ATWN: Chapter 12

It was now early Saturday morning here in Tusca. We zoomed in on Amelia's house once more, where we could see Amelia, Lily, and Naomi talking with Naomi's little brother Carter. The three girls were trying to explain to him where they were all going for the day; at least as best as they could. Naturally, Carter was very confused about what they were trying to say to him but agreed to tag along with them, seeing that Naomi oversaw babysitting him this weekend and did not want to be alone.

"Umm, Nami?" Carter started to ask his sister when he noticed they were all walking towards the tool shed in Amelia's backyard, "Why are we going in there and not to a car to get to your friend's house?"

Naomi made a sigh, "Don't worry, Carter! We can explain it more once we get there."

Amelia turned to Lily, who was walking beside her, noticing she was carrying a very large backpack on her back, "What're you bringing with you today, Lily?"

"Oh, just a few things to help Double D and I find out more about the mystery we need to solve," Lily replied, "I've got two flashlights, a compass, a lighter with a few small candles, three canteens with a few bottles of water, quite a bit of snacks, a pocketknife for emergencies… Oh, and even a big tent and a blanket if we don't get back home in time."

"Huh, sounds more like a fancy camping trip to me," Amelia chuckled, "Also, why are you bringing a tent and a blanket? That seems a little excessive to bring with you for trying to find clues about the mystery…"

Lily looked to Amelia before a blush started to form across her face, which was noticed by her friend immediately, "U-Umm, it's just a precaution if we happen to get stuck somewhere, l-like I said!"

Amelia stared at her friend, not believing a word she was saying. She had a feeling she knew what was going on; she went through a similar thing before with Aaron when they were dating for a short while, "I see," she opened the door to her tool shed.

The four kids walked into the tool shed as Amelia took the key out of her back pocket, much to the confusion of Carter. She used it to open the white door in front of them, much to Carter's surprise that there was something on the other side of this door that led to nothing.

"Let's get going! To adventure!" Naomi cheered as she pushed her brother into the door, much to his shock as he yelped a little. Lily was the next one, with Amelia entering last before closing the door behind.

"It is almost time… Almost time to crush those reborn warriors who sealed me away for all those years! Ha, I can't wait to see the light fade away from their eyes when they learn the truth! The truth of their birth!"

The four kids got to the other side of the white door they entered. It took Carter a moment to get used to his very new surroundings before they began to leave the abandoned house.

"Whoa…" Carter gawked a little at the scenery around him and how different it looked from anything back home.

The three girls looked around from where they stood, noticing that the Cul-De-Sac seemed weirdly quiet for this time of the morning, "Uh… Where is everyone?" Naomi asked.

The group decided to stick together as they walked over to the Lane to see if anyone was there… Only to see the sight of an indescribable mess. So many things around the area were broken and smashed to pieces, paint was splattered everywhere, and tire tracks of various sizes could be seen on the ground. The strange sight almost looked like it was a weird crime scene, and it sent a chill down the girl's spine.

"W-What happened…?" Lily started to question as they wandered to the scene.

It was while they were getting closer to it that Amelia widened her eyes in both horror and disbelief, remembering what she saw last night, "No way…"

The three others in the group looked to Amelia, "What is it?" Naomi asked.

"On TV last night, I-I saw a commercial for a TV movie involving everyone here!" Amelia started to say, "I thought I imagined it because I was so tired at the time, but it was real!"

Amelia then explained to everyone what the commercial said. Their expressions turned from confusion to horror; the commercial was aired for THEM to see! No one else would understand the part of the commercial where the narrator said, 'you three' and 'ladies'. It was a clear call out to them, almost like a warning or a taunt!

"O-Oh my god, we need to find them!" Lily said in a panic, almost to the point of shouting. She was about to run off on her own before being stopped by Amelia, "Calm down, Lily! I have an idea of what to do."

"You do?" Carter asked with a tilt of his head.

"Yeah. I saw something in the commercial that could help us out," Amelia stated before turning to Lily, "I assume you have a map of both Peach Creek and the other two towns nearby, right?"

"Yes, I do have one for each," Lily said with a nod of her head.

"Well, I saw a panoramic view of where they might be going. It looked like a town that was close to the ocean, and there was a carnival right next to the beach in that shot," Amelia explained, "The place was called Mondo a Go-Go. If we could get there, we might find some clues if they went there or not."

Lily thought about it for a moment before replying, "The only town that fits that description is Sunflower Shoal, which is a beach town sort of close by Peach Creek. It shouldn't be difficult to get to if we take some kind of taxi…"

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Naomi stated as she and Carter looked at the other two with determination, "We should try and find a taxi and have them drive us there! Our friend's lives could be in real danger!"

That comment from Naomi made Lily widen her eyes in sheer terror. She started to remember what Double D told her last night, about what was underneath his hat and how he got his scar there, along with her trying to comfort him when he told her about his past with his little sister… She could remember him holding her hand before kissing her goodbye that night… It was her first kiss. That was when it hit Lily like a ton of bricks, even though she also said it last night. What she was feeling now basically confirmed the fact that she was in love with him and not just a passive emotion she felt in the moment last night.

Amelia noticed the look on Lily's face and how upset she was, "… Yeah, we should try to contact a taxi, and fast," she said in agreement with Naomi.

After a fifteen-minute walk to the candy store to use the phone there to call a cab, as well as getting Carter a jawbreaker so he could experience it firsthand, the cab they requested drove up to them before driving off to where they wanted to go, the carnival next to the beach in Sunflower Shoal. It did not take them that long to get there by car, it was an hour-long drive.

Once they could see the Ferris wheel up ahead, they knew they had arrived at Sunflower Shoal. After paying the cab driver's fee, the group of four stepped out of the cab before it drove off. They were now standing in front of the carnival that the commercial showed them.

After paying for their tickets to enter the place ten minutes before it opened, they walked inside the carnival grounds to look around; not that many people were around at the park right now, seeing that the park did not open for everyone until noon. They did notice a few employees of the carnival were beginning to set things up for running the park for the rest of the day.

"Okay, I think we should split up to find some clues on where the Eds could be," Lily stated to the group, who only nodded their heads in agreement.

"That's fine with us," Naomi said before turning to her brother, "You're sticking with me, of course. I'm your chaperone here."

"Aww, Nami…" Carter pouted a little before nodding his head, walking off with his sister, "I get it, I'm not gonna wander off…"

Lily was about to walk off before she was stopped by Amelia, "Lily… I need to ask you something, and I want you to be honest with me, okay?"

Lily looked at Amelia with confusion.

"When you went to visit Double D last night, what exactly happened?"

A few seconds passed by before Lily widened her eyes to her, quickly adverting her gaze away from Amelia. She began to blush a very deep red, "U-Umm…"

"… Oh my god, please don't tell me you two actually DID something?!" Amelia gasped in fake disbelief, "You're not old enough to—"

"What?! NO!" Lily yelled in shock to Amelia, her face was now redder than before at what she was implying before covering her hands with her face, "It wasn't THAT! O-Oh god, why would you even think it was—?!"

"Whoa, geez! Don't worry, I know it wasn't that!" Amelia replied with a teasing tone, trying to calm down her friend, "I was just messing with you so you could tell me the truth."

Amelia looked back to Lily, whose hands were still covering her face, "Listen, I know how you're feeling right now. My first kiss with Aaron was special to me as well, even though we're no longer together."

Lily looked back to Amelia, peeking through her fingers while her hands were still over her face.

"I guess the best advice I can give you right now is to just stay calm," Amelia continued to say, "We will find them and help them out with whatever is going on, but we all need to wait around and find them once they get here. I'm sure they won't be too hard to spot in a crowd like this."

"… I-I know," Lily stated quietly as she lowered her hands from her face, "Thanks, Amelia."

"Don't mention it!" Amelia replied before looking around, "I'm gonna go look for clues near where those trailers are. Let's meet back at this spot in about an hour, okay?"

"Okay, please be careful," Lily stated as the two girls walked away from the spot they were at.

Amelia made a sigh as she walked off towards the trailers nearby, "Your first love will always be the most special, huh… Honestly, I wish that stayed true for me, but it didn't because of Justine…"

Her mind began to wander slightly, thinking about Eddy and how he was doing with the other two Eds right now, "I hope he and the others are okay… Eddy could get hurt out there, or worse…! I-I don't think I could deal with that!" She felt herself start to panic for a second at the thought before calming herself down, making a deep sigh afterward, 'Eddy…'

As Amelia was walking, she did not notice the man who was approaching her direction until they both bumped into each other, "Oof!" Amelia fell to the ground while the man stood there in a slight daze from her walking into him. She could hear a bag of tools that the man was holding fall to the ground as well.

"Geez, watch where you're going next time, dove," the hat-wearing man with the red flannel jacket said to Amelia with a slight groan in his voice before walking away from her, forgetting his tool bag.

"Wow, freaking RUDE!" Amelia yelled to him after she got up from where she fell, she could smell that he had been drinking alcohol or whisky of some kind like it was embedded into his clothes.

Her shouting made the man turn around to face her with a glare. It was when Amelia saw the man's face that her eyes widened in disbelief. The man had the same glaring expression that Eddy usually had whenever he was mad, except this man's glare was harsher. The man walked back over to pick up the tool bag he dropped and turned back around to begin to walk away, going into the crowd forming nearby.

Amelia stood there for a moment, looking back at the man she bumped into before glaring in his direction, "God, what a jerk! Guess this world also has angry drunks, and yet I'm somehow not surprised," she said before she began to walk around the trailer area of this place, hoping to find some clues to help and find her missing friends.

Meanwhile, back with Lily, she was walking around the entrance to the park, hoping to see the Eds enter the park this way. She still had her backpack full of supplies she brought with her from her world, it was starting to weigh a little too much for her back. She could only sigh as she decided to take off her backpack and sit down on a nearby bench for a moment, just to give her shoulders and herself a short rest. It was as she was sitting on the bench that she noticed something a bit unusual.

A bit further ahead, Lily could see a young girl near the entrance of the park, peeking her head around the corner in a nervous manner; it looked like she wanted to enter the park without paying for a ticket, trying to sneak in.

The young girl looked to be around 11 years old. She had light blond hair that was pulled back by a stretchy, red hairband with a single white stripe going horizontally across the band; the length of her hair went a little past her shoulder blades. She wore a light pink T-shirt that had a dark purple graphic design of a cat head on the front, a pair of light lavender pants that went a little past her knees, and a pair of navy-blue tennis shoes with some slightly puffy-looking light pink socks.

Lily looked at the girl for a second before slowly widening her eyes in disbelief, realizing something as she saw the girl come into view, trying to sneak into the park; the girl looked like she was related to Double D, even having some of the same facial features he did! She even had the same red hairband from the photos Double D showed her last night, but now she was not 5 like the old photos, she was 11; she was older!

Before she thought about what she was doing, Lily got up from where she sat on the bench, leaving behind the backpack there. She began to walk over to the girl sneaking around at the entrance. She HAD to know who this girl was because it could not be who she thought it was!

Lily walked up to her when the girl had her back turned away, looking to see if anyone at the entrance saw her sneak in, "Excuse me—"

"AH!" yelped the young girl in fright, turning around to see Lily standing next to her.

The girl tried to dash away from Lily before she grabbed the young girl by her shoulders, "Wait, I'm not here to kick you out of the park!" Lily said to her, realizing why she was trying to run from her, "I just wanted to ask you a few questions. Can you come sit with me for a moment?"

The young girl looked up at Lily with a little worry before nodding her head. The two girls walked back to the bench that Lily had sat down on before; thankfully her backpack was still there, not being stolen as soon as she left it behind.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Lily stated to the girl, "I saw that you were trying to enter the park without paying…"

The girl was silent to Lily, "Are you going to snitch on me?" the girl asked, her voice seeming to be concerned and on guard about Lily.

"Oh no! I'm not going to tell!" Lily gasped a little before clearing her throat, "I just wanted to know why you were trying to sneak in. Are you looking for someone in here?"

The girl looked at Lily again, "Well… I've always wanted to come here to play, at least for a day. The orphanage usually doesn't let us leave on trips to fun places, so I snuck away from there to come here. B-But it's just for today! I'll go back home tomorrow, promise!"

Lily stared at the girl before realizing she said she lived at an orphanage, 'Oh god, is she actually…?'

"Sorry, but what's your name?"

The girl was surprised by the question before looking away a little, as if she was embarrassed, "Umm, I don't know my real name. The orphanage told me that someone found me when I was 5, saying I couldn't remember anything about how I got there, or even who I really was. But they said I kept calling myself Lynn, so I guess that's my name?"

Lily was stunned at what was going on; Lynn was the nickname Double D gave to his younger sister, Evelyn! This confirmed that this girl WAS his sister!

Before even asking her why she wanted to know her name, Lily pulled the girl named Lynn into a tight hug, surprising her, "You're alive! I can't believe it! Your brother is going to be so happy when he hears this!"

"My… brother? I have a brother?!" questioned Lynn in confusion as Lily let her out of her hug, "Do you know who I am?! Please, you gotta tell me what you know!"

"I-I will! But…" Lily started to say before pausing for a split second, thinking about whether she should tell Lynn about the other world that she lives in. She shook that thought aside; there was no way to avoid talking about it, "Okay, I'll tell you what I know. It might take a while to explain."

Author's Note (January 11th, 2023): Yooo, two chapters for this in one day?! Yay! This is good because there are storms coming tomorrow and I won't be on my computer to write much. I will have my phone and iPad though! Word is handy for writing, especially since it's cloud-based data and goes back and forth between the devices easily. It's honestly a godsend for writing my stories.

Speaking of, I like the concept of them just taking a cab to get to the fairgrounds before the Eds even stumble on the fact that this is where they needed to go, it just seems funny to me, plus it helps play out some things for later!

Anyway, the next chapter will be written down soon, I need to work on how it plays out before posting it, of course.