Marie sat with a grave face next to Edd's bed, her eyes puffy and red from crying but also hung heavily from exhaustion. She'd been this way for two days and it being a Monday was doing nothing to better the mood. The winter chill on the window had even succeeded in bringing the temperature down in the room a degree or two. But it didn't matter, Marie didn't notice such trivial things anymore.

"I'm so sorry, Edd." She whispered to herself for the millionth time. She knew it wasn't her fault, she knew it. Yet she still carried a heavy conscious just as a witness. She had just opened the truck door for Nazz when she heard a heavy clang and a darkened feeling overcome her. She turned around to see him, falling and slumping on the floor. Her heart fell along with him and she cried out his name. She recalled how he didn't stir, no matter how many times she shook him, no matter how many times they called him, and no matter how many IVs were placed into him.

He hadn't opened his eyes, his beautiful green eyes. He could hardly breathe, let alone awaken from his slumber. In the two days she had been here, all she had felt was bitterness and grief. What could she have done differently to avoid all this? Had she not gone, Nazz would've gotten raped and more than likely scarred for life. That was something she wouldn't wish upon anybody. But Edd, the true victim of the situation, was to be punished instead? It should've been someone else. It should've been her.

"No, no, no," Marie cringed, her fists clenching in her lap. She couldn't take this. She had only begun talking to him, but now, now it was as if her precious good was taken away. In a way, she was addicted to him, she would never go crazy over him but she was crazy for him. The only comforting thing about the whitewash, sterile room was the sound of the heart monitor. It was the only constant about this situation, the only thing she could rely on hearing. If it were to stop, all hope would be lost. She needed to be reassured that wouldn't happen and when it beeped, it was another moment without an enormous burden.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Marie was so in tune with the beats; she couldn't tell when someone had carefully opened the door. The figures crept on the wall, taking the room in as a whole, with its contents, and not walking straight up to the sleeping boy. Marie was a watch dog, allowing few to go near. But there was nothing in her power she could do to keep them away.

"How's he doing?" Eddy asked, his hands up as if to calm her if she was startled. He took slow steps towards Edd, with Ed lagging behind, intrigued at the sight of his sleeping friend.

Marie thought she could lie, just as she had to others, but she couldn't find it in her too deceive his two best friends, "Not so good. He hasn't moved a muscle since that night." She replied hoarsely.

She shifted her body weight to another leg, as her leg was growing heavy, and found her eyes back on Edd's face. The other Ed's were on the other side, considerate to her as they still allowed her to view him.

"Kevin's in custody, but we aren't sure for how much longer," Eddy said, clenching his teeth as his fists settled on the bed's rails. Marie felt her stomach sink a little, that punkass was supposed to be in jail.

"Why isn't he being tried already?" Marie asked, moving forward in her chair.

Eddy's frown was now well sketched into his features, "They haven't gotten in contact with Edd's parents. The charges are still up, but unless we hear from them soon, he could be walking out soon, since he's still a minor. Since you're the only witness, it's even harder."

Marie felt her nails dig into the armrests, the cops didn't believe her.

"The possibility that Marie Kanker was associated with the party causes concern with the present statement due to the fact that the witness was in shock and under possible intoxication at the time Eddward Marx was attacked. Basically fancy lingo saying they can't trust you alone." Eddy said, mocking police officials.

Marie clutched the armrests even more, had she not pushed Nazz into the car, she probably would've been able to see the same horrific scene that Marie had. All they needed was one other witness to confirm Marie. It was just that nobody wanted to come forward because they were scared or were so drunk that they weren't taken seriously.

"What about Nazz's sexual assault charges?" Marie asked, biting her bottom lip with enough force for her to taste a small amount of iron.

Once again, Eddy shook his head in disgust, "She dropped them."

Marie's eyes widened to a near quarter size, "What the fuck do you mean she dropped them?!"

Eddy shrugged, his mouth opening before another voice spoke up in his place.

"She's scared of Kevin and what he'll do if he's found guilty." Ed said, still looking at his friend on the bed.

"What would he do in a cell? She practically just gave him the key out of the cell!" Marie screeched, her nails opening the fabric of her chair. The Ed's were mindful and never looked directly at her; instead they remained fixated on their sick friend. Though they remained calm in the tense room, their eyes showed as much fury as Marie was emitting. Even Ed, the ignorantly blissful kid, had his eyebrows scrunched and his mouth in a frown.

"Double D sure wouldn't like this," Ed gathered, his tone not idiotic but merely stating a fact.

"I have a question, why are you here Marie?" Eddy spoke without a hint of rudeness. He just wanted to know.

Marie sighed, her grip on the chair lessening, "I'm sure you guys have heard the rumors?"

Eddy nodded, "We're at the bottom of the totem pole, but yes, now we have."

"We just… we wanted to see who started it. From all of this, I guess we can all agree that it is that scumbag." Marie said, her teeth locked in a tight clench, at this point they began to throb of pressure.

Eddy shook his head, displeased, "Clearly, but he hasn't been punished for it."

Marie had nothing more to say, the conversation only dragging her deeper into the unstable, emotional pit she was. They had fought the day before this happened. Once he fulfilled her wish of coming, he was almost knocked dead two minutes later. Why? Why did she do this? Why couldn't she just ignore the rumors? It nearly cost this dear boy's life. What made it worse was that it only seemed like her and the Eds cared. His parents hadn't called or visited, Marie hoped Nazz was sunken in her own sorrows, and nobody else had called or visited, aside from her sisters. Even a news team had arrived, but Marie blew them off, because they were leaches only looking for action in this small town. Well, they wouldn't be getting it from Double D.

Oh how she hated just about everybody.

Her eyes travelled to Edd's face once more, it was scary how calm he looked. She just hoped he would be okay.


"…and the derivative would be 24x squared plus 3. Any questions?" The teacher asked, looking amongst the crowd with a meter stick in her grip. Edd scribbled down these notes, even though he already knew the material. He loved calculus as much as he loved to clean,

And that was saying something.

Double D raised his pen in the air, "Yes, ma'am? Can you explain why the constant doesn't appear in the new function of f'(x)?"

The teacher smiled, pleased at the question, "Sure, Eddward, well you see the constant…"

Edd worked quietly, absorbing the information with near child-like glee. Yet he felt like he had been in this class a long time. He glanced to a wall, trying to find a clock, but there seemed to be a lack of one. He shrugged it off, his notes still being jotted down, he would be released at the sound of a bell that would eventually come. Still, Edd moved his line of vision to the opposite side, hoping for a sign of the time. He had Anatomy next. As he glanced around, he couldn't help but find his fellow classmates strange. They all seemed to forget their notebooks and they only beheld pencils in their still grip. Some made movements with their hands, as if to take notes, but none had paper. For an advanced class, they all missed the essentials.

Another thing that came to Edd's attention was the fact that every other student but he had this black, hazy film surrounding their features. He couldn't get a good look at anyone's face. It was a funny feeling in his stomach to realize this but he remained calm.

"If that's all the questions, I'll be passing out the homework now," the teacher spoke with a suddenly appearing stack of paper in her hands. Double D waited patiently until the packet had plopped in front of him. Happy as he understood everything in front of him. Eager, he wrote his name and scanned the instructions .Laziness then seemed to hit him at full blast that next moment though, as he developed the most exhausted feeling he had ever felt and his eyelids suddenly weighed thousands of pounds. Pausing, he shook his head. What was going on?

He fell to the floor, scrunched up and unable to utter a word. Where was he? Who was he? His eyes widened desperately, hoping someone would come to calm him, to heal him.

No.

The shadows stayed in their chairs, still scribbling pointless nonsense, completely unaware of the boy on the ground. Double D twitched, his muscles aching and his body becoming hot. He couldn't move, he couldn't move!

Why wasn't anybody helping?

The tears welled up in his eyes as he drew in desperate breaths. His lungs seemed to be disintegrating inside of him. He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe.

HELP ME.

His insides seemed to be stopping, each function delayed and done. He waited. He wanted his heart to stop. He didn't want to feel. He didn't want to think. He felt as if he was being burned at the stake with thousands of pitchforks pounded into his body.

"It seems we have a problem here."

Double D knew the voice was addressed to him, but it didn't sound scared or worried. It sounded like mock anticipation.

He focused his pleading eyes on the teacher, the tears rolling down them with no shame.

Help me.

"I can't do that."

Please, no one else can see me.

"When has that ever been a problem for you? You're constantly ignored by your peers and your family, this is nothing different. "

I'm dying.

"So what can I do? That's up to you."

How can I end this?

The teacher smirked in amusement, "You can either wait this out for eventual death or…" the teacher paused, squatting down to be face to face with Double D, who was still withering in agony, "you can wake up."

Wake up?

"Wake up."

Wake up.


"Please, wake up," Marie begged again, her hands covering her face. She was sitting in the waiting room still. It had been over a day since Double D's vitals dropped to near fatal levels. She was there when it happened.


She'd been sitting there, listening to her music, reading a book but focused on the boy in front of her. Then, she heard beeping so loud, it ripped through her own music, which was on the highest setting. She threw the book down and ripped the headphones out, not caring the damage. She rushed over to him, trying to coax him.

"What are you doing?!" She yelled. Quickly, she reached to the other side, where the emergency button lied.

She pushed the button repeatedly, knowing they would rush after one push, but she couldn't stop. Time was slowing around her and she knew she was stuck.

Click.

Click.

Click.

She was sure that she had pushed it about 200 times before nurses and doctors rushed in. They pulled her back from the patient, and a nurse pried the button from her hands.

"Sweetie, come with me, we have to go."

Marie came back and pushed her away, "I can't."

"You don't have a choice-"

"I'm NOT leaving, lady!"

The nurse backed away and seemed to look at Marie. She titled her gaze upward for a second before her chin settled back down. Marie backed away from her and walked into the arms of another nurse, a man. He locked her within his arms as Marie realized her mistake and started to flail.

"Ma'am, calm down-!" The man pleaded, his arms nearly starting to suffocate her, "Tracey, the sedative NOW!"

Tracey looked unsure and afraid but she very carefully retreated from the room and within moments returned. She carried the sedative with careful fingers as she approached Marie.

"Get her still, Ashton!"

"I'm trying!"

Marie flung her legs out, which Tracey barely dodged, and brought the force back to Ashton's knee. He screamed from the pain but still held onto her. He slouched onto Marie as he tried to move her, her arms hitting him and objects around them. He put her on the wall, with one leg trapping her two and his hands pinning hers onto the wall.

"Trace, now!"

Marie felt a sharp pain in her arm, but it was soon clouded away. The panic around her seemed to fade and her crazed emotions seemed to calm.

"I'm sorry, miss."


She woke up in her bed that morning, confused, her body ached from not moving for so long. Her sister's tried talking to her but that was just a waste of time. She had to know he was safe.

"Uh, excuse me?" Marie heard a tender voice say. She removed her hands from her face and looked up.

"Do I know you?" Marie asked, she had never seen his face before but his voice…

"I'm Ashton. We… met yesterday."

"I nearly blew out your knee." Marie recalled, her red eyes taking in his features. She hadn't gotten a chance to see him since he was behind her. He had shaggy blond hair and his eyes were a golden brown.

He scratched the back of his head uneasily, "Yeah, it's okay."

They stared at each other in an uncomfortable silence before Marie spoke again. "I'm not going to apologize."

"I wasn't expecting you to. The reason you haven't been suspended is because I wouldn't allow it. "He said, returning some of the sass she had dished out.

"When can I go see him?" Marie asked, unimpressed by his Good Samaritan traits.

"Soon," Ashton smirked, "I gotta say, I like your spunk, kid."

"My name is Marie," Marie shot back, her eyes narrowing.

"My apologies, Marie," Ashton said, his smirk still on his face. He put his hand in his pocket, scrambling to find something in it. With a satisfied sigh, he pulled Marie's iPod out. "I have your book at my desk."

Marie eagerly grabbed her music, "Thanks, I missed it. I usually can't sleep without it playing at night, but I was occupied by something else last night."

"You didn't cooperate, it was required that we sedate you." Ashton said matter of fact. "It wasn't like you didn't get your winning punch- kick in."

"Eh, can I get my book back?" Marie asked, trying to change the subject.

Ashton frowned, replacing the smirk, "But I wasn't done reading it."

Marie became interested, "You like that book?"

"Well it didn't help that you dropped it at an interesting part!" Ashton smiled once more, "You got good taste."

Marie couldn't help but smile a bit back, "In that case, keep it, I've already read it about 10 times."

"Thanks, I'll be sure to give it back when I'm done, promise."

"So Ashton, why are you talking to me?" Marie asked, wondering at what caused his visit.

"Well, since you're practically the only one that shows up for him, I figured you should be updated. Now I could be fired for this, mind you, but this is what I feel I must do," he replied, taking a seat next to her.

He looked over to her with a sad smile, "He was in critical condition last night, as you know. Turns out that… that his organs were beginning to fail. Now the doctors, remarkable guys they are, stabilized him but we're worried that this may happen again."

Marie felt her fists clench up, but Ashton saw this. He carefully grabbed her fist and pried apart her fingers, "Don't make me sedate you again, please."

"What happens if he doesn't wake up soon?" Marie asked quickly, her mind beginning to jumble up.

"… He could die."


God, aren't I just horrible? Updating late then leaving this for you to think about? I'm sorry about updating late, but, hey, it happens. I'm also trying to update my other stories, if you've ever read those. So, what do you guys think? Should I wake him up? Should I let him die? I know the answer, but you won't, not unless you review. If you don't then it takes longer for you to really know the answer. I'll see y'all (I'm from Texas, but really it also just take so much more effort to say you all!) later.

Review, friends, review. Review like Edd's life depends on it! Oh wait... It does.

Nobody kill me. Or stalk me. That'd be great.