From here on out, chapters will get a bit longer and, in turn, it may take me a little longer to write them. Thank you for reading, I hope you drop me a review and tell me what you thought of it.

Enjoy!

Update Note: Fixed some more stuff!

Chapter Four:

A Glimmer of Hope

"I can't tell you how much I wish we could shut up and smile."

Lee smelt something.

It was faint, but she could smell a pretty rank scent that seemed to linger around the whole trailer. It was a stench that was easily recognizable, as she had smelled it all her life, especially around her three fathers. But it had been a long time since she had detected the scent in the Kanker home. It was the smell of a lie.

The red headed Kanker had made it very clear when she had met her sisters that she was the alpha and that they were the lower class. If they said or did anything out of line, then they would pay the price. However, as they had gotten older and met the Ed's, she had grown a little more lax, letting them do whatever they wanted as long as they did not cross two lines: don't touch her ketchup in the fridge and never lie to her face. It looks like she had gotten a little too lax, but she had a pretty good idea who had crossed one of those lines.

It was a Sunday and seven-thirty in the morning, a combination which meant heaven for the older sister, at least till her sisters decided to get their lazy butts up. She was sitting on the couch, lazily flipping through channels trying to find something that would hold her attention for more than a minute. Unfortunately, she was having much luck in her endeavor.

"Why the hell are you up so early?" Lee turned her head and seen a very confused Marie, not having changed out of her pajamas yet.

"I could ask you the same thing." She said, her eyes moving back to the television. Marie went to sit on the couch with her, letting out a loud yawn,

"I barely got any sleep last night, had to smoke at least twenty before I could even shut my eyes." Lee looked over at her younger sister, just now noticing the bags under her eyes.

"Rough." She stated simply, looking back at the TV. Marie looked at her older sister out of the corner of her eye. Lee seemed very different in comparison to yesterday. When they were on their way to steal Kevin's bike, she had smiled and laughed all morning, seeming to be filled with infinite confidence. However, when Marie had "confessed" to "scrapping" the motorcycle, Lee seemed to have become more reserved, barely speaking a word the rest of the night. Marie growled to herself as she kept looking back forth from the TV to Lee. This whole situation was already making her bonkers, but her sister being a big baby about it was the last straw.

"Lee, what the hell is wrong with you?" She asked, throwing the pillow she was holding on the ground. The red head teen did not budge. "Is it because of what I did to the motorcycle?" Still no answer. Marie sighed, and began to raise her voice "So the motorcycle is gone, big fucking whoop!" She pointed towards the kitchen "I cleaned a week's worth of fucking dishes for it, with my bare hands! Isn't that enough?!" She yelled at the red head, desperately wanting to hear her say something.

Silence reigned for at least five minutes, Marie's sharp intakes of air after her outburst and the TV being the only source of noise in the living room.

"You should know better than to lie to me, Marie." Lee said, venom leaking from every syllable as she slowly turned to look at her little sister. The blue haired smoker recoiled a little at her words, but held her ground.

"What the fuck do you mean? I haven't lied to you!" She said, her eyes narrowing to a glare. The elder sister returned her glare with a chuckle.

"Do you think I'm fucking stupid?" Marie opened her mouth to say something else, but she was cut off. "You really expect me to believe that you would confess to something like that?" Lee stood up, looking down at her little sister, who looked a lot less confident than she did a second ago. "I hate to tell you Marie, but you're a selfish piece of shit, just like me and May. You would sooner throw someone under the bus than confess to something that would make me beat the shit out of you." Lee bent down, getting right in her younger sister's face as she waited for her to mutter even a word. "Now, are you going to be a good little girl and tell me the truth or not?"

Marie really, really wanted to disagree with her elder sister. But she couldn't. Every word she said was true. She was a cornered rat and Lee was a very hungry and very angry cat. The urge to confess was taking over her entire being as she remembered all the trouble that one event had caused her. Because of him, she had been forced to undergo a disgusting trial in order to make up to her sisters and she had struggled to even get to sleep. All because of…him. She just had to say it and all of her troubles would disappear. Lee would probably forgive her for real this time, they would go and retrieve Kevin's bike again, then Lee's plan would go off without a hitch. Just like she had told her and May yesterday in the lane.

Her lips quivering and her heart racing, she opened her mouth and was just about to form the words that would spell her freedom. Then, out of nowhere, a memory. A very specific memory of a seemingly insignificant moment flashed in her mind, causing everything in her brain to halt its course as it analyzed it. The setting was familiar; she was standing on the porch of her and her sister's trailer in what looked to be the middle of the night. Standing in the darkness about ten feet away was a very scared, yet smiling teenage boy. He wore an orange tee shirt, purple shorts and a black, white striped beanie. His knees were shaking and his eyes were filled with trace amounts of tears as they maintained eye contact. The eyes she looked into contained fear, yet as she dug deeper she seen a trace amount of gratitude in them as well. Then, he spoke two words. Words she had wanted to hear for a long time, deep down inside her blackened heart.

"Thank you."

Reality got back to her after she silently mouthed those words. Why did it mean so much to her? She had had no trouble yesterday torturing him along with his two friends before that encounter, so what did it matter? What had happened to the rush she had gotten just a few hours prior when she had seen the fear in his eyes as she closed in for the kill? That almost sexual feeling of having absolute control over a weaker being, the addictive blood rush as their pupils shrank; the realization of their absolute helplessness sinking in as their faces went white.

If she relished that feeling as much as she had…why did it feel so much better to hear those words? To take the heat for him and suffer in his place when she, as Lee said, would have usually ratted him out to save herself. Why did it feel so good? What the heck was wrong with her? Did some kind of mind control worm dig into her skull while she was guarding that motorcycle? That was the only explanation that she could think of. Regardless of this inner turmoil she was trying to wade through, she fixed her older sister with a glare, the two of them almost touching noses.

"Fuck off."

An uneasy stalemate took hold of the entire trailer as the two glared holes into each other's skulls. The TV had long been turned off in the middle of Marie's internal struggle, setting the whole trailer ablaze with silent suspense. Out of the corner of her eye, Marie saw Lee's fist ball up and start shaking, seeming to be preparing to knock her lights out. The younger sister rolled her sleeve up, balling her own fist as the two sister's foreheads touched. Then, just as blows were about to be thrown, Lee stood straight up, took a deep breath and stomped across the room towards the door, stopping only to swing the door open, almost breaking the already rusty hinges as she did so and slammed it shut. Marie, now left alone as the suspense in the room steadily decreased, simply took a deep breath of her own and gripped her forehead, seemingly trying to rid herself of her conflicting worldviews.

"Good morning world!" yelled a very enthusiastic Double D as he swung his bathroom door open, letting the steam that had accumulated after his morning shower flood out of room. The hallway echoed his words for a few more seconds and he chuckled, shutting the bathroom door behind him. He had not been in a mood as good as this since Father had let him clean the entire house blindfolded! Gripping the towel around his waist, the shower capped teenager made his merry way toward his room, humming a happy tune to himself all the while. It seemed unusual for him to be so positive, after all that had happened to him and his comrade over the past four years, it seemed like their luck would never turn around. The downright cruel way his friends had been treated seemed to hint at an eternal future of torture and humiliation, only halting whenever they tucked into their warm, comforting beds, most likely crying all the while as they escaped to the much better world of dreams.

But no more! Edd could not contain his smile as he opened the door to his room, taking a glance toward his work desk and setting his eyes upon his trusty notebook. The notebook that would solve all his friends' woes and perhaps even help the other kids with their problems as well, leading them all to a much happier life and bringing a sense of camaraderie to the depressing Cul-de-Sac. Heading to his closet, he picked out today's hat, shirt and pants from his very organized shelves. The only thing that wasn't organized or labeled in his room seemed to be the beams of the morning sun, lighting up the room rather nicely as the boy got changed into his usual attire. Immediately after getting dressed, he headed straight to his desk and opened the notebook, pulling out a small notepad as he read the contents aloud.

"Let's see now… "Sarah: She is short-tempered, very easily agitated and loves to bring harm and suffering to her brother as well as us." Oh dear, I believe that may need a re-write." Double D laughed sheepishly, just imagining the word of hurt Sarah would rain down upon him if she read that. He brushed it off though; while it was harsh it was the truth of the matter, as much as he wished it wasn't. He cleared his throat, reading on "Her motives may seem unknown, but I believe it is because she doesn't know how to properly express her love for her brother in a conventional manner, leading him to assume that she harbors a hatred towards him". Double D scribbled down some more notes on his notepad, making sure to add some bullet points for some solutions to the problem. A few footnotes here and there…and done.

He hummed to himself as he looked over his notes, taking another look at the page. He must have worked harder than he thought, as he still had bucket loads of information that he could jot down about the red headed sibling. It slightly embarrassed him that he could jot down this much information about a person he barely knew personally. Most of it was assumptions, sure, but these assumptions were based on some facts he had gathered after years of dealing with his abusive peers. He wished that he had gotten to know them personally, without the vitriol and the boiling hatred that seemed to surround him and his two companions. Then again, if he did know them personally, then there would be no need for this handy dandy notebook.

"I believe tackling Sarah first will be the most difficult. But, as they say, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Edd sighed as he read over everything he had written down. "A very, very difficult and mud covered step."

A few more minutes of writing down some additional notes, Double D got up and headed down stairs, contemplating his next action.

"Eddy is no doubt still in bed. Ed, on the other hand could be up and about." He said, scratching his chin in thought as he grabbed some orange juice from the fridge. As he poured himself a glass, he looked over at the clock on the over. "8:15. Hmm…Ed is usually up around nine and Eddy doesn't get up till noon." Edd went to his kitchen table, reviewing his notes one more time as he sipped his juice.

"Well, I have always told Eddy that it's healthy to wake up early!" Double D said with a giggle. After putting on his wristwatch and making sure he had fulfilled all of his morning's sticky notes, he stepped out the door, strolling down the street towards Eddy's house with notepad in hand.

"Gee Plank, sure is quiet around here right now isn't it?" asked a boy sitting on top of a fence, his voice being projected towards a piece of wood he held in his arm. The wood, unsurprisingly, said nothing, but its smile spoke a thousand words as to what it was thinking. Which was nothing. Yet the boy talked with him anyway, seeming to be able to interpret his silence. He put an ear to the mouth of the piece of tree.

"Yeah, I guess. But you always wake me up with your talk about…what was it again?" He asked, turning to the wood. He nodded after "hearing" what it said "Oh…it was that stuff again huh? You need to get your mind out of the gutter Plank!" the boy said, laughing loudly. He calmed down quickly and continued to observe his surroundings, looking at the dew that decorated the various objects and houses, giving them a shine as the sun shined down upon them.

"Remember Kevin yesterday, buddy?" He asked, recalling Kevin's lipstick covered face, causing him to giggle a little bit. "Yeah, the Kanker's are freaky aren't they, Plank?" Jonny gasped upon hearing what his wooden friend had said.

"Plank! You shouldn't look at them there! What are ya?" He asked, hoping down from the fence. He mumbled something to himself and saw a familiar figure walking down the lane.

"Hiya Double D!" He said, waving toward the beanie wearing boy, who waved back, smiling.

"Good morning, Jonny! Up and early I see." He said, stopping in front of the shorter boy. Johnny nodded and shook Plank.

"Yeah, no thanks to this bozo, always talking about stuff when I'm trying to sleep," Jonny leaned in close to the orange shirt wearing teen "It's usually naughty stuff though." He whispered, causing Double D to blush slightly and clear his throat.

"Yes well, Plank is getting at that age when he starts to get curious about that material." Edd said with a chuckle. Jonny laughed as well, suddenly becoming alert and turning towards his wooden pal.

"Plank wants to know where you're going so early." He said, pointing to the wood in question. Double D rubbed his neck.

"I was heading over to Eddy's house to discuss some of my thoughts, but I decided to go for a little walk first. After all, it is a beautiful morning and I did not want to spoil it!" Jonny nodded, finding it weird how happy Double D was. Usually he would be a lot more introverted, keeping to himself and just talking with his friends as he had been for the past two years or so. This change in behavior was strange, but welcome to the jovial, bald boy.

"You bet it is! Plank says he hasn't seen a morning this nice in four years!" He then looked at the wood "Oddly specific, dontcha think?" Edd nodded, looking toward the blue sky. The morning sun slowly rising over the horizon, painting the clouds and sky that surrounded it a light shade of orange tinged with pink. It indeed has been a while since he had seen a morning this beautiful. Almost symbolic, he would say. His thoughts then went to his notebook as he looked at his watch.

"Well Jonny, I better get going. Waking Eddy up this early is going to be trial in and of itself." He said walking away, waving as he made his way down the street. "Bye Jonny! Have a good day!" Jonny waved back.

"You too Double D!" Jonny said, stopping his waving when the sock headed Ed boy had rounded the block. He smiled; it had been a while since he had had a conversation like that with one of the Ed's. Unlike everyone else, Jonny never really lost faith in the trio of troublemakers. Even after four years of being scammed and jipped by them, he always knew that someday they would turn a new leaf. Just from that conversation alone, it looked like he had been right to hope, at least a little bit. He turned toward his wooden companion, rolling his eyes at whatever he had "said".

"No Plank, we are not going to Nazz's house again." He stated, his voice utterly deadpan as he walked down the lane "If you wanna do that stuff maybe you should start hanging out with Eddy...what do ya mean I'm a party pooper?"

Ed sighed as he looked up at his brick ceiling. Last night had certainly been an interesting one to the rather dim teen. First he had helped Kevin get his bike back, which had turned out remarkably well considering the fact that they had avoided the Kankers, which was no easy feat. Then he had come home and been blackmailed by Jimmy into getting a new brush for Sarah, which led to him being caught by Nazz, her giving him the brush and having a long talk with her about Kevin and stuff.

When he had come home, he was expecting nothing less than Sarah yelling at him for being late. Sure enough, she had started yelling as soon as he had come in, causing the two to reenact the routine they always did. Sarah would yell, Ed would protest and then his mom would side with her, just like always. However, things changed whenever he had presented the brush to her. Ed was not the smartest person in the world, far from it, but he could have sworn that when he handed the brush to her, he had seen her eyes light up for the first time in years. The last time had been when he had last played with her when she had been a baby, which seemed like centuries ago. Then, just as quickly as it appeared, the light vanished and she resumed yelling at him, forcing him to his room without dinner once again. How he wished that he could turn back time and live out those halcyon years again, back when Sarah did not have fully developed vocal chords.

He had not been awake that long, about maybe ten minutes or so and those minutes had been spent idly staring at the ceiling. Had this happened two days ago, Ed would have been severely depressed about what had happened, once again pondering whether his sister indeed loved him or not. However, he had taken Double D's words to heart; holding on to the hope that she did indeed love him and the small amount of happiness he had seen in her eyes last night gave him some credence to his "Sarah really loves me" theory. Another thing that had surprised him last night was that Jimmy seemed to have kept his word, something that had never happened in the history of his world. It looked like things were looking up for the ugly duckling.

He rolled over and sat up, letting out a loud yawn as he scratched his back. His eyes moved to the nearly broken wall clock that hangs near his door. He could just barely see the hands behind the broken glass, but it looked like it was close to 8:30. Getting up, he stretched his unused muscles and made his way to the door. He opened it slowly and peeked out; making sure that Sarah was not waiting outside with a mallet again. Luckily his depraved sibling was not on patrol, yet he remained apprehensive as he made his way toward the washer and dryer, where his clothes were stored every night. Irony knew no bounds when Ed was involved.

After donning his usual attire, he slowly crept upstairs, hoping to at least sneak some breakfast before Sarah got up. Yesterday's breakfast had been high in fiber, he had to admit, but Sarah's old brush was not exactly part of a nutritious breakfast. He did not encounter another soul as he made his way to the kitchen. He did not encounter any aliens either, nor a ninja, nor a giant chicken monster. Although he kind of wished he had. His foot was an inch away from touching the black and white tiled floor of the kitchen until he heard a familiar voice.

"Your hair looks amazing Sarah!" Jimmy exclaimed, making Ed nearly jump out of his dirty shoes. He quickly pressed himself against the wall, taking a small peak in the kitchen. Sarah and Jimmy were sitting at the table eating a bowl of Chunky Puffs, using Ed's spoons it looked like. Well, he was used to it by now so no use making a fuss. Sarah laughed at his compliment and twirled a bit of her hair.

"Yeah well, if Ed hadn't been so stupid it wouldn't have looked bad in the first place." She said, making Jimmy chuckle. Ed's face sunk a bit, the depressing thoughts coming back once again full force. However, after shaking some sense into himself, he cheered back up and continued listening to the duo of terrifying children.

"Well, at least he got you a better brush than before, right?" Jimmy offered, surprising the tall boy once again. Sarah scoffed.

"What, you're sticking up for him now?" she quipped, making Jimmy stutter a bit before answering.

"N-no, I'm just saying that he came through for once and got you an amazing brush. I mean, that's got to prove he isn't totally useless, right?" Jimmy said. Sarah sighed in defeat, saying something that Ed thought he would never hear in a million years.

"Yeah, I guess. Still doesn't change the fact that he's an idiot, though." Well, it was something he never thought he would here in a thousand years, anyway. His heart was in the middle of jumping for joy and his small mind, although rather empty, was buzzing with all kinds of happy thoughts. While it may not have been close to an "I love you", this small compliment was still leaps and bounds beyond what he had endured the past four years. What Double D said had been a true; she really did care for him! At least, a little bit.

In the middle of his silent happy dance, Ed heard what sounded like chairs being scooted and bowls being put in the sink, causing him postpone his dance of joy for a later date. Fearing what would happen to his skull if he was caught eavesdropping on her again, Ed quietly ran around the corner of the hallway and hid under the rug, peeking his shaved head out to keep an eye on the two.

"Have you got everything Sarah?" Jimmy asked, walking towards the front door. Sarah followed shortly behind him and dug around in her pink backpack.

"I think so, but I got to go tell my moron of a brother that we're leaving or else he'll call the police again." She said, annoyed, setting her backpack down. Jimmy giggled.

"Yeah, I remember the last time he did that. How many times has he done it now?" Sarah rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"About five times this month already." Jimmy cringed and coughed nervously.

"Wow and it's just a week into summer vacation." Sarah nodded and began her walk down the hall towards the basement.

"You're telling me." Ed blushed in embarrassment at the memory of having to explain to his mother why a bunch of burly men with guns were standing outside their house five times in a row. To say that she was unhappy would be putting it lightly; he had never seen a person's face turn more than fifty shades of red before. Wait, was Sarah getting closer?

Ed gasped and began to crawl as fast as he could under the carpet towards what he thought was the basement. It was a good thing that he had read "Batapillers! The Crawling Menace of the Night!" or else he never would have learned the ancient, yet simple to master concepts of crawling really, really fast. It had only taken him a month to learn the proper techniques and he only went through five new rugs in that time span, as opposed to the usual ten. His mind in full Batapiller mode, Ed crawled like one of the ancient masters, knowing which fork in the very long rug lead where, recognizing each dust bunny and dead skin cell in the carpet that lay beneath the soft flooring. Eventually, he reached the end of his very dusty journey, taking a deep breath when he resurfaced.

He then immediately took off down the stairs, quietly shutting the basement door before he did so and went into his room, cracking his door open a little like it had been before and flopped onto his bed. He pulled out a random comic from under his nasty, worn out purple mattress and casually pretended to read it. A few seconds later, Sarah appeared in his doorway, looking surprised to see him awake.

"What the heck are you doing up so-" She began, only to be interrupted by Ed.

"Bird watching!" He called out randomly, flashing a toothy grin towards her as sweat ran down his face. Sarah stared at him for a second, totally confused by his outburst. She then groaned.

"Listen idiot, I'm going over to Jimmy's house so don't freak out and call the damn cops again, got it?" She said, making Ed cringe a little at hearing his sister cuss. He nodded fervently.

"You got it Sarah! No man in blue will be waiting for you!" Ed said, continuing to flash his yellow teeth. Sarah rolled her eyes, suddenly wishing she had not gotten rid of the muzzle she used to put on him.

"They better not be, or you'll get more than a grounding next time." She said, turning to leave. Ed reached his hand out, his heart begging him to yell what had just come to his mind.

"Sarah, wait!" his younger sister stopped, turning around and glaring at her idiot brother as she stomped toward him.

"Did you just yell at me? Do you want me to tell-"

"Be careful, okay?" Sarah stopped her yelling and looked at him, seeing concern deep in his eyes. Confusion took hold of her but she shook it off pretty quickly, that small part of her mind that guilt tripped her, which she usually ignored, now clawed its way to dominance. She turned away from him slowly, looking back once more at her brother over her shoulder.

"Yeah, see ya." She said, walking away toward the steps.

He kept his ears open, hearing her shut the basement door and, eventually, heard the distant sound of the front door closing. He was home alone once again. This would usually be the time he sulked around in his room, hoping that his friends would come to his rescue and comfort his ever worsening depression. However, for the first time in what felt like an eternity, a smile graced his lips in that usually depressing spot this day. Before he could ponder more about his problems, however, a very important friend made its presence known with a loud grumbling sound, causing him to halt all the working cylinders in his mind.

"Ed is hungry." He said, guffawing as he looked at his rumbling stomach. He got up, set his comic down and made his way to the kitchen for a very delicious breakfast.