When I finally woke up, I was on the porch in broad daylight. With a frown I got up, I could have sworn I'd made it out into the yard… Wait, did Kevin abandon ship? I looked around, no sign of that bumbling fool… He just left me there! I was so mad I could kill him. Something was odd though… I couldn't remember leaving my barometer outside… or any of this equipment. Which was extremely odd, as I take stock in everything with great detail. Did Kevin move this stuff here to mess with me? It's quite the elaborate prank… There were several things off about my home as well. Mostly that things were in different places… I stood, dusting myself off. I'd go to school if it meant beating the shit out of Kevin for daring me to do something stupid… never mind that I actually did it.

I had just walked into my home when there was a knock on the door and at first I suspected Kevin coming to finally see if I was still alive. Upon opening the door I was met with the strangest thing… it was peculiar, I never knew Kevin owned a sweater vest… or that he needed glasses. What's worse is this stupid little red bow around his neck. He looked like the 'dorks' he tended to tease.

"What on earth are you wearing?"

The quip seemed to catch him off guard and he frowned. "What's wrong with it? This is how I always dress…"

"No, I distinctly remember your wardrobe including less… tacky things." I'd been hanging around Jimmy too much. "I suppose it doesn't matter…" I sighed. "What do you want?"

"Are you okay, Double D?" I flinched at the old nickname. No one had called me that since the accident…

"Are you trying to upset me? Eddward. Not Double D."

"Ah… are you sick? Maybe you should stay home…" He frowned and reached for my forehead but I snagged his wrist and he winced.

"Do not touch me." I didn't understand what had happened. Kevin was acting so strange… When I let go of him, I must've been too rough because I knocked a textbook from his arms. I went and picked it up… the book had "Kev" written on it in cursive, something I knew Kevin didn't know how to do… what's worse is the book said 'Property of Appledale High Library'.

"What the hell is this?" Now I was just shocked. If I were stupid, I wouldn't have figured it out yet but at this point I knew I wasn't in my home, I wasn't in Peach Creek…

The storm…!

I dropped the book and ran in, not minding the door like I would have. It seems whoever was here before was recording it and if their data was any good… Looking over it, there were habits through the margins that I recognised from when I was younger. So that's what happened… The notes were pretty spot on, unusual pressure in the air… humidity higher than normal storms… other such things that didn't really make sense.

I had been correct, there was a parallel universe and somehow that storm put me right in it. Kev walked up behind me, looking at the notes.

"So you did go out here… I told you it was dangerous, no wonder you're so off… are you okay?"

"Kevin." I spoke up and instantly he corrected me.

"Kev."

"Whatever. Anyway, I'm going to need you to believe me because I may need your assistance."

"Uh… believe what exactly?"

"I'm not from here. I'm from this place called Peach Creek in what appears to be an alternate universe."

He was quiet for a moment. "Didn't realise you were the roleplaying type…"

I lifted him by his collar. "I'm fucking serious."

"O-okay I believe you!" He yelped, smoothing the vest out once I'd set him down. "Besides… Double D can't lift me that high… So how are we supposed to get you home?"

"I'll be working on that… I don't suppose you'd skip class for this, so I will see you after."

He puffed up, seeming to be pouting. "Don't tell me what I won't do… I'll stay and help!"

"Don't be stupid. You don't seem like the type to skip class."

"Th-then you really don't know me!" He grinned but it seemed awkward and unsure. I couldn't help but smirk.

"Oh? And why do you want to help so bad?"

That got him. "I… don't know…"

"I suggest you figure out why, people need a reason to try hard."

"Don't insult me! I will help!"

I shrugged. "Fine by me." I was looking through the notes this Double D had taken.

"So if you're here… does that mean Double D is where you are from?"

Not looking up from the notes I gave a sigh. "It's likely. Or he was completely fried in transmission…"

"If that's the case then couldn't you die too?!"

I just shrugged again. "I suppose, but what am I supposed to do? Live someone else's life while I'm missing in my own world? Besides I have a Kevin of my own to get home to, I'll kick his ass for this…"

"Is it his fault?"

"Do you ever stop talking? You ask so many questions…" I chewed my lip, looking through a few more pages. Recreating the circumstances would not be easy…

"Jeez you're rude…" He muttered. "So what first then?"

"Shut up."

He yelped and went quiet. It took me a few minutes to come up with something and I wrote quickly on an empty page. It was around then I noticed he was peeking over my shoulder and I whipped around, leaving a long black mark on his cheek with the marker.

"Respect my personal space, if it wouldn't trouble you to not stick to me like glue." He glared at my remark and sat on the couch.

I finished a small blueprint type thing and muttered: "But I'm not the best with wiring…" By 'not the best' I meant that I tended to mislabel a few or would make steps too quickly. Pardon my impatience… but wiring tended to make me jumpy. I knew how to do it, but I'd much rather be up fixing the rest of the device.

Kev perked up and grinned. "I'm good with wiring."

"Are you?"

"First place in the Robotics Expo my club went to!" He was swelling with pride and I had to admit it was kind of cute.

"Good, then I think I have a use for you Pumkin'." I enjoyed the tiny yelp he made. I seem to have a thing for power… I'd need to speak to my therapist about this once I returned.

He stood and moved to see what I'd done. We discussed parts and procedures like it was nothing, like two friends would talk about a movie. It was nice to have someone who knew about the other half of my personality. With Kevin, sure we had a lot in common and did stuff together including loathing each other until there was nothing left to hate… but Kevin couldn't talk science with me. I rather liked this one for that aspect. We made lists of stuff we'd need for this project and he didn't seem to care that we weren't going to be in school for a little while. Though my Kevin didn't mind that, we'd usually be just goofing off and no more. With this now I could do something with someone who shared other interests with me.

It was sundown before we stopped for anything. He seemed so happy, not at all concerned with what had happened. Then again, this one came across as sort of naive. We sat on the porch and ate leftovers from Double D's fridge.

"So what if your friend is gone?" I asked.

"I hadn't really thought of it… I don't think I'd like to… I mean he's my best friend, you know? I just can't imagine he is dead…" Kev responded.

"Best friend huh? I suppose that's sort of what Kevin and I are… it's more of an extreme love/hate relationship…"

"Why d'ya say that?"

"We're always competing, pushing each other to the limit and on and on. That's how I got here… he and I were joking around, daring back and forth, each one getting more and more extreme until he dared me to step out into the storm." I sighed. Kevin was an idiot.

"... Well then it's not his fault like you've said."

"Don't tell me I'm wrong. If I hadn't done it he'd have made fun of me… that would have led into a full scale fight and I do so detest violence…" I leaned forward on my hands. "What about you and the other me?"

"Well I've known him since he moved here… and he was friends with the other two Ed's for years, still is-" I stopped him.

"What do you mean he still is?" Did this mean this world hadn't had the accident…?

"Well they're still friends…" Kev looked confused but I waved, allowing him to continue. "Anyway, it was around middle school when we were placed in the same AP classes that we actually got close. He's one of my best friends now."

"So he still talks to Ed and Eddy…?"

Kev frowned. "Well yeah… why? Don't you?"

"It's not possible for me to anymore… I don't like talking about it, let's move on. What about home life? Does he see his parents often?"

"No… in fact I believe it's been two years since they visited."

"And does your mother hit you too?"

"H-huh?! Not… my mother…" He didn't seem to want to discuss it.

"So then this world is only similar… not incredibly parallel… interesting…" I laid back on the ground. "If you would like to stay here tonight, I'm sure your friend wouldn't mind." I yawned.

"Um… thanks…" He fidgeted. "Does… the other me get hit?"

"His mother is an abusive drunk and his father is too wishy washy to stop it, claiming he could never hurt his wife…" He sighed. I saw him open his mouth and anticipating his question I returned quickly with: "My parents come around more often than two years but every time they do they speak ill of me. My habits, my grades… which is funny because my grades are wonderful, even still they aren't impressed." I got up. "Find a place to sleep. I'm getting tired." I didn't want to discuss my family anymore than that. Life would go on whether or not my parents loved me, whether or not they spent my college funds on their extravagant vacations and didn't take me with… There is more but I did say I didn't want to discuss it. So I crawled up into the bed that looked and felt so much like mine, but even the simple knowledge that it wasn't kept me awake for a little ways longer. Every so often I could hear Kev shuffling downstairs.

I am not sure where this is going quite yet but I have a pretty good idea. The next chapter of The Caste should be up soon so please don't worry about it or send me messages asking where the chapter is, I'm getting through it slowly. Remember school life is still a thing.

Remember to review! It really does keep me going!

RAFFLE
The winner gets to decide one major event that happens! To enter, answer the chapter questions as best you can. All entries that are at least a sentence per question will be entered. The events to choose from are the following:
More death
Love Triangle
Fall Out
(I'll elaborate on these TO THE WINNER so as not to create spoilers.)

Chapter Questions

1. Who do you think the antagonist will be?
2. Which pairings do you think will come out of this?
3. What do you like the most so far?
4. What would you like to see?
5. Do you think I'm messed up for needing to kill characters to write a good story?

Until next time my children~