So I lived through finals! Now I will have a week of relaxing, writing, and playing Left 4 Dead before I make my way toward Tokyo, where I hope to waste vast amounts of money that I don't have on random Asian junk.
Thank you everyone for your reviews, they really cheered me up while I was freaking out about my schoolwork. All your comments made me smile!
And ShadowsCorpse525...if you're a dirty pervert for liking this fic, then I must be SATAN for writing it!! My soul has been so defiled...It only gets worse from here, kiddies.
"But MA!" Eddy screamed over the phone, "I just wanna--"
But no, she says, this isn't for you to deal with, she says, this is a grown-up matter, she says.
Eddy eventually slammed the receiver back down on its pedestal with a KA-LING and threw himself on his bed, clawing at the bedsheets and shrieking into the covers with ill-disguised rage. Who did they think he was? He could deal with whatever they could throw his way, and then some! At least, he was pretty sure. He had never actually had to deal with whatever they could throw his way, much less then some.
Word around the Cul-De-Sac was all the parents had been able to visit Double D in the hospital. Unfortunately, none of the children were allowed to see him, leaving them to stew in their own confusion and worry.
Eddy flipped over on his bed, squinting at the bright lamplight above him. He couldn't understand why his parents had forbidden him to visit Double D in the hospital...this was his friend they were talking about! His friend, lying there in the white room with all sorts of tubes and needles and breathing apparatus hooked up to him...at least that's the way Eddy pictured it. Because GOD FORBID he actually go and see.
It had been a good two and a half weeks since Double D had shown back up, and it seemed like only two and a half seconds that Eddy got to see him before the injured boy was strapped into a gurney and carted away in a screaming ambulance. What he remembered most about that day were the colors...how vividly those red and blue lights shone through the gray and the rain. How white Ed's usually yellow-tinged skin was, bloodless with worry and the dim understanding that something beyond awful had happened. The small brownish-red stains on Ed's shirt and jacket, where Double D had pressed against him for warmth and support and so many other things that he must have needed but they could not provide.
Worse than not having Double D home was the absolute confusion his return had caused the kids. What had happened to him in the three months he had been away? Where had he been? What had he been doing? They were children, and innocent, and in that innocence could not fathom the horrors of what had happened. But they knew it had been something drastic, to leave the boy so wounded and empty. And their parents refused to tell them what had happened, except that "he was hurt very badly".
Well, duh.
He slid off the bed and marched into the foyer. He looked back and forth, his face scrunched up in the effort of deciding how to spend the rest of his day. Solemnly, he trudged to the window that looked out into the Cul-De-Sac, and planted his face firmly against the cold glass.
His plan was to wait until his parents got home. Then the moment they opened the door, he'd assault them with questions about Double D. Guerrilla warfare, baby!! They'd be so caught off-guard that they'd have no choice but to tell him what happened!
He didn't have to wait long before the window rattled and he jumped, terrified to see another face pressing against the panes from the outside. It was Ed, the idiot, grinning and bouncing from one foot to another. His mouth moved in excitement.
"I can't hear you, Lumpy!" Eddy grumbled and wrenched open the front door, poking his head outside, "What is it?"
"Eddy, Double D is back!"
"What?" he hopped outside, his head whipping back and forth, "Where? I don't see him!"
"At home, Eddy! Angus my lucky fish told me," Ed proceeded to pull the rancid fish corpse from underneath his shirt.
"...I thought you got rid of that, Ed. But is Double D really back from the hospital? For real?"
"As real as the carbuncles on Dad's toes, Eddy!"
"Well c'mon, Monobrow!" Eddy slammed the door to his house shut and grabbed Ed by the collar, dragging him toward Double D's house.
His room was dark, and oppressive in its darkness, but he would have it no other way. He had found upon his escape that lights now hurt his eyes, and the two or so weeks in the hospital had been almost unbearable with the bright whites piercing every nerve in his corneas.
He burrowed deeper into the covers, holding them tight against his body for protection. Protection against what, he didn't know.
The bangs coming from the door downstairs didn't faze him. There were knocks, and yells, and loud voices and screaming and talking and shuffling...
And he was in total blackness. He didn't know if he had been knocked out or blindfolded, or both, but he felt a throbbing pain in his head and couldn't tell if his eyes were open or not. He dimly registered voices above him, and tried to use some of that Honor Student concentration to focus.
"Jesus, this is the kid you couldn't pass up?"
"Yeah, so? What's wrong with `im? I thought he was cute."
"We got enough kids right now! It's hard enough keepin' this operation under wraps without another one...jesus. Fine, let's take a look..."
He tasted a finger, thick and dry, probing his mouth.
"Tch, those teeth is in bad shape."
"They ain't in bad shape, it's just a little gap! Some people like that kinda thing. Other than that, they're fine."
"Don't get all defensive on me, we're keeping him, ain't we?"
Clammy hands roamed all over him, in places that would have made him blush had he been fully conscious.
"Nice body, nice skin...cute enough face, I guess. He's a virgin, right?"
"Shit if I know."
The smell of cigarette smoke.
"Must be. Anyway, his first customer will have to pay extra. The hat's charmin', but it'll have to go."
"What the hell?!"
"Oh Jesus fuck! Looks like someone did a number on this kid already. All right, we'll let `im keep the hat on. For all our sakes. That's gonna affect his value, for sure."
"But I did good, right?"
"Quit fishing for compliments, I ain't here to babysit you. Unless you wanna yank off your trousers and put yer ass in the air for customers too."
"I'll pass."
"Figured you would."
And he slipped back into darkness, and back into his room, with the warm covers and the familiar things that brought him no comfort. The knocks downstairs grew louder, and he was sure he could hear a voice screaming his name.
Downstairs, Eddy had had enough.
"That's it. Big Ed, break down that door!"
"For truth and honor!" Ed snorted and backed up ten paces before running at the innocent door with all his might, the impact resulting in a shattering crack of the door unwillingly separating from its jambs. Ed lay in a heap among splintered wood in the living room. Eddy grinned and stepped over him.
"Good work, Ed. Quit being lazy, get up."
They made their way up the stairs, and Eddy couldn't help but note the disgusting absence, once again, of Double D's parents. Ed laughed like the doof he was and practically leapt over Eddy and lunged toward Double D's bedroom door, snatching at the knob. He stood, confused and tugging at the handle, when he found it wouldn't turn.
"It is locked, Eddy," he pointed out.
"Yeah, yeah," Eddy responded and took out a straightpin which he kept in his pocket for just such an occasion. He jammed it unceremoniously into the small hole in the center of the doorknob, and was rewarded with that ever-satisfying 'click'.
He threw the door open.
"Double D!" he peered into the dark room and saw the unmistakable form of his friend huddled on the bed, "hey Sockhead. Why didn't you answer the door when me and Ed were knocking? Ed busted it down. I told him not to, but the big lug just can't help himself. It's that damn rev...what is it? Reversed psychowhosits?"
Double D just sat on the bed, wrapped in his protective cover of blankets, and stared at them. Eddy rubbed the back of his neck, feeling as if he had intruded on something private.
"So how ya been, Sockhead? We wanted to visit you in the hospital, but you know...them adults, they kept giving us shit about how we were too young to see you or something...stupid...um...you look better...I mean, your bruises are almost gone and stuff, right? You...uh...why're you here in the dark, anyway? Your lights broken or something?"
Eddy was painfully aware that he was waffling, and it wasn't made any better by Ed nervously wringing his hands behind him, or Double D's uncharacteristically blank stare. Even worse was the boy's silence. This was the same kid who could rattle off about Isaac Fig Newton for twenty hours if someone didn't shut him the hell up. But now, it seemed all he could offer was that dull, almost perplexed gaze.
"We missed you," Eddy offered in a small voice, staring down at the carpet and nudging it with the toe of his sneaker.
"Oh Double D!" Ed exclaimed, "we were so worried!"
He rushed toward the boy and scooped him up in a tight hug. Double D remained immobile for a moment, then hesitantly patted Ed on the back. Even Eddy could see Double D was highly uncomfortable with this physical contact, so he yanked on Ed's jacket and scowled.
"Get offa him, Lumpy. He's delicate an' all, remember?"
Ed sniffled and gently set Double D back on the bed. The three boys stared at each other for a long moment, as if unfamiliar with each other. Eddy didn't like it. He felt like he was meeting Double D for the first time. This was not a cherished childhood friend that sat staring on the bed in front of them, this was a stranger, with his dark eyes and sallow skin and the hospital bracelet slipping off of his spindly wrist.
"Right...well...uh...me an' Ed gotta go. I told Ed I'd uh...clean the gravy out of his tub."
"But Eddy, I like my gravy."
"Shut up, Monobrow. So uh...we'll see you later, Double D? We'll call you or...or something."
He performed an awkward half wave, half salute and dragged Ed away yet again, down the stairs, over the ruined door, through the snowy driveway...
"Eddy, why did we leave? We didn't even get to hang out with Double D."
"Somethin' tells me Double D don't want to hang out, Ed."
And he wondered, among other things, if he ever would.
Long chapter is long! For me, at least. I have to say, the part of this chapter I liked the best was where Eddy tells Double D they missed him. AWWWWRR.
I hope to produce at least a couple more chapters before I leave for Tokyo. As always, reviews and comments are much appreciated! Thank you for reading, I apologize for being sick in the head.