AN: Last chapter! *Frowny face* So here, obviously, things come to a close...and we learn what Jackie's face looks like under her hood! And a little about her past too. Well, enjoy, and review.
Disclaimer: If I owned Ed, Edd n Eddy, then there wouldn't be any reason for me to write fanfiction now, would there?
I sit quietly in my room, staring blankly at my KISS poster on the wall, listening to the talking outside.
"Hello? Yes, I know Mrs. Kanker, you told me already, I can't tell you how sorry I am. Yes, I'm sorry, of course I'll pay for your daughter's hospital bill! The knife? I don't know where she got it, but I can assure you, from now on I'm going to keep a VERY close eye on her!"
In between screwing random guys, you mean? I think bitterly.
"Alright, yes, goodbye!" My mom hangs up the phone, and I can already tell I'm in for hell as she approaches my bedroom door.
"Jackie?" she grabs at my doorknob and struggles to get it open, but is unsuccessful, since my door is locked. Like it's been for the past 3 hours.
"Jackie O'Malley, you open this door right now!" she struggles with the doorknob some more, and pounds on the door with her fist once.
"You can't stay in there forever!" she shouts. "I always knew that you'd bring me nothing but grief and pain! Now everyone knows just how rotten you are! If that girl dies, you'll be a murderer. The cops will come after you. And I won't protect you from them."
I just curl even tighter into myself, huddled in the corner of my room. It doesn't matter what she says. Nothing matters anymore. If there has ever been a moment where I've wished that the Earth would swallow me up and I could disappear from existence, it was now. Sure, I've done some bad stuff before, but nothing as bad as this. I've pulled my knife on people before, but I've never actually stabbed anyone. Except for now. I sigh deeply. In that moment, I really wish that I could just die, that my mom HAD aborted me like she keeps saying she should've. I'm so numb right now, I can't even cry.
Suddenly, I hear the doorbell ring. My mom goes to answer it, and when the door opens, I hear many voices at once.
"Who are you?"
"No, don't!
"Are you nuts?"
"Eddward, please, don't!"
"You listen to me this instant, young man!"
"Please, let me through!" At that last voice, I can actually feel my dead heart quicken a little. Double D.
"I'm a friend of your daughter." He continues. "May I see her, please?"
"Eddward, I thought I told you to stay away from that girl!" his mom says.
"Yeah, no kidding!" Eddy says. "I mean, you saw what she did earlier!"
"It's not worth it, Double D!" Ed sobs.
"You sure you want to risk it?" I can practically see the smirk on my mom's face.
"Enough of this! Eddward, we're going home right now! That girl is dangerous!"
"I DON'T CARE! I LOVE HER!" My heart quickens even more. He-He loves me? I get up slowly as everyone continues arguing, and walk slowly over to my door. I reach up slowly and unlock the door, turning the knob. Everyone stares at me as I open the door slowly. Double D's mom glowers at me.
"Well, if it isn't the little murderer herself."
"About time you came out and faced the music." My own mom says, looking at me disdainfully.
"D-D?" Double D looks at me curiously.
"Yes, Jackie?"
"Can I speak with you, please?"
"Absolutely not!" Double D's dad pipes up.
"He's not interested!" his mom adds.
"Yes, I am!" Double D says to everyone's surprise, pulling his arm out of his dad's grasp. Then, in a surprising show of rebellion, he marches away from everyone, and joins me in my room. I'm careful to look the door, then I turn to him.
"Is-Is Marie alright?" I ask nervously.
"She's in the hospital." Double D says. "She's lost a lot of blood, but they've already performed surgery, and they think she's going to be alright."
"I-I didn't want to do it." I say in a shaking voice. "It just, I just…"
"I know." Double D says. "I saw them ambush you. That really wasn't fair." For a few seconds there is silence, with the two of us just staring at each other, not saying anything. Then finally, I break the silence.
"W-Would you like to see my face?" Double D looks at me, completely taken aback.
"What?" Without waiting for his approval, I slowly reach up and pull my hood down, my black hair-with-two-red-streaks framing my face. Double D just stares at me, and I cannot read his expression. Then he gasps as he sees it.
"Did those Kankers do that to you?" he asks, pointing at the long, ropy scar under my right eye.
"No." I say dryly, "I did it to myself." Double D stares at me wordlessly, and I let out another long sigh as I start to explain.
"I did it two years ago." I say. "Before I moved to Peach Creek, and before I met you, and everyone else. My mom had one of her many boyfriends over for dinner. He was rude and ugly and smelly, and I didn't like him. And then, after dinner, when my mom had gone to answer a phone call, he dragged me into my room and-and he tried to rape me." Double D gasps, putting his hand to his heart.
"Oh, Jackie!"
"Luckily for me, I managed to fight him off." I said. "I bit his shoulder, and kicked him where it hurt. Then my mom came in, and saw the two of us half-dressed."
"Oh my!" Double D says, sounding very worried. "And what happened?"
"Well, of course, my mom wasn't happy about that." I answered him. "But it's only because she was jealous. After kicking the idiot out, she started yelling at me, accusing me of wanting to steal away her boyfriend and all kinds of other crap, and she even went as far as saying that I would grow up to be even worse than her."
"Now that's just going too far!" Double D says, and I'm surprised at the anger in his voice. "You're her child! She's supposed to protect you from people like that who would try to hurt you, not feel jealous!"
"Yeah, I know." I answer. "Apparently, though, nobody ever told HER that. That night, after everything that had happened, and after my mom had gone to bed, I was just so angry and confused and hurt, and I just needed some way to get out all of those negative feelings. So I went out into the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and did this to myself." I pointed at my scar, and Double D winced.
"It was the only time I did it, though." I assured him. "It almost hurt worse than my mom's words." I start to tear up, and pull my hood back up.
"I just hate myself so much." I say through gritted teeth. "After everything I've had to go through my whole life, sometimes I wish that my Mom WOULD have aborted me. At least then…at least then, I wouldn't have had to…" I can't continue. I lower my head and tears I didn't even know I was capable of producing start flowing from my eyes. Angry tears. Hurt tears. Tears of bitterness, of loneliness. Then, to my surprise, I feel Double D wrap his arms around me. I look at him, surprised, and find that his eyes are starting to fill with tears too.
"Jackie-I'm so sorry-I had no idea…" Reaching up, he pulls my hood back off, and then he grabs his sock, and pulls it off in a quick yank. I stare in surprise, realizing that I'm seeing what so many people have wondered about for so long. Neat, glossy black hair covers Double D's scalp, except for one spot on the very top of his head, which is bald and, from what I can see, scarred.
"D-what…"
"It was an accident." Double D says. "When I was five, I had seen Father shaving, and decided to try the same thing. As you can see, it didn't turn out so well." I wince, and Double D looks me straight in the eyes.
"That's why I'm always so obedient to my parents." He finishes. "Personally, I still don't think that they've forgotten it."
"But-But you're such a great person." I say, and for some reason, I can feel my eyes starting to fill with tears again. "You're smart, and nice, and polite, and I'm-I'm just a waste of genes…" I put my hands to my eyes and start to sob again, and Double D grabs my hands away from me, and looks into my eyes, a sad smile on his face.
"You're beautiful." He says. Then, before I can say or do anything else, he leans up and kisses me.
A couple weeks have passed since the incident. As it turns out, Marie Kanker is okay, however, she did have to have bandages for a while, and, oh yeah, she's scared of me now. And Double D's parents have indefinitely grounded him for defying them. Surprisingly, none of the teachers or anyone else found out what I did, which I think has to do with Double D bribing everyone not to tell on me. So, yeah, things aren't EXACTLY back to normal yet, but that's okay. As I walk down the street with Double D, our hands entwined, I think that I'm the luckiest girl in the world.
So yeah, that's the end. Sorry if you think it ended off too abruptly or whatever-or if you think Jackie got off too easily; let me know! That what the review button is for! Also, let me know if you want me to continue this story, or write a sequel, or whatever-I'd be happy to! Oh, and stick around, I'm not done just yet!