"Ja, vi vet; du behöver hjälp… du kommer aldrig mer bli dig själv."
"Yes, we know; you need help… you'll never be yourself again."
Chapter 17
Dom som försvann
Dizzy, nauseous and a terrible headache… Double-D Ed boy is not having a good time right about now, nope. They had gotten a tip as the Kanker watchers to check out and eventually had ended up at the haunted house just outside of the neighborhood. Neither he nor Ed had been very thrilled about it, but Eddy being Eddy had voted them out and thus they all entered the spooky and dark house. They hadn't lasted much longer before someone had jumped them in the dark and dragged them away. Now they're here, groaning and trying to find their bearings once again whilst wondering where they are. Glancing around the room he soon finds that his hands are tied up and that he has been placed on the floor by a wall, next to Ed and Eddy who appear to have been tied up and placed on the floor just as he has. They also appear to be just as out of it as he is. How long have they been out for? There are no clocks in here from what he can see… oh god… what is Mel going to think about this, if he turns out to be late home?
As they slowly begin to come to their senses, the ropes tied around their wrists are being pulled upwards, dragging them harshly up with them. Their backs slam hard against the wall behind them, knocks the air out of them effectively. Very effectively…
"What the heck is that about?!" Eddy complains loudly, but before he manages to complain some more a terrifying chuckle sound from the darkness around them. Scared, the three boys scream and rush to each other, trying to stay as close as possible, only to have the rope pulling them apart again. Just what is happening?
Back in his place by the wall, Double-D tries his best to make his eyes adjust to the dark as fast as possible, but to no avail. Whatever is hiding there remains there for a while, refusing to show its face. It just chuckles at them, sending shivers up their spines. The more terrified they appear the more it chuckles – is it finding their fright amusing? It almost seems like it. Oh dear… oh dear…
Following a small gravel road that takes them back to the cul-de-sac from the junkyard, Kevin remains silent as a mouse after his conversation with Mel. If feels… weird. He literally just had an awkward conversation with Sockhead's sister and she… hugged him! Not only that but she encouraged him and told him that he was allowed to visit them – spend the night even – if he wished to! Do you have any idea how weird that feels!? It's- it's… actually not a bad weird feeling, which might actually be even weirder… it actually makes him somewhat question if she really meant it or not. I mean – he did and still does tease/bully the Eds, and her brother is one of the Eds.
Carefully glancing up from the gravel and up at her, she appears to be far too focused on getting home and finding her brother for her to notice him looking at her. Might just be for the best, who knows how she might react if she noticed? Given how she let her anger show and what she told him at the junkyard, she is a force to be reckoned with and never ever tempered with.
They soon arrive back at the cul-de-sac, and Nazz waits for them at her house, seeming both curious, happy to see them but also concerned when she notice they return empty handed. Sarah and Jimmy are nowhere to be seen, so they might've been dropped off by either of their homes to make sure they're safe and not in the way – as Nazz likes to put it sometimes. When they're close enough for her she starts running up to them, eager to hear what they have to say. He can almost feel Mel tense up as she gets closer. Does she dislike Nazz? Or is it that she knows, just like he knows, that she's going to ask how it went?
"How did it go?" She asks when she's close enough, and sure enough, Kevin can feel Mel tense up some more. "Did you find them?"
Mel is quiet for a moment, so Kevin decides to speak up for her. "Nothing." He says, drawing Nazz' attention to him instead of Mel. "We went there, were I know they usually hang, but we found nothing. We even went even further than that but still nothing."
Hearing his words is enough to make Nazz' curious smile fall and she carefully looks at Mel who seems to be looking out onto nothing. Whatever might be roaming around in her head right now is beyond them, but the edge of moisture at the bottom of her eyes is enough to tell them that she's closing in on a breaking point. The question is; which one?
"I-I'm sorry to hear that…" Nazz says, trying her best to enlighten the situation. It's in her nature to try and fix foul moods it would seem. "Is there… anywhere else you haven't checked yet…?"
Letting out a deep and heavy sigh, Mel closes her eyes for a second before answering. Collecting her thoughts? "No." She says, her voice low and slightly shaky. "Not that I know of."
Fidgeting with her fingers, Nazz obviously tries to think of something while Mel is off in whatever land her thoughts take her when bad things happen. She's about to say something when Mel decides to wander off, head back into their house, leaving Kevin and Nazz alone on the street. They look at her; follow her with their gaze up until she closes the door behind her. Nazz lets out a sigh at the sight, clearly getting more and more worried about the situation, and honestly; so is he. It's not unnatural for the Eds to wander off like this, but it's only been like once when no one was able to find them, and then they were still able to see where they had been and what they had been working on to scam them with. This time… there's just nothing; nothing at all to tell them anything about their whereabouts or what they might be doing.
"You said you'd looked everywhere she knew of-" Nazz starts asking, but Kevin just isn't feeling it right now.
"Yes, Nazz… We've looked everywhere." He says.
Huffing at his attitude, Nazz puts her hands on her hips. "As I was saying; you've been looking everywhere she knew of, right?"
"Yes…" He says with a sigh.
"And what about all of the places that we know about?" She asks.
He's silent for a moment. "What?" He asks.
"You know, like the junkyard you just showed her. She didn't know about that place before. Or what about the trailer park?"
"I highly doubt the Eds would willingly head in that direction." He counters, remembering the whole situation with the Kankers at school earlier today. You know Eddy's gotta be eager for some small cash if he's willing to keep a lookout for the crazy sisters and say it's for the sake of everyone else. Greedy dork.
"Whatever." Nazz huffs. "Just… think okay? Are you sure there isn't some secret hiding spot that we've overlooked? Or maybe there's something that we've overheard at school that might be a clue as to where they are?"
Huffing out another sigh, Kevin do as she says and tries to think about something they might've forgotten or overlooked. A small moment pass by without anything coming to mind. "I've got nothing." He eventually says with a shrug.
"Me neither…" Nazz answers, sounding a bit low at the fact. "Fine, maybe it'll come to us later? Let's just go in and not think about it and maybe it pop into our minds?"
Kevin merely shrugs, but he does try to not think too much into it. Just like she said; sometimes you need to stop thinking about something for it to appear on your mind and remind you of what it was you needed to know. It's really weird how that works, but he's not going to question it right now. It works – sometimes – and that's all he really needs to know. And with that, they head to Nazz' place. Entering through the front door, Kevin soon finds that Jimmy and Sarah did not go back to either of their homes, as they find both of them sitting by the TV in the living room. Nazz sighs loudly at the fact and goes up to talk to them.
"What did I say about the TV?" She asks with her hands on her hips again.
"Oh come on!" Sarah whines, quick as always when it comes to complain. Kevin has no problem seeing her becoming a Karen in the future. Nazz stands her ground though and turns the TV off and tells them to go and play like kids are supposed to do. Sarah blows her tongue at her before stomping away, pulling poor Jimmy after her as she does.
Kevin walks up after they leave and gently nudges Nazz' shoulder with his fist. "Go super mom!" He teases.
"Don't make me come after you too." She grins and punches his shoulder. He gently massages it when she isn't looking.
With the two kids away and playing, the two older kids decide to sit on the couch and watch the said TV that Nazz said was a no go for the other two. They do hear some angry huffs coming from a certain redheaded girl but one glance from Nazz is enough to keep her quiet. After all; this is Nazz' house, and that means they all have to play by Nazz' rules – as long as her parents aren't home, that is. Kevin merely rolls his eyes at Sarah's whole personality and focuses his attention on the boring channel Nazz chose, trying his best to remember what it is that they might be missing.
In the house next to Nazz' things are a bit different when it comes to atmosphere. Lying on the floor in the living room, Mel hasn't been able to move one inch since she closed the door behind her and collapsed. The tears are streaming down her cheeks, she's got a terrible headache and her thoughts keep pushing her further and further to her breaking point. She doesn't want to go there again… please don't make her go there again… please… please…
Like an echo of whispers, she cannot tell what they're all saying, but she knows still, deep, deep down… she knows what they're telling her. Failure… she's an absolute of a failure… someone who can't protect those she loves no matter how hard the tries or fights. Does she really need to lose another sibling to understand that? I thought you had already learned that lesson, but it would seem that you are far slower than I first anticipated. It is… just as hilarious as it is pathetic. Truly pathetic. Why are you even alive at this point? God knows you can't do anything right. Just end it all. There are knives in the kitchen. They're sharp… and shiny. Just end it all. Just. End. It. All. You know he's better off without you anyway. He said so himself, didn't he? He doesn't need you… doesn't want you. You have no meaning in this world. Just end it all, it's as simple as that. Just as simple as that.
It echoes… echoes and echoes and echoes, over and over again. She's getting dizzy, so very dizzy. With a heavy breath she gathers her strength and forces herself to move. She doesn't get up, just… moves. Crawling along the floor, she can hear Edd yelling at her for making a mess as she goes. It brings a small smile to her lips. A small one. Her finger nails get stuck here and there in the carpeted floor, but she couldn't care less. She just wants the echo to cease. Just cease… please…
She's in the kitchen, still crawling on the floor, trying to find her bearings outside of the echoing voices telling her how useless she is, to just end it all. You're so close… so close to the knives. Can't you hear them calling for you? Shaking her head, she tries to rid herself of the thoughts. It doesn't work. They laugh at her. It's spinning, spinning and spinning and spinning. She needs a way out… something sharp to clear her mind. Yes! YeS! YES! She forces herself to stand, climbing up the counter… where they keep the knife stand. She reaches out… Do it! Do It! dO iT! DO It! DO IT! The knife handle is cold against her palm. sO CLosE! YOu'Re SO clOSE! The knife lays steady in her hand. Nothing has changed.
"I'm such an idiot!" Kevin calls out suddenly, making everyone around him jump. "I'm like really – I'm so dumb!"
"What?" Nazz asks, adrenaline running through her body at miles per hour. "What do you- huh?"
"I know where they are!" He says.
"Who?" Sarah asks.
"The dorks! I know where they are!" He says and jumps off of the couch. "They were talking about it at school! Man I'm dumb!"
"Wh-what?" Nazz asks.
"Skipper were bragging about how much money they were making by patrolling the school and protecting it from the Kankers! And they he said they got a lead or something that they were going to go and check out; something about shady activity at a spooky and potential dangerous place."
"The haunted house?" Sarah asks.
"Where else would he mean?" Kevin says and hurries to the door. "I need to tell Mel!"
"Wait!" I'm coming with!" Nazz calls and hurries from the couch after him. Closing the door after them, they run as fast as they can and knocks loudly on the door to their house. She wouldn't have left their house again, would she?
The sound of intense knocking breaks through the echo. It reaches her mind and brings her back to reality, though they still remain. They belittle her for not going through with it, for heading out of the kitchen and towards the door instead for following through with their demands of her. Just end it already! She reaches the door and opens it, finding Kevin and Nazz looking more alive than she's ever seen them before? What's going on?
"Finally! What were you doing?!" Kevin nearly yells at her. Clearly he's in some sort of hurry.
"I was doing some stuff…" She says, not wanting them to know what she was just about to do… what they nearly made her do just now. Even now she can feel their disappointment.
"Whatever." Kevin says, not interested in any way. good. "I know where the Eds are!"
Her attention is grabbed and she's able to ignore their callings for her, their begging to make her return to the kitchen and fulfill their wishes. "Where?" She asks, swallowing the lump in her throat. They're yelling at her now.
"They're at the haunted house!" He yells.
… Silence… she can feel their confusion. "…the what now?"
Kevin groans. "They're at the haunted house!"
"…there's a haunted house?"
"Yes!" Nazz says. "And we really need to go and che-"
"There's a haunted house?!"
"…yes…?" Nazz says, feeling a by the look in her eyes.
"There's a-!" Mel calls out. "What kind of a messed up nightmare neighborhood is this?!" Not knowing what to believe in anymore, she still decides to go with them to this haunted house. Kevin said that her brother and his friends are there, so she guesses that she really doesn't have much of a choice but to go there and, you know, investigate the area. "Fine! Fine! Lead the way!"
Without another word, Kevin and Nazz hurry to show her the haunted house of Peach Creek. None of them comment on how she didn't lock the door to their house, only slammed it shut behind her, not looking back for anything. The sight of it reminds Kevin of what she told her at the junkyard, how she admitted to beating up the jocks with a baseball bat, drawing blood and breaking their bones, just to save her brother. She saved him in probably the only way she knew of – and he has seen hoe Double-D responded to it; giving her the cold shoulder. And yet, she's still this determined to go out and save him again, despite his cold hatred and despite the fact that he just might end up reacting the same way again. That thought leaves a bad taste in his mouth, and so, as he looks back at her running after him and Nazz, eager to come to her brother's rescue yet again… he decides to make a silent promise to her.
'If the dork ever hurts you again, I'll make sure he'll regret it. One way or another.'
Kent: Dom som försvann
(Those who disappeared – that's why I chose that song; the title was literally perfect for it.)
Also; no. Kevin does not have a crush on Mel. He just doesn't like the fact that Double-D hurt her and might do so again, after she's shown him such kindness in the last chapter.
Also; I'm going to hit pause on the whole deadline thing for my stories for a while – not sure for how long. I'll still write and upload; I just won't have a deadline to keep up with. I've gotten a second job, and I'm going to be working during the vacation period, so my schedule is pretty much stuffed to the brim, which is why I need to make this small adjustment for now.
I still hope you enjoy this story! Have a great day and summer!
