Mystery on Ed Street
Chapter 4: No way out
The Eds found Rolf in the parlor. He was observing a couch while Johnny and Plank were examining the walls. "Rolf, Sarah has disappeared" Double D said loudly.
Rolf turned around and looked at the Eds. "So, has not Rolf's prediction come true? Jimmy, Nazz and Sarah have disappeared" Rolf said with a mean look.
"Yeah, sorry we didn't believe you" Eddy said.
"No harm done, Ed boys. For now, however, we should forget our mistakes and focus on finding the kids" Rolf said with encouragement.
"But we've already lost four kids. How are we gonna find the rest?" Eddy asked.
"Well, perhaps we need to stick together from now on" Rolf suggested.
"That's a good idea. I don't want to lose anyone else" Double D said.
"First we should look on the second floor, because we've checked most of the basement, 1st and 3rd floors" Rolf said.
The kids ran up the stairs. They looked around the 2nd floor's large bedroom. "This house is enormous. It's probably the biggest one in the cul-de-sac" Double D said to Eddy.
Ed was looking at the dresser's mirror. "Who's that handsome fella?" Ed asked his reflection.
"Ed, when you get a brain, see if they'll throw in some glasses too" Eddy commented.
"What's that Plank?" Johnny whispered to his wooden friend.
"Look where?" Johnny walked into the hallway, went down the stairs and didn't see anything.
"What do you mean you were pulling my leg?" Johnny merrily asked Plank. Johnny saw a board with a female face lying on the stairs. He picked her up, which made the stairs turn into a slope with an opening at the bottom of the staircase. He fell down screaming helplessly. Johnny, Plank and the other board with a face fell into the opening, and then the stairs returned to normal, closing them in.
"Johnny, where'd you go now?" Double D asked. He didn't see any sign of Johnny, so he rushed back inside the bedroom.
"Guys, Johnny and Plank are missing!" Double D said.
"Great, like we didn't have enough problems" Eddy said quietly.
"Now we are the only ones left" Rolf told the Eds. "I will make sure that nothing happens to you Ed boys!" Rolf promised.
"Thanks Rolf" the Eds said in unison.
"Let's go to the kitchen to talk" Rolf said.
"Uh, yeah we'll be right there, Rolf. You can go ahead" Eddy said. Eddy waited until Rolf was out of earshot to talk again.
"Okay, I think Rolf is behind this" Eddy said.
"Why do you think that?" Double D asked.
"Because we know it's not us, and all of the other kids are missing, so it must be him" Eddy explained.
"That doesn't make sense. How did make everyone vanish?" Double D said.
"We don't know. We don't know how anyone disappeared!" Eddy exclaimed.
"True. We should just keep an eye open. None of this makes sense" Double D said to his friends.
While the Eds were talking, Rolf was looking around in the kitchen.
"Perhaps there's a reason for this. What could it be?" Rolf asked himself. He walked into the parlor. On one of the stairs' lower floorboards, Rolf saw an Urban Ranger form.
"What could this be doing here?" Rolf said to himself. When he picked it up, the floorboard beneath him flipped under him, and he was hanging by his nightcap, which was caught on a nail of the floorboard. He was grabbing it, but his hands slipped, and he fell into darkness. The floor flipped over with his nightcap on it. A few minutes later, the Eds came out of the bedroom. They didn't see Rolf in the kitchen.
"Great, now we're alone!" Eddy screamed.
"This is growing dangerous. I'm leaving" Double D said. He tried to open the door, but it was locked.
"Eddy, where's the key to the door?" Double D asked nervously.
"I don't know, Kevin probably has it" Eddy replied.
"Oh my, we're trapped!" Double D screamed.
"Hold on, maybe we can get out of a window" Eddy said. The Eds tried all of the windows on the first floor, but none of them opened.
"Maybe they're open upstairs" Double D suggested. They went upstairs but the windows were all locked on that floor as well.
"We could try the 3rd floor" Double D suggested.
"Double D, we wouldn't survive if we jump 3 stories down" Eddy pointed out.
"But if we can find something that might help us climb down, like a blanket, we won't have to jump" Double D added.
"The only bedroom that has a blanket is the one on the 2nd floor" said Double D.
"If we can use the blanket to climb down, we might make it" Double D finished. When they got the blanket, the Eds realized that it was only 6 feet long.
"There's no way this would work" Eddy said.
"I have an idea" Double D said. He picked up the few clothes that weren't locked in a closet, and then he attached them to the blanket. He tied it to a cabinet near the window, and held on to the bundle of clothes. He threw the rope down, and started climbing.
"Come on Double D, you can make it" Eddy told him. Double D climbed to the bottom of it, but he was still 20 feet off the ground.
"Come on!" Eddy yelled.
"I can't, Eddy. It isn't long enough!" Double D cried out.
"Try to make them go further by pulling on them" Eddy said. Double D pulled with all his strength, he went 5 feet closer to the ground, and then the rope acted like a bungee cord, throwing Double D back towards the 3rd floor. His pull made the dresser fall out the window onto the gutter, and Double D landed inside barely.
"You okay, Double D?" Eddy asked.
"I'm fine" he replied while panting.
"Then we better go" Eddy said. They started to walk out when Double D felt like something was holding him back. He turned to see a sticky residue on his rope sticking to his one-piece pajamas.
"Um, Eddy, I can't move" Double D said.
"What, you want to stay?" Eddy asked. He noticed that Double D was starting to hyperventilate.
"No, my pajamas are stuck to the rope" Double D said. The dresser was beginning to break through the gutter.
"Quick, take them off!" Eddy ordered. Ed giggled at what Eddy said, but stopped when Eddy looked at him sternly.
"But..." Double D began. They heard the gutter breaking off. Double D looked out the window to see it snapping.
"Oh fine!" Double D screamed. He quickly threw off his pajamas, leaving him in his underwear. The Eds watched as the dresser fell of the house and hit the ground with the clothes attached to it.
"Great, now I'm nearly naked, and we're trapped!" Double D yelled.
"Calm down, Double D" Eddy said. Double D was still angry and sat down. Eddy put his hand on his shoulder.
"I'm sure that there's a way to get out of this" Eddy assured him.
"How, Eddy?" Double D asked.
"The windows are locked and the doors are locked, so unless there's another opening in the house, I don't know how we can get out" Double D said.
They returned to the parlor. Ed noticed Rolf's hat on the staircase.
"Hey, Rolf's nightcap!" Ed exclaimed. Double D rushed over with Eddy.
"It's just like the story Kevin told us" Double D said.
"What?" Eddy asked him.
"First we found the engraved initials, now we discover a piece of clothing from Rolf. Maybe Kevin is behind this" Double D said.
"How could that be? Didn't Kevin also disappear?" Eddy asked.
"Well, who else could it be? Rolf was the only other suspect I had, but now he's gone" Double D said.
"Actually, I guess anyone here is a suspect" Eddy said.
"Exactly, Eddy" Double D said in reply. "Everyone has disappeared, so the culprit could be anybody! However, we can't leave without the key, so if we find Kevin, maybe we'll be able to get some answers and a way out of here" Double D said.
"But we already looked for Kevin" Eddy yelled.
"No, Eddy, we were continuously sidetracked every time somebody disappeared" Double D lectured. Eddy hated when Double D was right, but he agreed with him anyway.
"Well, I guess we could try looking again" Eddy said.
The Eds walked down the stairs, preparing to search for Kevin.