Dreamless Nights

"MOM!" the harsh sound echoed, bouncing off the walls in the hall and down two flights of stairs before it finally reached the basement room Ed sat contently in. The large boy jumped at the cross sound, and quickly threw the book he held in his hand into a satchel, in turn throwing the satchel next to a pile of comic books. Ed jumped from the chair he had been sitting in, threw his green jacket somewhere on the ground nearby, and ran to his bed- making sure he hit the pile of old comics on his way, so they covered the old satchel.

Now he was safe, hopefully. He clenched his eyes as tight as he could, forcing a few tears that threatened to open them. Ed sat like this, his head covered in an old, stained comforter until the sound of rushing feet upstairs could no longer be heard. Ed got out of his bed, and made his way to the newly formed mess on his floor. He picked up the jacket he was so fond of, and neatly placed it in his drawer- a rather out of character move for the boy to make, even he had to admit that. He dug through the pile of old off-white paper until his hand hit something hard. As his hand came out, he smiled to see that he was holding a rather large novel, the title reflected in his eyes- 'Shakespeare's Complete Sonnets, 1-154'. His large fingers skimmed through pages until he saw the small number 68 in the bottom right-hand corner, just where he left off.

Only about ten minutes later he was on the same page, so he set the book under the seat of the chair and went back to his bed. He hated this, having to wait until everyone was asleep to read- left with no light ever since his T.V had been taken away on punishment. "Why" he asked himself outloud as he rolled over under his sheets, facing a picture of him and his two closest friends on a nightstand. "Oh Yeah", he answered himself- like usual. Of the three boys in the glossy picture, the one he focused on was the most standoffish, pushed off to the far left of the other two boys. He couldn't do that to Double D, he worked so hard to remember all of the odd facts that Ed had stored away naturally. Edd had so little pride to begin with, what would this do to him?

Ed never really slept anymore, he sat awake on his bed and thought. The little rest he did manage to get was in between the deep-rooted conflicts he had to solve for himself so late at night. Sometimes he would wish he could just end this, one way or another. He couldn't stand always acting like a total idiot, but he couldn't stand to hurt his friend either- after all, the attention wasn't nearly as important to him. But the only other way was to, well he tried to not think of that way out.

But every now and then it slipped into his mind, when he saw the glint of a knife or heard a car backfire that sounded like a gunshot, but he silently scolded himself for thinking it. No, killing himself might bring his nightmares to life.

He could remember meeting Edd when they were young, poor Double D was so lonely. He was shy, and scared off easily by what others might think- so Ed gave him a friend that wouldn't threaten him. Without Ed, Double D would lose the little self-confidence he had, and Ed couldn't do that to him.