s face and looked like he was about to rip her a new one, but I stood in the way to be the peacekeeper.

 

“I mentioned that I was going to him, I probably should have asked.” I sounded quite scared actually, like I broken a trust with her that I didn’t even realize was there. “We don’t have to bring him, but I’d suggest we give him a chance at least.” Sarah then went up and talked to Mr. Tanner for a moment, before coming back.

 

“He can come. This time only though.” She said, with a downtrodden expression as though she had lost a battle of sorts with her father. I can assume she didn’t want Eddy to come, and Mr. Tanner objected otherwise. All of us then got into the car and began to drive to the hospital.

 

XXX

 

The car ride began rather unassumingly as no one talked for the first five minutes. Everyone was either somber about what could be going on with Ed, or thinking about other things otherwise. What is your ruse Eddy? That was the thought running through my head. You’re not sad or upset about this. You just want something out of this.  What is it I ask? Quietly out of the blue, Mr. Tanner started talking to Eddy.

 

“So you’re Eddy, the scammer of the Ed boys huh?” He asked. Eddy seemed lost in thought but caught up to task quite quickly.

 

“Oh yes sir! I think up a lot of our genius schemes, but they often kind of fall apart because of our audience’s indifference…” Eddy sounded so arrogant, so proud of himself and his ideas. Who says these kind of things to the dad of someone you indirectly hurt? Is this who the real Eddy was? Then when the car hit a stop light, Mr. Tanner looked back, right into Eddy’s eyes.

 

“So youre the incredible mind who thought of using the car?” He said, angrily and sarcastic. Eddy began sweating a little bit, producing not his conman-like smile but the nervous smile of a thief caught red handed.

“

Well, did you? Did you use the car?” Eddy was beginning to shake all over.

[Metal Snake]

These chapters keep getting better, great work!

[Minty Car]

Chapter 7: The Breaking Point

 

The fight was breaking out in the car was quickly escalating, as Mr. Tanner wanted an answer and Eddy wasn’t composed in any way to give something truthful and reasonable. The sweat was pouring down his face like a mighty river current and his face was scrunched up to the point where his chin almost looked deformed and weak. Mr. Tanner’s face was red like a tomato, but contained the intensity of an interrogative officer. And then just as it seemed like the lid was going to pop…

“HONK!” came blaring from the car behind ours. Looking up I could see clearly that the stop light had turned from green to red and that Mr. Tanner was unintentionally holding the line up. His face red changed from an angry red to an embarrassed such and quickly drove off ahead to avoid the driver and any further embarrassment.

 

From that point on the car ride was silent, but the mood in the car was undeniably tense like a dense fog. No one wanted to be the one who broke this for the reasonable fear of inciting even more rage filled retribution out of either Mr. Tanner or Eddy, and so it remained uncomfortably silent like an awful prison cell. Probably ten or twelve minutes after that faceoff in the car, we arrived at the hospital. It was as depressingly morbid and gross as it had been on the first day I’d had to come here, but I was starting to become greatly desensitized to it. A similarly disabled man was wheeled in, grossly looking, especially around his eyes. They looked so greatly ignored and allowed for a fungus-like substance to collect around his eyes almost as if he’d lived like a mushroom his whole life. A week ago this would have disturbed me, and I might have even begun to run away. But today, I just shrugged it off as one of the problems of the new reality we all had been dropped into.

We made it to the same reception desk as the first visit and just like the first time it was the same lady patrolling it. I had really hoped in the time since we’d left she’d have been reassigned or something to get her out of something she clearly wasn’t as skilled at in helping disgruntled and emotional people.

 

Today she seemed just the same, chewing on some bubbled gum and typing something on her computer, supposedly anyways.

 

“Hello sir, nice to see you again. Please sign here and you and you’re friends can be on your way.” She said, this time rather neutrally. Either she’d figured we didn’t want her act or Mr. Tanner had said something on the other times he’d been here. Either one seemed possible considering Mr. Tanner seemed to have a seemingly short fuse, although perhaps this situation was why. Either way we didn’t have to endure the receptionist any more than anyone should and we swiftly took the elevator up to floor three where the moment of truth was about to unfold.

 

XXX

 

As we made it to room 315, Mr. Tanner looked at his watch to see what time it was. “Alright, its 2:45 now, and I have to be back at my office by 4 to prepare for a hearing in the next week so you three have about twenty minutes before we need to go so everyone can get back in time. I’ll be waiting out here in the seats. If you guys are done before then let me know.”

 

Everyone nodded except Eddy, who signaled to ask a question. “What if we need more time?” he asked. Mr. Tanner seemed to be mad, but control his anger for the sake of the two of us.

 

“Well too bad.” He said, his mouth twitching in an attempt to hide his anger. They clearly had not endeared themselves to one another in their short time together.

 

After that, Mr. Tanner took his seat at the waiting seats, pulling out what seemed to be work papers. Then the three of us walked to room 315 and knocked on the door. We heard some muffled whispers behind the huge, metal door that was between us and the room, but after about a minute or so of waiting the door opened and the doctor from the original day stepped out. She looked pretty much the same as the previous visit, with a doctor’s suit. On the surface it looked bright and brand new with a fresh white, but looking around it revealed worn hems and cuff marks from use and days of sadness she had endured over the years likely. She had probably had it specially washed to hide the stains it probably had. Then she spoke to us.

 

“Hello kids. Before we go in, I want to make sure you all have the details on how your friend Ed has been doing recently.” She said. Her voice was quite soothing and soft, exactly who’d you want to tell you about something such this. Everyone nodded at this.

 

“Well Ed has continued to be unresponsive to any attempts to communicate with him, so we have determined he has remained unconscious. So it’s unlikely that anything you may say to him will not be hear or remembered when he comes back.”

 

I noticed how she said “when he comes back” instead of “if he comes back.” So many people would have said “if”, increasing the anxiety of those closest and most uncomfortable with this person to introduce the idea of life and death into it all. Instead I can tell she really cares about Ed and us, wanting this to work out for all of us. I didn’t want to show happiness or smile since nothing had really changed, but I did feel a slight bit so. This was not all she had to say unfortunately.

 

“Last time, one of you leaned onto Ed and hugged or embraced him. While I understand why, it did cause a slight decline in his vitals and his rib cage…” She stopped for a second. The details must have been a bit too graphic for her to mention to children. I was breathing heavily for a moment, knowing I was the one who had embraced Ed. I know I couldn’t have known whatever had happened would, but it was still impossible not to feel bad. She then finished by saying “well, it just moved a little and that’s not safe as you all can imagine.”

 

I didn’t want to imagine. My eyes watered up a little bit just thinking of the image of a sinking bone in Ed’s body, caused by my hug. I looked at Eddy, who just kind of turned away from me. I wiped my eyes, although they still seemed still pretty red I imagined as Eddy still couldn’t bear to look at me. It was almost as though he was avoiding any reason to be sad. He had barely flinched upon hearing all this. Was he so damaged? Or was it something else? I wanted to believe he was just struggling to take it all in, but something in my head told me otherwise. Something told me that his motives were less than genuine and just. But I couldn’t say anything now as it was all just conjecture. The doctor then let us into the room, but she patted me on the back as I went in. I turned around and she said to me.

 

“You’re alright buddy. I know you just miss your friend, don’t feel bad.” Her calm voice reassuring me.

 

And I felt better as a result.

 

XXX

 

As I stepped into the room, very little about Ed had changed. He wore a hospital gown over the usual clothes that he had worn the day of his accident. The bars around his bed were a bit taller and a touch wider to make sure he didn’t move in a way to aggravate his rib cage. It was the main area injured the day of the accident, along with the left side of his head. His head, outside of the marks around his eyes which may never go away, looked clean and considerably better than the first time around. The machine around his mouth was also removed, which told me that his breathing was at least improving if not better. Maybe it was just used during certain times of the day or something like that. It still wasn’t the easiest sight to see a completely unresponsive Ed and with no timetable for a possible recovery, but I was at least a little more encouraged then the time before. I looked around to see a down Sarah looking down towards her brother. I walked towards her.

 

“Are you ok Sarah?” I asked, although the answer was really rhetorical. It was to open the floodgates.

 

“I just want him to get better Double D. You know how often these things work out… or really don’t.” she said, saddened clearly.

 

She was unfortunately right. Many of those who entered comas never exited them, and the few who did took years, even decades, to come out of them. It was definitely a bleak situation, but the one thing I’d learned from oft absent parents was that hope should never be abandoned. It’s the reason I’m here after all.

 

My deep thoughts were soon disturbed Eddy’s actions. I looked up to see Eddy pushing down and through Ed’s unibrow. I quickly pulled him back and away, even briefly holding him to the ground. I was briefly determined to keep him down as long as I could. But I realized that here and now was not the right time and place, and so I took a deep breath in and out and got up. Eddy seemed briefly shaken up, but after briefly dusting himself off, he got up and put that unaffected smirk back on his face like a costume mask. Before I could do anything else, Sarah stood up in front of Eddy.

 

“What in the world is wrong with you Eddy!?” She yelled at him getting in his face. “You know what the doctor said before we got in here!” She continued to get closer the more she said, but Eddy just pushed her back to give him some space.

 

“Geesh give me a break!” He said, wiping a hand through his head hairpiece as if to appear cool. “I was touching him gently.”

 

“No you weren’t! You were pushing down his head! You never know what damage that could cause to his recovery! YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER THEN THAT!” her voice grew louder the more she said.

 

And then everything I feared came to be with Eddy’s next words.

 

“Recovery? Stop being a pansy and realize that he’s gone!” He said.

 

And at that moment, I lost it. Any sort of sensibility I had towards Eddy was gone and dead. I grabbed him by his neck and held him up in air, before bringing back down and only holding him loosely. I then turned to Sarah.

 

“Eddy and I are going to have a chat outside.” I said to her, emotionless.

 

XXX

 

I pulled him and put him down on a chair. I allowed him to breathe for a second before beginning to unleash my fury on him. Mr. Tanner walked over at that moment, as we weren’t too far away.

 

“Are you boys alright? Where’s Sarah?” he asked, seemingly distressed.

 

I looked right into his eyes. “She’s inside and fine. Eddy and I need to have a few words.” He could tell my seriousness as he promptly walked away. Eddy hadn’t moved since I put him down. I pulled his face up close to mine, so he could see the misery and pain in my eyes.

 

“I’ve known you for several years, and for many of those years you’ve found ways to disappoint me and discourage me. But up until now I never doubted you seriously. I believed if something happened to me or Ed that you’d be there for us. That’s what friends are for obviously. But throughout this past week, you’ve broken me.”

 

I stopped for a moment to get a reaction, all I got was his never ending shaking and trembling. I continued on.

 

“You caused an accident, although we could have found a way to figure things out if you were open and true with everyone. Instead you’ve run away from us all, and left Ed alone and to suffer for your mistakes. And me too, I’ve struggled with guilt. But what about you? Do you feel guilty?”

 

He didn’t try to respond, so I slapped him hard across the face. It left a deep red mark. “WELL DO

YOU?” I yelled at him. “I WANT AN ANSWER!”

 

“I-I-I don’t think-k-k I coul-d-d have stopped it!” he stumbled to me. “It was a freak twitch in the operation! I couldn’t help it.” He was quickly regaining his composure.

 

“Oh I don’t know Eddy, how about using a car in the first place!? I mean your idea of a flying refrigerator is just stupid and because of it our friend is fighting for his life, and he can’t even talk to his. He’s been robbed of his consciousness because of your greed and stupidity you brat!” I was red in the face, and there was no way anyone was going to calm me down this time. Eddy was getting angry too.

 

“Hey my plans and ideas aren’t stupid! I had a great plan that just glitched out, Ed was just a minor casualty. It hap-“I didn’t let him finish. I punched him straight in the gut and he fell hard to the ground. He was having trouble regaining his breath, and could barely stand. Even if he had gotten the point, there was no going back at this point.

 

“Go home Eddy! You’re not welcome here anymore! And don’t bother trying to talk to me ever again!” I yelled. He just stood momentarily before I yelled once more at him. “I said get out!” He looked at Mr. Tanner who was now just as agitated.

 

“Hope you got bus change kid.” He said. Eddy then limped away, walking down the stairwell to leave the hospital.

 

XXX

 

I walked back into the hospital room and saw Sarah staring at me as I entered the doorway. I’d cooled off finally having enacted my rage upon Eddy and while upset still, was no longer in danger of another vengeful rage. I walked towards the chair was sitting on next to Ed.

 

“Where’s Eddy?” she asked, her voice containing a hint of fear. I wondered if it was of me or the possibility of his return.

 

“Gone.” I said point blankly. “And he’s not coming back.”

 

She then took a deep breath of relief. “Thank God. I always knew he was a bad nut, but this was unbelievable even for him.” I breathed in greatly. She wasn’t just saying it as many people do after a tragedy, but she had always been in Eddy’s face or stood up to him, usually making the three of us pay. But it was refreshing memories a time like this. I looked down at Ed and saw him in what almost looked like a happy daze. I mean not obvious like a smile, but he seemed almost at peace in the position he was in.

 

“I know the doctor said he can’t hear us, but you think maybe he does by just the slimmest chance?” I asked aloud. I then turned to Sarah who was right in my face.

 

“Well if he can then, it’s good he can’t see this.”

 

And then she kissed me…

 

Meanwhile…

 

Stupid Double D! 

 

I knew I shouldn’t have said the recovery thing the minute I did, but Double D’s reaction stunned me. I didn’t even realize he had that sort of strength, to handle me as if I was nothing whatsoever.

 

Whatever. 

 

I don’t need him to be on my side, Ed will always be on my side if he ever gets out. I just worried about if that dad of his was going to find a way to make me liable. I can’t afford to lose money I haven’t even made yet. And it was a pretty jerk move of him to just leave me out on the streets to get home. No change meant I had to walk and it was a long walk. Rain made it even worse.

 

I lost track of much time I spent walking before I eventually walked past the jawbreakers shop. I so wished I could go in there and actually buy one, but that’s a problem when you’re family’s especially poor. Can this day get any worse? I thought to myself.

 

Just then Kevin walked out of the shop, and stared me down.

 

“Hey there dork.” He said. “You’re just the person I was looking for!” I was terrified of Kevin and just wanted to run away. But he grabbed me tightly before I could get anywhere.

 

“Just get on my bike and don’t say a single word dork!” He said right to my face. And so I got on with

Kevin forcefully, to somewhere I didn’t know, shaking greatly.