A/N: Hey guys! So, I was managing my time well and had plans to get this updated only a few days after the last update, but….I tripped and fell into a giant puddle of writer's block. Ugh. That happens to me too often! Anyway, I have this finished now, and it is ready for you guys to enjoy!
Thank you all so much for the reviews on the last chapter! I love hearing your thoughts! Keep them coming with this chapter as well!
Without further ado, here is the next installment of Broken! Enjoy!
I DO NOT OWN HOUSE OF ANUBIS. IF I DID, WE'D BE ON LIKE SEASON 6 BY NOW.
(Eddie's P.O.V.)
"Dad, please don't bring Mom into this!" I whine to him as he is driving.
"Eddie, did you not hear a word of what we discussed today?", he questions, "You can't be alone anymore. Your Mother has to be aware of that, not only because she is your Mum, but because she'll be the one watching you during the day."
I shrug. "I know, but she exaggerates everything-"
"Eddie, it's not up for further discussion. We're telling her, and that is final. When we return to Anubis House, we're going to sit down and inform her, Trudy, and Victor of what is going on, whether you like it or not. Are we clear?"
"Crystal." I mutter.
I lean my head against the passenger seat's window and sigh. I want to get better, I do, but I hate talking about my problems. Is there something wrong with not wanting the whole world to know what I'm going through?
I realize that I have to tell my Mom what I tried to do this morning; my fear is that once she knows how often I need to be watched, she won't ever leave me alone. She'll probably follow me into the bathroom, the only place where I am permitted to be alone, out of worry. Ugh, I'm dreading this.
Anubis House suddenly comes into my view, disrupting me from my thoughts. Dad parks the car in front of it.
"Is she here?" I ask, as we climb out of the car.
He nods. "Yes, she is. I'll do most of the talking, Eddie. Please cooperate with us, alright?"
"Alright." I echo, as we ascend the stairs before the House.
When we enter the House, the first thing I notice is that Patricia is waiting for me by the stairs.
I immediately smile, and walk over to her. She engulfs me in a hug, and kisses my cheek.
"How did it go?" she questions, pulling away from me slightly.
I shrug. "It went well…but now I have to go talk about it even more with my Mom, Trudy, and Victor."
She stares at me in confusion. "What do you mean?"
I sigh. "Come with me. I'm sure they'll want to tell you too."
I clasp her hand, and pull her along with me as I start walking. We step into the living room, where the adults are sitting at the dining room table. Dad looks up at us, and gestures for us to sit down.
I take a seat beside him on his right, while Patricia sits to my right. I squeeze her hand.
"What is going on?" she asks, looking up at me.
"Yes Eric, what is this about?" Victor asks, annoyance in his tone.
Dad sighs. "I wanted to get the four of us adults together to discuss the new aspects Eddie's treatment."
I squeeze Patricia's hand. I don't want to talk about this again, I just want it to go into effect and then not have to say anything else about it.
"Of course. What's going on?" Mom asks.
I stare down at Patricia and I's hands. I don't want to see the looks of horror that are about to appear on all of their faces when Dad tells them about my newly placed suicide watch.
"Well," Dad starts, "Dr. Jennings has ordered us to place Eddie under an enforced suicide / self-harm watch."
Everyone gasps, including Patricia.
"Wait, what now?", Mom asks, "Eddie, when was the last time you cut?"
I look up, to see everyone's eyes are on me.
"I did yesterday…and…um…I…I almost…tried…to die…a-again…today." I stutter.
"What do you mean?" she asks in confusion.
"Wait, what are you talking about?", Trudy questions, "I saw you this morning. When did you-"
"After breakfast," Dad begins, "Eddie climbed to the roof of the House, and was going to jump-"
"Oh my god!" Mom screams, as her hand flies to cover her gaping mouth.
"This morning? I didn't hear him!" Victor pipes up.
"What?" Trudy shrieks.
"I stopped him," Patricia chimes in, "He didn't get very far. That's why no one heard him."
I smile at her, and squeeze her hand again for comfort. She squeezes mine back.
"I don't understand," Mom starts, tears welling in her eyes, "I thought you were doing better! I thought you knew not to try something like that again!"
"It's a long story…and I just went over it with Dr. Jennings. I don't want to talk about it again." I murmur.
"Honey we have to talk about this-" Mom starts
"This watch enforcement," Dad interrupts, "is going to be relatively strict. Dr. Jennings has ordered that Eddie is not permitted to be alone, unless he is using the restroom. When he is with people, one person can't be anymore than three meters, or ten feet, away from him. This will be enforced indefinitely."
Mom stares at me in shock. "Eddie, are you seriously so upset that all of this is necessary? What is going on?"
"I don't want to talk about it-"
"I don't give a damn if you don't want to talk about it!", she screams, "I'm your Mother, and I want to know what the hell is making you miserable enough to want to kill yourself!"
"Lucy!", Dad booms, "Enough! Please, he's been dealing with this all morning. Let him breathe."
She gazes at me, with more tears spilling from her eyes. Even though there is nothing I hate more than describing my suicidal-ness, I give her a brief summary as to what made me want to jump this morning. I outline everything, except for Patricia and I's fight, only because she is sitting beside me, and we made up already.
She then reaches across the table, and takes my free hand into hers.
"Honey, I understand that you're upset, but suicide? That's never the answer. I'm sure Dr. Jennings told you that several times today, but I just want you to hear it from me. Everything is going to get better baby, I promise."
I lightly smile at her, despite the fact that she called me "baby" in front of my girlfriend.
"I agree, Eddie," Trudy adds, "It's not right. It's never right. You're worth more than you know, and things will get better. I promise."
She doesn't sound like herself when she says that; she sounds serious, and deeply concerned. It's a side of Trudy I haven't seen before.
"Thanks Trudy." I murmur.
"As I was saying," Dad begins, "He has to be under supervision twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. His medications are also being switched. He is only taking two medicines per day instead of four, which are both new. I'll have more information on each drug when I pick them up at the pharmacy."
Everyone nods.
"Also," Dad continues, "This goes mainly for you, Victor and Trudy, he is permitted to use any form of technology that he wants, at any time of day. Dr. Jennings wants him to have something else to do when he feels the urge to self-harm or die, so if he needs to watch television or get on the internet, he is allowed to do so."
Victor glances at me, and nods. He's been awfully quiet this entire time…does he even care about me? Aside from the fact that he needed to know that I have been granted unlimited access to technology, why does he even have to be here? He hates me, and I hate him. What's the point?
"What if he tries to get on Facebook?", Patricia questions, "Like, to try and see what Todd is saying about him."
I kick her foot under the table. How could she do that?!
"I'll have the website blocked." Dad replies.
She stares at me, with a sassy smirk on her lips. "You don't need to be checking it. Get over it."
I nod, and rub my thumb across the back of her hand. If we weren't surrounded by adults, I would kiss her right now.
Dad continues to explain the rest of my appointment, but I tune him out. I'm so sick of hearing about how depressed and messed-up I am, I could scream. I'm starting to feel tired, actually. It must be my current medications kicking in. I hope the new ones don't make me feel this fatigued…
I let out a loud yawn.
"I'm exhausted. Can I please go take a nap?" I ask.
"As long as someone can stay with you," Mom replies, "I have to leave in a few minutes to meet with the new attorney."
I gaze at her in surprise. "Wait, you're meeting him today?"
She smiles. "Yep. I was going to bring you with me, honey, but I knew you'd be wiped out from your appointment. I'll fill you in on all of the details, I promise."
I nod, and face Patricia. "Will you stay with me?" I ask her.
"Absolutely not." Victor snaps, before she even gets the chance to respond.
I stare at him in annoyance. "Why not? She's one of my sole purposes to keep going, so why can't she watch me?"
She looks off to the side, blushing. I squeeze her hand again.
"I can't watch him at the moment, because I need to get back to the school…" Dad murmurs.
Trudy sighs. "Fine. As long as the door is left open."
Yacker and I then gaze at each other, subtly of course, and smirk. Oh Trudy…
My mom smiles awkwardly at us. "Well, I need to get going now. Eddie, I want to talk about this more when I get back, alright?"
I nod. "Sure. Tell me all about the attorney, okay?"
"Of course." She stands up from the table then, and walks over to me. She plants a small kiss on the top of my head, before she leaves.
"I have a lot of paperwork to catch up on. Are you certain you'll be alright, Eddie?" Dad asks.
I nod. "Yeah. Go take care of your paperwork."
He smiles warmly at me, and pats my shoulder.
"I'll see you later." he murmurs.
"Bye." I say to him as he leaves the room.
Patricia, Victor, Trudy and I are the only ones remaining.
Trudy narrows her eyes at Yacker and I, while Victor glares at us.
"I mean it you two. Door open. Understood?" Trudy says.
"Yeah!" we reply at the same time.
Trudy smiles lightly. "Alright. Go get some rest now, Eddie."
Patricia and I stand up from our seats, hand in hand, and leave the table.
"You know, I think I'm going to like this watch thing." she murmurs, once we've left the room.
"Oh yeah? Why is that?" I ask her.
She smirks. "Because I'm not going to be allowed to be away from you…well, not often, at least."
I grin. "I like the sound of that."
We enter my bedroom together. I am about to shut the door out of habit, when Patricia stops me.
"Door open, remember?" she teases.
I roll my eyes. "That's so stupid. I mean, we're not going to do anything…"
She smirks as we sit down on my bed. "That's kind of what you said last time, Weasel."
I smile at the memory of our first…time. We were going to be alone together at night, and Trudy had told us to keep my door open. We didn't exactly listen…
I fall back into my pillows, and Yacker sits beside me.
"Lay down with me?"
She shrugs. "I don't want to risk being thrown out. If we're not checked on for a while, I will. I promise."
I nod, and adjust my pillows so I feel comfortable.
"I love you." I murmur.
She strokes my hair. "I love you too. I'm proud of you for doing so well today. Get some sleep, you've earned it."
I smile, and reach up to hold her hand again. I'm pretty sure I'm still holding it when I fall asleep.
(Miss Miller's P.O.V.)
What on earth is wrong with him?
Why does he feel so depressed? I understand he's been through hell, between Todd bullying him and then losing the court case, but turning to suicide? I don't understand why he's so insistent on death!
I pray to god that this new attorney Eric hired, Gregg Lexington, can put those ignorant bullies in prison. They need to be locked up, so they can never hurt my baby again.
He's all I can think about. His pain makes me hurt; it's an instinct that I, as his Mother, cannot fight. Something is wrong with him, and I want to fix it, but I can't. I'm so worried about him…
My taxi driver pulls up in front of the restaurant I am meeting Mr. Lexington at: Chef's of Liverpool. That is one reason why I like this man already: he suggested that we meet somewhere public, so I don't feel like our partnership is so professional that he doesn't care about helping Eddie.
The cab stops, and I slip out of its side.
"Thank you so much!" I say to the driver. I then pull a handful of pounds out of my pocket, and hand them to him through his window.
"Of course. Have a good day." He replies.
I smile at him, and then watch as he drives away.
This meeting that I am about to attend could be the most important one I have attended in my life. This meeting is Eddie's lifeline; if this guy doesn't show potential, we probably won't be able to hire another attorney. Then, Todd and his band of idiots will never be locked up, causing Eddie indefinite sorrow.
I then proceed into the restaurant. It is decorated with various light fixtures, murals, paintings, etc. The walls are painted light blue, and have numerous windows showing breathtaking views of downtown Liverpool.
Before me stands a petite girl in a business-y outfit, holding a menu.
"Hi, welcome to Chef's of Liverpool! How many people are in your party today?" she chimes.
"I'm meeting someone here," I reply, "Has a man named Gregg Lexington arrived?"
She nods enthusiastically. "Oh yes! He's right over here. Follow me."
I follow the girl, and she leads me to a table near the entrance.
Sitting at a table for two, is a man who appears to be in his late thirties or early forties. He has the stereotypical pale skin of a British person, curly brown hair, is wearing glasses, and has on a dark blue dress shirt with a purple tie, along with khaki dress pants.
"Ah, you must be Lucy Miller!" he exclaims as I approach him.
I reach out to shake his hand. "Indeed. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lexington."
The girl from before has left. I sit down in the seat across from Mr. Lexington.
"Oh please, call me Gregg." he says with a slight smile on his face.
"Alright then, Gregg," I begin, "I want to thank you so much for meeting with me today."
"Absolutely! The case your ex-husband presented to me over the phone sounded very intriguing." he replies.
I stare at him in confusion. "Intriguing?"
He nods. "Yes, for a number of reasons. First of all, I'm appalled by the fact that your previous attorney was unable to win the strong case you clearly obtained. Also, your sons, er, reasons for needing this case, well, they strike home."
"How so?"
He stares down at the table sadly.
"I lost my daughter to suicide nearly ten years ago. She was heavily dependent on drugs and alcohol, which I know your son isn't, but they bullied her the same way his bullies abused him; they attacked her physically and mentally. They made her so dependent on them, that she became clinically depressed without them. It became so bad, the mixture of the drugs and depression, that she took her life."
I extend my arm across the table, and pat his hand. I can't imagine what I would've done if Eddie had succeeded with one of his attempts…
"I am so sorry to hear that, Gregg." I murmur.
He looks up at me, and smiles slightly. "Thank you. Since then, whenever I get requests for cases that are related to suicide, I jump at the chance to help with them. Fortunately, I don't receive too many, but I have won each trial that I have helped with."
I like this guy. He genuinely cares about Eddie and winning this case, and isn't going to screw things up like Mr. Forester did.
"That's wonderful news for me to hear," I say, "I'm starting to believe that my ex-husband did something right for a change, by hiring such an excellent lawyer."
He smiles. "I hope so. Your ex-husband, what is his name again? Eric?"
I nod.
"That's what I thought," he continues, "He gave me a summary of what has been going on. I also spoke with my friend George Lewis, who I know has been somewhat involved in this case, and gathered additional information from him."
"Yes, George's son and my son are extremely close friends." I comment.
"That's what he said," he replies, "I heard he even beat up one of his bullies for him."
I nod. "That's correct. That case itself was confusing. Alfie hurt Todd and was only punished with community service, but when it was discovered that Todd had practically abused my Eddie, he received no punishment whatsoever."
Gregg sighs. "I know. I viewed the video footage and judge's notes from that trial. There is no reason why you should have lost that case. The witnesses you had were extremely powerful, as well as Eddie's story alone. Yes, the entire tape-recording scenario was sketchy, but that shouldn't have harmed you in any way, which I think it did."
"Wait," I say in confusion, "Our previous attorney said that creating the recording was illegal. Why shouldn't it have been a problem?"
"Well, I looked into the boarding school Eddie attends' rules and guidelines," he explains, "and I discovered that administrative staff member is permitted to video tape and record students in their respective house when they feel it is absolutely necessary. As long as nothing sexual is involved, that is. I know it wasn't anyone from the schools' administration who taped the video, but we can say Eric prompted her to do it."
I gaze at him in surprise. "Eric never mentioned that rule to me!"
"I'm sure your ex-husband has been so distraught over what has been going on with Eddie, that it slipped his mind." Gregg hypothesizes.
Ugh, I can't believe that dumb ass Forester wasn't able to discover this rule! We probably could have won last time, if he hadn't been so clueless.
I scoff. "Our old attorney, Nick Forester, was such an idiot. He obviously had no clue what he was doing."
"That makes me want to discuss another key flaw within your last trial," Gregg begins, "I noticed that your previous attorney lacked cold-hard evidence of what Todd did. I heard it was the video diaries Eddie made that you requested not to be shown to the judge, which I completely understand. However, your case would have been stronger with more sufficient evidence, such as those."
"I know," I reply, "Forester said that because Todd deleted everything he said and did to Eddie online, that we couldn't have found any of it to show in court."
Gregg gazes at me with wide-eyes. "Did he honestly tell you that?"
"Yes…"
He laughs abruptly. "Wow, he is more unskilled than I thought he was! There's a special software that lawyers have access to in these types of situations. It can restore any erased data on any website, no matter how long ago it was deleted. Most lawyers usually possess it, in this day of age."
I stare at him shock. "Are you serious?"
"Entirely," he says, "I'm actually surprised that this Forester man didn't have the decency to purchase it."
I shake my head. Forester is such a moron! He knew there was something else he could do to help my Eddie, but he didn't do it. Eric was right, he could have done more for us! He could have, but he was too ignorant to do so!
"You have no idea how angry this makes me," I spat, "that he was so careless with helping us. I'm so glad we've found you."
He smiles. "Of course. We will win this next trial, Miss Miller, I promise."
"Please, call me Lucy." I tell him, similarly as to what he told me earlier.
He grins. "Okay Lucy. With all of that being said, I think we should begin to plan our trial."
I nod excitedly. "Of course. What do you propose?"
He draws in his breath, and then sighs.
"For starters, I want to have the same witnesses from the last trial testify against Todd. Is that possible?"
I nod. "Oh yes, they'll be more than willing to help."
"Excellent," he replies, "I also want to bring this recording to attention. I can't prove that Todd altered it without speaking to his Mum/Attorney, which I know she won't allow me to do, so we need to emphasize that it is allowed at that school for an adult to video tape students when a threat occurs. Additionally, I am going to use that special software I have to retrieve the deleted data from Eddie's Facebook account, which I will then show to the judge."
I smile at him. "That's awesome. Anything else?"
He nods. "Yes. I know this will be painful for your son to watch, but I think we need to show the video diaries he made to everyone on the jury. I think they lacked a sense of emotion last time, and I believe that if they were to view those tapes, their emotions would guide them to side with us. Especially if they watched them with Eddie present."
I nod in understanding. "Eddie won't like to see any of the evidence we present again, but it has to be shown to everyone in order for us to win. I'm okay with showing his video diaries."
"Okay. The last thing I am going to do, which your previous attorney failed to do, is order a Private Investigator to conduct a thorough search on Todd's Mother, Jessica, to make sure she isn't illegally influencing the court system in any way."
"Do you think she can do that?" I question.
"Absolutely," he replies, "I honestly believe it happened last time. The arguments that Todd and his friends presented were absolutely pathetic. There is no reason you should have lost. I'm not one hundred percent sure that this is the case, so please don't repeat this, but I would not be surprised if that woman bribed the judge, or pulled some illegal strings to influence the jury."
"It wouldn't surprise me either," I say, "It's just appalling that someone would be cruel enough to do that."
He nods in agreement. "I agree. If I do discover that she had any influence on the decision whatsoever, we can sue her for everything she has. That's an entirely different case, though."
I smile to myself. I would love to see Todd and his crew be put behind bars, and then steal every penny his mother has. It's such a beautiful thought…
"What will we be charging the boys with, this time around?" I question, changing the subject.
"Slander," he replies, "I can't go after them for the same charges twice. Hopefully, it will be easier to convict them of slander since I will have obtained more evidence."
I nod. "Perfect."
He is about to say something else, when suddenly that waitress from before reappears at our table, asking us for our orders. We've been so busy talking, I hadn't even looked at the menu. As I start to scan over it, I can't help but smile to myself. We finally have an excellent attorney who cares about us; one who will stop at nothing to make sure Eddie is served justice.
~Later that Day~
(Patricia's P.O.V.)
Trudy hasn't checked on us in nearly two hours. As I promised Eddie earlier, I lay down beside him. I wrap a single arm around his waist, and draw him closer to me. I nuzzle my head into his shoulder, and use my other arm to hold his hand. Once I am comfortable, and have made sure that I haven't woken him, I close my eyes in an attempt to fall asleep.
I am almost asleep when I suddenly feel him stir. I open my eyes, and glance down at my Weasel.
His eyes are slowly starting to flutter open. I smile and kiss his cheek.
He rolls over so he is facing me.
"Hey." I murmur.
He grins. "Hi. How long was I out?"
"Two and a half hours, ish." I tell him.
He nods approvingly. "Good, not that long."
"Don't worry about it." I say, as I slowly start to lean in.
He kisses me first, to which I instantly kiss him back. He puts his hand on the side of my waist, and pulls me closer to him, which I respond to by wrapping my arms around his neck. We stay like this for several minutes, and he is even starting to tug at the hem of my shirt, when I suddenly hear footsteps marching towards the room.
"Shit." Eddie murmurs, as we break apart.
I quickly pull my shirt back down, and fix my relatively messed-up hair. I sit up, so it looks like we've just been sitting here, and not making out.
A few moments later, Fabian enters the room. He gawks at us.
"Uh..what exactly is this?" he questions.
"I'm sitting here with my boyfriend. What part of that is confusing?" I snap.
His eyes dart back and forth between Eddie and I. When his eyes are on Eddie, they look concerned. When they are on me, they look disgusted.
"Fabian I actually needed to talk to you," Eddie starts, breaking us out of that awkward silence, "We need to have a Sibuna meeting. As soon as possible."
Fabian's eyes grow wide. "Wait, what? What on earth for?"
Eddie shrugs. "It's a long story, but I need all of us to meet at the chasm within the hour, alright?"
"The chasm? What the heck, Eddie?"
"Trust me," Eddie replies, "It's important. Do you know where the others are?"
Fabian shakes his head. "No, but I assume they're on their way home from school."
Eddie then climbs off of his bed, and stands up. "Alright, I'll go search for them. Can you guys wait here?"
It's funny how we both shoot him the same "please don't leave us alone, we'll kill each other" look after he says that. But, Eddie just shrugs, and walks out of the room.
"Why are you here, after what you said to him the other day?" Fabian spits.
I smirk. "Why are you here, after you lied to him yesterday?"
He opens his mouth to say something else, when suddenly Eddie returns with a confused-looking Alfie and KT behind them.
"What is going on? Have the zombies finally invaded?" Alfie asks.
Eddie shrugs. "No. Listen, Patricia and I discovered something really important today, and we need to go down to the chasm to talk about it. It'll make sense when we get there. Okay?"
Alfie and KT stare nervously at Fabian and I. The four of us may hate each other at the moment, but I'm know we all realize that we have to do this, for Eddie.
"Okay," Fabian begins, "but how are we going to get down there?"
"With Nina's locket, what else?" Eddie replies.
Fabian sighs. "Eddie…I doubt that's going to work anymore, since you know…the whole Touchstone thing…"
"It worked earlier." I say in confusion.
Fabian looks shocked. "Wait, seriously? How can that be?"
Wait a minute…how did Nina's locket work in the secret passageway, if Eddie isn't the Osirian anymore? I was so worried about stopping him earlier, that the thought didn't even cross my mind…
"Why did you even go down there to begin with?" KT questions.
"I'll explain that later, I promise," Eddie replies, "But I don't know about the locket. It still works, I swear it does."
"That doesn't make sense…" Alfie murmurs.
Now that I think about it, it makes no sense that the locket would still work, after Eddie lost his powers. Why does it still work?
"Maybe…because Nina is still technically your chosen one, her locket works when you use it?" I suggest.
Fabian's face turns tomato red when as soon as I say "your chosen one." Great, there's one more thing for him to be mad at me for!
"Look, I don't care right at this moment how the locket still works," Eddie says, "What I do care about is what I have to show you guys in the Chasm. Trust me. We need to get there, now."
I stand up from Eddie's bed. "Alright then, let's go."
Eddie then exits the room, and I follow closely behind him. The others trail behind me, without saying another word. Hopefully, we'll be able to tolerate each other long enough to get this whole diamond thing figured out. While we're at it, we should probably try to discover why the locket still works when Eddie uses it.
(Eddie's P.O.V.)
As soon as I shine a flashlight down the chasm, KT, Fabian, and Alfie gaze down it in absolute shock.
"What the hell?" KT screeches.
"What? How long have those been there? How did we miss these when the mask situation was going on?" Fabian questions.
"I bet aliens put them there!" Alfie excitedly screams.
"Guys, I think it's the Frobisher Diamond that Jerome told us about." I say.
Alfie snorts. "Yeah, except there appears to be more than one."
"So what do we do now? Should we go down there and get them? Do we sell them? I wonder how much they're worth!" KT asks.
"Hell yeah we sell them!" Alfie cheers, "We're going to be billionaires guys, billionaires!"
I smirk, because the fact that we're all going to be rich hadn't even crossed my mind.
"How do we even get down there?" Patricia wonders.
"I'm sure I could create a device to lower us down there safely," Fabian starts, "We'd probably have to wear protective shoes once we're down, so we don't cut our feet open by stepping on them."
"How far down do you think they are?" I ask him.
He shrugs. "I don't know, I'd have to measure it. It looks deep enough that if we were to jump off of it, we'd probably get hurt, but not killed…"
He says something else, but I lose my focus when he starts talking about what would happen if someone jumped from the top; that was almost me this morning.
I can't believe I almost jumped from the chasm. I almost ended my life, again. I don't regret Patricia catching me entirely, but the thought that I was almost dead this morning scares me. I'm not even sure why.
I almost died today.
"Should we come back?", KT questions, distracting me from my thoughts, "Should we figure out how we're going to get down there, and then come back to take them?"
Fabian shakes his head. "If someone could fetch me a measuring tape, I could figure out how far down it is right now."
Patricia scoffs. "Why does someone have to fetch it for you? You have two legs that aren't broken, get it yourself."
Fabian stares at her with annoyance in his eyes; I truly hate it when everyone is fighting.
"Alright then, I'll go get it," he snaps, "I'll be right back."
The remaining four of us stand by the chasm in an awkward silence as he leaves.
"So," KT starts, breaking the ice, "How did you know to look down here, Eddie? Did you find a clue?"
Shit. I need to think of an excuse as to why I was down here. Come on Eddie, think!
"No…I…um…" I stutter.
"He heard Victor go into the cellar, and he was curious to know why, so he followed him." Patricia lies.
I nod. "Yeah, that."
KT stares at me in confusion. "I thought you said you used Nina's locket to come down here? And Victor goes into the cellar all the time, why would you all of a sudden-"
"You were going to jump, weren't you?" Alfie suddenly blurts.
I stare at him in horror. How did he, of all people, figure it out so quickly?
"There's no mystery right now," he continues, walking closer to me, "and if you landed on those diamonds hard enough, it could kill you. Don't try to hide it, Eddie. You were going to jump."
I must have turned ghostly pale after he said that, because KT immediately starts crying.
"Oh my god, you were, weren't you?" she wails, covering her mouth with her hand.
"KT…" I murmur.
Patricia walks up from behind me, and takes my hand.
"I stopped him. He talked to Dr. Jennings about it. It's over with." she explains.
"Over with? No, this isn't over with!", KT cries, "Eddie, how could you? You told me you were okay!"
"What is going on?" I turn around to see Fabian has returned with a tape measurer, a meter stick, and duct tape.
Alfie looks at me sadly, and then points to the chasm. Fabian gets the message instantly.
"Eddie, you were not!" he snaps.
Tears threaten to spill from my eyes, but I force them away.
I just nod.
"Please leave it alone." Patricia murmurs.
"Leave it alone? How are supposed to leave this alone, exactly?!" Fabian booms.
"I already talked about it with Dr. Jennings. Please, you guys, just drop it-"
"DROP IT?!" They all yell.
The three of them continue to shout at me. They scream phrases such as, "I can't believe you tried to do this to us again!", and "Why didn't you talk to me?"
I'm having a hard time making out who is screaming what, until one thing Fabian says makes me angry.
"This morning, I asked you if you were going to be okay, and you told me you would be. I can't believe you lied to me, Eddie!"
"Yeah, well I can't believe that the three of you lied to me last night!" I snap.
They shut up as soon as I say it.
"W-What do you mean?" Alfie questions, clearly playing dumb.
I scoff. "Well, why don't we start with 'Hey KT, is he asleep?', and end with 'okay guys, let's not tell him anything we talked about!'?"
They stare at me in horror, speechless.
"You were awake." Alfie mumbles.
"Yeah, he was. It was a smooth move on your part, wasn't it Alfie?" Patricia snarks.
"Oh, and what you said wasn't!" Alfie screams.
"GUYS STOP!" I yell.
All four of them stare at me in surprise. I haven't yelled that loud since I've been depressed.
"Please, you two, stop," I begin, "Yes, I was awake. I heard everything."
KT's cries have turned into muffled sobs, and she keeps her hand in front of her mouth to prevent them from escalating.
"We…we were just trying to protect you…" Fabian murmurs.
I shrug, and sit down on the ground, which they copy.
"You went through hell yesterday, Eddie," Alfie adds, "We didn't want you to endure it anymore. Please try to understand that."
"Remember what you talked about today." Patricia whispers to me, quiet enough so only I can hear her.
Her tip is simple, but it helps. I quickly replay my entire appointment with Dr. Jennings in my head.
"I know," I start, "and I'm not upset over what you did, Alfie. I'm not upset about what you and Fabian did to Todd, either. I'm upset about the lies."
Their faces turn pale when I mention Todd.
Their faces turn pale when I mention Todd.
"H-how did you know about that? We never mentioned what we did to him." Fabian questions
Shoot! I promised Jim I wouldn't rat him out; but, I can't lie to them like they did to me.
"I made Jim tell me on Facebook." I say.
Fabian and Alfie groan, and KT continues to cry. I hate seeing them so upset, especially when I know it's because of me.
"KT, come here." I whisper.
She quickly crawls over to me, and engulfs me in a huge hug.
"I'm sorry Eddie, I'm so sorry! I didn't want to…they talked me into it." she murmurs.
I hear Fabian and Alfie scoff as I squeeze her tightly.
"It's okay. Everything's going to be okay."
She lets go of me, and stares at me quizzically.
"You haven't said anything that uplifting in a while."
"No, you haven't." Fabian adds.
I sigh, and explain my reasonings for being so depressed for the fourth time today. They already know about Patricia calling me weak, so I start with how upset their lie made me. I tell them that it's hard for me to trust them when they keep things from me, because the lying makes me think they don't care about me as much as they claim they do.
"Eddie, stop. Please, just stop." Alfie interrupts, "Okay, we lied to you; I'm sorry. Do you seriously doubt that we love you? Is there something in 'I love you and don't want to lose you' that you don't understand?"
I shake my head. "No…there isn't. Dr. Jennings told me that it's part of my sickness. It's just the dishonesty makes me wonder if you're lying when you say you love me. I realize now, after talking and stuff today, that you do, but…my brain tries to trick me into thinking otherwise."
"That makes sense," Fabian croaks, "but it's not true. I love you, Eddie. We all do. I'm sorry I lied to you…and I'm sorry I made everyone lie to you, too. Not just yesterday, but with the whole Todd thing. We should have told you."
I nod. "It's okay. I forgive you…really, I do. I hate it when I feel like I can't trust you guys…"
Alfie reaches over to me, and pulls me into a hug. Of course, I hug him back.
"No more secrets. No more lies. Ever." he murmurs.
I smile. "I like the sound of that."
I try to let go of him, but he doesn't budge.
"I'm not letting go of you until I absolutely have to."
I smirk, and hug him again. "Okay."
So here I sit on the cold ground beside the chasm, with Alfie clinging to me for dear life.
"I do have a question for you, Alfie: how have you been doing your community service without me noticing?"
He looks up at me. "It's only for an hour a day right after school. It's hardly noticeable when I'm gone."
"I was helping him make sure you never noticed…you know, since I was let off easy…I'm so sorry, Eddie." Fabian adds
Now that I think about it, I can't recall spending time with Alfie as soon as he got back from school. Patricia, Fabian, and KT always came directly to see me as soon as they returned, but now that I think about it, Alfie always appeared later. They would say he was doing homework, or that he was out with Willow…I can't believe I never thought anything else of it!
I look down at him. "Are you seriously not going to let go of me?"
He shakes his head. "Nope."
As he continues to cling to me, I explain everything else: my almost attempt, Patricia catching me (I leave out the parts where we made out and confessed our undying and eternal love for each other), the entire appointment with Dr. Jennings, and then having to tell that same story to the remaining adults when I returned home.
"So we have to watch you, like, twenty-four-seven?" Alfie questions, still clinging to me.
I nod. "Yeah. I mean, if you left me alone for like five minutes-"
"That's not going to happen," Fabian interrupts, "You will never be more than three meters away from any of us. Except for when we're at school. End of story."
"We'll check your arms periodically. I know you want to get better, Eddie, but you're still sick. I'm not going to take any chances." KT adds.
"I don't expect you guys to." I reply.
"Hopefully, the new medications you're going to be on won't make you feel so tired all the time, and we can go on walks. All of us, or any combination of us. That might actually be kind of fun." Patricia says.
"Yeah, except that you all hate each other." I mutter.
I didn't mean to say it, but I couldn't stop myself. Oops…
"We don't hate each other!", KT exclaims, "I mean we may be fighting, but…I could never hate any of you."
"You guys do know that there literally is no one in this entire world who I love more than any of you four, right?", Fabian murmurs, "I could never hate any of you, even if I tried."
"Yeah, seriously. You guys are my family." Alfie adds, still hugging me.
"I love you guys more than my family." Patricia says.
I smile to myself. I love them so much…
"Aww, group hug!" Alfie cheers.
Then, the rest of them join Alfie and I in our hug; we're united once again.
"I love you guys so much," I murmur, "I couldn't survive any of this without any of you."
The next several minutes are filled with various "I'm sorry's" and "I love you's" and "No more lies and fights". After my groundbreaking appointment with Dr. Jennings today, I felt happy and hopeful; now I feel even happier and more hopeful, which I didn't think was possible.
"So Fabian," Alfie starts, "last night, when you said I was a clueless, annoying, self-absorbed prick, you didn't really mean it?"
I shift my gaze to Fabian. I had no clue he could utter something so cruel!
He nods. "Yeah…I was just mad. I'm sorry, Alfie. I'm sorry."
"What the…" Patricia confusedly murmurs.
Alfie gives Fabian a hug of his own.
"I'm sorry I called you a vampire-pale-faced doormat that is so ugly and annoying that the only ones who walk all over you are people with dog poo on the bottom on their shoe."
We all stare at Alfie then, and I can't help but chuckle.
"I forgive you." Fabian replies, in all sincerity.
KT bursts out laughing. "Alfie that is the weirdest insult I've ever heard!"
He smirks. "I was pretty mad, I'm not going to lie."
Everyone breaks apart from their various hugs.
Alfie sighs. "I've never told you guys this…but when I get sad or upset about stuff, I usually don't act like it: I get mad. I'm not good at being sad. That's why I hurt Todd, and why I'm always so defensive; I don't know how to be sad. I'll cry about stuff, but it's rare."
"That certainly explains a lot." I tease.
"Yeah, it also explains the time when we first found out about Eddie's bullying, you asked us if Victor owned a gun and banged your head against the wall." Patricia adds.
I stare at Alfie in surprise. "You really did that?"
He nods. "Yeah. Like I said, I'm not good at being sad. It used to scare the crap out of my parents. When my Grandparents died several years ago, I didn't cry once. Instead, I like, kicked their caskets when we were at their funerals."
"Oh my god, that's horrible!" KT exclaims
Alfie smirks. "I know. The list goes on and on, with incidents like that. The worst one was obviously when I beat the daylights out of Todd, but there have been other bad ones."
I pat his hand. "You know, I'm not that upset that you attacked him. I've always been worried that he'd begin to bully you guys for messing with him…but when I think about it, he deserved a taste of his own medicine."
"Finally you realize that!" Patricia cheers.
I grin. "I'm not the only person who he has hurt. He's hurt other people too. I think he's hurt me the most out of anybody, but he has hurt others. I'm sure they'd love to know karma's starting to take it's toll on him."
"He'll get what he truly deserves," Fabian says, "we're not going to lose this next trial, I know it. We just have to be patient."
"Yeah, and he'll go to jail and rot there!" Alfie says, excitedly.
"I wish it wouldn't even stop there. If I could get away with it, I would totally murder that moron." Patricia adds.
"Let's change the subject, I hate talking about him for too long," I say, "Let's talk about how we're going to get down this chasm and take these diamonds. I want to be rich!"
"Yeah, me too!"
"Same!"
"Yeeeah!"
"Woooo!"
Fabian picks up the items he brought down earlier.
"I grabbed a meter stick and a measuring tape, which we can duct tape together to measure how deep it is." Fabian explains.
"Well tape them together, I want to know!" Alfie cheers.
Fabian then grabs the three items, and starts assembling them.
"I'm eager to know how much each one is worth," KT says, "Jerome said initially that the whole thing is worth a billion pounds, right? Does that mean each individual diamond, or all of them combined?"
"Does Jerome even know what he was talking about?", Patricia retorts, "After what he did to Eddie, I lost all faith in him."
"Let's not forget that Todd is the one who told him it was worth that much." I add.
Alfie suddenly starts laughing. "Todd probably still thinks there's a chance he'll get his diamond. Jerome too."
I join him in laughing. Not going to happen, Todd-o!
"Okay, it's ready to go!", Fabian exclaims, "will someone watch me lower it down, to see when it hits? I need to focus on getting it down there without it breaking."
"Here I'll shine my phone's flashlight down there again." I say, stepping towards him.
He puts his arm out in front of me. "Ah ah ah! Anyone but you, Eddie. You're not going anywhere near this chasm edge ever again."
I roll my eyes "I'm not going to do anything…"
"Eddie. Over here. Now." Patricia snaps.
Defeated, I saunter to where she is still sitting.
"Here, I'll help you Fabes." KT volunteers.
The remaining three of us watch as Fabian lowers the measuring tools down the chasm, and as KT shines her phone's light over it.
"Just so we're clear," Alfie starts, pulling my focus, "you're never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EEEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRR going to try to leave us again, right?"
I nod. "Nope. You're stuck with me."
He smiles, and hugs me again. "Good."
I let go of him, and then go back to watching Fabian.
"Stop!" KT calls out.
I hear the wooden meter stick clink against the diamonds.
"It's about fifty meters down. It's deeper than we thought it was." Fabian announces.
"So how do we get down there?" Patricia questions.
Fabian shrugs. "I'll come up with something. I'll just need some time."
He then reels the measuring tools back up.
"Maybe we should start by taking one, and then take it to a jewelry store or something to see how much they're worth." I suggest.
"That's not a bad idea, but I honestly don't know how we're going to be able to get them yet. Let's come back later, alright? I'm sick of being down here." Fabian replies.
Everyone agrees. We start to walk out, when Fabian suddenly realizes something else.
"Wait, we never talked about how Nina's locket still works for us to get down here."
We stop. "I mean…she's still the Chosen One…so maybe-" I begin.
"You're still the Osirian!" Patricia finishes, excitement in her voice.
That hadn't even crossed my mind. Is there a way I could still be the Osirian? Is there a possible chance I didn't lose my powers?
"But what Victor said-" KT starts
"Victor's lied to us about things before," I interrupt, "he could have been tricking us."
"Yeah, but you haven't had any visions or anything recently, right? Wouldn't you be able to tell?" Fabian asks.
"I mean, there's no mystery right now, and I've been so sick and depressed that I haven't even thought about it…I honestly have no clue."
"Do you think you could ask your Dad?", KT wonders, "Maybe he knows something that we don't."
Since the whole Touchstone thing, I've felt more comfortable discussing my Osirian-ness with my Dad, but there is still an awkwardness surrounding the subject that I can't ignore; but, I want to find out if I didn't lose my powers, so I guess I'll have to talk to him.
"Yeah, I can," I say, "Maybe there's an exception to the prophecy or something."
"Huh, I didn't even think about that!" Fabian exclaims, "I really want to research that."
At this point, we're all grinning. I know it's because we're all thinking the same thing: I could still be the Osirian.
"Not that this isn't interesting, it is, but can we go inside now? The more and more I stare at that chasm, the more and more I think about what would have happened if Patricia hadn't…you know, found you, Eddie." KT murmurs.
I nod, and give her a quick hug. I'm getting sick of being down here, too.
"Yeah, let's get back to the House." I say, letting go of her.
We then leave, and all five of us are happier than we were on the journey down.