Repercussions
The warm water was refreshing as it went down his back. In fact, the first thing he did when he got home after saying goodbye to his friends was head straight to the shower, not because he was a clean freak, but because he felt like it. Of course, not showering for over 24 hours doesn't help either. Then again, showering is a good stress reliever.
After a few minutes of washing, he turned off the faucet, grabbed his towel, and put it around his waist. It was a long day. A long couple of days, actually. It all started out so well, so hopeful, but then a disaster caused him and his two friends to flee town. To make matters worse, the scam that ended up in disaster was his idea. Yes, he was Eddy, the man with the plan and the mastermind behind the worst scam gone wrong in recent memory. Heck, they executed the scam on another street. Thankfully, only four of the kids that got trapped in it knew where they lived and they were the ones that went after them. Yes, they fled town and managed to set things right somehow.
The whole thing confused Eddy to no end. One day they were running out of town, fleeing for their lives or at least their dignity and then the next they managed to make peace with the very ones that chased them out in the first place.
Eddy walked out of the bathroom in his yellow towel. His parents weren't even home. Since he had been gone overnight along with the rest of the kids they probably wondered where he went.
If they only knew…
Eddy walked into his room, which was a lot cleaner than when he left it. Eddy knew his mother had been in there.
He put on his clothes and looked around.
There was no sign of his magazines, the ones he got from his brother. That was probably a good thing. He wouldn't have been able to look at them the same after how the whole thing with his brother panned out that morning, how he hurt him, humiliated him.
Eddy shuddered at the thought.
He would have to thank his mom when she got home.
Now what? Eddy asked himself as he plopped on his bed and stared at the ceiling.
Kevin had been planning on having the Eds over that afternoon, but his dad said no since he had skipped town without letting him know or getting his permission. He told them that he would do what he was planning as soon as he could, probably in the next few days, but there were no absolute guarantees.
He hated that.
Then again, Kevin was true to his word, most of the time. In fact, the more Eddy thought about the times he wasn't, the more he realized that it was because of their scamming. Yes, the thing he did to try to gain friends was ultimately the thing that kept him separated from everyone else. The more Eddy thought about their previous scams and the outcomes that they reaped because of them, the angrier he got, not at Kevin, but at himself. True, Kevin did have his jerk moments, but they could have been averted.
Eddy needed something to do.
Looking back at his reasons for scamming, Eddy realized that he only did it to copy his brother. His brother had friends, but Eddy remembered them all pretending he didn't exist after he left. His brother's best friend Eric wouldn't even mention him, another friend, Chuck, changed the subject as soon as he heard his name, a girl named Trish would practically yell at anyone who brought him up and Millie, well, she would just start crying. It didn't help that she dated the dirtbag at one point.
Of course, looking back, Eddy wondered just what his brother did. Heck, nobody ever talked about it. Would that treatment have carried over to Eddy and his friends if they wouldn't have run across Eddy's brother and gained the sympathy of the other kids? Where would the Eds have ended up going?
They wouldn't have had anywhere to go. Heck, they had gone pretty far down south along the coast, about fifty miles or so. They would have had to have found some way to support themselves.
Eddy's stomach growled, causing him to remember the one thing he hadn't had since yesterday, food. Yes, they would have had a hard time getting necessities like food and shelter. Heck, they were lucky it hadn't rained.
Eddy thought about it as he walked downstairs to pour himself a bowl of cereal. He thought about how Edd exploded on him and Ed when they faked sinking in quicksand. Edd was right, they were fugitives and Ed and Eddy weren't taking it seriously enough. Heck, Eddy thought about what would have happened if Edd had left and gone back to the cul-de-sac. It probably wouldn't have been pretty, especially since there were kids other than Kevin, Nazz, Jonny and Rolf who had gotten trapped in the complete farce that was the "ultimate scam".
They were just lucky they didn't go after them like the four.
Eddy shuddered thinking about that while he poured the milk, put the bottle back in the fridge, picked up the larger than usual bowl and put it down on the table. Then he started eating, putting his spoon in the bowl to scoop up some Chunky Puffs and then putting it in his mouth. He then chewed the cereal and swallowed it. Then he put his spoon in the bowl again, repeating the process.
Scamming was like that, only it took him longer than a few minutes to stop scamming. It was a vicious cycle from beginning to end. First Eddy would get inspired, and then he got the others to get in on the scam. After that, it was a matter of setting up the scheme. Finally, the scam either went bust, worked on the rarest of occasions, or in the worst case scenario, went totally wrong in the worst possible way.
It took an instance of the latter to finally snap the three of them out of the vicious cycle they were in. Would Eddy scam again? The more he thought about it, the more he didn't want to.
It was made worse by how his brother was the one who got him into scamming in the first place all those years ago. Heck, the scamming was what caused Edd to refuse their friendship for years after seeing Ed eat a television set caused him to get sick to his stomach.
Finally, a little over a year ago, Edd finally joined the other Eds. He was still pretty uncomfortable around the other two, something that Eddy noticed when Edd walked into his room for the first time before that sprinkler party Nazz had a year ago, refusing to sit down anywhere. Then there was the response when the brainiac saw the swimsuits they were going to wear to the party.
"They look like napkins."
Eddy chuckled at the memory and almost choked on a spoonful of chunky puffs. After a few seconds of coughing, he finally got himself together and continued eating. Just a few bites later, he was done.
Now he had to figure out what else to do. All this thinking was giving him a headache and he had already thought about everything there was to think about. Maybe. Who knows?
Then Eddy realized something: he still had a few things that he inherited from his brother. For instance, there were several books that Eddy felt were word of god before the whole thing fell apart that morning. Eddy walked into his room and looked around for them. He also found a few magazines lying around that he inherited from his brother as well that his mom didn't throw away and so he proceeded to pick those up and upon looking at the contents of one of them, he felt seriously ill.
That was when he decided to take those things out to the trash, which he promptly did, walking out of his bedroom door into the backyard and around to the trashcan. He didn't want his brother in his life anymore.
Eddy thought about something else for a second. What about the mess that was left behind after the scam yesterday? Eddy knew that if the other kids who were stuck in the scam found him, he'd be dead meat, but he walked out of his backyard and down the cul-de-sac, eventually reaching the lane of the other street.
There wasn't even a sign of it.
Not a trace.
Then again, all the damage caused by him and his two buddies driving a car through the second story of his house was gone, completely repaired so what did he expect to see.
The thoughts of the kids from outside the cul-de-sac that were trapped in the scam potentially watching him made his skin crawl so he ran back to his house as soon as he could, rushing around to the back door that led into his room and then proceeding to shut it. He immediately locked it and ran to the front door, making sure it was locked.
Something kept on coming up in his mind. Then he remembered his parents' door. He ran into his parents' room and locked it too, looking around.
He was sure they'd be home any minute.
He had never been so terrified about anything in his life other than maybe the Kankers. As he plopped onto his parents' plush dark red king-sized bed, he wondered what the three of them were doing. He thought about it some more and vaguely remembered them dragging his brother into his whale-shaped trailer to perform any number of unspeakable horrors.
Of course, Eddy's brother deserved it.
Maybe.
Then again, the trio of girls only went as far as forcibly making out with them, hypnotizing them into believing they were dogs, forcing them to do chores, and coercing them into an elopement that wasn't even legal anyway. Heck, after Eddy finally found out where babies came from, he was glad the sisters didn't make him do what normal, loving couples usually did on their wedding night. The thought of that made his stomach churn.
Eddy remembered the whole incident with Jimmy and Sarah asking that all-too-common question as he rolled over on his side. Not just him, but every kid in the cul-de-sac, save maybe Nazz and Rolf, got quite the education that night. Heck, if Eddy's brother making up some horribly ridiculous story about babies forming from belly-button lint was incredibly mind-numbingly dumb, Eddy's believing it was even worse. Heck, Eddy remembered seeing pregnant women before and getting told that they were going to have a baby. The fact of the matter was ultimately that he believed anything his brother said, no matter how stupid.
Eddy hated it.
Still, going back to the Kanker sisters, there was the question of what was going to happen next. Maybe if this thing with Kevin worked out and they were friends with the whole cul-de-sac and more, possibly even with everyone from outside of it, assuming they forgave the Eds for their crimes, they would have strength in numbers and the Kankers would never pick on them again. Eddy hoped that would be the case, especially since the girls were downright repulsive. Chances are the only reason they went after the Eds in the first place was because of their outcast status making them easy to pick on.
At least Eddy hoped that would be so. Of course, Eddy had no idea how everything would pan out. Heck, for all Eddy knew, there could be more Kankers. True, there were only three Kanker sisters however there could be cousins that lived outside the cul-de-sac. The Kankers did own Peach Creek at one point, after all.
Of course, the more Eddy thought about it, the more he realized that it was kind of stupid to think that way. For one thing, he hadn't heard about anyone else with that last name. True, he didn't know much about the family, but that didn't mean that he should make up all these wild and crazy ideas. It was completely pointless.
Besides, even if there were more Kankers, the Eds would still have strength in numbers due to being with the other cul-de-sac kids: Rolf, Kevin, Nazz, Jonny…
Jonny? Eddy remembered the incident, of course, but…
Eddy sat up with a disturbed look on his face. "Oh, crap."
Jonny was, as much as Eddy could remember, still at Mondo-a-go-go. True, the whole thing with Jonny showing up when he did to beat the snot out of the Eds was unexpected, but it wasn't completely uncalled for since, unlike the other kids, he hadn't seen Eddy's mistreatment or heard his confession. What really was uncalled for was the beating Melonhead received upon finishing his job. Yes, everyone in the cul-de-sac except for the Eds and Jimmy went and beat the living tar out of the kid, who at times was just as much of an outcast and nuisance as the Eds were.
Eddy felt sorry for the guy: all alone several towns away. Of course, Eddy had full confidence he would come back. Still, what if something like that pushes him over the edge?
What if he had gotten pushed over the edge? Eddy didn't like to think about that. What if the Eds had gotten fed up with the treatment that the others inflicted upon them to varying degrees? Heck, Eddy realized how if he hadn't been scamming, they would have most likely been neutral players and not complete outcasts.
Now Jonny, what did he do to deserve outcast status? Eddy couldn't think of anything other than the aura of general weirdness that the kid gave off and how he was friends with a piece of wood that he swore was alive. That may be it.
Maybe having friends would help wean him off of it and bring him to normalcy.
Eddy was going to invite him along next time he had something going on. He smiled at the thought and walked out of his parents' room, eyeing the computer desk that his father used, the nightstands with lamps on top of them, the dressers. There really wasn't much to it. Of course his parents were packrats but they put most of their stuff in the attic.
As Eddy walked out, he heard the garage door start to open. Now was the moment of truth. He was going to tell his parents everything, about the scam, about the flight out of town, about how Edd almost left, and about how they ran into his brother of all people.
Derek.
Eddy winced at thought of his brother's ineffable name as it went through his head. He took a deep breath as he stopped in front of the door to the garage, waiting for his parents to open it.
There was no turning back. The future was coming and there was no stopping it.
He could only embrace it.
Image his surprise as tears came down his face just before the door opened. He couldn't look at it.
"Eddy?" he heard his mom ask, "Is that you?"
Then he felt her arms around him and he hugged back, trembling and trying to say something.
"Mom. I'm sorry about yesterday. It all started when…" He told her everything.
Eddy got off easy. Edd was the same way and Eddy called him later that night. It turned out that since his parents were out of town, they didn't even know he was gone.
Then there was Ed, who came home and got yelled at by his parents for taking Sarah out of town without their permission. They called him a bad brother and all that even though the Kankers were technically the ones who took her out of town. He was grounded and confined to his room. Speaking of that room, his parents used his being gone as an opportunity to completely clean it out and paint it white, something that Ed was not fond of. They also had plans to force hygiene on him somehow.
Kevin's mom was ultimately the one who picked up the kids. She was upset but waited until his dad was home to finally figure out what kind of discipline to give him. Basically, he was grounded for a few days from TV, video games and the like, but as soon as his grounding ended, he had plans to invite the Eds over, which is exactly what he did.
Rolf's parents celebrated his safe return. Strangely enough, due to their cultural bias, they couldn't punish him for it. Heck, they weren't even angry and instead had a feast. At the end of the feast, Rolf was completely stuffed and could hardly move. However, the parents got angry as soon as they found out that Wilfred was still at Mondo-a-go-go. They proceeded to drive all that way to pick him up from an animal shelter.
Nazz's parents grounded her, but only about as long as Kevin since she usually had good behavior. As soon as that ended, she went and got hair extensions and the works to restore her previous beauty.
Sarah got let off easy. She felt bad about it though and begged her parents to be lighter on Ed. It didn't work.
Jimmy's parents were elated when he came back home safe and sound, practically smothering him in the process. He didn't get any punishment once he told them about the Kankers dragging him out of town. Of course, he left out the fact that they were going to follow the other kids anyway, but oh well.
As for Jonny… well… he hitched a ride to Peach Creek. When the person who picked him up turned out to want to kidnap Jonny for ransom money, Plank moved of his own free will, kicked the person out of the car and over a cliff, and then proceeded to drive the car himself all the way to Peach Creek. Anybody that saw him driving went and got drug tested as soon as they could. This included the cops who reported him.
Of course, Jonny went on to become the Gourd after he got home, but you already knew that.
As for the Kankers… well, they ended up disappearing along with Eddy's brother. Nobody knows what happened to them. In fact, their missing posters got plastered all over several towns along with wanted posters for Eddy's brother. Some theories include Eddy's brother getting out of his stupor and either killing them and getting rid of the bodies or running off with them to some foreign country, the most common of which being either Thailand or the Netherlands. Nobody knows why. After that whole thing, Mondo-a-go-go ended up getting closed down because somehow it got damaged beyond repair shortly after the kids left. A common theory for that consists of otherworldly monsters. Actually, that's just Ed's theory. Everybody else says that Eddy's brother just lit the place on fire.
About two months after the Mondo-a-go-go incident, Eddy stumbled upon a video of him and his brother while he was searching through his family's movies so that he could have all his friends over to watch something. The video consisted of his brother holding him as a baby and laughing. He didn't recognize the setting, assuming that it was from before they moved into their current house. His brother was about nine years old.
"So, how's Eddy doing?" He heard his mom ask.
"Great, mom. I think he said a word."
"What did he say?"
"I don't know, mom. He was speaking Chinese or something."
His mom just laughed. From the looks of it, Eddy was about a year old. Both boys had full heads of black hair, too. After that his brother let him down gently on the ground and he started walking.
"Wow, mom, I didn't see him do that before."
"Eddy! You're walking!"
"Yeah, Eddy's walking. That means I can take him with me to go play with my friends and stuff."
"Eddy…"
The tape ended abruptly, but it showed that his brother was kind before. Tears flowed down Eddy's face as he wondered whether there was any good still remaining in his brother. He hoped there was.
Sometimes, all you could do was hope
A/N: Please review.