Author's note: I understand that the surgery in this chapter is a bit, um, make-believe-ish. A real surgery, as we all should know, would never be done like this. But, remember this is a fable---you can only partially have reality in it.

I really, really felt terrible for neglecting you guys so much—so I added another chapter for this week! I hope you enjoy it :)

Not Even Human—Chapter Seven

Kennedy Boggs hovered over the patient, his pearly white teeth grinning out of his mouth. He had worked with machines, but never done a surgery. That was the tricky thing about this patient, he was half man and half machine. A team of surgeons had been called in to deal with the human half, and Kennedy and his technician team would deal with the machine half.

Kennedy would have done anything to have met Edward's inventor. He must have been a genius.

"Has he been turned off?" Kennedy asked the head surgeon. The head surgeon nodded.

"Get your people to disconnect his arms—be careful not to break any of the internal wires. That's right—yeah, that's it. No! No! Disconnect from his shoulder! Okay, that's better. Remember those internal wires..."

After a difficult time ripping and tearing, the surgeons sliced the leather on Edward's arm open, revealing a soft mass of white plastic underneath. They did the same on the other arm, and they discovered the same snow-white material.

Snap. Crack! One arm was broken off, making a thin flow of blood trickle out. It was easily clogged up. They plucked out the internal wires, carefully. The arm—scissors and all—was taken to be worked on separately.

Snap. Crack! The other arm was taken off, and carried off.

Above the surgery, in the glass dome—the medical students gasped and gawked, while feverishly scribbling down notes. Kevin Boggs continued to lecture on what the surgeons were doing.

Kennedy Boggs frowned as he reviewed the x-ray sheet. It showed that Edward had a fracture on his hip—bent metal bones. That would have to be fixed.

Besides that, everything was going well. This was going to put him in the history books.

Edward felt a sharp, piercing pain in his shoulder. It stung like a bee, and then burned as if a fire was on his arm. Then his other arm began to throb violently. It was like a snake's venom and it flowed through his veins.

Edward was afraid, and he wanted to wake up.

The darkness enveloped, and he was stuck in it, as though he were a fly trapped in a spider's soft web. No matter how much he struggled to lift his eyelids, they stayed closed, and Edward was forced to stay in the coal black dream.

A red-hot poke came from his hip. Edward shuddered, feeling the pain slide down his body. Jim had bent that hip with an iron pole. The injury felt like it got worse—and that sizzling acidic-like pain creeped in Edward.

Afterwards, a wave of cool air rushed over him, and he felt the pain in his arms and hip start to fizzle into nothing. The comforting breeze swooped over his chest and he felt his throat tighten and then relax. It was as if he was melting, and he liked it very much. It was as if he weighted not one single ounce... Edward's heart slowed into a lethargic tick-tock.

The colorful fluids—drugs, the doctors had called them—had kicked in, full swing. Edward felt another searing poke in his chest and it grew; but Edward didn't seem to notice it, and he stayed in his still, silent peace.

"Well, no wonder...here's the problem, Boggs." A surgeon commented, with an amazed chuckle.

The man held out something round in his pale rubber glove. The round object spurted out a cloudy red mist, and it made a sharp jingle, like broken glass.

The surgeons leaned towards it to get a better look, and then they jumped back, gasping in surprise. The student's confused murmur buzzed above, and Kevin Boggs stood dumbstruck, his mouth open.

"It's a broken heart...I'll be damned." The surgeon said, as his hand continued to hold the heart.

"Will you look at that!" Kennedy Boggs said, staking a step closer. "Holy Jesus."

Edward's chest was stripped of the black, buckled leather, and a white, uncovered plastic surface was in its place. A part of his chest was cut open, showing metal, wires, and iron springs underneath. A gap was were the heart had been scooped out.

"Okay, get Bess in here. We need—" The head surgeon commanded, making the whole room become unorganized and bustled.

The surgeons quickly replaced the plastic red heart with a fresh, metal one. After they connected the fake blood back to the heart; they relaxed.

The machine's legs had been taken off, along with the arms, because they had decided it would be easier just to break up Edward into tiny, manageable pieces. They were taking him apart like a stack of Legoes.

Things were going fine, until Edward woke up.

At first, Edward's eyelids only fluttered a bit, then big blinks, and soon Edward's glass eyes were wide open. Someone had switched him back on, either that or he hadn't been given enough sedatives. No matter what the cause, Edward was awake and sober as a lawyer.

His black eyes looked around, and suddenly, Edward felt a strong wave of gnawing pain come from every particle in his body, and he gasped, in shock.

People started to yell and shout. In a swirl of blue clothes, white masks, and grey knives they all scrambled about to switch Edward off again.

"Oh my Lord!" screamed an assistant, "He's awake!"

The crowd of medical students above them started to mutter, fearfully.

Edward really only panicked when he saw his arms and legs cut off. Just his torso remained. He could see a bright white plastic thing cover his body, where his old leather suit used to be.

Edward's eyes widened in horror.

"Turn it off! Switch him off!" A doctor shouted, madly.

The room turned to utter pandemonium.

Kennedy Boggs, despite the chaos, grabbed Edward by the head and switched him off, forcefully.

After that, Edward could only see a bitter black world. A freezing cold sensation went all over him, stiffening his skin.

He hadn't woken up for an eternity, or, at least, that's what it felt like.

Edward fondly remembered when his father told him that story about a lady who had gone to sleep and never woke up—she only woke up until a prince had kissed her. He hoped no princes would have to kiss him to solve this dilemma. He wouldn't mind if Kim kissed him again, though.

Memories didn't make him so lonely. Edward thought of Peg Boggs. She had been so kind and loving to him, almost as if he were her own son. He wasn't really sure what a mother was—Kevin had explained it to him once—but Edward felt that she came close to being his mother. Edward missed Peg, too.

He would remember and dig up memories, until he had pretty much unearthed everything and anything he had buried in his mind. Now, just when Edward was starting to adapt to the shadowy world, he was unmercifully brought out of it.

"Up and about, Edward..."

Automatically, Edward's eyelids burst open. A pure white light flooded his delicate eyes, and they felt like they'd shrivel up from the pounding light.

Edward panted and wheezed, as he was being ripped away from his safe, dark sleep.

His eyes blurred, then cleared. Blurred, clear. Blurred, clear. His head throbbed with burning pain, and he felt life surge though himself again.

"C'mon!" said someone, desperately, "C'mon. C'mon. Don't crash on me again..."

Edward's vision split, then came together, then split again.

Kennedy Boggs stood next to Edward, but he looked very fuzzy, like he was made out of cotton balls. Edward blinked, and Ken wasn't so fuzzy.

Kennedy grinned, insanely, and he started to laugh.

"Ah, ha!" Kennedy shouted, victoriously, as he punched the air, "I knew it! I knew it! Ha! Ha!"

"K-Kennedy?" Edward said. His brain gave a sharp pang when he moved his jaw.

"Ah, good. His vocal wires are working...Good, good..."

"Where am I?" Edward asked, frightened, "What happened?"

"Can you heard me, Ed?" Kennedy asked, oblivious, "How're your ears? Can you see my hand go up and down? What color is my hair?"

Edward frowned. He never liked Kennedy all that much.

"Look, I know you're probably lost on what's going on, but hang with me here, okay? Are your ears good, Ed?"

"Yes."

"What color is my hair, and can you see my hand go up and down?"

"B-brown..." Edward said, quietly, "... yes."

Kennedy's crazy grin grew so that his white teeth almost stretched from ear to ear. The man rubbed his hands together, in anticipation.

Edward looked at the new surroundings. It was a small, bright laboratory with multicolored wires swaying to and fro from the metal shelves. A green and grey old-fashioned TV was wedged in the clutter. A mountain of shining tools was heaped on the tables, and sketches and diagrams of the human body were taped onto the concrete walls. A full-length mirror was in the corner, serving very little purpose.

The glass dome was gone, but a low tiled ceiling was there instead. There were no surgeons or medical students looking down at him.

"Where am I?" Edward said, confused.

"My lab." Kennedy snapped, happily.

Edward looked around again, while getting more confused. "...But how did--?"

"To make a long story short, Edward..." Kennedy Boggs grumbled, "Something that was supposed to take three weeks, took three years..."

"...I don't understand..."

"Okay, you want the long story... During surgery, you woke up at the wrong time, after that...we had some faults. NASA got pissed and they pulled funding—idiots—Anyway...they wanted to put you into some sort of god-awful museum in Tokyo, but someone ended up stealing you." Kennedy smiled, "Let's just say I have connections."

"You--?"

"I moved you and your legs and arms over to my lab, and kept you here, illegally. I stole parts from my job. Yeah, anyway, they became suspicious of me, and I ended up getting fired. I had to buy materials off the black market."

Edward looked at Kennedy, bewildered.

Kennedy seemed to be lost in thought, "So...yeah. I guess I finished you. You get what you want, and I get nothing. Kinda ironic, when you think about it."

"Finished!" Edward said loudly, but then it changed to a whisper, "...Finished?"

"Sure. You're finished." Kennedy muttered.

Kennedy had a sort of resentment towards Edward, but not as strong as the hatred Jim had had for the machine boy. You see, Kennedy had lost his life to finish what he called "The challenge of all challenges." Ken had lost his girlfriend—or girlfriends—his house, his two dogs, his job, his nice car, and most of his money.

Edward was still lying on his back. The table was cold and uncomfortable on his back; he tried, but he couldn't see his hands while lying down. Edward was far too tired to lift his arms.

Kennedy offered to help Edward up.

"Yes, please."

Edward's second inventor helped him up so that he was sitting upright. Edward didn't have his heavy leather suit on anymore—just a white, fleshy veneer over his metal chest. His arms were covered with waxy plastic, too. He was wearing some rolled-up jeans but, as Edward could see, his legs now had colorless material on them.

Edward had felt unusually free and light, and now he knew why. He had skin.

The boy looked and he expected to see shining, grey, razor-sharp knives—instead his eyes met two thin, smooth hands. He opened his mouth and gasped, like a child opening gifts at Christmas.

Edward's heart skipped a few beats. He felt lightheaded, like he just drank a whole bottle of lemonade.

He brought the hands closer and looked at them, tenderly. They were white and graceful, not silvery and sharp. He was so incredibly happy, he thought he'd cry if he could.

Kennedy Boggs smiled, feeling rather accomplished, and he decided to bring his large mirror to Edward. Ken helped Edward, who was still looking lovingly at his new hands, and put him on his feet.

Edward peeled his eyes off his glorious hands, and became even more surprised at the reflection.

"That's me?"

Edward's eyes widened, and he looked at himself, curiously, as if he were looking at a stranger. His skin was very, very pale and face's pink scars had healed, leaving a smooth surface. Edward noticed something strange about his forehead.

"W-What's..." Edward said, quietly, as he looked at himself. "What're those two things above my eyes?"

"Huh?" Kennedy said, stupidly, "Oh. Those are eyebrows. I implanted those, you just had skin there before."

Eyebrows...They, as Kennedy explained, didn't do anything important, but they were what every other human had. Edward nodded and he bent closer to his ghost-pale reflection, and he looked it up and down many times.

"Here," Kennedy said, as he yanked Edward's new hands up to Edward's face.

Edward jumped back, frightened, and he drew his face away from the hands.

"You're not going to hurt yourself!" Kennedy said, impatiently, as he pulled Edward's hand to Edward's face again.

Edward's hand touched Edward's face. The poor boy gave a small whimper, and he expected blood to drip down his face. But Edward only felt his hand's silky skin brush against his face.

"See? Nothing to be worried about..."

Edward's hand stayed glued onto his face. He didn't want to take it away. Edward took his other hand and touched his plastic black hair with it—his hair felt stiff and starchy, not like Kim's soft golden hair. He touched his nose, feeling the hard angles of it, he touched his new eyebrows, he felt his closed eyelids, his lips, and his chin.

Edward still had the bad habit of twitching his scissors---fingers, that is---like he were cutting a piece of invisible paper. He also kept his arms a good distance away from his sides. These bad habits would be dealt with later, Kennedy thought.

"Try and pick this up," Kennedy said, putting a book infront of Edward.

Edward tried, but he couldn't get the right grip on it. He just expected it to stick to his hand. He tried many times, but he just couldn't do it. Edward actually felt like he had more of a disability than ever.

"Hummm. That's okay, Ed, we'll work on that later." Kennedy said, musing.

"I'm sorry."

"What for? Hell, you're doing better than I thought you would." Kennedy said, as he walked across the room, and got something out of a bag, "Put this on, Ed, and I'll see if I have any extra shoes."

Edward slid on the grey sweater he was given and put on some of Kennedy's shoes, though Kennedy had to tie them. Wearing shoes was very strange, like putting your feet in little houses, and Edward, on the whole, found it very interesting.

Kennedy squinted his eyes, critically, "We're going to have to brush your hair. It's a friggin mess, no offence meant, of course, but it is. And keep your arms to your side, Ed! You don't have razor blades for hands anymore, okay?"

Edward gingerly put his hands to his sides, and made himself keep them there.

"And stop twitching your fingers. People will think you're a freak." Kennedy said, as he looked for his hairbrush, "Where did I put that damn thing? Oh, here it is."

Edward had to promise never to tell anyone what Kennedy had done—except, of course, the Walters and the Boggs, who would have to know someday—He could never tell about the black market, the stealing materials, or even stealing himself. The whole thing must be a secret, or Ken would be arrested.

Then, something hit Edward. Now that he was dead (again), in a sense, he didn't have to go to trial, be interviewed, killed, or protested against anymore. He had a clean slate; he was a new man, if you will.

Kennedy Boggs decided that the boy should be called Edward Hands, and so it was. Edward Scissorhands, a mechanical, razor- bladed "perversion of nature" was now Edward Hands, a shy long-lost distant cousin who lived in Canada.

Kennedy had fabricated a whole story about Edward's life, and Kennedy was such a convincing liar; Edward himself was starting to believe that he really was a long-lost Canadian cousin.

"That about covers it, I guess." Kennedy said, "All I have to do is get airplane tickets."

Edward gave Kennedy a confused look.

"I'm not staying here if you paid me." Kennedy said angrily, "The State of Florida's a bitch and I'm not staying another second in this lab. Don't worry, Ed, I'm taking you back to Suburbia to live with family. Don't be alarmed if they think you're a ghost, Edward. For all they know, you're pushing up daisies somewhere in Tokyo. "

Ken told Edward that the Walters had, for money reasons, moved to Kim's house in Suburbia. After explaining, Kennedy started picking up some clothes, papers, books, and money and stuffing them in a suitcase.

Edward shifted uncomfortably in his itchy sweater; he wasn't used to skin.

A girl, about eleven years old, with choppy chocolate-brown hair opened the door. Her face glowed when she saw Kennedy.

"Kenny!" The girl cried, happily, "Wow! I haven't seen you in so long!"

"Hey, Lucy! Long time, no see," Kennedy said, grinning, as Lucy opened the door wider.

"Mom and Dad have been trying to get a hold of you for...years, actually." Lucy said. Her voice was slightly different, it wasn't deep, it wasn't high—it was just different. "We all thought you were dead or something, Kenny."

"Nope. I'm alive and kicking, Lucy Lou." Kennedy said, happily. Lucy smiled when she heard Kenny's nickname for her, 'Lucy Lou'.

'That's not Lucy...' Edward thought, as he felt his eyes widen, 'She's not Lucy. She's another Lucy.'

"So, what's up, kiddo?" Kennedy said, casually.

"Oh, not much." Lucy said, with a sigh, "Usual stuff, you know. I'm in sixth grade now—though Bobby's in high school. He's changed a lot, just to let you know—became really tall."

"Bobby still swearing?" Kenny asked, jokingly.

Lucy scowled, "Yes. He still swears. It gets annoying. But, Kenny, where have you been? We were really worried about you! Your dad has even gone off to a old folks home!"

Kennedy Boggs shrugged, "I've been busy."

Lucy raised an eyebrow, but she politely smiled, nonetheless. She knew something was amiss.

"I've got someone to show you," Kennedy said, gleefully.

Lucy Walters peered curiously behind Kennedy. Edward's eyes sunk down to his shoes, confused. The person peering at him was an eleven-year-old—not the small eight-year-old girl Edward had known.

Lucy gasped, and she took a step backward. She looked horrified.

"Lucy, don't worry, okay?" Kennedy said, "He's not dead."

The girl's eyes rolled into her head and she fainted.

Hugs and kisses to all of my reviewers! Love ya.