One day had passed, and the night had come yet again. Eddy stared down at the thievery book on his lap sullenly, and sighed. Being confined to a collar tied onto a bed pole, the boy pretty much KNEW at this point he could not have underwent anymore subjugation up until now. He opened up the book to a random page, and began to read it aloud.
"In order to properly discover what is essential to confiscating your rival's property, you must first gather more information on your rival themselves. What are they like, what else do they own, how intelligent are they, and especially aidful, what are they doing at the current point in time? All of these questions answered can be used to help you determine your rivals weaknesses," he said aloud, before sighing yet again.
Double D was sitting on his bed, staring at the wall, eavesdropping on Eddy's words. Hearing about having to learn more about Rolf, specifically what his plans were, and wanting Eddy to learn more about him too, to obtain more information about how to escape, sparked an idea in his head. He walked up to Eddy, and then proceeded to chat with him.
"Hey, Eddy, do you want to go outside for a walk?" Double D asked.
Eddy glared at the tall child. He knew that if he did comply, then that would only hinder with the reading needed to come up with a plan to steal the book. However, knowing Double D, and his vindictive ways, he'd most certainly regret it if he ever picked a fight with the guy.
"Um… sure…" Eddy spoke, raising his head up.
"Then let's go!" Double D untied Eddy's collar from the bed pole, but still left it on his neck, opened the door outside of the cell, and ran out to the door of Rolf's office. Double D peeked into the door's lock hole, but nobody was inside of the office. The two started checking out other areas in the castle, the kitchen, the bathroom, the stairs, but nobody was to be found. Eventually, the decision was made for Double D and Eddy to go out into the Cul-De-Sac.
Outside in the Cul-De-Sac, the night of the sky was a dark yet bright indigo, with hints of violet here and there, and the breeze felt very chilly. All of the other kids were outside, Nazz was in her shop, relaxing as she stared outside. Kevin, Sarah, and Jonny were fancying themselves on the road. Kevin was smoking a marijuana filled cigar, and Sarah and Jonny were dancing out on the streets to pop songs.
Rolf and Jimmy also seemed to be walking somewhere in the Cul-De-Sac, with stuffed burlap sacks in each of their arms.. Double D stopped in his tracks as he noticed this sight. "Hey, what's this?" he remarked, watching the other duo in interest, as they got closer and closer towards Double D and Eddy.
"What do you think that they could be up t-" Eddy's mouth was covered by Double D's hand in the midst of his sentence.
"Shush! We don't want Rolf to know that we're here!" Double D snapped in a soft yet stern voice, slapping Eddy to go with his lecture.
"I'll tell ya what. You wait by the fire hydrant over there, while I peep in on Rolf." Double D tied the leash on Eddy's collar to a cherry red fire hydrant that was standing right next to Jonny, Kevin, and Sarah, and ditched him for Rolf and Jimmy.
"Now, where exactly did you say we were going again?" questioned Jimmy.
"I said that we were going to the ghetto. Do you even pay attention to me?" Rolf responded with hostility.
"Oh, the ghetto, right. Isn't that the place inhabited by nobody but savages?" the pale boy said.
"Yes, and that's why we're going there! Those wretched Kankers would never dare to travel into the treacherous path of the ghetto!" Rolf chortled sinisterly.
"Uh, Rolf, ya sure we can survive there?" Jimmy added to the conversation.
"You ask too many questions, boy-Jimmy. Of course we can survive there, I can obliterate so many people it's not even funny! This is the perfect site for refuge!"
Double D started to take in Rolf and Jimmy's words as they were being said.
"Ghetto? Kankers? Refuge? That's interesting, I should tell Eddy about that," Double D noted to himself, and ran away to look for his friend.
As Double D was busy stalking Rolf, Eddy had been dealing with heartaches of his own. Kevin spotted the child, collared to the hydrant, as he was taking a good, long, gaze out at his surroundings.
"Huh? What is the dork doing here?" Kevin barked, perking up at the quaint sight of Eddy's predicament. Kevin glared more and more at the pink spectacle, even chuckling to himself a bit.
"Hey, guys, would ya take a gander at that over there?" the ginger boy announced, pointing at Eddy to direct the other kids' attention to him.
"Is that Eddy?" Sarah puzzled. "Why is he on a collar?"
"Who knows?" Jonny replied. "Let's go check it out."
Eddy heard the kids galloping up to him, and looked in their direction, to see them all smirking at him maliciously.
"Hey dork, what's with the collar?" sneered Kevin, giggling alongside his comment.
"Yeah!" Jonny added. "You look like a lost dog!" Eddy's cheeks merely flushed in response.
"Where's your owner, little puppy?" snorted Sarah. Eddy narrowed his head at the three and groaned like a wolf.
"I didn't choose this. Double D did this to me," the boy snarled. Kevin's eyes widened in perplexment.
"Wait… Double D was responsible…" Kevin paused. "Why would he do that? Let me guess, was your dorkiness too much to handle that he had to take some action to get a grip on it?"
The entire crowd burst into thunderous cackling over the situation.
"You must have such a fragile brain to need to be monitored in that way!" a snicker in Sarah's voice was heard.
"Yeah, fragile indeed!" Kevin's voice was back again. "What's it made out of anyway?" Eddy actually began to cry in response to the torment.
"Whatever it is, it has to be really soft, like… mozzarella cheese!" Jonny squeaked, grinning naively.
Kevin laughed again. "Yeah, exactly! That's what your brain is made of! Mozzarella cheese!"
"Just get out of my sights already…" Eddy lifted his right hand up and trembled up to the kids.
"Oh, I think you'd better watch out, Kev, Eddy's getting aggressive, he'll probably bite you!" Jonny teased, snide and playful.
"We'll just have to see about that, shall we?" Sarah snapped.
Eddy slowly became more and more tense, getting closer and closer to the group who was making a mockery of him, raised a tightened fist at Kevin, but immediately put his arm down, looked to the ground, and sighed.
"I really can't bring myself to actually hurt any of you. I'm sorry, but I know that if I actually put it upon myself to attack you, then you'd just start feeling the same way I do now…" the boy tilted his head down even further.
Double D stomped into the picture, with a scowl on his face, and his posture contorted into a gesture of wrath, with both of his fists closed, and his right fist coming at the front of his left fist.
"You leave him alone right now!" Double D growled. Kevin just became amused at the cherry-shirted child's actions.
"And just what are you going to do about it?" retorted Kevin, with his hands on his hip.
"This." Double D forced his hands onto Kevin's neck and proceeded to grasp the neck, leaving very little air for him to breathe. Kevin was wheezing, trying his utter hardest to scream for help, but failing miserably.
"Alright! We'll stop!" Kevin choked, and Double D released him, letting him fall to the ground.
"Are you okay, Eddy?" Double D asked in concern.
"Yeah," muttered Eddy, as Double D untied him from the fire hydrant, and began to walk him back to the castle, discussing Rolf's plans on the way.
Meanwhile, Rolf and Jimmy had just ventured into the Phantom Woods, taking the same path that they did in their previous trip, going through the grimy, gritty path of the scopious forestry. Later then, they stumbled upon the Kanker trailer yet again.
However, things took a different turn.
Jimmy strutted into the east direction, but then was stopped by Rolf clasping his left arm, and then turning him around back to the west direction.
"Where do you think you're going?" heckled Rolf.
"I-I was going where we went before…" Jimmy stuttered.
"No, boy-Jimmy!" scolded the cobalt-haired man. "We have an incriminating history down there! There is a river dedicated to us! We must go the opposite way in order to sustain any sheltering from those dreaded Kankers!"
Rolf lead the way left of the Kanker trailer, and Jimmy followed along with him.
The path they were taking, though, was one with elements completely separate from the previous woods. Trees were tiny and dying, sticks were everywhere on the ground, and the ground was barren of grass. Petite woodland animals such as raccoons and porcupines were observing the area, plotting to bite anyone that dared come their way. Rolf and Jimmy, unfortunately, underwent a lot of attacks from these feral creatures. Occasionally, Rolf also tripped on the sticks a few times. After a long period of walking and suffering, the duo finally made it to... the ghetto.
Right in front of Rolf and Jimmy was a dark wooden gate, and a pale, skinny teenage girl, with sunken in lime green eyes, a ragged linen tunic, and disorganized hot pink hair guarding said gate. When Rolf neared this gate, the girl forced her hand out to him, prompting him to stop in his tracks.
"Who goes there?" the woman interrogated.
"Uh…" Rolf stammered, shaking. "My name is Rolf Way, this is Jimmy Cartman, and we only come here to temporarily move in for a while!"
"Ah. I see. My name is Molly, and I also live here. If you want to live here, you just have to answer two questions," the girl with the pink hair responded.
"Number one," Molly queried, "do you plan on raiding this village?"
"No!" retorted Rolf. "In fact, we have brought our own supplies, so it would be useless to raid you anyway!"
"Number two, are you now or have you ever been a Kanker?" questioned Molly.
"Oh, no, ma'am! In fact, the Kankers are my mortal enemies! They have been stealing from me for months!" the azure haired shepherd boy denied.
"Huh. So you went through the same fate as us. Anyway, you have been accepted." Molly opened the door, allowing for Rolf and Jimmy to finally set foot inside of the ghetto.
"Ah, safe and sound at last," Rolf said, in a voice so soft and sincere. Unbeknownst to him, however, was that all of the other villagers, near many dark wood houses, were glowering at him and Jimmy, with bows and arrows in their hands.
"Dontcha dare go out mooching off us!" jeered one of the villagers. "Whatever y'all wanna take, we ain't givin' it to ya!" The villager proceeded to shoot arrows at Rolf and Jimmy, who were sprinting away to an area more secluded from the dark wood houses, with a few more trees and foliage. The two ducked behind some of the trees and placed their sacks.
"Ah, we are totally safe! No danger here! None at all!" Rolf announced to himself, smiling at the skies.
Back in the Cul-De-Sac, as this passed, Kevin was strolling around the castle. A sticky note was left hanging on one of the stone walls, and Kevin took a quick glance at it.
"Hey, someone left a sticky note on the castle," Kevin noted. Sarah, Jonny, and Nazz came closer to him.
"What's on the sticky note?" questioned Nazz.
Kevin focused his attention even more on the piece of paper. "It's from Rolf," he said.
"Dear citizens of the Cul-De-Sac,
"Jimmy and I have decided to temporarily vacate from the castle due to personal maintenance. Due to my provisional absence, all crime in this Cul-De-Sac is now legal for the time being, as I have no way of contacting any of my people. Signed, Rolf."
"Neat!" remarked Kevin. "Ya know what this means, guys?"
"What?" Jonny asked.
"It means we're free to do whatever the heck we want!" exclaimed Kevin.
"We can party all the time!" boomed Sarah!
"Kev and I can explore to find whatever things we want to sell! And more customers to boot" Nazz squealed in delight.
"Me and Plank can finally see the outside world for what it truly is!" chirped Jonny, embracing his wooden board.
"Cheers for the rise of anarchy!" roared Kevin, thrusting his fist high into the air.
Down at the cells in the castle, Ed had been asleep. Ed was left alone in his time of slumber, with nobody else but him in his bed. Double D and Eddy happened to be in one singular bed. Eddy had been stripped of his collar for the night and had extremely noticeable indent patterns on his neck. He and Double D had some issues to discuss.
"Double D… I didn't read enough of the book just yet!" snapped Eddy.
"Well, if you don't get your sleep now, you'll get more tired and have even less of the energy to digest the concepts in the book!" Double D argued.
"Double D, I don't think…" Eddy stammered.
"Just go to sleep! You need it!" retorted Double D.
"But-" Double D picked up a syringe from the "FOR INSOMNIA MAINTENANCE" box, and injected its liquid into Eddy's body, thus knocking him out. Moments after, Eddy began to fall into a state of deep dreaming.
In the dream, everything was black. Then a light shone, prompting Eddy to open his eyes. What Eddy saw just right ahead of him was the sight of Kevin, standing proudly and confidently, grinning fiercely like a tiger near its prey, and ringing his hands. Just behind him were Sarah, Jonny, and Jimmy, also smirking at Eddy.
"K-K-Kevin? What are you doing here? Where is this place?" Eddy worried.
"Oh, nothing much really, we're just trying to have fun, like the good friends we were supposed to be!" Kevin's voice echoed through the room.
"Friends? We're not friends, Kevin! I hate you!" Eddy sputtered, trying to point at the light child, however, was restricted in the process. Eddy looked down to see what it was that had been holding him down, and he noticed that his arms and legs were chained to an oak hardwood table. The kid struggled and struggled, and Kevin just laughed.
"This isn't funny! What is going on?" Eddy shrieked.
"To tell ya the truth, after your sudden disappearance, we figured it would be a good idea to permanently use you for one of the only things you're good for," explained Kevin.
"Like being laughed at!" Jonny set up an example.
"Well, what exactly are you planning to do to me?" the peach kid asked.
"You'll see…" whispered Sarah.
All four of the surrounding children moved into certain spots near Eddy so that they could activate their desired plans. Sarah pulled out a boom box from one of the corners of the room, and played an extremely infamous song on it, specifically a song called T-Shirt by Jared Soleus. Eddy screeched and shouted, and banged on the table in agony, begging for the pain to stop. Jimmy raised an eyebrow.
"Getting crabby, aren't we now? Oh, would ya just shut up and stop complaining?" Jimmy took off one of his shoes, took the sock off of his shoeless foot, and stuffed it inside of Eddy's mouth, muffling any sounds the child had tried to make. After that, Jimmy pulled and pricked at Eddy's hair strands, causing him even more pain.
"This'll calm you down." Jonny raised Plank up to Eddy's back and started to give the back a massage with the wooden slab. Eddy's screaming calmed down, however, the yellow-shirted victim started to growl in discomfort.
Kevin was the last to act upon his urges for humorous gratification. The orange haired man pulled out a whip from his pocket.
"It can always get worse." Kevin repeatedly scourged Eddy over the back with his whip, encouraging him to blush in embarrassment and let out a shrill, stifled scream.
Then all of a sudden, Double D, looking furious and carrying a katana in his hand, busted down the door to the room with his foot, and looked for the children.
When Double D found all of the kids who were tormenting Eddy, he quickly sliced all of them open with his blade, and set Eddy free from his chains, removing the sock from his mouth as well. Eddy stared in sheer terror at what happened to the kids.
Did Double D actually kill them? Why would he do such a horrible thing? Nobody deserves to die! Eddy thought to himself.
"You're going nowhere without me around." Double D affixed Eddy to the collar that he had worn back at the fire hydrant, and tried to walk Eddy with it. Eddy attempted to scamper away but was unsuccessful in doing so.
And then Eddy awakened from his sleep. He noticed a lone needle on the bed, and in a blind fit of rage and grief, heavily pierced his skin until he was bleeding very much through both of his arms.
Eddy started thinking again. Nobody deserves to die, but me, I guess… This despicable me who treats his peers like they don't matter to him in the slightest...