This is a future-fic, placing our dear little Edd at the age of 17, Ed at 19, and Eddy at 18

The Plunge

"go away, go away," a shallow voice came from the boy backed up in the corner. Edd's voice came out even frailer than usual, as if he was scared half to death. He only whispered as he shook, clutching his knees to his chest, as if it were his lifeline. It was his lifeline, he had to hold himself together, he couldn't let go. If he let go now all of this, all of his efforts would be for naught. The stinging from the small hole in his left arm was fading away, being replaced by a nauseating dizziness, a sense of near vertigo that shot through his body at a spine-shattering speed.

Edd closed his eyes, hoping to shut the feeling off completely, to disconnect his mind from his body. He squeezed his eyelids, causing a sting to shoot through him- but no, whatever he did he couldn't open his eyes. The spinning was getting faster and faster- how on earth some people could find this pleasing was far beyond him, but that didn't matter now. No, it really didn't- all that mattered was keeping his sanity. Sometimes he thought to himself, and realized the pain of just lying down and dyeing once would be so much better than this. Better than the same pain everyday, sometimes three times a day if he were sick enough.

He opened his eyes, the temptation of seeing that the room wasn't spinning overcame him. But he was wrong- no matter what pure logic told him. Logic said it was in his mind, but the walls spun around him- making him sick. The aggravation of the moment brought him to the point of near insanity, and the glint of glass flying past over and over and over, no, that was too much. "GO AWAY" - he reached a fist in front of him, and the sound of crashing rang in his ears. The sting was distant, no more than a dream at the moment, but the torture was real. Edd fell over, curled up with his knees near his chin, and pulled his hat over his eyes.

"Out of the way, monobrow!" Eddy's voice echoed through the cul-de-sac. Edd watched his friend try to wrestle Ed away from the giant mechanical chicken he himself had designed. Edd gently sighed as he watched Eddy valiantly fight the losing battle; good thing he was rather short on wits, because his scams had become more malicious as he had grown. Ed seemed to be the same loveable oath, if not a little more in touch with reality. Truth be told, Edd prided Ed as his prize pupil, he had become quite academically apt from the tutoring sessions. "Ouch", Edd bit his tongue to keep his comrades from hearing his plea for help as he readjusted the bulky bandaging on his left hand.

"Okay Double D, how does this work again" Eddy seemed to be more implying that he wanted Edd to start it than explain, so he did both.

"You see Eddy, all you have to do is press this button, and the chicken will start it's call" Edd demonstrated what hew said, and the chicken seemed to go haywire. But only a brief moment later, an amazingly realistic clucking sound started to come from the chest of the large statue.

Rolf's chickens filed one by one to the clunk of metal, an eyesore even from it's creators point of view, when Eddy stuck his hand in Edd's pocket.

"EXCUSE ME, Please… Wait a min… STOP THAT" Edd's pleas went unanswered as usual, when the sound of metal on concrete made his heart stop. He stood for and endless second, waiting for what he knew was coming. The second clunk of metal seemed to echo throughout is body, the very sound resonating in his bones.

Edd looked straight at his friends' eyes, to afraid to look at the ground. The sight of Eddy whispering in Ed's ear, or more so the reaction from the oldest boy- "But Double D told me that those were bad" shot through his heart. A pain in his chest grew, going from a slight tearing at his heart to a full fledge flame, and his face heated under his skin- he was sure of the blush that was setting in by now. In his mind, in his heart he could explain his predicament, his "problem"- but not to Ed. Ed had a trust in life you could only lose once, and he couldn't do that to his friend.

Edd gracefully picked up the syringe off of the ground, and made his way to his house.