Chapter 67

Elsewhere in the Peach Creek, the business district appeared to be a proverbial ghost town. Due to the bitter cold, the hordes people walking the streets of the twelve square block neighborhood had fled to their homes, seeking shelter from Old Man Winters shadow. Nevertheless, the businesses lining the streets remained open, hosting dinner for patrons brave enough to beat the cold, while providing beautiful multicolored light displays. In addition, dedicated Carolers remained on the street corner, singing a cappella arrangements of famous Christmas tunes.

On one particular street, located on the outskirts of the district, a rather large bodied individual clad in motorcycle gear rode along the asphalt on a lavender scooter; the same individual who had dropped the Kanker sisters off at their church around a half hour ago. The scooter passed by a few stores, eventually making it's way to a gate; a gate which served as an entrance into a public storage complex. The scooter briefly stopped in front of the closed gate, at which point the user punched an access code into the adjacent keypad, granting them access into the compound.

As the gate slid to the open position, the individual placed the scooter back into gear and briskly accelerated into the parking lot. The complex consisted of several rows of long aluminum buildings, the positions of which formed alley ways in between. These alley ways were lined with rows of large, orange garage doors, each leading into a labeled storage unit.

The driver of the scooter weaved their way through the complex, eventually turning their vehicle onto one such alleyway. The driver briefly accelerated their vehicle towards the middle of the alley, stopping it in front of a double-wide storage unit labeled "413".

The driver dismounted their scooter, and made their way towards the garage door. They then proceeded to remove a key ring from their pocket, attached to which were three golden keys, and a key fob designed in the shape of a white square. The fob was adorned with a graphic consisting of two hollow pentagons shaped like a baseball home plate, one red and one purple, pointing towards each other with the triangular areas slightly overlapping. After locating the correct key, the individual unlocked the padlock securing the garage, removed it, and began the process of lifting the door to the open position.

As the individual struggled to open the heavy door, the interior of unit came into view. Parked near the right hand wall was a Black 2000 Mustang GT, equipped with a turbocharged modular V8 engine, and five speed manual transmission. The vehicle was maintained in pristine condition; the leather seats appeared as they did the day owner bought the car brand new, and the exterior paint reflected in a manner similar to a mirror.

Next to the Mustang sat a silver Harley-Davidson Cruiser Motorcycle, complete with shiny chrome handlebars, headlamp, v-twin engine and exhaust pipes. The wheels of the motorcycle had been lifted off of the ground, placed on chocks to minimize stress on the tires as the bike sat still over the window. In addition, the battery had been removed for preservation, as well as the engines cylinder heads; these components sat on a wooden bench in the corner of the garage, appearing to be in a state of refurbishment.

With hast, the operator of the scooter wheeled the small vehicle into the garage, and parked it adjacent to the other two vehicles. The individual then placed the kickstand in the down position, allowing the scooter to stand freely, at which point they unzipped the large, Harley-Davidson jacket adorning their torso.

In one swift motion, the individual separated the zipper and removed their arms from the jacket in sequence. As the two halves of the jacket separated, the bottom portion of a familiar winter coat fell to the area of their thighs. The coat was maroon in color, accented with white rabbits fur trim, and was secured in place by a tan belt wrapped around the individuals waist. The mystery individual then grabbed hold of their full face helmet, and proceeded to lift it off of their head.

A large volume of blonde waves seemed to spill out of the helmet as it was removed, falling to the area of the individuals waist as she shook her head to loosen the locks. The tall, slim figure removed the motorcycle gloves adorning their hands, revealing a set of perfectly manicured pink fingernails. The female ran her fingers through her hair as she gazed into the left mirror of the scooter.

The face reflecting off of the mirror was that of Lindsay Statorowski who, in accordance with state law, was able to obtain a "moped license" upon turning fourteen. The blonde diva had received the scooter as a birthday gift from her father, and used it quite often to make her way around town, all the while keeping her use of it a secret.

As the girl examined her reflection in the mirror, she decided to comment to herself.

"Ugh, helmet hair," said Lindsay, "You owe me big time LeeLee, it's a shame you were never able to show me how you kept those beautiful curls so nice after we rode our bikes together."

Lindsay ceased styling her hair, and examined her face as she continued speaking.

"But a little bit of hair trouble is nothing compared what could have possibly happened," said Lindsay, "Please get home safe and sound LeeLee."

Lindsay proceeded to remove the motorcycle boots she had donned for the trip, placing them and the Harley-Davidson jacket, both "borrowed" from Chuck, back in his motorcycle saddle bags. She the. took a seat on Chuck's motorcycle, using it as a support for her to place her leather high heeled boots onto her feet, all the while glancing over towards her scooter.

"Yet another thing I have to keep hidden," said Lindsay, "God forbid she finds out that I have some form of independence."

Lindsay looked towards the ceiling as she tightened the strap on her left boot, completing her thought as she did so.

"Let alone find out that it was once yours." said Lindsay,

At the conclusion of her statement, Lindsay stood up, and picked up her purple hand bag. She then proceeded to exit the storage unit, closing the door behind her. After ensuring that the door was locked, the tall blonde made her way out of the lot, beginning her journey back to her home on Haventhought Way.

To protect herself from the bitter cold, Lindsay had placed a pair of earmuffs, matching the color of her coat, on top of her her head; and donned her light blue winter gloves. The flashing lights, and bright decorations seemed to mean nothing to the lanky girl; she remained completely focused on her thought, staring forward with a melancholy expression, while walking as if she were on autopilot.

As she made her way down the Main Street, a few flurries began to fall from the sky, eventually progressing to a moderate snowfall. While the district was already quite silent, the snowfall seemed to bring an even more desolate feel to the area. The silence only served to amplify the voices of the Carolers, who remained on the street corner despite the harsh conditions. As Lindsay approached, the group began singing a slow, beautiful arranged vocal rendition of "Little Toy Trains" by Glenn Campbell:

Little Toy trains, little toy tracks, little toy drums

Coming from a sack.

Carried by a man, dressed in white and red.

Little boy don't you think it's time you were in bed.

As Lindsay passed, the groups performance managed to draw a slight smile from the girl; the song was quite familiar to her, as it was one of Chuck's favorite Christmas songs, sung to him by his mother when he was little. As a token of her enjoyment, she reached into her pocket book, removed two dollars from it, and dropped it into the their donation jar.

Lindsay continued on her way, eventually reaching the residential area. As she turned onto the cross street, she gazed at the Kanker residence with a solemn expression; neither of the Kanker vehicles were in the driveway, and the house was completely dark, indicating that the girls had not yet made it home.

With a sigh, Lindsay continued down her way onto the Cross Street, eventually rounding the corner onto Haventhought Way while continuing to analyze the current state of her life. However, the tall debutante was barely able to make it halfway down the block, as a loud, obnoxious male voice with a slight growl pierced through the silent, snowy night from behind.

"HEY YOU!"

At the sound of the familiar voice, Lindsay immediately ceased her locomotion efforts, coming to a standstill in the center of the sidewalk . As the snow continued to fall, accumulating slightly on her ear muffs, the blonde girl slowly turned around while maintaining a stoic expression.

Standing around ten feet behind her was none other than Eddy, staring in her direction with an angry glare. Lindsay remained silent for a few seconds, after which she decided to reply using her false arrogant persona.

"And what do you want?" asked Lindsay in a sarcastic tone.

Eddy began walking towards Lindsay in a rather aggressive manner.

"I'd like to have little chat with you about what you did to Annalee," said Eddy, "So drop the arrogant diva act and get serious!"

"Hun please," said Lindsay, "I'm all about reality, there is no act here."

Lindsay returned to walking down the street.

"Look guy, I've got things to do," said Lindsay, "I don't time to worry about anything to do with what happened between you and Geek Girl earlier. And besides she should learn by now that challenging me always ends in failure."

"I ain't talking about what happened earlier today,"' said Eddy, "I'm talking about what happened ten years ago in the school playground. Ya know, when you tore up the picture you and Lee made together in art class, back when you were best friends forever."

Lindsay ceased walking mid stride once again, freezing as if she were a statue upon hearing Eddy's words. After a few moments, she slowly placed both of her feet back onto the ground, and turned her head slightly to the left; just enough to project her voice towards Eddy, while avoiding eye contact.

"I don't know what you're talking about..." said Lindsay in a calm, yet melancholy intonation.

"Bullshit," said Eddy as he approached Lindsay, making his way to her left side in an attempt to make eye contact with the beautiful giant, "There's no point in trying to get out of this one, I know everything about what happened between you two. You did everything together, played store, ran a lemonade stand, designed clothes, colored, and planned to grow up together doing great things. You were Lizzy, and she was LeeLee. You two promised each other that you'd be best friends forever, right? Remember this?"

Eddy held both of his hands up in front of him, attracting Lindsay full attention. He proceeded to interlock his pinky fingers, as he raised his hands upwards to Lindsay's eye level. She said absolutely nothing, remaining completely silent as she continued to listen.

"And guess what else?" asked Eddy as he lowered his hand, "I also know everything about you too. I know about your overbearing mother, I know why you're here, I know it all...Tiffany.."

At that moment, Lindsay's entire body seemed to suddenly jar; her blonde hair, typically hanging to the area of the waist seemed to spring up in a cartoonish fashion, as her eyes widened with distress. While Eddy had at least two more words to say, he was quickly silenced as Lindsay grabbed him by the collar with both of her hands. In an instant, Lindsay had lifted the short Ed boy by the shirt collar, choking the boy as she slammed his body up against one of the telephone poles lining the street.

"You little twerp!" yelled Lindsay in a distressed voice, "How the hell do you know that name!"

Eddy, afraid beyond belief and barely able to speak, grabbed Lindsay's hands with his, attempting to loosen the grip while pleading in a breathy voice.

"Don't kill me," said Eddy, "Put me down and hear me out, I promise I won't mention that ever again."

At that point Lindsay seemed to calm down. Her face transformed from an enraged glare to a neutral expression, at which point she rolled her eyes, and released her death grip.

Eddy lifted his hand to his chest, collapsing into his knees in an effort to catch his breath from being borderline choked to death. A few moments passed, at which point Eddy regained his poise, and decided to continue his conversation.

"You broke off your friendship because you're afraid of your mother, didn't you?" asked Eddy, "This whole arrogant, vain, spoiled rich girl bullshit...she's pushing it on ya, isn't she!?"

"You think you know me so well don't you?," asked Lindsay as she suddenly snapped her head in Eddy's direction, "Let me tell you something Eddy, you have no idea what my life is like, and it's none of your business anyway, so stay out of it!"

Lindsay turned away from Eddy while folded her arms, at which point the boy rounded Lindsay and took a position standing in front of her. As Lindsay continued to stare at the ground, Eddy looked up into her eyes with an expression of concern.

"Don't be so sure," said Eddy, "I know what you are going through, I feel your pain, I went through my whole childhood being abused verbally and physically by an adult. My older brother to be specific. He was always scamming me out of money, and used to call me names like pipsqueak, and torture me with games of uncle when my parents were home. He even locked me in the trunk of a car at one point!"

Eddy paced around Lindsay as he continued speaking.

"The anger kept building and building," said Eddy, "Out of frustration, and being taught from a young age that being a con-artist and a manipulator was the right thing to do, I began to act just like him. The scamming, the manipulating, the womanizing...I picked up all of those horrible traits like a champion, and it was all due to anger and fear installed in me by my brother. Everyone in the cul-de-sac hated me, I was lucky to have the friends I did, and even more lucky that they never gave up on me, because I treated them pretty bad sometimes too."

Eddy paused for a few moments.

"Two things in my life changed me," said Eddy, "The first was that I confronted my older brother, and my friends finally helped me stand up to him. I finally came clean that I made up all of the lies I told the cul-de-sac about my brother being cool, and admitted that he did nothing but torture me for all of those years."

Eddy glanced up into Lindsay's eyes.

"The second was Lee," said Eddy, "I started a lot of trouble between Edd and Marie when they first started dating, due to being jealous that he got a girlfriend before I did. I refused to admit I was wrong until Lee helped me understand the error of my ways. She never dismissed me as a lost cause, and she never gave up on trying to unlock the good person that was inside of me. She's an amazing person, and if she cares about you, all's you have to do is let her in to heart. I guarantee you that she will not rest until she's helped you."

Eddy reached into his back pocket, and removed a small envelope.

"And if you think Lee doesn't care about you anymore, you're a goddamn fool," said Eddy, "These are just a few of Lee's mementos from when you were friends. Before you let her control your life."

Eddy leaned closer to Lindsay's face with a serious expression.

"It's time to make the choice," said Eddy, "Let her in to help you and stand up for yourself, or remain a miserable slave for the rest of your life. I can tell you from personal experience that option one is the way to go, but hey it's your life."

At that point, Eddy pulled away from Lindsay and took a few steps away from her, leaving the blonde diva in surprise. As Lindsay remained silent while continuing to stare at the ground, Eddy turned around one final time.

"Make the call," said Eddy as he flicked the envelope as if it were a frisbee, causing it to land on the ground directly in front of Lindsay's feet.

The small Ed boy then continued walking down Haventhought way, turning the corner at the cross street and disappearing from view. Lindsay remained still for a few moments, staring down at the little white envelope as the snow accumulated on the ground around it. She was eventually able to break herself from her thoughts, at which time she slowly retrieved the envelope from the ground, and proceeded to make her way back to her residence.

Once inside, Lindsay headed straight for her bedroom. She had kicked off her leather boots, removed her coat, and had once again taken her place laying on her bed. She had opened the envelope provided by Eddy, which contained copies of all of Lee's photographs of herself and Lindsay. She reviewed each photograph several times, continuously surprised by the fact that Lee had saved the same photographs as she did.

Within the pile, Eddy had also included a photograph of Lee's half of their drawing; a torn piece of paper depicting a crude sketch of a red headed, bespectacled stick figure in a green dress. The words "LeeLee and Lizzy Best Friends Fore..." we're spread out along the top, with the asymmetrical tear separating the last three letters.

As Lindsay observed this particular photograph, she retrieved her half of the drawing from her lock box; and proceeded to hold it up next to the photograph. As she observed the two pieces in such close proximity to each other, her bottom lip began to tremble. This was soon followed by a flow of tears, at which point Lindsay placed both the photograph and her half of the drawing down on the bed. She then placed her hands over her eyes, and began sobbing uncontrollably.

After around five seconds, her sobbing was interrupted by the sound of a car door slamming. In her haste to retrieve her scooter from storage, (after listening to the girls dilemma through her "spy speaker"), she had neglected to deactivate the device, allowing all noises within a two block radius to be heard through her room..

The sound of the car door was accompanied by a duo of feminine voices, voices Lindsay instantly recognized as Marie and May. She immediately re-donned her maroon coat, and made her way over to the window to investigate. Once there, she separated the curtains just enough to peer outside, at which point she caught a glimpse of the Kanker sisters. They had arrived home safely; May had parked the car in their driveway, just where it was before Lee unexpectedly commandeered it. The two girls were working together to carry Lee up the driveway, with Marie holding her under her armpits while May carried her by the ankles.

Lindsay continued observing the girls until the moment they disappeared into their house. She then let go of the curtain, breathed a sigh of relief, and returned to her bed.