CtD: Chapter 2
It had been about ten minutes since Double D came back from the grocery store, the young girl he found was still asleep, taking a nap on his couch. Eddy had put her there despite her hoodie being partially covered in dirt and grime, but Double D knew letting her rest there was more important than having a clean couch right now (even though he knew he would have a fit trying to clean it later). After they got the groceries in, the two Eds began to keep an eye on her to see when she would wake up from her nap. Double D had not called the police just yet, he wanted to wait until they could hear what the girl had to say before making that call.
"So, Double D, you know I gotta ask this," Eddy started to say as he turned to his partner, "You know you could have tried to contact the police at the store or something instead of bringing her here, right?"
"Yes, I realize that, of course," Double D stated before glancing back to the girl, "But I did hear some very loud yelling nearby; two angry voices. She was scared of whoever was making those shouts; her whole body was shaking, and those voices were also near the grocery store's entrance," he closed his eyes, "Trust me, if I could contact anyone in the store at that point, I would have done so, but I did not want to encounter whoever was shouting in that direction or sticking around for them to find her."
"… That makes sense, I guess," Eddy replied.
The two young adults then heard a small groan as they looked back towards the girl. She was beginning to wake up once again, sitting up and rubbing her eyes to get the sand out of them. The girl reached for her pair of glasses that were next to her, beginning to look around at where she was before noticing the two young adults sitting near her. She widened her eyes a little and gasped as she remembered what happened earlier, grabbing the blanket near her to put it over her head to hide again.
They could see she was shaking in fright, "I-I'mSorryI'mSorryI'mSorryI'mSorryI'mSorryI'mSorry!" she kept saying to herself over and over in a fast, nervous tone; her voice was muffled because she was underneath the blanket.
"Whoa, hey! Easy there," Eddy started to say to her, trying his best to try and calm her down somehow, "We're not gonna hurt you or anything."
She started to shake a little less, "A-Are you sure? I know I-I came up to you, but you're both strangers. I had to run away… b-but I—"
"It's quite alright. I was not going to ignore your request when you needed help," Double D said to her in a calm voice, "Now, can you tell us your name? Maybe you age as well? We want to try and help you if we can."
The young girl was silent for a moment before taking the blanket off her head to look at the two Eds, or at least try to. Her eyes began to dart around, avoiding direct eye contact with them to look at other things, "Umm… m-my name is Sophie," she said to them, still gripping tightly onto the blanket over her, "I'm 11, but my birthday is next month, and then I'll be 12."
Double D made a smile at her, "It's very nice to meet you, Sophie. My name is Eddward," he gestured to Eddy beside him, "This is Eddy. He's my partner and my best friend."
"What the — HEY!" Eddy yelped in surprise at him, suddenly feeling embarrassed at what Double D said, "You don't need to be THAT upfront about it to someone we don't know!"
"Oh, come now, it's okay!" Double D replied with a chuckle before leaning over to him to whisper something, "Besides, the girl says she's 11, correct? I can only assume her parents haven't talked to her about that kind of stuff yet."
Eddy grumbled a little before making a sigh, much to the confusion of Sophie.
"I'm sorry about his random outburst there, Sophie," Double D stated as he looked back to the young girl, "Do you mind telling us what you were running from?"
Sophie began to make a sad face at the question, "I-I-I, umm…" the girl looked down to the floor as she started to tremble again, "My parents told me to never talk to anyone I don't know…" she gripped tightly onto the blanket once again, "B-But I had to get away from them; my mom and stepdad."
A heavy silence filled the room for a second before Double D gasped loudly and made a sad face, "Were your parents trying to hurt you?!" he asked.
Sophie remained silent but flinched at his question, rubbing her right arm around her wrist as she did.
Eddy frowned at the situation; he recognized her behavior when Double D asked that question, "Looks like you made the right call in getting her away from there, Sockhead," he said to Double D, rubbing the side of his neck and around his throat for a second.
Double D widened his eyes as he turned to his partner, realizing why he said that to him, "Oh, Eddy…"
It was because of Eddy's older brother, Evan McGee. It's almost been five years since Double D first met Eddy's brother, and it was not a friendly encounter for him or his friends. He both insulted and physically assaulted them before accidentally knocking himself out in the process. Eddy then revealed that everything he said about his brother was a lie, making things up so he could have more friends; his brother had hurt him a lot in the past as a raging alcoholic before he left to live on his own. Afterward, they avoided talking about him for the longest time; that is, until Christmas time last year…
The two Eds looked to Sophie, "Have you told anyone else about what they did?" Double D asked.
Sophie shook her head, "N-No, they told me to not tell on them, back when they started their business a long time ago…"
Eddy narrowed his eyes when she mentioned a business, "… I don't like the sound of that."
"I agree," Double D replied with a nod, "We should call the pol—"
"NO!"
Both Double D and Eddy widened their eyes at Sophie. She held her hands up against her head as if to shield herself, "They told me to never call them! And if I ever did, they would hurt me again! Please don't!"
They were silent for a moment, unsure of what to do for the young girl. It was then Double D got an idea, taking out his cell phone for a moment. It was a minute later that Eddy heard his phone make a ping, signaling he got a text message. He looked at it to see who it was; it was Double D.
"Eddy, you should try and step away without her seeing you. Please, go to your house and tell your parents to call the police. If Sophie sees us trying to call them, I fear she might try to run away."
Eddy looked back at Double D beside him before nodding his head, understanding what he had to do.
"Okay Sophie, we won't call them," Double D lied to her. Sophie looked back up to them with a worried face, "Y-You won't?"
Double D shook his head as his reply Sophie made a sigh of relief.
"Now then, do you want something to snack on? Or something to eat?" Double D asked her, trying to pivot the conversation away for a moment before remembering, "Oh! I can wash your hoodie if you want me to. It's so filthy!"
Eddy rolled his eyes at Double D, "Always gotta keep things clean, don't you?"
"Of course!" Double D replied to Eddy before looking back to Sophie, "A-Anyway, I just bought some cheese and crackers at the store today. Do you want to snack on some of those right now?"
Sophie looked at him with a nervous smile before nodding her head, "Okay…"
Sophie got up from where she sat on the couch to follow Double D into his kitchen, leaving Eddy behind in the living room. Before Double D left for the kitchen, he looked at Eddy, gesturing to him to make his move to go to his house. Eddy gave him a thumbs up as he got up from where he sat, quietly going to the front door, and leaving his partner's house.
Eddy made a heavy sigh as he started to walk to his house, "I hope they don't start freaking out over this," Eddy muttered to himself.
It was after Eddy approached his front yard and entered his house that we could see a battered-looking truck park near the neighborhood's playground. Two people exited the truck with angry expressions on their faces, focusing their attention on the first house to the left of the entrance. They grabbed something hidden in a metal container that was in the back of their truck…
"Mom? Dad?" Eddy called out to his parents, wondering where they were right now.
It only took a few seconds for his mom to approach him from the kitchen, "Eddy? What's the matter?" she asked, noticing the tone of voice he was using when he called for them.
"Hey, uh, I need you to help me with something…" Eddy started to say before making a small pause to rub his neck once again, collecting his thoughts before telling her, "When Double D was out in town a while ago, he found this kid and took her home with him. She said that she was trying to run away from something… We think she was being abused by her parents."
Eddy's mom widened her eyes in shock, "Oh my word! Have you called the police yet?!"
Eddy shook his head, "No, but that's why I came over here; she didn't want us to call them, but Double D told me to come over so you could call them instead. We didn't want her to try and run away from us if she saw any of us trying to call them."
"That's a good call for Eddward to make," Eddy's mom stated as she took out her cell phone, "Did you get her name?"
"Uh, only her first name. Her name's Sophie and she's 11 years old."
Eddy's mom nodded her head, "Got it."
She began to dial 911 to call the police, who quickly picked up on the other end. As she started to talk to them, they both heard an extremely loud bang sound outside. They both widened their eyes; that was the sound of a gunshot!
Eddy's heart came to a halt at the loud sound as a sudden sense of dread washed over him. He could tell that the noise of the gunshot came from the direction of Double D's house!
"D-Don't tell me. Did her parents follow her here somehow?!" Eddy's mother concluded with a gasp before telling the 911 operator what she had just heard outside.
Without thinking about his safety, Eddy ran out of his house back over to his partner's house, hoping he was okay, "EDDY!" Eddy's mom cried out when she noticed her son had run off.
Eddy was about to dash straight over to Double D's house before stopping himself for a second, glancing over to his neighbor's house to his left; Kevin's house. An idea crossed his mind at that moment before he ran over there instead, 'He better be home right now, I swear to god!'
About two minutes ago, we could see Double D and Sophie in his kitchen. Sophie was sitting down at his kitchen table while Double D was putting together the cheese and crackers he'd bought earlier on a plate for her to snack on. He glanced over to the girl again, she still looked very nervous, probably because of what she told him and Eddy a moment ago, "Sophie?"
She jolted up at her name before looking back to him, "Y-Yes Mr. Eddward?"
"Would you also like something to drink?" Double D asked, "I only have bottled water, milk, and orange juice right now. Which one would you like?"
"Umm…" Sophie muttered a little, "I guess a glass of milk?"
Double D walked over with the plate of snacks for her, making a smile, "Alright, hold on a second. I'll fix it for you."
Before he could turn around to walk to his fridge, Double D could feel Sophie grab his left hand before fully latching onto his arm, surprising him, "Thank you Mr. Eddward," she said to him, "You're the first person to act this nice to me since my real dad died."
Double D looked at her with sadness, "Everything will be alright," he stated to her as he placed his right hand on her shoulder, trying to reassure her that she was safe.
Sophie started to tear up a little, 'Mr. Eddward's hand feels so gentle to me, just like dad's used to be…'
The young girl started to glance over to the window above his kitchen sink. She could see a familiar figure looking into the house, the barrel of a pistol was pointed in their direction.
Sophie widened her eyes in horror, "M-MR. EDDWARD!" she screamed as she forcefully got up and pulled both away with all her strength from where the gun was pointing before it could be fired.
BANG!
The bullet from the gun went through the window, hitting the wall on the other side of the kitchen where Double D and Sophie were before. Double D widened his eyes in shock and fright, his heart halted at what happened. He looked back to Sophie, who was now holding onto his arms even tighter than before, shaking in fright. It looked like none of them were hurt from that, thankfully. But that might not last for long.
"Sophie, please follow me, okay?!" Double D stated to her, trying to keep both Sophie and himself calm, "I won't let them hurt you!"
Sophie looked at him with shock before nervously nodding her head as a reply. The two of them started to run to his living room to exit his house from his front door. But it was when Double D opened his front door and went outside that they both came to a screeching halt.
They could see an angry man standing near them, alongside a woman who came up to him from Double D's backyard. The woman was the one with the gun. Double D could see that the woman was Sophie's mother, and the man was presumably her stepfather; they both looked very ragged and had a crazed look in their eyes. They both looked like they had taken some kind of drugs, both looked out of their minds.
"SOPHIE! What do you think you're doing?!" the man started to growl to his stepdaughter, "We told you to NEVER talk to strangers!"
Sophie flinched at her stepfather's words, "U-Umm…"
Double D held out his left arm in front of Sophie before taking a small step in front of her so her parents could not get to her, "That is ENOUGH!" he shouted to them, narrowing his eyes in anger, "If you are her parents, I believe you should start acting like one to your daughter! Or at least become decent human beings!"
Her mother glared at Double D, "What the hell do you know?! The little brat deserves it for being born a broken kid!"
Sophie's face winced once again in sadness at their words as Double D looked at them with complete shock before becoming angry again, "Broken?! H-How can you even say that about your child?!"
"Why does it matter to you?! You have no right to give us any advice for raising her!" the man shouted as he tried to grab something from his back pocket.
Before he could pull out the pocketknife he had, he suddenly fell to the ground, knocked out like a light from something that struck him from behind. Everyone turned to see Eddy standing there, he had a metal baseball bat gripped tightly in his hands; he went to Kevin's house and asked him if he could borrow it. He was panting a little from how hard he made his swing to the man's head and back; he was not exactly the buffest person to swing around a metal bat like that, "T-Take that, you asshole!"
"How DARE you!" the woman yelled to Eddy in anger. She turned her attention away from Double D and her daughter as she held the gun she had in her hands and pointed it straight at Eddy's head.
Her actions made everyone widen their eyes in horror, "EDDY!" Double D cried as he ran over to help Eddy, trying to pull his partner towards him and out of harm's way. Eddy dropped the bat he was holding as it rolled further away to the side.
BANG!
A shot was fired from the gun. Eddy widened his eyes as he felt something like fire barely scrape across his right cheek. He yelled in pain as he held onto his face and fell to his knees, only to see blood coming out of his wound. Double D gasped when he saw Eddy collapse, seeing the blood on his cheek and how much of it there was. He bent over to him to see what he could do to help him.
"Dammit! I missed my mark," the woman growled as she could see what the bullet struck; the pole of a streetlight that started to have the light flicker from being hit. She then turned back to the two Eds, glaring daggers at them before pointing her gun at them, "But I won't miss again!"
Double D glared at the crazed woman, even though he was terrified of the situation they were in. Before she could pull the trigger, the woman suddenly fell to the ground from a blow to her head, knocking her out for the count; she was hit with the same metal baseball bat that Eddy brought with him. Everyone turned to see Kevin holding the bat in his hands, he had run over here shortly after Eddy asked him if he could borrow the metal bat and then saw the commotion. Thank God Kevin was still living in the neighborhood right now; his strength was much needed right now.
"Are you dudes alright?!" Kevin asked as he noticed the scared young girl standing near Double D's front door, as well as the other unconscious person on the ground.
"Y-Yes, I think we're fine now. Thank you, Kevin," Double D replied to him before looking back at Eddy where he was. He had passed out a second ago from what happened, but he seemed to be okay right now, besides the injury on his right cheek, which was not bleeding as much as it was a moment ago.
Double D looked back to Sophie, who was shaking once again in fright from the situation, "P-Pardon me for a moment. Can you look after Eddy for a second?" he asked Kevin.
Kevin nodded his head, "Sure I can."
"Thank you," Double D replied before laying Eddy down in his front yard.
Double D then got up to go check on Sophie, bending down to her eye level, "Sophie, are you—"
His question was interrupted by a tight hug from the young girl, "Y-You're my heroes! Thank you!" Sophie stuttered as she started to cry over his shoulder and into his shirt, getting her glasses dirty once again with tears.
Double D made a small smile back to her before hugging her back, trying to comfort Sophie from what just happened, "Don't worry. These awful people won't be hurting you anymore."
Author's Note (December 15th, 2023): Finally got this chapter done! Happy to get it done. This is not the end of the story, there's quite a bit more after this.