Middle of the nowhere, 40 miles from Gravesfield, Connecticut:
In a million years, Eda Clawthorne never imagined that she would be in this situation.
Racing down a dirt road in a dingy RV, sirens from police cruisers wailing behind as she drove, and a nearly beaten to death teenager slumped in the passenger seat...
This didn't even include the fact she was currently only wearing a bra, gas mask, and pants right now.
Eda's heart raced as she turned a sharp corner on the dirt path, only for the RV to not turn in time and swerve off the dirt road. It rolled down into a ditch, before hitting a patch of bushes and coming to a hard stop.
Eda tried to get the RV to start, but to no avail.
"Goddammit, no... No! Not now!" Eda groaned, banging the dashboard in desperation.
She looked around, and behind her at the messy inside of the RV. Everything was still knocked over.
Eda sighed, and quickly got out of her seat. She busted down the door of the RV, and stumbled outside to look around. The engine of the vehicle was still smoking, clearly going nowhere for a while.
She exhaled, before noticing that the camera from the RV had fallen out of the vehicle as well. Eda gulped, before picking it up slowly, making up her mind. She pressed record, and faced the camera to herself.
"My name is Edalyn Strigiformes Clawthorne. I live in Gravesfield, Connecticut. To the law enforcement that has seized this tape... This is not an admission of guilt, so fuck off. I am speaking to my family now." Eda put her hand over the camera for a moment, exhaling before she uncovered it again to face it.
"Raine, you are the love of my life. I hope you know that. King, you're my little guy." Eda sighed heavily, her hand shaking as she held the camera. "There are going to be some things that you'll come to learn about me in the next few days. But just know that no matter how it may look, I only had you in my heart... Goodbye."
Eda turned the camera off, and set it down on the ground. Laying down her wallet, opened face up, next to it. She could hear the sirens getting closer.
Eda looked around quickly, trying to think of a plan. Before rushing back into the RV, taking a deep breath of fresh air before she did. She rushed over to the two bodies still laying on the damp floor, and picked up one of the fallen revolvers. Eda exhaled, and left the RV once more.
Managing to climb out from the ditch, Eda walked onto the dirt road and looked toward the distance. She couldn't see the cruisers yet, but she could sure as hell hear their sirens blaring.
Eda took a final deep breath, before standing tall in the middle of the dirt road, and aiming her revolver down it at, waiting to take her shot...
One Week Earlier:
Eda blinked a couple times, waking up as the sun's rays peered in through the window. She stretched a bit, and sat up in bed.
She smacked her lips as she looked at the beside, and saw that her spouse had already gotten out of bed. Eda could smell breakfast being cooked in the kitchen.
With a small groan, Eda slunk out of bed and onto her feet. She looked at the time: 7:11 AM.
Her eyes widened slightly. "Shit..." Eda mumbled, rushing over to her closet.
She was gonna be late for her class again. The last time that happened, half of the classroom had been caught on fire... Due to one of the students thinking they could lead the class for her. Granted, it was a nice gesture... Just VERY poorly executed.
Eda got her shirt and coat on, along with her pants, before walking out of the bedroom toward the kitchen. She turned a corner and saw her spouse putting some food on a couple plates. Eda smiled at the sight of them.
"Morning Raine." Eda greeted, as she approached them.
"Morning Eda." Raine greeted back, smiling as well. "You slept in late."
Eda sighed, sitting down as Raine put a plate of breakfast in front of her. "Yeah well, I was tired is all..." She replied.
Raine chuckled, before sitting down in their own chair and beginning to eat.
"This bacon looks weird..." Eda remarked, noticing the weird texture of it on her plate.
"Oh, that's because it's not normal bacon. It's this new veggie bacon stuff I bought." Raine explained, "Trying to add some healthy food to our diets, you know?"
"I guess..." Eda said, taking a bite out of a strip of the bacon.
She then noticed the third seat at the table was still empty, a plate full of breakfast in front of it.
"Is King not awake yet?" Eda asked, "He has to get ready for school in a bit..."
Just then, a 9 year old boy with yellow eyes and black hair walked into the kitchen from the hall. He sat down at the empty seat. "Morning." He greeted as he did so.
"Morning kid." Eda smiled.
"How'd you sleep King?" Raine asked.
"Fine." He answered, as he picked up his fork.
He then poked at his food, "What the hell is this stuff?" he questioned.
"Language. And it's veggie bacon, very good for you." Raine answered, eating some breakfast from their own plate.
"It looks disgusting..." King gagged, picking a strip of it up. "And it smells like rubber."
"I don't care what it smells like. It's good for you, now eat it." Raine responded. "Your mother is eating it just fine, isn't that right honey?"
Eda had been in the process of hiding her own bacon in her pocket, before looking up to meet her spouse's gaze. "Huh? Oh! Yes, very good stuff..." She lied, with a fake smile.
Raine rolled their eyes, and sighed. "Anyways... How's your chemistry classes been doing, dear?" He asked, curious.
"Oh, fine. Nothing new there." Eda replied, ignoring her veggie bacon and moving on to the scrambled eggs, making sure to eat quickly.
King wiped his mouth after he finished his food. "Welp, I'm done!" King announced, stifling a burp afterwards. Eda chuckled.
"Alright, come on kid." Eda picked King up, "Let's get you ready for school, and me to my class."
Chemistry class at Gravesfield High went about how it usually does. A select few of the students actually listened to her lesson this time, so there's that.
She had always been into chemistry, ever since she was young. What got her into it was the amazement she had at mixing chemicals to make something new by changing it only slightly. It had been like magic to the young Eda, and she had wanted to know all about it.
59 years later, it seemed like she had finally gotten her wish. Eda knew pretty much everything you could possibly know about chemistry and it's practices at this point.
She walked out through the entrance of the school, and over to her car.
As Eda got in and started it, she exhaled, knowing this wasn't the end of her day quite yet. She still had her second job to go do.
Due to the fact being a teacher didn't pay much (What a shocker), she had taken up a second job at a local carwash as one of the cashiers. It wasn't the greatest (or ironically cleanest) job in the world, but it paid the bills at the very least... Barely.
It wasn't a long drive to the car wash, only about ten minutes of driving, not counting traffic.
Eda parked near the back of the car wash, and stepped out of her car. She walked inside the main building, and approached the counter... Where the cashier there was finishing their shift.
"Oh, perfect timing!" The cashier said, taking off their company coat and handing it to Eda. "Just got done with my shift... You're a lifesaver Mrs. Clawthorne!"
They ran off, leaving Eda alone at the counter. She sighed, and stepped behind it to begin working.
But as she did, the manager of the establishment walked up to the counter and faced her. "Hey, I need an extra hand out washing the cars." He told Eda, much to her annoyance.
"Again? Jesus, this is the fifth time in the past two weeks you've had me do this Jim!" Eda complained.
"Stop whining, and just go." Jim ordered, pointing at the car washing station.
Eda groaned, and begrudgingly walked toward the waiting cars. She always hated doing the dirty work of actually washing the cars, it would always ruin her clothes and leave them sopping wet.
But nonetheless, Eda still wanted to get paid, so here she was doing it.
She had completely cleaned four cars, when she started to feel tired. Eda was just about to go to the break room to take a few minutes to relax, when a fancy sports car rolled up to the washing station. The license plate read: Jaco9 H099k1n2.
After only a second of Eda not moving, the driver honked the horn at her, and a man poked his head out the window, looking at her expectantly.
"Yo! You gonna start washing, or what?" Jacob asked as he glared at her, rather impatiently.
Eda had to use every fiber of being in her body to not hit the front of his car in irritation. She simply took a deep breath, and sucked it up as she knelt down to start washing the hood of the sports car.
"Don't streak the metal." Jacob ordered, watching from beside his car that he had stepped out of.
"I'm being careful. Relax." Eda replied, not bothering to even look up at him. Eye contact would mean his comments meant something to her.
"You better. This car is worth more than you, your job, AND your family!" Jacob snapped back, crossing his arms.
As Eda tried to ignore the continuing insults from Jacob, a new feeling came over her... A bit of a woozy feeling. Jacob stopped his tirade, seemingly noticing Eda's disorientation.
"Hey... What's wrong with you?" He questioned, confused at the state of her.
She felt her head begin to spin, as she groaned a bit from the weird feeling. Eda tried to keep herself steady, but to no avail.
The last thing Eda felt and heard was the water on the hard floor splash against the side of her face, as she fell down unconscious.
Eda slowly began to wake up, and found herself in a mostly white room. She groaned when she realized where she was."Fuck, the hospital..." Eda sat up a bit, looking around.
This was the last thing she needed, the family was already tight with Eda running two jobs at once.
She heard the door open, and a blue-haired woman walked in with a clipboard. Her nametag on her coat read 'Dr. Terri'.
"Mrs. Clawthorne, right?" Terri asked, looking at Eda.
"No, I'm Betty White." Eda sarcastically replied, rubbing the back of her head.
Terri chuckled slightly, "Sarcastic type, I see..." she remarked.
"Born and bred..." Eda replied, "So, what even happened to me?" she asked.
Terri looked down at the clipboard with a hesitant look, before looking back up at Eda.
"Maybe we should talk about this in my office." Terri suggested, gesturing for Eda to follow her.
Eda shrugged, and slumped out of the bed. They both walked out of the room and down the hall.
"It's nothing... Bad, is it?" Eda asked, a tinge of worry in her tone.
Terri was quiet as she opened a door in the hall, and led Eda inside. The office had a large pane window that looked out at the town of Gravesfield. On her desk was an assortment of messy papers, and a couple frog plushies.
"You fell unconscious due to a syncope that occurred while you were working at the car wash. A Mr. Hopkins called the authorities, and reported the incident." Terri explained, sitting down in her chair.
Eda blinked, "Uh, in english?" she asked, making Terri sigh.
"A syncope is when someone losses consciousness due to either an emotional overreaction... Or, sometimes another reason." Terri answered, picking up her clipboard once more.
"And... What reason would that be?" Eda questioned, not liking where this was going.
Terri sighed. "We ran a couple tests on you while you were unconscious to see if we could find the cause of your syncope..." She began.
"What caused it then?" Eda asked after pausing.
"You have Lung Cancer." Terri answered quietly, "Stage four."
Eda was silent, taking in Terri's diagnosis.
She had cancer? No. That couldn't be right... This was the first time she had ever flat out passed out, and nobody in her family had had cancer in the past!
Then there was the timing of this news... Her family was already in a bad financial state, now they'd have to add cancer treatment payments on top of their other expenses?!
Terri seemed to notice Eda's mental struggle, and cleared her throat.
"I heavily suggest we keep in touch." Terri slid over a card with a phone number on it. "I can answer any questions you have in the near future."
Eda looked at it, before pocketing the card without a word. She got up, and began to leave the office... Before she turned back to look at Terri with a question.
"Did you call my house, and tell anyone this as well?" Eda asked.
Terri shook her head. "No, only people who know about this is the hospital staff, and you. Strictly confidential." She answered.
Eda exhaled in slight relief as she walked out, and down the hall. All she wanted to do was sit down, and think about how she could somehow get out of this mess...
Once Eda walked through her door, it was clear sitting down and relaxing wasn't going to happen. She felt her heart nearly jump out of her chest when she saw her house full of her friends and family.
"SURPRISE!" Everyone shouted, some clapping and cheering.
"W-What's up with all this-" Eda cut her question off when she noticed a banner hanging on the wall. It read: 'Happy 60th Birthday Eda!'Oh. She had completely forgot that today was indeed her birthday... She found out she has cancer on her birthday. Go figure.
Eda felt an arm wrap around her shoulders, and turned to see her older sister... Still wearing her Drug Enforcement Administration uniform.
"Happy Birthday, Edalyn." Lilith smiled at her.
Eda smiled back a bit. "Thanks Lily..." She replied back, with as much happiness she could put in her tone at the moment.
Raine walked over, and handed Eda a drink. "How was work today?" They asked.
Eda was silent as she looked at her spouse. They really didn't know about it then.
What the heck was she supposed to even say? Oh hey dear, today I got diagnosed with cancer and am gonna be DEAD soon. But how was your day?
Eda shook away the thought, before managing a forced smile. "It was... Fine. Same old, same old." She lied.
"That's good to hear." Raine said in response, buying the fib.
"So... Surprise party? Really?" Eda asked quietly, slightly irritated by the whole thing while at the same time trying to change the subject.
"This whole party wasn't my idea by the way, it was Steve's." Raine whispered back. They pointed over at Steve, who was currently giving Lilith a peck on the cheek.
"Of course it was..." Eda deadpanned, sipping her drink. She always liked the Apple Blood brand of wine.
Raine gave Eda a loving look. "Hey, you know, later tonight I'd be willing to give you MY present..." They said, giving a playful smirk.
Eda couldn't help but sigh happily at the thought. Some alone time with her spouse would maybe cheer her up a bit... And divert her attention away from the fact her family was pretty much fucked.
Great. Now she was thinking about her lung cancer again.
It was hard not to think about it. She had no idea what the hell she was gonna do about it, all she knew was that once she kicked the bucket, her family wasn't gonna last long. Her two jobs barely supported them as it was.
While Eda was moping about in her mind, Steve had turned on the TV in the living room, and found the station he was looking for.
"Hey everyone! Come look, this is footage from a case Lily did a while back!" Steve called out to the room.
Everyone (Excluding Eda) walked into the living room and sat/stood around to view the screen.
"Oh yeah! I completely forgot about this one... We had found a longtime drug operation that was being run under an abandoned church." Lilith explained, sipping her drink on the sofa. "That was a pretty big day for us!"
The TV screen showed multiple DEA agents investigating the remains of a meth lab. Taking evidence and pictures as the camera panned over them. The scene changed to show the agents collecting the piles upon piles of drug money on one of the tables.
"Whoa... Look at all that cash!" King exclaimed, pointing at the screen in awe.
"There's got to be thousands of dollars sitting there!" Raine remarked. "Eda, are you seeing this?"
Eda, who was standing a bit away from the group, noticed the TV. Her eyes couldn't help but gaze at the lab equipment now on the screen. It was almost all the same stuff she had in the storage closet back at the high school. The scene changed to pan over the stacks of money once more.
"T-That's quite a lot of money... Isn't that sorta odd? How they got so much so quickly?" Eda asked, and Lilith chuckled.
"No... We've taken bigger hauls before. It's quite the lucrative business for those dealers out there..." Lilith smirked, "Until we catch them of course."
"Huh... No kidding." Eda murmured, taking a sip of her drink. She spent long enough staring at the TV, that Lilith caught notice of her interest.
"You know Edalyn, if you want... I could take you out for a ride-along. Show you how it's done, maybe give you a bit more excitement in your life." Lilith offered, a small smile appearing on her face.
"You could?" Eda asked, taken aback by the offer.
"Yeah! I'm sure Agent Mora wouldn't mind the extra company." Lilith added, leaning back on the sofa.
Eda thought for a moment, her eyes not leaving the TV screen. "You know what... I think I might take you up on that offer, Lily." She claimed, as the scene on the TV panned over the piles of drug money once more.
It had been only 30 minutes into the ride-along, and Eda was already getting tired of hearing Lilith's explanations on the process of how they bust drug dealers and raid drug dens.
It seemed like Kiki wasn't listening either. She was looking out the open window car, her red raggled hair blowing in the faint breeze coming through the window
The van eventually came to a stop, and Lilith pointed at a rather normal looking house.
"There. You see that?" Lilith asked as she pointed at the yellow house.
"I see... A house." Eda deadpanned. "Am I supposed to be seeing something else that I'm missing, or...?"
"We've gotten reports that that house holds a meth lab... Been active for a while too." Kiki explained, glancing at the house as well.
"But, how can you even tell it's a meth house?" Eda asked, confused.
"Well, there's the smell for one... Meth labs are easy to pick out by the smell alone." Lilith answered, picking up her radio as she did.
She turned it on, and spoke into it. "This is Agent Clawthorne, we're preparing to breach the building. Over." She said, before turning the radio back off.
"So, what, you're gonna just rush in?" Eda questioned, leaning to look at the house more through the front van window.
"That's the best way to go about it. Rush in, catch 'em by surprise, and seize their supplies. Done, and done." Kiki explained, getting out a pistol from her holster and cocking it.
"We'll clear out the 'residents', and then we'll let you take a look inside at the equipment if you want." Lilith suggested, and Eda nodded.
"Sounds good to me." She agreed, as Lilith pulled out her own gun and cocked it.
"Alright then... Let's move!" Kiki ordered, getting out of the vehicle, and approaching the building alongside Lilith. Leaving Eda in the van alone.
Multiple other DEA agents exited their own inconspicuous vehicles, and rushed the building with them.
Maggie had just gotten into the zone when she heard the front door be burst down.
Her eyes widened in shock when the DEA agents turned the corner in the hall facing her, and aimed their weapons. Before they could even say freeze, Maggie was bolting away as fast as possible toward the back door.
But luck wasn't on the teen's side. As before she could make it to the door, she tripped on some fallen lab equipment, and fell hard to the floor as the agents caught up to her. Maggie groaned and tried to get up, but the agents forced her down, beginning to cuff her.
Meanwhile, back outside in the van, Eda sighed and leaned back in her seat as she could hear the scuffle inside the house begin to settle down... Only for her attention to be drawn toward something else: A teenage girl climbing onto the roof from an upstairs window, closing the window quickly.
Eda's eyes widened at the sight of the teenage girl. "What the hell...?" She murmured, taken aback.
The girl stumbled backwards after closing the window... And yelped as she fell off the roof and into a bush.
Eda stifled a laugh, and watched as the girl got up, glancing around to see if the coast was clear. As she did, Eda got a good look at the girl's face... And was stunned.
Eda knew that face. She had taught that same face in her chemistry class before...
The girl locked eyes with Eda, and exhaled as she smiled nervously. "...Noceda?" Eda muttered under her breath, eyes wide. The girl then seemingly remembered that she was currently a victim of a DEA raid, and rushed away to a nearby purple car.
Eda, though still shocked, quickly got out of the DEA van to get a better look at the fleeing Noceda.
She got out just in time to see the car begin to zoom down the street, only getting a glance at the license plate: WitchLuzura.
Eda stepped into the street, and watched as the car disappeared down the road.
"Luz Noceda... You've got to be fucking kidding me..." Was all Eda could say as she stood in the street, bewildered.
She had been really lucky today, is what Luz thought as she pulled into her dark driveway, only lit up by the stars in the night sky above.
Granted, it wasn't the most clean getaway in the world, but at least she wasn't in the back of a DEA van or dead. Plus, she was pretty sure nobody had managed to follow her.
That's what she thought at least, until she heard her metal yard gate open. Luz nearly tripped over her parked car's hood, before ducking behind it.
"Hello? Noceda? You here?" A familiar voice called out, and Luz let out a small groan as she stood back up to glance over the car at her former teacher.
"Mrs. Clawthorne... How did you even find me?" Luz asked, stepping out from hiding.
"Your address is still in the school records. Wasn't hard to find." Eda answered, "I had your house number almost memorized from how many calls to your mother I had to make."
Luz sighed, blushing a bit. She had always been a questionable student at Gravesfield High School when she used to go there. Every week, it had been a new incident. Whether it had been frogs overrunning the halls, over-dramatic school plays, or even just weird stuff she could do with her eyelids that she thought was cool... There always seemed to be something involving her that went down at that school during her attendance.
"First time I've seen you since you nearly burnt down my classroom two years ago... And it's in a meth house." Eda deadpanned, a small amused chuckle escaping her.
"Hey... That fire was an accident!" Luz replied in defense, taking a step back as Eda stepped forward.
"I never thought you'd really go far after getting expelled, but... Wow... The drug business? Really?" Eda asked, brushing her hand on Luz's car as she did.
"L-Look, I don't know what you're talking about, Mrs. Clawthorne..." Luz tried to play it off, stepping further away from Eda.
"Oh, come on kid... I saw you jump out of that window, and scurry away." Eda chuckled slightly. "Pretty decent way to make cash, isn't it? Drug dealing?"
Luz averted her eyes, seemingly trying to figure out another excuse to divert the conversation to a more legal topic.
"Still live with your mother, I see... She here right now?" Eda asked, and Luz quickly shook her head.
"N-No... She's at work, not here." The teen quickly answered, feeling a bit nervous now. God, the last thing Luz wanted was for her mother to find out about all this...
Eda smacked her lips. "You lost your partner today, right?" She questioned, "DEA took her into custody earlier."
Luz sighed, "Yeah..." she answered.
"That's gotta suck... Back to square one. No lab, no partner, no supplies..." Eda remarked, leaning against the side of the car.
Luz sighed, feeling a bit irritated. "Is there an actual point to this speech, or are you just mocking me now?" She deadpanned.
"Well... I was thinking, you and I could... Work together." Eda offered, "You have the connections, and I know the chemistry and how to get the stuff. We could make a good team, me and you."
Luz looked around, taken aback by the turn this conversation had taken. She couldn't help but chuckle as she took in the suggestion.
"You uh..." Luz clicked her tongue, "You wanna cook? Like, crystal meth? For real? Me and... You?"
Eda simply nodded. "Yep. I do." She bluntly confirmed.
Luz was prepared to laugh off the entire conversation, clapping her hands together... Until Eda continued.
"Either we do that... Or I just turn you in to the DEA, and I go about my life." Eda finished, keeping her eyes on her former student.
Luz blinked for a moment, considering her options... Before giving a half shrug, and a small smile.
"Alright, Mrs. Clawthorne." Luz decided, "You wanna cook? Let's cook."