Three: Discoveries

When Kim left Edward for the second time that night, she told him she loved him. She hadn't even thought about it beforehand. She had just opened her mouth and out spilled the four letter word, love. It was the first time she had ever loved somebody, much less to even dare declare the feelings aloud. The second time, he didn't respond either. No nod, no smile, just staring at her with those big puppy dog brown eyes that she drowned in.

"I love you too." He whispered so quietly, she almost didn't hear him. The words were foreign on his tongue.

Her eyes teamed with tears. Undoubtedly, she was a sucker for romance. Jim had told her he loved her so often it had become possessive and meaningless.

She traveled home floating, musing that she had definitely consumed too many harlequins, or she just genuinely loved Edward. Whatever it was, her mother seemed to notice this spell of a "different attitude" coming from Kim.

Kimmy didn't seem to be grieving even the slightest for Jim. Peg had liked him enough, but Edward a lot more...but Edward was dead now too, right?

"Sweetie, have you met someone new?" She inquired as Kim seated herself at the dinner table and took out her textbooks to squeeze in some studying.

"Well, sort of..." Kim smiled mysteriously, pausing from her geography to look at her mother. Her eyes sparkled. "In a way."

In a way I love him, she thought to herself.

"Whatever do you mean? Who is he?"

"Oh, no one..."

"Kim." Peg pressed. "I don't want you seeing any stranger, you've been out a lot lately. You know how your father and I feel about dates"

"Mom." Kim sighed exasperatedly, rolling her soft brown eyes. Mothers. Honestly, they worried too much about nothing.

"Don't get that tone with me." Peg scolded. Kim was far too mesmerized by the man candy in her life. Any other day, she would have been bothered by the fact that her mother was upset with her. Today was different.

"I worry a lot about Kim." Peg confided on the phone to Joyce later that night, their routine ritual. Peg lived for her nightly chats with her dear friends, as gossipy as they came off. These women were the only friends she had really acquired and they assisted her when she worried. Like now for instance.

"Well she is a senior now, doll." Joyce drawled. "Seniors explore the things all teenagers eventually do. And you know what that means don't you? Sex, drugs, alcohol..."

Peg's stomach churned. "My Kim?"

"Even your Kim." Joyce pointed out defiantly. Sometimes you really had to shove the idea down Peg's throat. She was always in line for a rude awakening. Joyce had to hypothetically pound the truth into Peg's head, as she had troubles dealing with the harsh reality of teenage quips.

"Joyce, this is a suburban neighborhood and all the kids are really very wholesome."

"You remember being a kid don't you, hon?" Joyce drawled.

"Oh, Joyce!" Peg tossed up her hands in frustration. Bill glanced over from where he was engrossed in a heated game of gin rummy with their younger son, Kevin.

"Well I suppose rape happens too."

Peg gnawed on her lip, thinking of Joyce's reports of Edward's attempted rape, and violent threats to her physical safety.

"Oh that, ha ha ha." Joyce laughed lazily from across the line. "I suppose it do, don't it?"

"Edward." Peg was saddened by the mere mention of his name.

"I know, I know, that poor thing...see, when I told that floozy story about him nearly rapin' me, I didn't think he'd be murdered only days later." Joyce clucked her tongue.

Peg gasped as the truth fell into place. "You know what Joyce, I never did believe Edward would do such things…he didn't even know a thing about lust or, "she hesitated, rolling her next word on her tongue, "sex. Or even love for that matter."

Joyce coughed uncomfortably. She hadn't intended to get onto the subject of making Edward out to be a dirty, sex hungry fiend.

"Do you ever wonder if, you might have done one thing different, it would shake up the after events…create a whole lotta shit because of one thing you did. Everything would have turned out differently. Like you know, a ripple in the water creates a bunch more ripples." It may have sounded introspective if it hadn't been coming from a poorly educated housewife. "I wonder, if maybe I hadn't picked on poor Eddy, he'd still be alive."

Peg clamped her eyes shut. "It's best not to dwell on the past."

Joyce murmured her agreement.

"Let's not talk about Edward." Peg said abruptly, rubbing her temples in anxiety. The memories were bitter and she felt her eyes scorch with what she assumed were tears.

"I have a suggestion for you, " Joyce piped up, "if you're worried about Kim and all…" She trailed off knowing Peg would take the bait and practically beg for Joyce's advice.

"Oh yeah?" Peg asked casually.

"Just get in the car and follow her. See where she's always headed off too. Get on top of your daughter's life before she ends up pregnant." Joyce chuckled at Peg's dismayed gasp and Peg heard her take a long drag on her cigarette.

"You know that wouldn't be respecting her privacy." Peg always thought Joyce acted young, promiscuous and far too daring for the age of 40. She was a wild, red haired and vivacious vixen who often forgot about the wedding ring wrapped around her finger; always doing something crazy. Peg believed that Joyce had lied about Edward all along. She had probably done something dreadful to poor Edward herself. It was the thing Joyce craved- drama, attention, and a suburban affair behind her oblivious husband's back. Something she must have picked up from Housewives 101. The meeting Peg had to of missed.

"Peg..."

"That is a rather good idea." Peg said thoughtfully, as she timidly nibbled on her lip.

And so she did follow her eldest child.

Routinely, Kim would stop at home after school, drop off her books and bag, grab a quick snack and head out until nine or ten o'clock.

Peg pretended to be enthralled by her sewing machine as she watched the 17 year old perform her usual routine, so she wouldn't look conspicuous.

"Going out mom." Kim announced.

"Where to?"

"Just hanging out with some friends." She forced a smile, gave a half hearted wave and then dashed out the door as if she was in a hurry to get to her desired location.

Peg watched her daughter amble down the driveway and out onto the deserted street before she set out into the distance.

She covered her eyes with dark sunglasses and buckled up in the car to slowly drive behind the girl. All the cars looked identical in the neighborhood. Kim would never know it was Peg.

She was getting the rising notion that she was behaving like a psychopathic stalker- stalking her own blood and descent.

Watched as Kim smiled at neighbors mowing their lawns and kids played jump rope on their driveways; suburbia in action.

To Peg's dismay, Kim trekked past all the quaint, indistinguishable houses. She was heading right up the craggy drive to…to Edward Scissorhand's mansion!

The ancient gates papered with scraggly vines creaked open as Kim slipped through the entrance.

Peg jerked the car to an abrupt stop She was breathing heavily, panicking, and wondering why on earth would Kim Boggs have a motive to be at this desolate place. She couldn't very well park right out in the court facing the entrance to the mansion. People would see and know. She cursed herself for driving.

But Peg was not thinking only of this bad move on her part. Just insanely curious as to what Kim was up to. What if she was engaging in illegal activities or worse-voodoo, witchcraft…resurrections or religious actions the town recluse, Esmeralda would be involved in?

Peg shuddered at the thought and exited the vehicle. Eventually, she crept up the drive, keeping a slow pace behind Kim. People can usually sense when they're being followed or ogled but Peg wasn't dangerous, so maybe Kim just didn't trigger the sensation, maybe it was a myth.

She hid behind a large rhododendron bush sculpted into a hand with its fingers curled inwards. A bush she recalled vividly from first discovering Edward, desperate for sales.

She gulped in air.

Kim was straining to tug open the massive door. After succeeding, slipping through the foreboding doors.

Why was Kim here? She had to know or die trying. Edward was no longer a part of the world! As heartbreaking as it was, Kim herself had witnessed his death, so what could this house possibly still have for her? Perhaps his death had taken its toll on Kim obviously harder than Peg initially thought, and might have a strange attachment to the residence.

Peg waited a minute before heading in after Kim to confirm she wouldn't catch the teenager's attention. But when she did enter, Kim was nowhere in sight.

Peg dreaded the long ascending climb she'd have to avenge, up the long winding stone stairs. It really gave you an unnecessary workout and Peg ended up panting. She hiked up her floral patterned dress and began the climb, keeping as quiet as she could.

When she reached the top landing where Edward's hideaway once was, she stopped and pressed herself against the wall, reluctant to turn around the corner and see what she remembered was once Edward's 'sanctuary'. No doubt, she'd take a painful trip down memory lane-she knew that much.

She almost expected to find the blonde splendor draped over Edward's corpse, surrounded by luminous candles, chanting incantations.

Squeezing shut her eyes, prepared for the worst, she leapt out from where she had been standing and faced the make shift 'throne'-like chair covered in newspaper clippings. Peg Boggs gasped until her throat felt ravaged.

Edward and Kim were tangled in a tight embrace. They were kissing...but it wasn't dirty or overbearing…there was no groping or fondling. They would kiss softly, pause to stare into each others eyes, then kiss again. It was intimate in a way Peg had never seen nor experienced since she too were a girl. Edward's arms were carefully placed around Kim's tiny waist. Delicately, the scissors positioned as far away from Kim's body to prevent incisions.

This was a man Peg had thought for sure was dead. She would have been overjoyed at the prospect of Edward being alive (hallelujah!), but the fact of the matter was, Kim had lied to her and they were necking.

There was something so beautiful about those two together. Two entities in the complete opposite. The petite, blonde haired teenager contrasting with the tall, ashen man with the facial scars and the fitted, black leather.

Peg could never have imagined Edward's touch with such fire, such passion. He did it in a way that was almost shy-in spite of that- tantalizing. Edward hadn't done this sort of thing before. It was new to him, she assumed to Kim, and to Peg-and Peg hadn't an inkling that there had been chemistry between Edward and her daughter.

They broke apart from the embrace when Peg gasped.

Kim shrieked, Edward's eyes widened but he beamed happily despite of this at the sight of his savior, Peg.

"Peg!"

"MOM?"

"Edward is ALIVE?"

The tension radiated between the mother and daughter as they gawked at each other in stunned silence, both shocked at what they were seeing and unable to piece together the right sentences.

Kim's face was red, and her body trembled.

Nothing had prepared them for the shock they were feeling now-Edward too, as they heard the chattering and clamor of a dozen neighbors from beneath them. Suburbia had seen Peg's car and its' suspicious location and were now inside Edward Scissorhand's dwelling. Once one busybody saw, news traveled faster than lightning. The secret visits were an insider that Suburbia was in on, and Kim was out of.