Chapter 2: Strange Occurrences

It was another brisk, but beautiful, autumn day in Peach Creek. The middle school had rung the final bell thirty minutes ago, and the students were well into their daily activities. The younger kids played in front of the candy store while the older ones conversed at their usual hangout, the coffee shop. In addition to the bright weather, the day was one to be content with.

This was not the case for Ed, Edd, and Eddy, who were entangled in the limbs of a tall tree on the school's side yard. The custodian had to get a lift to reach up and pull them out.

"Eddy, I told you that painting Sarah's doll wouldn't make it any less recognizable," Double D said. He was the last one to be carried to the ground.

"Hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time," Eddy defended. He was standing a few feet away with Ed.

"I think I saw my life flash before my eyes." Ed said traumatized.

"How was it, Ed?" Double D inquired.

"Full of gravy!" He shouted happily.

"That was a new record for today," The custodian whistled. "I don't think you boys ever ended up that high before."

"I agree. It seems that Sarah has been exercising lately. Before, she could only throw us into the branches five feet away from the top," said Double D. "Thanks again Mr. Cooper."

"It's no trouble at all. Thanks to you boys, I've gotten a pay raise for doing this twice a week. Good luck next time." Mr. Cooper lowered his lift and drove back to the gymnasium, leaving the three Eds to watch him after him.

Eddy was the first to speak. "That scam was gold I tell ya! Take Sarah's stupid doll and then sell it back, how could it have gone wrong?"

"Like all of our plans do." Double D sighed dejectedly. He brushed a few leaves out of his sweater. "Every time we attempt one of your scams, we always end up near death's door."

"It's a conspiracy, I know it! I'm sick of things never going our way!"

"There's nothing we can really do about it, Eddy. We just naturally seem to have a streak of bad luck. perhaps it's merely our lot in life..."

"Like the shampoo?" Ed asked airily.

"Shut up Ed. Let's just get out of here." Eddy started walking back to the cul-de-sac with Edd and Ed following closely. The middle school was only a block away, so the trip did not take long.

"I wish that just once, something amazing would happen to us," Eddy mused. "Something so incredible, that it would end our rotten luck and have us rolling in the dough."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much Eddy. Statistically, we're bound to run into a bit of fortune. We just need to wait," said Double D.

"Look on the bright side buck-os! Every cat gets his fish," Ed tried to console.

"I think you mean every dog has its day, Ed."

"And the early bird get's the jelly roll, Double D."

"Never mind," Double D said exhaustedly. "I'm going to go home and finish my work. Are you going to the coffee shop again, Eddy?"

"Yeah, I promised Tiffany that I would help her out. You guys going to stop by later?"

"I think I can pay a visit."

"Coffee and pudding galore, guys!" Ed shouted.

"I guess Ed is in. see you guys there." With that, the three Eds departed to their homes. Eddy quickly ran to his garage to get the bike he had received for Christmas. He hopped on and pedaled off to town.

If anyone had bothered to look skywards, they would have seen millions of flying orbs made of light, soaring high above their heads. One of these orbs had stopped moving in its random pattern when Eddy had gotten down the street. It now followed him closely, slowly moving closer to the ground.

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Eddy had ridden down the hill and past several of the stores in town to come to an overpass. As he made his trip, he went over all of the things that had happened to him that day.

"Our luck's been really bad today. First the Kankers dragged us into the boiler room, and then the math teacher found out that I put stinkbugs in her desk. After getting chewed out by the principal, I had to clean up the yard through break and lunch. Finally, Sarah found out we painted her doll and tried to sell it back to her. I don't think things could get any worse."

That's when he saw Kevin and the group he would hang out with. Being the star player on both the basketball and football team made Kevin a celebrity, and all of the other jocks followed him where ever he led them. This had done nothing but inflate his ego, especially when he found out that he could get away with things that other students couldn't. One of his favorite pastimes was to hassle the Eds, and more specifically, Eddy.

Eddy thought about turning around until one of the jocks had spotted him. "Hey Kev, it's that three–haired loser."

Kevin instantly stopped what he was doing. "Hey Dorky." Kevin and his gang started walking up to him. Eddy considered riding off as fast as he could, but at their distance, the guys in the track team would have been able to run him down, easy.

"Hey Kev, how you been?" Eddy said nervously.

"What are you doing here?" Kevin grabbed on to Eddy's handle bars and the jocks enclosed them both in a circle.

"I was just going to the coffee shop to, you know, hang out."

"Well maybe I don't want you going there."

"Look, I don't want any trouble. I already told the owner that I would help her out."

"You hear that? Dorky thinks he has a chance with that hot owner!" The jocks laughed on cue.

Kevin spoke back up. "You know what? I'm feeling generous today, so I'll let you go… If you pay the toll."

Eddy quickly took out his wallet. When he tried to dig some money out, Kevin snatched it out of his hands and took as much as he wanted. He was about to chuck the wallet away when he saw a tag hanging from the inside.

"What's this supposed to be?"

Eddy answered back sheepishly. "That's just for when you guys usually take my wallet. You just throw it away, right? This way, I have a chance of getting back."

Kevin flicked Eddy in the forehead, threw the wallet to the ground, and walked off. "Geez, Dorky has really hit an all time low." The other jocks guffawed as if that were the funniest wisecrack to ever be uttered in human history.

After picking up his wallet, Eddy vented his anger by kicking a nearby bottle at a garbage can. Instead of making it inside the can, the bottle bounced off the rim and flew into the back of Kevin's head, knocking off his hat.

Kevin stopped immediately and turned around. He looked at the bottle and then glared at Eddy, conjuring up two-and-two together. That was the only clue Eddy needed. He took off in the opposite direction with the jocks following close behind.

The chase went on for five minutes until Eddy lost everyone by turning down a few alleyways. Still hiding, he peaked around the corner to see Kevin and the jocks looking around before Kevin gave up.

"You're dead when you get back to the cul-de-sac, Dork!"

He waited a few minutes and then peaked again. Seeing that the coast was clear, he walked out. "Now this day can't possibly get worse."

Suddenly, the blaring sound of a train blasted and a gust of air knocked Eddy to the ground. He stayed there until he was certain he was not about to be ran over.

"What was that!?" Eddy slowly got back up and looked around. Aside for a few loose papers that swirled in the air, nothing was present.

"I'm going to shut up now," Eddy grumbled. He started to walk forward when he stepped on something. Curious, he stopped and picked it up.

It was two objects, the first being a bell tied to a blue ribbon. The second was a black, hard plastic object shaped like a rectangle. It looked like it had one of those new-age set touch systems, as the center held a large, clear screen. The screen also had what looked like a 'D' made up of geometric shapes. The entire thing was roughly the size of a remote."

Eddy shrugged and put both objects in his pocket. "I'll let sock-head fool around with the techno-thingy. I'll sell the bell," Eddy dismissed the matter and took the back-way to the coffee shop.

As he walked on, the orb of light that had been following him zoomed downwards into his back. It disappeared in a small flash, but Eddy never noticed. He didn't even notice the white sand trailing out of his clothes.

Eddy had made it a few feet away from the coffee shop and had to halt at a stop light. He watched the light anxiously, not paying attention to anything else. The sand that had been previously running down his clothes stopped and squirmed in front of the bike's wheel. It clumped together to form the upper half of a being with horns on the front of its head, and large canines jutting out of its mouth. It strangely enough resembled a Japanese Ogre.

"Tell me your wish," it said in a tough voice. "I will grant you any wish. You just have to pay one thing."

Eddy was too focused on the light to have paid attention. When the crosswalk sign had come on, he rode forwards, knocking the ogre-like being back into a pile of sand. He hitched his bike at the front entrance, and went into the coffee shop with the sign, 'Milk Dipper'.

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Eddy walked in and immediately grabbed an apron from nearby. He took in the familiarity of the astrology-themed business while walking down the steps. The ceiling was painted with multiple stars, and a telescope was placed on a pedestal to the side. Eddy ran his hands over it before hopping over the front counter.

"Tiffany, I'm here!"

"Thanks for coming, Eddy. Your friends are in the corner," A feminine voice replied from the back. As if on cue, Double D and Ed waved to their friend.

"Tsk, tsk mister. Do you know how long we have been waiting?" Ed scolded.

"Ed has a point Eddy. You should have gotten here before us."

"Sorry about the wait guys. I ended up running into Shovel Chin and his lackeys."

"My, I hope you weren't hurt."

"Not a chance. I'm way too smart for those muscle-heads."

A young woman in a gray sweater walked out. She had long, curled brown hair, and a set of glasses. Her face was soft-featured, and her eyes sparkled. All and all, she was quite attractive.

"Hello Miss Gladlocke," Double D greeted respectfully.

"You know you don't have to call me that, Double D. Just call me Tiffany."

"One order of coffee and pudding, please!" Ed shouted excitedly.

"Coming right up, Ed," Tiffany said with a chuckle. "How about you, Double D?"

"I'll have one cup of cinnamon coffee, thank you."

"I'll take care of it Tiffany," Eddy offered.

"Thanks Eddy. I'll take care of the other customers."

While she walked off to take orders, Edd and Ed got closer to the counter. They spoke in whispered tones while Eddy was busy grinding coffee beans.

"Does she still not remember?" Double D cast a worried glance in Tiffany's direction. "This is quite unnatural."

"You're telling me," Eddy huffed. "She still doesn't remember a thing, just like everyone else in this town. They don't even know that they forgot something!"

"I've seen this before guys." Ed said in a scared tone. "In the 'Attack of the Deranged Spleen', the victims are brainwashed so that they can be zombified into workers for an evil pyramid scheme. We have to prepare for the dreaded sale pitches."

"This ain't a comic book lumpy, this is serious. For all we know, there's some weird disease going around giving people ammonia."

"That's amnesia, Eddy."

"Whatever. Point is, we're the only ones out of everyone who still remember that my brother and Tiffany were engaged. My parents and she think they're just close friends."

Edd tried to make sense of the matter. "This might be a result of acute depression. Maybe to cope with your brother's unexpected disappearance, Tiffany repressed all memories related to him."

"Yeah, but what about everyone else? I mean, I was a wreck when my brother fell off the face of the Earth, but I never forgot that he existed!"

"One crazy year this has been," Ed said heavily.

"Well put, Ed. After Eddy's brother vanished one year ago, everyone swiftly began to forget he existed. Somehow, we're the only ones that even recall the event, let alone that Eddy even has a brother."

"I know we've been able to play it off like everything is okay, but this sham is starting to get to me. I need to know what happened to Chris. I want my brother back."

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Kevin and his friends kept running back and forth between the areas they had chased Eddy in. They retraced their steps over and over again, but were still not satisfied.

"Kevin, are you sure you lost it?" A blonde jock said.

"For the fiftieth time, yes! I can't find my bell anywhere! It probably dropped out of my pocket when we were chasing the dork."

A buff boy with freckles suggested an idea. "Maybe we should ask around." He approached a storeowner sweeping dust out his doorway. "Excuse me sir, did you see a bell tied to a blue ribbon?"

The storeowner stopped sweeping and gazed up in thought. "Now that you mention it, I did. A short kid in a yellow shirt picked it up awhile ago."

It only took a second for Kevin to register what was said. He gritted his teeth and grabbed at his head in frustration. "The dork has my bell!?" He sprinted off in the direction of the cul-de-sac, ignoring the calls of the other boys.

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Kevin was out of breath when he made it to Eddy's house. He banged and kicked on the door, but not a single answer came. The entire cul-de-sac was devoid of activity. Giving up, Kevin dragged his feet to his backyard, sat down on the porch, and hung his head.

He didn't see the orb of light zoom down from the sky and into his body, but he did notice the copious amounts of sand that started to spew out of his clothes. It formed into the upper half of a grotesque human-like bat creature.

Kevin backed away in fear, but the bat creature slid forward to follow.

"Tell me your wish, I will grant you any wish." It said in a deep voice. "You just have to pay me one thing."

A/N: That's all for chapter two. I should make it clear that I'm only using the 'dumb jock' archetype as a plot device. I don't really think that all athletes are idiots or jerks. Thank you, and review please.