With so many of my editing projects that are lengthy and getting longer than before, I thought I'd take a break and work on Under the Hat, which is a short story that will remain short, unlike Ree-ko and Prismatic Fractals. It will be more detailed, so longer, but I'm pretty sure it will only be three chapters.
So here is my edit of my old Ed, Edd, 'N' Eddy story. Let me know what you think.
Double D had never assumed they would come back for him. He had no reason to. His life was good with Mother and Father. He was fed, clothed, and loved by them. And then there were his friends. Ed and Eddy were still his best friends, but the rest of the cul-de-sac kids had become friends now, too. Their big adventure to find Eddy's brother after the horrifying incident-that-shall-never-be-spoken-of had opened their eyes to see the Eds as friends, no just nuisances. So there was no reason for them to come to find him.
And yet, despite all of this, there they were, standing with his mother and father. They were talking casually, standing in the relaxed assurance that they weren't found out. But Double D knew better. He tore his frozen feet from the ground, his face going blank as he fought back terrible memories, and he turned on his heel, ignoring Ed and Eddy as they stopped to look back at him. Double D wanted nothing more than to be far, far away, and he hoped to avoid them. Maybe they would go away if he never came home… But his mother saw him.
"Eddward!" she called, her voice bright.
Double D paused and looked back, his jaw clenched as he thought, You shouldn't be nice to them, Mother. Ed and Eddy were staring at him, their expressions tensing when they saw his face. Double D had never looked so weird. Eddy thought that he looked like he was in pain but trying to hide it. Even Ed was concerned. And despite every inch of his body wanting to run away, to tense and scream as he ran far, far away from the man and the woman who stood talking with his parents, acting like they hadn't done it, Double D was unable to disobey the voice of authority. With great effort, he took step after step, walking slowly, reluctantly over to his mother and father.
"Yes, Mother?" he asked, trying to sound polite and happy.
His mother smiled. "This is Dennis and Mary, dear. Do you remember them?"
"Yes, Mother," he said, the smile not reaching his eyes. I remember how they hurt me.
"They would like the chance to talk with you," his father said.
Double D gritted his teeth, keeping his bland smile in place as he replied in a light tone, "No. I don't want to talk to them."
"Come on, little scientist," Dennis said fondly.
The nickname grated inside of his brain, speaking of affection that had never been. They only want the check for watching you. "No, I don't think so."
Mary shook a box in her hand. "We brought you cookies, Eddy."
That was too much for Double D. He shook his head. "No amount of bribery will convince me to forgive you," he said, and he saw his mother and father grow serious as they turned to appraise the strange couple in a new light. Good, he thought, you shouldn't trust them.
"Forgive them for what?" Eddy demanded.
Double D turned to look at his two friends. They had come up behind him, studying the strangers with distrust. Ed wasn't smiling, and his fists were clenched. They knew him well enough to tell that something was wrong, and it had to do with these two adults. Double D didn't want them involved, so he stood tall, smiling in a way that he hoped was relaxed reassurance.
"None of your concern, Eddy," Edd said, shifting the strap of his backpack. "I think we should go to your house and do our homework. I have a lot of math tonight."
"Homework? Lame," Eddy groaned, crossing his arms.
Ed shook his head. "I want to read comic books!"
Double D smiled tightly. "Once we are done with our studies, we can read all the comic books you want."
Silence for a moment. Then Eddy asked suspiciously, "You, read comic books?"
"I can indulge my friend every once in a while," Edd said, praying that they could get away from them.
Ed and Eddy both knew something was wrong. Double D rarely read comic books. Ed opened his mouth to ask, but Eddy stomped on his foot.
"Yeah, that sounds good," Eddy said, sounding too-sweet. "We'll go and do our homework. Come on."
"Mother, Father," Double D said primly.
And Edd turned his back on the two strangers, on his past, and walked quickly toward Eddy's house. Ed and Eddy stood there staring at him for a moment, shocked at his behavior toward his own parents; Double D was never rude to adults, let alone his own parents. But neither Edd's mother nor his father called him back as they turned distrustful eyes on the two strangers. They didn't call for him to come back, so he didn't have to make the decision to ignore them.
Double D didn't talk at all as he settled on the floor, slinging his backpack off of his shoulder. He pulled out his homework and dove into it without a word. Ed and Eddy could tell he was desperate to ignore what had just happened. They left him alone for a while, struggling through their comparatively easy work. After half an hour of scratching pencils, grunts of irritation, and furious erasing, Ed looked up from a boring history assignment they had to read by Thursday.
"Can I ask now, Eddy?" he asked, pouting and studying Double D with an intensity that was rarely there.
Eddy threw down his pencil, sitting up. "Yeah, I think we can ask now."
"Ask what?" Edd asked through gritted teeth.
"What is wrong, Double D? You never want to read my comic books," Ed said earnestly.
Edd's cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "It's nothing, Ed. I just want to indulge my friend." He paused, then added, "I do that sometimes."
Eddy snorted, his blue eyes blazing. "Yeah, you do that," he admitted. "But it's usually when you're upset about something and want to forget."
Then Double D did something that startled both of them. He slammed his pencil down so hard that it snapped in half, and when he raised his head, his own eyes held fire. Ed and Eddy shrank back, afraid of their friend for the first time in a long time. There was something dark in Edd's brown eyes, something grownup, like he had a burden that neither of them had. When he spoke, it was with authority and anger.
"Don't push it, Eddy. I'm not ready to talk about it. I don't know if I'll ever be ready. So drop it."
Ed and Eddy gaped at him, afraid of him as well as for him. The room was still and silent, and Eddy had a moment's fantasy where Double D burst out laughing and teased them both about getting them. But his gaze never faltered as he stared first at Ed then at Eddy. They looked away first, and Ed spoke in a soft, small voice.
"Comic books?" he asked, his dark eyes pleading for normalcy.
Double D stared for a moment longer then relaxed and smiled. "Yes, Ed, let's read comic books. I'll finish later tonight, and I see you're caught up with tomorrow's assignments. Eddy can finish his history essay then join us."
"History's stupid," Eddy mumbled, but he picked up his pencil and focused on his essay.
He didn't dare look back at Double D, scared that he might see that expression again. Ed picked up his favorite comic book and began to read, feeling the same way. Double D perused his options and selected one of the darker ones, and he threw himself into the pages, trying to keep his mind off the past. And for the first time in years, the silence between them needled at them, letting them know that things weren't right. And things were so tense that they wondered if it would ever be right again.