ATWN: Chapter 2
It was now afternoon time here in the town of Tusca and we soon zoomed in on a neighborhood called Buck Pond Subdivisions. It was a quiet little neighborhood with quite a few houses around, despite being a bit rural and farther away from the town. We soon zoom in on one house at the end of the neighborhood; this house belonged to Amelia. It is here that we see three girls sitting out in the front yard, sitting on a picnic blanket. The three girls were Amelia, Naomi, and Lily, who were currently studying over some answers for next week's science test.
"Okay, I think we've learned enough science for now," Lily stated as she closed her folder full of notes and turned to her two friends; she noticed the blank expressions on their faces, "Why are you two making those faces?"
"We're bored," replied both Amelia and Naomi in a monotone-like voice.
Lily could only chuckle at them, "I know something that will make you both 'un-bored'."
Amelia arched an eyebrow at her friend, "What is it?" asked Naomi curiously.
"I remember reading the CN schedule on their website that there's a special episode coming on in a few minutes."
Amelia and Naomi both widened their eyes in shock at what Lily just said, "What?!" they both howled, "Why didn't you tell us?!" Amelia questioned with a bit of an angry voice.
"Well… I knew we had to study—"
"Who cares about studying?! This is more important!" Amelia replied with another angry voice as she and Naomi quickly got off the grass of her front lawn and rushed inside her house.
Lily made a sigh at their behavior, "Why must you two be impatient like that…?" she questioned aloud to herself, "There can be reruns, you know."
Lily then stood up from where she sat on the grass and went inside Amelia's house. A few minutes later, we could see the three girls sitting around the TV, smiling at what was coming onto the television screen.
"It's about time they put out some new episodes," Amelia stated, "I was starting to think that—"
"Shh! It's on!" shushed Naomi and Lily as Amelia shut herself up and turned back to the TV screen.
But as she turned her attention back to it; the show did not go on any further.
"… Ah!" screamed Naomi in panic, "Amelia; I think your TV just broke!"
Amelia froze up at the situation, "Oh great; why did this have to happen now?!"
"… Maybe the television will fix itself if we unplug it from the back?" Lily stated as she got up from where she sat and walked over to the hidden cords behind the TV. She found the one that plugged the TV into the outlet as she grabbed it, "I'm sure it will be better after I…"
But when Lily did unplug the TV from the wall, something funny happened; the TV did not turn off.
"Huh?!" questioned both Amelia and Naomi as Lily came back over to them and saw that the screen was still lit up, "Strange…"
Suddenly, the TV started to shine brightly towards the three girls, "Ahhh!" they screamed as they blacked out from the blinding light. And when the light show was over, the three girls were gone.
Darkness: that was all that Amelia could see now as she came back to consciousness. She soon started to flutter her eyes open as she could feel herself lying in some grass, "Huh…?" she questioned as she got up into a sitting position; her eyes were slightly out of focus with her surroundings, "How did I get outside…?" Amelia pondered aloud as she proceeded to place her right hand up to her forehead.
It was while she did this that she noticed something amiss about her right hand; her hand had only four fingers now instead of five, and they looked cartoony. Amelia widened her eyes at what she was seeing.
"No way…" Amelia muttered as she then examined herself and came to a shocking conclusion. She was now a cartoon character; and in a very familiar style to her. Even the area she was in was very familiar, the shape and the colors of the leaves on the trees in the woods; it was currently the season of Fall here, just like back home.
It was then that she remembered something important, "Naomi! Lily!" Amelia stated as she looked around for her friends. They were both right beside her sleeping and, as she suspected, they were cartoony as well. The only reason she knew it was her friends was that they still had the same hair color, hair length, and clothes from before, everything else was very different.
"Oh…" they both muttered as they started to come to, "What just happened…?" questioned Lily as she and Naomi sat up from where they lay.
"Guys!" Amelia stated happily as the other two looked towards their friend, only to see her differently. Their eyes were bigger and no longer had any color to them, just like the show.
Their eyes widened at the sight of their friend, "Amelia?!" they questioned with a gasp, "Why do you look like…"
"I don't know…" Amelia replied as she examined her right hand once more, "I don't know how we got this way."
"Wait… we?" Naomi muttered as she and Lily then examined themselves. They yelped with surprise, "No way!" Naomi said as she made a happy smile. Lily was a bit speechless at all of this. Soon the three girls stood up from where they sat and looked a little bit more at their surroundings in the woods.
"Do you think…?" Lily started to mutter aloud as her two friends turned to her, "What is it?" Amelia and Naomi both asked.
"Do you think we're in the show?"
Both Amelia and Naomi froze at what Lily pointed out, "That… would be awesome!" Naomi chirped with happiness, "Do you think they're here too?!"
"Let's not get too excited," Lily stated, trying to calm down her happy friend, "If we are in their world, and is not some sort of hallucination, what should we do?"
Amelia thought about it for a moment before coming to an obvious conclusion, "Lily, are you that dense?" she asked as she made a plotting smirk, "I know what we can do…"
Lily and Naomi looked at their friend as they followed Amelia out of the woods, 'I have a bad feeling about that look she just made…' Lily thought.
About a few minutes later, the three girls made their way to Amelia's designated location: the neighborhood of the Cul-De-Sac. It was still the afternoon but was now starting to become dusk. And now, the three girls were covered in mud and dirt for their big performance.
"Amelia…?" Lily stated again as they walked to the center of the parking lot, and flopped over Naomi's shoulder as if she were hurt, "Are you sure this will work with everyone?"
Amelia made a smirk to her and Naomi as she stopped walking, "I'm pretty sure it will. Now pretend like you're passed out and stuff, okay?"
Amelia then inhaled her breath and then yelled out, "Help! Someone, help us!"
Her shouting echoed throughout the area of the neighborhood. It was not even ten seconds before someone came rushing into their sites from the backyard of their home; it was Ed.
Ed looked around until he came into sight of the three girls. He blinked his eyes rapidly for a second before he turned around and rushed back to his backyard. The three girls just stood there, speechless; why did he not come over to them? It was a second later that they figured out why. Ed came back to the scene, he dragged Eddy and Double D with him, pushing them towards what he saw, "See, see? I wasn't making it up!"
The two other Eds stood there for a moment before Double D realized something, "Oh my, one of them is hurt!"
Soon the three Eds rushed up to the three girls, "Are you alright?" Double D asked the 'hurt' girls.
Now to put their acting skills to the test, "W-We were ambushed by some people at our camp!" Amelia started to say as she pointed to the 'passed out' Lily, who was now being placed down onto the pavement of the parking lot, "They almost took our friend away!"
"Oh dear!" Double D gasped as he rushed over to her side. He then made a sigh, "I-I think she'll be alright."
Amelia and Naomi made a pretend sigh, "Phew."
Eddy, meanwhile, made a suspicious stare at the three girls; something seemed a bit fishy…
Suddenly, Lily 'started to come too', opening her eyes up to see Amelia and Naomi… and Double D?! She blushed a bright red at his sudden appearance, but it went away as she went back into acting, "What… happened?" she questioned.
"Lily!" Amelia and Naomi cried out with joy as Lily got back onto her feet with a bit of a sway, pretending that she could not stand up straight, "Are you alright?" Naomi asked.
"I-I'm fine…" Lily muttered.
"Uh-huh," stated a voice as everyone turned to Eddy, who crossed his arms across his chest, "And who are you three supposed to be?"
"… I'm Amelia," Amelia introduced herself, she could tell he was suspicious of them, which did not surprise her. She then pointed to her two friends, "And this is Lily and Naomi."
"Who might you three be?" asked Naomi.
"I'm Ed!" Ed waved a little with a smile.
Double D made a small smile, "My name is Eddward with two D's, so everyone calls me Double D."
Eddy made a suspicious glare at them once again, "The name's Eddy."
"Nice to meet you three!" The three girls smiled.
"… So, where are you guys from?" Eddy asked with suspicion. Considering the last time, the three Eds met any new neighbors, it was the Kanker Sisters, back when they moved into the trailer park, "I'm pretty sure we've never seen you around here or in town…"
"We come from a town further away from here on vacation," Lily started to say, making up something that could be believable, "We had a place set up at the camping grounds in the woods, but then some weird roughnecks started to mess with us and took our camping gear!"
"Oh my," Double D gasped, turning to his friends, "It could be very possible that the Kanker Sisters stole their things. The campground is near the trailer park they live at, correct?"
The three girls internally sighed at that, putting on their best poker faces, 'Oh thank god, one of them believed it,' Naomi thought.
Lily was a little surprised at the outcome, 'Wow, I didn't even know that there was a camping ground there. That's a lucky guess!'
Ed made a face of panic at the mere mention of the sisters, "Oh no! Are they here?!" he asked as he looked around in fright.
"No Ed, you dolt! They're not here," Eddy stated to Ed before making an irritated sigh, "Honestly, I'm not that surprised they would do that to folks visiting the campgrounds."
Amelia glanced over to her two friends, wondering if they were thinking of the same thing she was, "So uh, is there a place we can rest at for the moment?" she asked, "We want to try and contact someone to help us out. But all our stuff is gone now, and it's getting close to nighttime…"
The three Eds looked at each other for a second, "W-Well, maybe you could try to contact someone with one of our phones at our house?" Double D stated, "Though I'm unsure of what to do about any sort of accommodations…"
"… Oh! Oh! I know what to do!"
Everyone turned to Ed to see what he had to say, "The house with all the dandelions in the yard! No one's staying there, right?"
The girls widened their eyes at the suggestion, 'Oh yeah! I forgot that house existed,' Naomi thought.
"Ed, that house is abandoned," Double D started to say, "Even if the plumbing and other things in the house still worked, I'm sure it would not be wise to—"
"We'll take it!"
Everyone turned to Amelia, "We don't have a choice, honestly," Amelia stated while closing her eyes and a shrug of her shoulders; she was secretly trying to get any of them to let her friends stay at their houses, "Besides, it'll be a temporary place to stay until we can find some help in getting back on our feet."
"… No, you don't need to stay there."
That was when everyone turned to Eddy in shock; even Amelia did not expect him to say anything, "There's three of us and three of you. Just stay at our houses for now or something," he said with a grumble, "That dumb house brings back some bad memories, and I'd never wanna go near there if I have to!"
"Why Eddy, that's very thoughtful of you!" Double D stated in surprise before turning back to the three new girls, "Sadly, the only house with a guest room between the three of us is Ed's house. Two of you might have to sleep on the couches in my home and Eddy's, I'm sorry…"
"T-There's no need to apologize!" Lily replied with a smile, "This is much better than sleeping around the cobwebs of an abandoned house!"
Amelia and Naomi nodded their heads in agreement.
"Wait, hold up!" Eddy suddenly interjected, "We're not gonna let you stay with us for free, you know?"
"What? Eddy!" Double D gasped in disbelief, "They don't need to—"
"Okay, what's your asking price?" Amelia asked.
Lily sighed at her friend, "Amelia, please don't—"
"I want you three newbies to help us with our 'business' as helpers!" Eddy replied with a cunning smile, "If we have more hands around to help us, we can be more successful!"
Amelia was restraining herself from laughing, 'Pfft, a business? Right…' she thought before extending her hand for a handshake, "You got yourself a deal!"
"Nice!" Eddy shook her hand in agreement.
Double D and Lily both made a sigh at the two teens as Ed made a big smile and Naomi chuckled loudly. Seems like things were getting off to a great start!
Author's Note (November 29th, 2023): Two chapters in one day?! Yeah, since this is an old idea being redone, I have some chapters finished already. This is the last one for today though. you'll have to wait for more later.