Eddy had never regretted a decision as much as he regretted this one. He tried to twist out of Dennis's hands, but the man's grip was like iron, and Eddy knew bruises were forming. Mary stood back, looking from Dennis with Eddy, and then to the group of kids that had followed them into the forest that lay on the other side of the trailer park. She looked uneasy, but she didn't dare to intervene.

It had started when Eddy saw the two strangers lingering around Double D's house. He'd called up the rest of the kids, and they'd snuck through their back yards to meet at Rolf's house. After informing them of what was happening, they spied on the two adults as they peeked through windows and talked in low voices. Then the kids had followed them after they hurried away, picking their way through the trailer park. It was Jimmy that had tripped and fallen, alerting them to their pursuers.

Eddy had been angry and confident as he told the adults to never come back. Mary had snorted and Dennis had laughed. Their laughter faded when Eddy told them that if he caught them peeking into Double D's window again, he would call the police and report them. He knew that peeking in windows was a crime because there had been a news report about it in the next town over. Then Dennis had snagged him and held him tight. Eddy was terrified; the stench of alcohol was so strong on the man that he could hardly breathe, and it reminded him of an incident with his older brother and his friends when they'd got drunk several years before.

"Let him go, you jerk!" Nazz exclaimed, though her voice was shaky.

"You should mind your own business," Dennis said gruffly. He paused then there was a soft snick, and something sharp was pressed against his neck. "Maybe I should teach you a lesson."

"Dennis!" Mary said.

Before she could continue, there was a soft noise as somebody cleared their throat.

"Uncle Dennis, put Eddy down."

Everybody turned to see Edd standing there, his face calm, his posture straight, and his eyes shining with fire. Dennis snorted.

"If you don't leave, you're next, little brat," he threatened, waving the knife around.

"I will ask you one more time. Put him down."

"Or what?" the man challenged, pointing the blade at his nephew.

Double D smiled, but it wasn't cheerful or happy. "They never found the gun, you know."

Dennis frowned. "Yeah, so?"

"They blamed the neighbor's kids for stealing it. Their fingerprints were all over the house. But they didn't steal it."

"How do you know?"

Double D's smile became a grimace as he reached up for his hat. Pulling it up slightly, he reached in and grabbed something. Not even the birds made a noise as a small, deadly weapon was brought out into the dying sunlight of early evening. Double D held it in his hand, his finger curled around the trigger, and he tilted it back and forth, a disinterested look on his face. The kids stared with wide eyes, their faces drained of color. They had never seen a weapon outside of tv and movies. Even Dennis and Mary paled.

"You stole the gun?" Mary asked, flinching back.

The smile was so dark and bitter that it should have been on one of the grownup's faces, not their kind, sensitive Double D. "Daddy always said I needed to defend myself," he giggled, the fire gleaming in his eyes. He held it up, his hand completely steady. "Now, let Eddy go, or you're going to the hospital. Or the morgue. Depends on how good my shot is."

"You have no bullets," Dennis growled, though he sounded hesitant.

Double D's maniacal grin widened. "Daddy only used two. He kept one in the chamber at all times. Gun safety with a child in the house wasn't his priority, you know. Which means, if my calculations are correct, I have about nine left. One of them is bound to hit something vital."

"You're lying," Dennis said, bringing the knife up to Eddy's throat, his eyes wild like a caged animal.

Double D pointed the pistol at the ground and squeezed the trigger. The bang was loud enough to make their ears ring, and if that wasn't enough, the spray of dirt and leaves into the air made it very clear that he wasn't lying. The children of the cul-de-sac cowered back, their eyes wide, faces sickly grey with fear. Dennis jumped, all of the blood draining from his face as Mary screamed, bolting back.

"You're as crazy as your father!" Dennis gasped.

Double D raised the muzzle of the gun back up and pointed it directly at his uncle. Eddy was so short that it would be easy to hit his target, and he grinned again, malicious glee in his dark eyes. "Now," he said calmly, the sunset painting the sky a deadly red. "Put. Eddy. Down."

Dennis hesitated for only an instant, then obeyed. He held up the hand that held the knife, releasing Eddy and brushing off his clothes with the other. With a little pat, a mock friendly gesture, he sent the boy over to Double D. Eddy stood frozen for a moment, torn between Double D and Dennis. One had a gun, the other a knife. But, he decided, at last, that he knew the boy with the gun, and he scrambled over, diving behind him and shivering.

"Leave here," Double D said. "Never come back. Either of you."

"We'll report you to the police," Dennis said.

And Double D barked out another laugh. "I'm not an idiot like you, Uncle. They'd never find it. Ever. And with your record, things might get complicated…"

Dennis glared at him. "We don't need your money anyway," he said, trying to end things himself.

"Then go. And I won't tell the police or Tammy that you tracked me down."

The man backed up, Mary hiding behind him. They stared at the skinny boy, who kept the weapon trained on them, tracking their every movement. Dennis paused for the briefest moment then spat on the ground.

"You're just as crazy as your father, Eddward," he snarled. "I hope you die like him, too."

When the sounds of their footsteps faded, Double D took a deep breath then lowered the gun. With several practiced movements, he checked the cartridge, slammed it home again, then locked the trigger. He raised his hat a little then stored it, adjusting the cap on his head in his usual prim fashion, then he turned to appraise his friend.

"You okay, Eddy?" he asked gently.

There was dead silence. The kids stared at him with shock, but their fear was beginning to fade now that the adults were gone and the gun was out of sight. Ed moved first, walking over with big eyes. He met Double D's gaze then grabbed Eddy by the shirt and heaved him up.

"You okay, Eddy?" Ed asked, brushing him off with a bit too much force.

Eddy was beginning to calm down, and he batted away Ed's hands before his knees buckled. "Get off of me! I'm fine!"

"Are you?" Double D asked pointedly.

The loud boy paused then scanned his friend, his eyes lingering on his hat. He reached up and gingerly touched his throat, recalling the sharp blade. He looked down, shivering. "I… I don't know."

"Right answer," Edd replied.

He could feel the gazes of the other kids, and he turned to them. They were more curious than scared now, and they approached cautiously.

"You have a gun?" Kevin asked, his face gaining its color back.

"Yes," Double D answered.

"But… why?" Nazz asked.

Ed and Eddy thought for a moment that Double D would snap again, but the fire had died from his eyes after his aunt and uncle left. It didn't come back. Instead, the boy wilted, looking tired. He passed a hand over his face then shoved both of them into his pockets.

"I guess I owe you guys an explanation," he finally said. "But not tonight. Your parents are looking for you. It's dinnertime. I heard them calling as I got to the trailer park."

"How did you know where we were?" Jimmy asked.

Double D reached up again and pulled out a note from his hat. He unfolded it and cleared his throat.

"'If you know what's good for you, meet us past the trailer park in the woods. We will have this discussion whether you want to or not. Signed, Dennis and Mary.'"

He carefully folded it back up, then stuck it in his hat. "I didn't know you guys were here until I arrived. I had the gun with me, and his knife didn't scare me. I was planning on doing that anyway. You guys just made it more urgent."

Double D looked at their faces, curious, wary, and interested. He turned and began to walk to the cul-de-sac. They all followed, murmuring amongst themselves. When they got to Ed's backyard, he paused before he opened the gate.

"You guys can't mention this to anybody, okay?" he asked softly. "I'll tell you everything tomorrow. But don't mention the gun."

They nodded, and then they scattered to their own houses. Double D had the longest walk, and he plodded down the street, feeling the weight of the weapon under his hat. He was exhausted, and all he wanted was to fall into bed. But he needed to eat dinner and take a shower before he could sleep. So, he pushed the thoughts of tomorrow's conversation away and focused on stashing his gun in its hiding spot, then he would go to dinner.

Double D stopped by the candy shop after school, and he bought each of them some chocolate bars and jawbreakers. They each picked out their favorite flavors, and Edd paid without a qualm. Then he led them through the trailer park into the woods. They found some stumps and fallen logs and plopped down, chomping on their chocolate while they stared around. When the chocolate was gone, they unwrapped their jawbreakers.

"Alright Double Dork, what's going on?" Kevin demanded, popping his red jawbreaker into his mouth.

Double D sighed heavily. "I don't know where to begin. But what I tell you, you mustn't tell my mother and father. Or anybody. It's not something I like to remember."

There was another pause, and Eddy got impatient. "So? What is it?"

Double D took a deep breath. "My dad shot himself after beating my mom to death. He missed the first time because I tried to stop him. I couldn't get up fast enough to stop the second shot."

There was silence at this admission. They all stared hard at the hatted boy, trying to see if he would laugh or give away that he was joking. But the pale, drawn face of Double D didn't split into a smile. Instead, the same tired, haggard expression that he'd shown the night before rested on his features. He stared resolutely at the ground, wringing his hands together as he waited for their verdict.

Rolf finally broke the silence. "Rolf is confused," he said. "Your say they are dead, but your mother and father live with you now. That makes no sense, Double D-Ed-boy. You must be confused."

A wistful smile pulled at Double D's lips. "No. I'm not talking about Mother and Father. I'm talking about Mommy and Daddy." They all were still confused, so Double D sighed. "Those are my adoptive parents."

"You… You aren't their real kid?" Eddy demanded.

Double D looked up sharply, anger in his eyes. "They are more parents to me than anybody else ever has been, Eddy. Mother and Father adopted me after I tried to live with my Daddy's brother and his wife for a while. Things didn't go well. Lawyers and police got involved when it came up that there was suspected child abuse. And that abuse went farther than my aunt and uncle. Mommy and Daddy were emotionally abusive to me. They didn't care for me very well. I was lonely and teased by my own parents. All they cared for was alcohol and coke. I was a mistake, as they constantly told me so. I was useless to them, and they didn't want me. And on and on and on."

"So your aunt and your uncle… Did they tell you those things?" Nazz asked.

"No," Double D said. "They were physically abusive. I wasn't their burden because they got paid for taking care of me. I don't know the details. They watched after me for a while once my parents were dead. They didn't do coke, but they did drink too much. They hit me a lot. At first, it wasn't too bad. But one day I 'got in Uncle's way' and he got so mad that he threw me down the stairs. I hit the glass table headfirst, and it shattered."

Double D paused, and a voice pressed him on.

"What happened?"

All of them turned to look at the bushes where the three Kanker sisters were peering out at them. Double D frowned, and Eddy leaped to his feet. The Kankers defiantly stepped out and stared at them. But the skinny boy noticed that they weren't in their lovey-dovey mood. They actually looked serious and, dare he say, sympathetic. Eddy took two steps forward.

"Get outta here!" Eddy growled.

"No!" the blue-haired girl said. "I wanna know what happened to my boyfriend."

Before things could get heated, Double D exhaled heavily through his nose then reached up and did something that he never, ever did. He removed his hat. It was the Kankers that saw what lay beneath first. Marie put her hand to her mouth and paled. May flinched and looked away, rubbing her arm. Lee pursed her lips and stood like a statue. Eddy blinked then turned around to see what had changed their attitudes. He gasped when he noticed the hat in his friend's lap. The other kids turned to look, and they froze for a whole minute, staring at Double D's head.

Kevin finally shifted forward. "Whoa," he breathed.

Scars decorated the front of Edd's head. His hair was patchy there, as if the follicles had been damaged. They looked bad, like they had been deep when it had happened. After taking all their stares, he clutched the cap in his hands.

"This happened," Double D said quietly. "I was lucky it didn't fracture my skull. As you can see, the skin and muscle didn't knit together properly when it healed, and my hair follicles were damaged badly. I almost bled out on the way to the hospital." He paused and closed his eyes, tears sliding down his face. "I don't like the scars. They remind me of blood and pain and their drunken arguing."

There was another moment of thick silence. Then Marie uncrossed her arms and walked over. Her eyes were bright as she stared at the scars for a few moments then she sat down beside him. With steady hands, she pulled her right pants' leg up as high as it would go to reveal a long, pale scar that ran down her thigh. Double D stared at it for a moment then looked up at her.

"Marie?" he asked, unsure.

"Mom got mad at Rod, he's my dad, and they started throwing things. She broke a beer bottle and… and…" Marie went silent for a minute, her face blank then it smoothed into a look of understanding. "I know I can't change what happened, and I know that mine isn't as bad as yours, but I do understand."

Double D nodded slowly. "Thank you, Marie."

Lee jumped in, tossing her head defiantly. "Eh, Rod was a big jerk," she spat. "Mom took way too much crap from him. She shoulda kicked him out a year before she did."

"Bubba was no better," May whispered, looking away. "At least your dads didn't drop you on your head when you were little."

The sounds of nature were once again the only sounds to be heard. The cul-de-sac kids took in this new information with numb shock. They didn't know what to think of all of this talk of pain and abuse. All they knew was their own families, who loved them. Sure, they got grounded sometimes, and when they did particularly bad things, they were spanked, but at the end of the day, their parents would hold them, and everything would be alright. What Double D and the Kankers described was completely foreign to them.

Eddy groped for a topic after too much awkward silence. "What were you reading in the library last week?" Eddy asked.

Double D blinked then glanced over. "It was a psychology textbook, Eddy. I was brushing up on my understanding of my OCD."

"OCD?" Marie asked, her voice tender.

"Obsessive-compulsive disorder," Double D explained. "It means things have to be a certain way or else it makes my insides hurt until I fix it. At least, that's how it feels."

"Is it bad?"

"My case is quite mild compared to how it can be."

"Why do you have that… thing?" Nazz asked timidly.

Edd looked down, squeezing the soft fabric of his hat. "It didn't start until after I was adopted by Mother and Father. Everything had to be neat, had to be ordered, had to be perfect because…"

Marie grabbed his hand. "Because?"

More tears slid down his cheeks as he replied. "Because when it wasn't perfect, somebody got hurt." He grimaced and reached up to clutch his head. "There was so much blood. So much pain… I can't do that again. It has to be perfect. If it's perfect, I'll be okay."

For another few minutes, Double D cried, his hat in his lap, as the cul-de-sac kids tried to process all of this new information. By the time their jawbreakers were gone, they were ready to go home. They needed time, but none of them knew what to say. It was Kevin that stood first, brushing off his pants.

"I got homework to do."

He started to walk away then turned back for a moment, aware of all of the eyes on him.

"Sorry dude."

Double D smiled through his tears and nodded once, indicating that it was okay. That was all they needed, and they all stood up and began to follow him back to the cul-de-sac. Within a minute, only Ed and Eddy were left, along with the Kanker sisters. For the first time ever, there was no tension, no fear between them. It was a truce.

Marie sat close to Ed, holding his hand and stroking the back of it with her thumb. Lee and May stood watching from where they stood across the small clearing, and Ed and Eddy sat on a log nearby, unable to think of a single thing to say to Double D. It was peaceful and quiet for a few minutes as Double D calmed down. Finally, he shook himself out and wiped his eyes. Lee stepped closer, her tone no-nonsense.

"Look Double D," she said. "If you ever need to talk about that stuff, come ta us. We've been hit and dropped and beaten by so many of Mom's boyfriends that it ain't funny. We get it. If ya need ta freak or cry or just hit something, you come and see us. Okay?"

Double D looked up, his expression clear and bright again. "Thank you. I shall keep that in mind."

"Come on Marie," Lee said, and the two unoccupied Kankers walked away without a single kiss blown to the Eds.

Marie tilted Double D's face to look in his brown eyes. "See ya around, Double D."

With that, she leaned over and pressed her lips onto his wet cheek. It wasn't a lingering kiss. It wasn't harsh or filled with childish passion, like all of her other kisses had been. Instead, it was surprisingly sweet and tender. It made a warm, happy feeling fill Double D, blooming like a flower in the spring from his chest outward. And suddenly, he didn't feel so bad. As she pulled away and smiled, a gentle smile, he could feel the blood rush up to warm his cheeks. Her glittering blue eyes held a special attraction now, and he smiled back.

Marie picked up his hat and gently placed it on his head, fixing it just the way he liked it. The golden afternoon sunshine cast her in a lovely glow, and Double D wondered how he'd never noticed the freckles that were sprinkled over her nose, or how her hair looked so soft. Before he could really register her stunning appearance, she turned and followed her sisters. He stared after her, pondering the new feelings still coursing through him. He finally turned to Ed and Eddy, smiling warmly.

"Maybe they're not so bad after all," he suggested.

"Nah, they're still horrible," Eddy said dismissively. "Let's get back to my place. My folks rented us a movie. I want to see it. C'mon."

Double D stood up with his friends, brushing the dirt from the seat of his pants, then he followed Ed and Eddy back through the trailer park. He couldn't help glancing at the Kankers' trailer, and he smiled to himself. He didn't understand all of his new feelings, but still, he thought of Marie. She was a good girl, he decided. And she had been through some traumatic events, just like him. She understood, and that touched him more than anything else.

As the three boys walked into the cul-de-sac, another thought made Double D blush and bite his bottom lip. His thoughts were wild. Did he dare try to do it? Should he do it? If Ed and Eddy could hear his thoughts, they would be shocked. Horrified. Traumatized! And what was this thought that brought butterflies to his stomach and heat to his cheeks?

Maybe he could get her to kiss him like that again.

And that's it for this short little story. Let me know what you think. :)