Chapter 2
Marie didn't leave her bed for days. She called in sick to school everyday for a week. She couldn't handling seeing him, she couldn't handle seeing anyone for that matter. In her whole life, she had never felt as weak and broken as she did in this moment. Kankers don't let things people say get to them, especially men. But, this wasn't just any person, just any man; this was Edd, Double D. Her polite, gentle and kind Oven Mitt. Warm and safe. "Why would he say those things to me?" Marie whispered to herself as she hugged a pillow closer to her chest. "I understand that me loving him isn't really what he wants...but...why...he's never been that way before." She cried and rubbed her face into the pillow. She curled up into a tighter ball.
One sentence that Edd yelled at her stuck out in her mind. I hate you!
If sweet, harmless, loving Edd couldn't even see the good in Marie...then who would? Was there any good? These are the thoughts that stuck with her.
After a week, Marie's mother forced her to go back to school. Ms. Kanker might have not graduated high school, but she was hell bent on making sure her girls would. And she wouldn't let Marie get expelled for something as stupid as truancy. At least light the school on fire or something.
So Monday morning, Marie reluctantly pulled herself out of bed. She half heartedly put on her signature blue eye shadow and tried to make her hair look like less of a bird's nest. Then she got dressed in a long sleeved black shirt and a pair of jeans. She walked down the stairs of the trailer to meet her sisters fighting over the last pop tart.
"May! You ate all the other ones! You left one and I'm taking it!" Lee yelled as she grabbed the box from her sister.
"But Lee! I love pop tarts! You can't take the last one!" May rebutted, reaching for the box.
"You ate them all, you pig! You could at least let me have the last one!"
Marie couldn't even snicker at her sisters' banter. She just didn't care enough. She didn't butt in. She didn't say a single word. She just slung her backpack over her shoulder and moved past her arguing sisters.
"Yo Marie!" May called after her, "Who do you think should get the last pop tart?!"
Normal Marie would turn around and snatch the box away just to claim it as hers by taking a huge bite out of it. But this wasn't normal Marie. This was the broken and weak Marie. The Marie that had no more will to fight. Who knew that a boy could break her so easily. This Marie just kept walking, ignoring her sister's question.
"What the hell, Marie!" Lee yelled back.
Marie just kept walking with a dull look in her eyes. She had the look of someone who lost their will to live. The only emotion that even gleamed in her eyes was one of panic. This panic stemmed from being in school and seeing him. The boy who had the ability to break her with his words. The boy she spent her entire day avoiding. She didn't want to see him and she didn't want him to see her. She took every precaution throughout the day to completely avoid him. She knew if she was to see him, she would surely break out in tears. And as broken as she felt, Peach Creek High would never see her cry. Not over her dead body.
Edd didn't have a second thought about how his words affected Marie. Nor did he care. Why should he? She's been torturing him for their entire lives? And if she can't take a few harsh, but true, words then maybe she isn't as tough as she says she is.
Edd frowned as he looked down at the soiled paper that both had his name on it and a big red 'D'. Never, NEVER in his life had Eddward Pensky received a 'D'. Not even in gym! And it's all Marie Kanker's fault. Not only had she harassed him which lead to him not finishing his homework at his usual time after school but then the next morning, when it was due, she "accidentally" spilled soda all over it. The ink was smudged beyond legibility and it was stained an ugly brown colour. She had ruined his homework a mer ten minutes before it was due. He had hopes that his teacher would understand knowing how he always gets high marks and is always timely with his work. But no. His teacher just told him that is was an unfortunate turn of events. His spotless record was tarnished. Tarnished by soda and Marie Kanker.
"Yo Sock Head!" Edd quickly tucked his shamefully graded paper back into his bag before his shorter companion, Eddy approached with their taller companion, Ed doddling behind.
"Eddy. Ed." Double acknowledged his friends.
"Hi Double D!" Ed exclaimed, beaming. He really hadn't changed since they were children.
"Yes, greetings Ed."
"So, Double D?" Eddy questioned
"Yes Eddy?" Edd responded, uncertain on what the tone Eddy was using meant.
"I haven't seen the Kankers around lately…"
Edd chuckled darkly, almost sarcastically, "Are you complaining? Shouldn't we be rejoicing?"
"Double D! I need May to see the new comic I got!" Ed yelled with a mixture of excitement and panic in his voice, "She's going to love Super Diva Zombie Slayer! But I can't find her!"
"Yeah, Sock Head and he won't shut up about it!" Eddy flailed his arms, emphasising how annoyed he was.
"Oh no! Eddy! What if May gotten eaten by the zombies! May got her brains slurped out through a bendy straw Eddy!" Ed panicked and hugged Eddy tightly.
"Calm down, Lumpy!" Eddy pushed or more like attempted to push Ed off of him, "She's probably fine!"
"Probaby?!" Ed exclaimed, pulling Eddy back into an embrace.
Eddy continued to try to push Ed off of him, "Double D, we gotta find those Kankers!"
"Aww do our boyfriends miss us?" Lee's gruff voice boomed followed by a laugh.
All three of the 'Eds' jumped, "How the heck do you do that?" Eddy muttered.
Lee leaned down to face Eddy, "Let's just call it Women's Intuition." This was followed by her tapping him on the nose.
"MAY!" Ed ran over to the blonde girl, "YOU HAVEN'T BEEN EATEN BY ZOMBIES!" He scooped her up in his arms and squeezed her into a hug. May was the picture of happiness.
"So Lee," Eddy started, almost cautiously, "Where you've been?"
"Trying to figure out what the fuck is wrong with my sister." Lee responded with an edge in her voice, "She hasn't been right for the whole fucking week."
Eddy and Lee had become friends...no that's wrong they were more of aquatanices moving towards friendship. Would frenemies be the right word?
"Yeah and she won't talk to us!" May interjected, momentarily ripping her attention away from Ed.
"That's… weird." Eddy spoke slowly, glancing from Lee to Edd, who had a small smirk on his face that disappeared as quickly as it appeared.
Lee crossed her arms and blew a tuft of her curly, red hair from her face only for it to fall back into place, "Yeah she hasn't said anything since…" She trailed off before sharply turning her attention towards Double D, "YOU!" Lee stomped over to Edd before shoving him up against the lockers, "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO MY SISTER!?"
"Please release me, Lee." Edd spoke calmly and sternly. Very un-Edd like.
"NOT UNTIL YOU TELL ME WHAT. THE FUCK. YOU DID. TO MY SISTER!" Lee yelled in his face.
"Woah, Lee. Cool it, huh." Eddy said, actually very concerned that Lee was actually going to kill Edd right then and there.
Lee whipped around, still having Edd pinned to the lockers, "Look, shorty, your hat wearing friend of yours was the last fucking person to talk to Marie before she fucking lost it!" She turned back to Edd, baring her teeth, showing off her one gold tooth, "I need to know what the fuck he did to hurt my sister." she growled angrily.
Genuine fear clouded Edd's eyes. He thought Lee was actually going to murder him at that moment, "I...Well I…"
"You what?!" Lee yelled and slammed him against the lockers again, "What the fuck did you do to break my little sister?!" At this point, May was no longer paying any attention to what Ed was saying, even though he, himself had fallen silent. May stood with her arms crossed, glaring daggers into the boy pinned up against the lockers by her enraged sister.
"I just…" Edd stammered as he felt everyone in the small group's eyes glued on him, either in anger or horror.
"Edd, what did you do?" Eddy said shocked, not really knowing what to do or say or believe. Did one of his best friends...break a Kanker?
"I didn't do anything?!" Edd exclaimed through fear, "I just told her-"
The whole scene was cut off by sirens blaring followed by EMT's storming through the hallways, past the group and to a nearby bathroom. This bathroom just happened to be known as the "Kanker Bathroom".
"What the fuck?" Eddy slightly gasped, again, not knowing what was happening.
Before they knew it, the two EMT's where rushing out of the bathroom with a girl on the gurney. A blue haired girl. A blue haired girl whose hair was now slightly stained with sticky red liquid. They watched in horror as they rushed her out of the building.
"FUCK!" Lee yelled as she bolted after them, dropping Edd and grabbing May, dragging her behind her.
Once the two other Kankers were out of sight, both Eddy and Ed turned to look at their hat wearing friend in horror. It was silent for a few seconds before Eddy finally spoke, "Dude, what the fuck did you do?" Edd just stood there, picking at the end of his sleeve, a nervous habit he picked up throughout the years. Eddy stalked up to him and grabbed him by the shoulders, "Edd, what the fuck did you do!?"
"Oh, so she tortures me for my entire life and I'm the bad guy?" Edd shot back.
Eddy pointed down the now empty hallway, "What the fuck did you say to her?" Eddy spoke in a softer, more disappointed tone.
"I just…" Edd averted his eyes, "I just told her the truth."
"And what was the truth, EDD?" Eddy's temper started to flare up. Yeah, he wasn't the biggest fan of the Kanker sisters. And yeah they kinda tormented them but, he had grown kinda sorta fond of Lee. Not in a romantic way or anything but, like he liked having her around. He likes the banter. And May makes Ed happy. And also with May around, he didn't have to hear Ed go on and on AND ON about his stupid comics.
Edd's rare temper started to flare as well, "I TOLD HER WHAT SHE IS! AN UNLOVABLE MONSTER!" he seethed, sick of being accused and turned into the bad guy.
Eddy dropped his hands off of his friend's shoulders in disbelief, "What?"
"I told her how awful she is! How twisted and demented she is! How...how…" Edd was breathing hard through his anger.
Eddy's voice turned soft and his eyes grew sad, "She's still a girl...a human girl."
"NO SHE'S NOT! HOW CAN THAT...THAT THING BE HUMAN!" Edd yelled louder than Eddy had ever heard him.
"Dude, what the fuck…"
"What do you mean!? She says she loves me but then treats me like trash! Lee and May grew up and Marie just stayed a monster!" Eddy mumbled something under his breath, "What was that Eddy?" Edd asked in a calmer tone.
"I said YOU'RE SO FUCKING STUPID!" Eddy yelled.
"What?!" Edd gasped, taken aback at his friend's accusing outburst.
Eddy sighed in defeat, not knowing how to explain to Edd the things that Lee had told him about the middle Kanker sister. How she was the closest to her mother. How their mother would tell them if you love someone, hold onto them and force them to stay otherwise, they'll "fucking leave like you never even existed in the first place." And how Marie really took that to heart.
Marie's dad had a lot of issues. He was anxious and clinically depressed and some other issues that she couldn't remember the name of. He was the only one of their fathers who didn't leave like the others did. He left a little bit more permanently. Lee guessed that some of the mental illness stuff was genetic and that's why Marie can be the way she is. She was tough and confident, but there were times where she wasn't. She was good at hiding it from the world but she was bad at hiding it from her sisters. In short, Marie had a lot of problems that she kept hidden from the world.
And how could he tell one of his best friends that he fucking broke this already breaking girl?
Eddy just shook his head and stepped back, not knowing what to say. He turned around and started walking down the hall, pulling Ed along too, "Com'on, Lumpy. Tell me about your stupid comic."
"Eddy, Marie looked pretty dead." Ed said bluntly with concern laced in his voice.
Eddy stopped and turned to look at Edd, who was still standing by the lockers, frozen in place, "Let's hope to god she's not."
Hiya! I'm back and I wrote this and it's still really climactic but, it's kind of the point of this story. It starts at the climactic point and then it calms down and does the story mountain module that we all learned in like the second grade. Anyway, sorry for the ramble. Thank you for reading! I'm going to try to update...frequently…? Tell me if you like this! Please review...I sound really desperate but I love when people review :) Thanks again for reading!