MT: Chapter 7
After talking to the police about what happened, they took Eddy and Zoey back to the Cul-De-Sac, dropping them off at Jennifer's house. There they could see Jennifer's parents standing out in the front yard, crying for their daughter's safety. Alongside them was Ed, who had a sad look on his face. Ed soon noticed Eddy and Zoey walking up to him, "Eddy! Zoey!" he cried with relief as he once again gave them his trademark bear hug.
"Nice to see you too, Ed," Eddy stated, patting him on the back.
"Please, you two have to tell me!" Jennifer's mom started to ask them, "Is Jennifer alright?!"
"Yeah… She's alright," Zoey replied, "They're taking her to the hospital right now to make sure nothing is broken."
"… Wait, what about Double D?" Ed asked, realizing he was nowhere to be seen, "Is he okay?"
Eddy and Zoey were silent to him for a split second before Eddy responded, "… Yeah, he's fine too. He went with Jennifer to make sure she was alright."
Ed makes a smile of relief on his face, alongside Jennifer's parents.
Eddy felt himself being pulled away by Zoey where they were out of hearing range of everyone, "You didn't need to lie to him like that," she scolded.
"… You know, I could say the exact same thing to you, Zoey," Eddy replied to her with a small glare, "You knew who that girl was, and that all of this was going to happen!"
Zoey recoiled at what he said, her guilt started to weigh heavy on her conscious, "I'm so sorry…"
"No, I don't think saying sorry is going to cut it!" Eddy continued to say in anger, "One of my best friends is dying in the hospital right now, and the person he cares about is also hurt!"
"Eddy, please… I just—"
"I don't know why you would do this… And I don't wanna hear your excuses!" Eddy yelled, turning away from her entirely, "Go away, please."
Zoey only stood there for a moment before running away, off towards the area of the lake. Eddy looked back at her for a split moment, making a sad sigh.
"Dude, that was way too harsh."
"AH!" Eddy yelped in surprise, turning to see both Kevin and Nazz next to him, "What do you want?" he asked in a rude tone.
"We could hear you arguing from a thousand miles away," Kevin stated, "You've always been that loud."
Eddy grumbled in annoyance, "So, you heard about what happened, huh?"
"Yeah, everyone has," Kevin replied.
"… Not shocked, the news spreads too fast for its own good."
There was a small bit of silence between the three before Nazz spoke up, "You should go apologize to Zoey."
"Huh?!" Eddy questioned in a baffled tone, "Why should I do that?! She—"
"Zoey was trying to explain why to you, Eddy! You kept pushing her away!" Nazz stated with anger, "You know the phrase, 'There's two sides to every story,' right?"
Eddy stayed silent to her.
"You know who always put that phrase to use every day?" Nazz continued to say, "Double D. He would always try to hear and help with everyone's problems, even yours!"
That statement struck a chord with Eddy, looking at them with a stunned expression.
"Besides, we can tell you have the hots for Zoey," Kevin teased at him with a laugh, "It's kinda obvious."
"… Everyone could see that, huh?" Eddy asked.
"Yep, and probably from space as well."
Eddy groaned a little at that, he felt defeated from everything going on.
"I saw her run off towards the lake just now," Nazz said, "Please… Go say you're sorry to Zoey, okay?"
Eddy said nothing to them, but he knew they were right. He started to run after Zoey, going towards the lake in the woods nearby.
It took about fifteen minutes for Eddy to get to the lake area, where he could see Zoey sitting towards the edge of the lake, huddled into a ball. He made a sad face to her; it broke his heart to see her like that.
Eddy walked over to Zoey to sit down next to her on her left, "Uh, hey…"
Zoey stayed quiet to him, not even looking at him at all.
Eddy made a sigh, thinking about what he wanted to say, "Listen, Zoey… I'm sorry I yelled at you like that. I was just angry and upset about what happened, and I took it out on you."
"… I would be angry too, if I were in your shoes."
The two of them sat there for a moment, looking at the lake and their reflections in the water.
"… About five months ago, in Sunflower Shoal," Zoey stated aloud, "I was walking towards the local arcade after I had my karate lessons. I was going to meet up with a friends there so we could walk home together," she started to tremble a little, "When I was passing by an alleyway that was nearby, I could hear a commotion further down said alleyway. Before I could think about what was happening, I saw Viper and some of her gang members exiting the alleyway; she had a blood-soaked knife in her hand. I tried to run away, but they noticed me before I could. Viper threatened me to not say a word about it to anyone, or she would kill me and my family. And that's basically what I did… Then, three months later, the incident with Jennifer happened with her gang; all of them were arrested, except for Viper. She was not directly involved with her assault. She then approached me, threatening me to find out as much information about Jennifer as I could; I could tell she wanted to kill her because of what happened. For a while there, I was trying to not think about it until her threats became more constant to me and my family. Eventually, I found out that Jennifer and her family were going to move away because of what happened; here to Peach Creek. Viper then forced me to move to my aunt and uncle's house because they were close by, where Jennifer was going to move in…" she paused for a moment, crying a little, "And you know the rest of it by now."
The two teens went quiet again; the silence was deafening between them.
"I'm so sorry… It's okay if you don't want to be friends anymore. I've accepted it at this point," Zoey started to say, her voice trembling in sadness from crying, "If I wasn't such a coward, none of this would have happened!"
Eddy widened his eyes at what she said, looking at her with a sad face; he remembered the incident from Tuesday when he said the exact same thing to Double D. He told Eddy it was not his fault at all; he and Zoey were the victims, and Evan and Viper were the ones that put them through this pain.
Before she knew what hit her, Zoey could feel Eddy hug her tightly, much to her shock, "Zoey, none of this is your fault, you hear me?!" Eddy stated to her, finally letting lose his own tears, "I said the same thing last Tuesday; I felt guilty for what happened to you, and I still do! I'm sorry!"
"Eddy…" Zoey quietly said as she hugged him back. The two of them sat there in their embrace for a good while before separating. They looked back out at the lake in front of them again before hearing some rustling coming from the woods nearby. Eddy and Zoey looked over to where the woods were rustling, only to see the entire Cul-De-Sac hiding there, spying on them.
"Wha— Hey! What gives?! We can see you all there!" Eddy shouted to the teens.
"Yikes! Run for it!" shouted Jonny as he and the rest of the teens ran away.
The only teen to stay behind was Ed, who started to run over to Eddy and Zoey, "Are you two friends again?" he asked with a bit of worry in his voice.
"Yeah, of course we are," Eddy stated.
Ed made a wide smile in happiness, "Yay!" he cheered as he picked up both Eddy and Zoey, putting them on his shoulders.
"We should head back now," Zoey said to them, "I'm worried about Double D and Jennifer, we should try and find out how they're doing."
The two Eds only nodded their heads in agreement. Ed walked back to the Cul-De-Sac with Eddy and Zoey still on his shoulders.
It was now late in the evening in the town of Peach Creek, around 8:30pm. We come upon the hospital of the town; it was a moderately sized building for such a small community, as one should expect for a hospital. Inside one of the many rooms, we could see Jennifer sleeping in the hospital bed. She had a lot of bandages wrapped around her arm and legs; these were the only serious injuries she received. On her bedside were her parents, watching carefully to see when she would wake up.
Slowly, Jennifer's fingers started to twitch a little as she then opened her eyes, only to be greeted with the gray ceiling above her. Her mom gasped a little before starting to cry, "Oh, Jennifer! You're awake!"
Jennifer groaned a little in tiredness, "Mom…? Dad…?" she questioned as she turned to her mom and dad, "Am I alive?"
"Of course you're alive!" her dad replied back with relief in his voice.
She glanced back up at the ceiling for a moment blinking a little, trying to remember everything that happened; things were fuzzy to her for some reason.
"U-Um, are my friends here?" Jennifer asked weakly.
"Yes, they are here, don't worry," her mom replied as her dad got up from where he sat, "I'll go get them for you, okay?" her dad said.
Jennifer made a small smile, "Okay…"
She watched her dad leave the room, making a small sigh to herself. Jennifer soon tried to remember what happened today; she knew it was her birthday today, and she was going to have a party at her house. Zoey had come early to bring cupcakes… And then she remembered seeing a girl and man she did not know. They dragged both her and Zoey to the construction site… It was there when things were starting to become hazy.
Jennifer could hear the door open beside her, her dad was back with her friends. She could see Ed, Eddy and Zoey coming up to her, "You guys…"
"Are you okay now Jenny?!" Ed asked with sadness, "We were all so worried!"
"I'm okay now, thank you," Jennifer replied with a smile.
She then noticed that Eddy and Zoey were holding a box and an envelope in their hands.
"Here you go, Jennifer," Zoey stated, handing her the envelope, "It's a birthday card from all of us."
Jennifer went to grab her glasses before slowly opening the envelope, only to see everyone's signatures inside the card, even all the other teens of the Cul-De-Sac, "T-Thank you…" she stated with a wide smile. As she looked at the card again, she noticed a blank section of the card that was not filled in with anyone's signature, she was slightly confused by it, but could not figure out why it was strange to her.
Eddy then handed Jennifer the box he held. Strangely, he did not say anything when he handed it over, "Is this a present?" Jennifer asked. He only nodded his head before making a bit of a sad face, which confused her greatly.
Jennifer then started to unwrap and open the box, looking to see what was inside. She widened her eyes in surprise at what it was; a flower carved out of wood that had white petals that shimmered a little in the light, "This is…"
"Oh my, what a pretty sculpture!" Jennifer's mom complimented, "Did you all pitch in to buy it?"
The three teens were silent at what her mom said.
"No… This is handmade," Jennifer started to say, "It's a fictional flower from a game I like to play; an Elpis Bloom… It's important to me."
"Wow, you kids are really talented, I'm impressed!" Jennifer's dad stated, "Which one of you made it for her?"
The teens were silent once again, not sure what to say. It was Zoey who finally spoke up, "It was made by Double D; or Eddward, if you want to call him by his real name."
"Oh right! The boy with the hat!" Jennifer's mom gasped, "I'm surprised he isn't here to visit."
Jennifer glanced back at the wooden flower in her hand, staring at it for a long while.
"I'm sorry, Jen."
Jennifer slowly began to widen her eyes in horror; the hazy memories she had forgotten were finally coming back to her. She remembered what happened in full, trembling more and more as she did.
"Jennifer? What's the matter?" her dad asked with worry.
Jennifer turned to Eddy and Zoey, "Please, be honest with me," she started to say, "Is he okay?"
Zoey and Eddy could only look at each other while Ed made a sad face; all three of them were silent still. Their silence was all she needed to know; something was wrong. Something had happened to him.
Before her parents could ask any more questions, Jennifer jumped out of the hospital bed and ran out of the room, the wooden flower clutched in her hand, "Jennifer!" gasped her parents in shock.
Jennifer ran through the halls of the hospital as fast as her feet could muster. She approached the desk of a nurse that was nearby, asking them which room he would be in. The nurse pointed her in the direction that was written down in her records. Jennifer walked off in the direction she was told, her heart beating faster and faster as she did until she was finally outside the room he was in.
Jennifer then opened the door to Double D's room, fearing what she would see inside. She could see Double D lying there in the bed, he looked to be sleeping. Beside him were a lot of machines; she did not know what all of them were for. His hat was also not on his head, revealing the nasty scar he had across his forehead… It was the reason he always wore his hat. His messy blond hair was more visible as well.
Jennifer walked into his room, slowly coming up to Double D's side. It was then she noticed how pale he was, almost like a ghost. She stood there for a moment in silence, not knowing what to say or do. She soon heard the door open behind her, with Ed, Eddy, and Zoey walking into the room, coming up to her.
There was a tense moment of silence before Jennifer asked the important question, "Is Eddward going to survive?"
"… Honestly, the doctors are unsure," Zoey started to explain to her, "They worked hard on closing the wound and managed to do so, but said he lost too much blood in such a short amount of time from it. It is possible that he can recover, but it's very slim. He's not in a coma, but still in bad shape… It's pretty much a coinflip at this point."
Jennifer stayed silent at what she said, everything was dependent on Double D himself; on his willpower to try and pull through. She could feel herself being picked up a little by Ed, who was giving her a hug to make her feel better, with Eddy and Zoey joining the hug as well. They stayed like this for a good while before separating.
"Umm, I think I'm going to stay here for a while," Jennifer stated, "Can you tell my parents that I'm in here?"
"Yeah, we can do that," Eddy replied to her. The three teens left the room, leaving Jennifer alone next to Double D.
She turned back to him and, before she even really thought about it, leaned in closer to give him a kiss on the cheek, "Thank you, Double D," she whispered.
Author's Note (June 2nd, 2023): Wow, two chapters uploaded on the same day?! Kind of surprised myself. Though I did say the previous chapter was going to be longer before deciding to split it up, so I guess this makes sense why it was so fast.
