Chapter 37
"Get a grip, Romeo! That's a Kanker you're falling for!"
"Forget the bum, May!" May heard her sister say to her.
"Lamb chop!" This time, she heard her own voice call out to someone.
"Turtledove!" She heard a voice respond. Double D?
"LAMB CHOP!" Her voice sounded louder, as if desperate. As she broke free from Lee's arms, she felt someone pin her down to the floor.
"He's trouble with a capital R, May!"
May woke up. Once she heard Marie's voice, she felt horribly scared. Apparently she had fallen asleep and started to dream about fabricated scenarios and made up memories again. And yet, she felt she had lived through such events before.
The realization that those were real memories from the time she had been in trance during Valentine's Day hit her like a bag of bricks. The fact that even then she had not been able to find love because Marie came between her and Double D started to produce a serious migraine on her head. May held her temples.
"I don't know how long I can keep living like this…" She complained, as she cried again.
The redhead had returned. At three o' clock in the afternoon, Lee wasn't surprised she had taken so long to clear some of the fog that impeded her from understanding May's problems. Mad, she opened the door and slammed it shut.
"Now you've gone too far, Marie! What the f—"
Just as Lee was about to blurt out expletives, she realized her blue haired sibling wasn't sitting down on the couch watching TV as she expected her to be doing so at the moment. She made her way to the stairs, thinking the girl could be in the bedroom or in the bathroom. She heard scrubbing noises coming from outside, so she assumed Marie was washing the dirty clothes at the back of the trailer. She decided to calm herself down a bit as she headed upstairs to check on her other sibling.
Once she entered their room, she found May sitting down on the bed. Her blonde sister looked like she had seen a ghost. She was slightly pale, her brow was sweaty, and her eyes were wide. For some reason, May had abandoned her inactivity and had made their bed and was dressed. Once again, her baby sister was staring at the window.
May turned her head when she saw her big sis enter. "Lee? Weren't you supposed to be at work?"
"I asked to start later." The redhead sat down next to her sister and caressed her arm. "Why didn't you tell me?"
May was very surprised. "H-How did you find out?"
"I went to have a talk with Double D. He told me you broke up with him because Eddy saw you and told Marie about your relationship." May was surprised to hear her sister's words. Now she understood why Marie found out so suddenly.
"How… How is he?" May asked, worried. Lee confirmed that according to Double D, she hadn't broken up with him out of free will.
"He's not coping with your break up well. He doesn't seem to be sleeping well, and he looked wimpier than usual. What did she do to you?"
Tears fell down from May's eyes. "Marie… she has the picture."
Lee widened her eyes as she instantly understood what the blonde was talking about. She remembered that year as the worst one of her life, not only because of what May had to endure, but because of the stress she herself had to deal with. "No… She's threatening you with it?"
May nodded.
"I can't believe her! Of all the nasty, cruel things she's done to you, this is the worst!" Lee was infuriated. She stood up and angrily started to walk outside…
… When she felt soft hands grab one of hers. She turned around to face her blonde sibling.
"Don't, Lee! If you go and yell at her, all you're going to accomplish is to have her hate you…"
Lee didn't find sense in May's words. "What? So you'd rather spend the rest of your existence locked up here, miserable? She can't just treat you like this and not expect me to do something about it…"
May insisted. "Please, Lee. Just… give me a bit of time. I'm going to take care of this…"
Uncertain, Lee dropped her intentions of going to slap her blue haired sister silly. "Okay, May… whatever you want. But you can't let Marie control your life, you hear? This has got to stop sooner or later…"
May nodded.
"Now, I'm going to have some lunch. Have you eaten?"
May shook her head.
"Then I'm going to bring your plate up here and you're gonna finish it all in front of me."
"But I'm not hungry…" May said, as she sighed and looked at the window again.
The sun was on its way to set. The clock struck five in the afternoon. Lee made her way out of her home. But, before going on to work, she walked around the trailer.
Marie was busy hanging the clothes on the string. She couldn't wait to finally be done to sit down and observe the beautiful sunset.
"Do you know how May's doing?"
Marie didn't bother to turn to regard her big sister. "Beats me…"
Lee grew mad, but she concealed her anger. "I know you're busy with laundry, but I can't believe you'd be so cold to neglect checking on your sister."
Marie shot back in defense. "Why should I? She can handle herself, and you're here right?"
"I'm going to work right now, you…" Lee was about to yell, but she kept quiet. "Listen, Marie. I don't know what's happened to May. But if I find out that it was because of something you did, you're gonna need more hair to cover the black eye I'll give ya!" She said, trying to intimidate Marie into stopping her blackmail against the blonde.
"Whatever…" And yet, she would not even be fazed. Lee took her leave, wondering if May would actually consider taking a stand against the blue haired girl.
The short boy never moved from where he was sitting. Eddy kept thinking about how he could take action. The only thing he had been able to come up with that actually showed promise was too dangerous that he couldn't do it without risking a couple of black eyes. He stood up to stretch, when he felt someone push him.
"I am way too disgusted to even have to share a street with you, dork!"
It was Kevin. The bike boy had spotted Eddy as he walked around with Jimmy to go and execute their plan. "I'm going to show you what it's like to step on someone in the same way you did to Double D!"
Eddy just stood, looking at him, ready to face his punishment, when Jimmy intervened. "Stop, Kevin! I'm not trying to defend this guy, but we have more pressing matters to attend!" He then turned to face the con. "To think that you could go as far as to betray your own just to satisfy your needs! What kind of monster are you?!"
Even when Eddy knew he deserved whatever any of the cul de sac kids would dish out at him, he was getting tired of simply taking in insults without doing something to improve his image. "I get it, okay Jimmy?" He looked the boy in the eyes, serious. "I know… I screwed up. I haven't been a good friend to Double D lately, but I'm going to change that."
Kevin laughed. "Ha! Listen to this guy! You are too much of a loser to do anything even remotely right, that's why you hang out with Double D and that other dork!" He spat at Eddy. "C'mon, Jimmy! I'd like to get done with this before it gets dark…"
Jimmy followed Kevin as the two walked away.
"Hey, where are you going?" Eddy asked, curious.
Jimmy turned his head a bit and addressed the boy with high airs. "Well, unlike you, we're going to try and fix this. Kevin and I are going to the trailer park to get May out of her house so she can be with Double D again!"
Eddy was surprised. They have the same idea! But even then, Eddy remembered Kevin had missed school and showed up in bandages after that. Eddy was almost completely certain he got hurt because of the sisters. He knew the two boys would need all the help they could find, but he also knew they wouldn't accept his assistance. He waited until Kevin and Jimmy were at a considerable distance from him so that he could follow them.
He sat down on a park bench, deep in thought at what to do. He saw Kevin and Jimmy walk towards the new cul de sac. He wondered what the two of them would be trying to do. Just as he was going to walk towards them, he saw Eddy walk to their direction, as if following the duo. Neither one of the three noticed him there. Curiosity was overwhelming him, so he decided to follow the short boy and see what they were up to.
"Shh! Hide, quickly!" Kevin whispered to Jimmy. The two boys stood behind a tree. In the distance, they could see Marie sitting down on a beach chair, watching the sunset. They weren't in her field of vision, but the slightest turn of the girl's head would mean for them to be found out.
"What do we do?"
"Okay, stay here. I'm going in first, I'll let you know when it's safe."
Kevin came out of their hiding spot and walked towards the trailer's door. Stealthily, the boy tip toed to the trailer. Halfway there, Kevin only had some more steps and nervousness to endure. He turned to face Jimmy while still walking.
"Okay, on my count: One, two—Whoah!" He tripped, causing Marie to notice.
"Who's there? What the—you're not getting your cap back!"
The blue haired girl jumped from her chair and practically sat on top of the bike boy as she delivered hit after hit to him. Kevin tried to defend himself, but Marie had always been faster than him. Once she was done, she carried the semi-conscious boy and threw him to the trees. Kevin landed very close to where Jimmy was. Marie cleaned her hands and went back to her chair.
"Sorry, man. I tried." Kevin said, barely able to stand.
"Now what do we do?" Jimmy asked, desperate.
Kevin was at a loss for what to tell the boy. He knew that if they could not get past Marie, they wouldn't be able to speak to May. To make matters worse, even when Marie was still looking at the sunset, she was now on alert that someone was trying to break in her home. He cursed on the inside as he had run out of ideas and options to continue their rescue.
"I'll take a crack at it…" He heard a voice say. Both Jimmy and he noticed Eddy stood next to them, determination shining vividly in his eyes. Eddy walked ahead, taking steps as if he had not a care in the world. He started whistling.
"That fool... he's gonna get caught!" Kevin whispered, annoyed.
Marie, in fact, did listen to the con's whistling. However, to both Kevin and Jimmy's surprise, the girl didn't run at him to literally chew him out, but rather smirked.
"Howdy neighbor?" Eddy said.
"Hey, short stuff. What brings ya here?"
Eddy stood in front of Marie, almost completely covering her view of the trailer door. "Nothing really, just wanted to see if you found out about your sister and Double D."
Marie started talking. "You won't believe it! That floozy's been seeing my Dreamboat in secret! I tell ya, she must have him intimidated or something, or else he wouldn't even look at her! I mean, seriously, he has me, and…" Eddy noticed Marie kept on ranting and had turned to see the sunset again. He took advantage of the situation and brought a hand to his back, pointing his thumb to the trailer door. It was the signal to go in.
Kevin stared at his short neighbor wide eyed. The mean, selfish Eddy had just put his life on the line to help Jimmy and himself, all because he wanted to prove himself he had done horrible things and wanted to turn his life around! Kevin started to see the con in a different light. "A signal! You go, Jimmy. I'll stay here in case Eddy needs help…"
The younger boy agreed, and ran as silently as he could, effectively passing by Eddy and Marie and going inside the trailer.
He ran out of options… The only possible way to even attempt to bring things back to normal would be the direct approach, and some damage was inevitable. Double D tied his shoe laces and adjusted his beanie hat, determined. No matter what, I'm always going to be there for you, May…
The boy in the beanie hat made his way out of his house, proceeding to walk to the park, resolved on going to the trailer park to have a serious talk with Marie.
She got up, and walked around the room for the umpteenth time. She cleaned her palms again. May Kanker was restless, she felt she needed to do something about her situation. And yet, she felt fear growing within her. What if her childhood repeated itself again? What if she would never be able to look at someone else without feeling the disgust and mockery they expressed to her with their sight alone? She started to shake at the thought. Even then, that oh-too-familiar feeling of dread started to tire her…
"May?" She heard someone call out to her. May turned her head from looking at the window to look at the door.
"… Jimmy?"
The small boy started to tear up, and ran to hug her. "Maay!" As she received the child in her arms, May shed some tears of her own.
"I know, she had no right to do that to you! I mean, you're her sister, you had dibs."
"Exactly!" Marie said, agreeing with the short boy next to her.
Eddy tried his best to get more information out of the blue haired girl. "So, what did you to show her who's boss, huh?"
Marie boasted. "I found this ugly picture of her she is afraid of since elementary. I threatened to show it to everybody and she agreed to stay away from Double D."
Eddy gulped, compassionately. In the distance, Kevin, who had heard what Marie's blackmail was about, gulped as well. He realized with sadness that he once tried to blackmail Eddy as well. He felt bad that he could at times be just as mean.
"R-Really? Well, that showed her!" Eddy was getting tired to agree with Marie, but he wanted to bring her down, he needed to keep acting. "Where is it?"
Marie giggled. "I put it on a box inside so nobody could find it."
"Can I see it?"
Marie arched an eyebrow, but then smirked at Eddy. "I'll show it to you, if you get me one of my Oven Mitt's beanie hats… preferably if he just wore it. Deal?"
Eddy sweated a bit in nervousness. For one, Double D was very protective of his belongings. Two, he had no time and no way to tell Jimmy to search for the picture. "Eeh… I'll get back to you on that…"
He continued to entertain the blue haired girl with pointless chatting. I hope Jimmy comes out soon…
"How have you been?" He asked.
"I'm… not too good, Jimmy." The boy noticed the bags under May's eyes. It wasn't as noticeable, but May appeared thinner. "How… How did you get here?"
"I asked Kevin to help me… but it was actually Eddy who distracted your sister so I could get in…"
May got very surprised upon hearing Jimmy's words. She thought something must have happened between Double D and him that made the short boy change his mind.
"And Double D? How is he? Please tell me…" May asked Jimmy, going as far as to hold him by the shoulders. She knew by Lee's mouth that the boy wasn't doing well, but she still wanted to hear it from someone else.
Jimmy noticed May was genuinely worried for the beanie wearing boy. He understood that his theory was correct; something that Marie had done kept May at bay, and unable to reach out to Double D. "He's suffering a lot, May…" after he said such words, he saw the blond sigh in distress as she shed tears. "And… I can see you're suffering too…"
He grabbed one of the girl's hands with both of his. "Please, May… I don't know what it is Marie's doing, but there must be a solution for it. Please, come back to school. I'm sure that if you do, Double D will want to come back as well… a love so pure like the one you two had cannot finish this way, May…" He finished, starting to cry himself.
May looked at the boy with tender eyes. She caressed the boy's hair with her other hand. He too, was very hurt by the events of their current situation. She reflected on the words Jimmy said to her. He was completely right. The love she had created along with Double D was too pure to be tainted by fear. She shed the last of her tears as she finally decided to put an end to their collective sorrow. Trembling, May addressed the boy.
"Take me to Double D, Jimmy…"
Kevin noted that the short boy was running out of material. So many "umms" and "eehs" were said, he wondered how Marie didn't notice he was merely buying Jimmy some time. How long is Jimmy going to take in there? It's already dark… dark?
Marie stood up, stretching herself. Cold sweat started to run down Eddy's back as he noticed the girl turned around to go inside.
"Well, nice to see ya, little man, but the sun's gone and my favorite TV show's about to start…"
Eddy looked in horror that Kevin was making signals to the door. He barely managed to see that both Jimmy and May were coming out of it! He had to do something to entertain Marie some more… but what!
He never thought he could have thought so fast. He was a boy, she was a girl. What else could possibly put them girls on alert mode? Somehow, Eddy felt he was betraying someone, but he needed to do it for his best friend's sake. Just as Marie was about to turn her head to look at the escaping duo, Eddy moved his hand fast and placed it on Marie's hip, dangerously positioning it close to her butt. The girl almost jumped at the surprise.
"What are you doing, you pervert?!" Marie quickly turned and delivered a hook to the boy who dared to molest her. Once Eddy was on the floor, the girl brought blow after blow down on his persona. Eddy, however, seemed to smile. It—ouch!—worked…
Kevin made a signal for May and Jimmy to run. As they both did, time was running out. Marie was making short work of Eddy. As if following routine, she carried the barely conscious con and threw him away, in the direction where Kevin had fallen.
None of them had managed to foresee such action as Marie noticed May was leaving.
"HEY! WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?!" Marie started to run to Jimmy and May, her anger fueling her in such a way that she was approaching them at an impressive speed.
Kevin considered what was happening around him. With Eddy out, it was all up to him. He remembered his coach had insisted on having him practice that move. He remembered feeling so helpless as he couldn't perform it well yet. Confident, he put one knee on the ground. As he saw the blue haired girl run, he calculated the distance between himself and her. Once she was almost aligned with him, he started to sprint.
"Raaaah!" He jumped, and for the first time, managed to complete a tackle in midair. He fell to the floor, Marie under him.
"Go, go, go!" He yelled to the two running.
"YOU BOTHERSOME WIMP, GET OFF OF MEE!" Marie yelled. Kevin would have liked to hold her a bit more, but he was still too tired from the beating he had previously taken. His hold on Marie only lasted a couple of seconds as she moved him away and gave him a couple of hits before resuming her chase.
Double D's house had never seemed to be so far away. They were close to the park, so hopefully they could lose Marie there. If only they wouldn't be so tired already! Jimmy was puffing, trying to catch air. May was weak from her time spent in depression and malnourishment that she felt she could not run for much longer.
Marie was inevitably going to catch them, and who knows what she would do to them. They could hear her steps. She was gaining on them…
When suddenly, someone grabbed the blue haired girl and locked her with his arms below her armpits.
"ED! LET ME GO! LET ME GO, YOU FOOL!"
The tall boy had witnessed everything. He understood that what the three boys wanted to do was to help Double D to get back in touch with May. He hadn't known how to intervene to help, but now that both Jimmy and May needed protection, he thought of putting himself in between them and harm's way.
"Run… run guys!" Ed said, as he tried to hold on to Marie, who would not stop moving to set herself free.