ASC: Chapter 12

It was now dusk here in the little seaside town of Sunflower Shoal. At the local hospital, we could see Eddy sitting around the waiting room along with four of his other friends, Jade, Double D, Ed, and Reese. All of them were waiting for some news from the doctors on Alice; she was still in critical condition and only Eddy's parents could visit her now.

While Double D, Ed, and Reese were beyond relieved to hear that Eddy and Jade were alive and well (much to Double D's happiness after the officer that helped him and Alice said the exact opposite, though Double D could not fault the officer for that; he did not know), everyone was still very much on edge.

All of them decided to sit in the waiting room lobby to watch the 6 pm news, which was about to come on the TV. Even though they tried to pass the time by waiting, they also wanted to hear what the news had to say about this awful mess.

"Good evening, welcome to the 6 o'clock news. Here are today's top stories," the anchorwoman began to say before a splash image appeared on the screen for the breaking news, along with the mugshots of Mr. Corvin, Mr. Fierro, and a few others, "Reuben Corvin, the leader of the mafia group, the Corvin Family, was arrested earlier today along with many of his associates."

The screen transitioned to an aerial shot of the warehouse by the beach, along with the footage of the other burning warehouse next to it (that was now put out thanks to the firemen who came to help) and the cliff between it and the fairgrounds, "Around lunchtime today, Mr. Corvin and his men kidnapped four young teenagers from their homes: one of them being a witness to a recent crime they committed. All four teenagers have been taken to the hospital, with one of them still in critical condition. Mr. Corvin and his men have been charged with the murder of Alvin and Marisa Anderson, as well as the attempted murder of the four teenagers. They are also charged with kidnapping, human trafficking, sexual assault, arson, and a long list of other crimes."

The transition changed to the anchorwoman again, "We were gracious enough to have this pre-recording of our interview with one of the first officers on the scene that helped save the victims."

That's when the pre-recorded footage began to roll, showing the area near the cliff. A reporter was shoving a mic to Evan's face.

Everyone in the waiting room widened their eyes in shock when they saw Evan on the TV. Double D looked at Eddy, only to see his friend's face grow pale, 'Oh dear, I forgot that he didn't know his brother was an undercover officer!'

"Officer McGee, we were told that you were the one that took down and arrested Mr. Corvin, right here on this very cliffside," the reporter began to say, "How do you feel about your great accomplishments today?"

"Well, first off, I wouldn't say I did everything by myself; everyone here did their job well. Though I did have the assistance of a few civilians that helped report the kidnappings directly to me…"

Everyone in the waiting room could hear Ed begin to chuckle loudly, much to Eddy's confusion. Reese and Double D were the ones who knew why he was chuckling up a storm from what Evan said, 'Ed must be proud of himself because he made the call to Evan for help, thanks to Double D's cell phone,' Reese thought.

"Both the Peach Creek and Sunflower Shoal's police, as well as several other departments in the state, have been working very hard on this case for years, so it's a great feeling to know that this nightmare of a case is finally over," Evan continued to say, "I genuinely hope all the victims involved in this tragedy make a speedy recovery, as well as the police force trying to tie up some loose ends for past victims that need to be solved."

Eddy continued to sit there in the waiting room chair, watching the TV in disbelief at what he was hearing from his older brother.

"That's so heartwarming to hear! Thank you for your time, Mr. McGee!"

The pre-recorded footage stopped playing, transitioning back to the anchorwoman, who continued to give the news and report on other things.

Everyone in the waiting room turned to Eddy. They could all see his body begin to shake, though they could not tell if he was angry, upset, or sad; probably all three. Without saying a word, Eddy hopped out of the seat he was in, running off toward the entrance to the hospital.

"Eddy!" Jade gasped as she stood up from where she sat. She began to run off to find Eddy, leaving behind her three friends with a worried look in their eyes.


'I need to find him! I gotta know what's going on!'

Eddy was dashing toward the entrance of the hospital, trying to get there in a rush. He had to get out of this place for a moment to get some fresh air. Once he was there, Eddy exited the building while making a big sigh. He turned to see a small rest area off to the side that had several stone benches for people to sit on. Eddy made his way over to sit on one of them, flopping down tiredly.

Eddy could not believe what he saw on the TV. His brother? Some kind of policeman?! 'There's no way that's true!' he thought to himself as he closed his eyes and furrowed his brow in anger, remembering the incident from last year, 'He was working at that dumb fairground next to the beach, right?! IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!'

Eddy felt a gentle hand being placed on his left shoulder. He opened his eyes to see Jade sitting next to him with a worried look in her eyes.

"Eddy, I know I don't have the whole picture of what happened between you and your older brother," Jade started to say, "So, umm… Maybe telling me about it can help you feel better…?"

Eddy stayed silent to her before making a sigh, "Well…"

"I think the two of us can help explain."

Eddy and Jade widen their eyes at the voice, looking to see Evan and Rebecca walking over to them. Eddy could feel his body stiffen up slightly before making a glare at his brother.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Eddy. My name's Rebecca, and I'm your brother's partner at his job," Rebecca said to Eddy with a smile.

Eddy looked at Rebecca with a bit of surprise, realizing she was there with his brother, "Uh… hey there?"

Evan looked at Rebecca and Eddy and made a smile, 'Eddy…' he cleared his throat, almost like he had something stuck in it, "… Are you, uh, doing alright?"

"NO, I'M NOT OKAY!" Eddy shouted out in anger to his brother. He began to stand up on the stone bench to try and get to the same height as his brother to glare at him face-to-face; too bad it was more 'face-to-upper neck', even with the additional boost, "Tell me what's going on! RIGHT NOW!"

"Easy there, Pipsqueak," Evan stated to his brother, trying to calm him down as best as he could, "I'll tell you what you need to know. I came to check on you and Alice, you know."

Eddy widened his eyes when Evan mentioned Alice; it never crossed his mind once that Evan was also Alice's brother or even the fact that Evan knew she existed.

Eddy felt Jade reach out to his hand to get his attention, "We should listen to what he has to say," Jade said.

"I-I know," Eddy replied with an exasperated sigh. He began to sit back down on the stone bench. Evan and Rebecca sat on the bench as well, seeing it was big enough for the four of them to sit on.

"Listen, I know you're confused about what's going on because of what happened last year, and I don't blame you for hating me because of how I was acting to you and your friends," Evan began to say to Eddy, "The reason I was working at the fairground was because I was undercover. My job was to find the mole hiding in the police who had connections to the Corvin Family. I was trying to get close to them; to let them accept me as a new member so I could gather more information in secret."

"… W-What…?"

"When you and your friends found me at the fairground, I panicked because I didn't want my cover to be blown by you, saying who I was. I also was trying to get you to leave because I didn't want any of you to get involved by accident… Though I did it in a way that hurt a lot of you, to make sure you would not come back," Evan continued to say, "I couldn't tell you that I was undercover either, so I had to act like I didn't care about you or your friends being there, even though I knew you needed my help… I'm sorry."

A heavy silence could be felt after Evan finished explaining his side of things. They could hear Eddy start to laugh from what he heard; the laugh he was making sounded more like he was extremely relieved than thinking what his older brother said was funny.

"This is… T-That's the reason, huh?" Eddy muttered, "You did that to help us…"

"Yes, I did. And I've regretted treating you that way ever since it happened. I couldn't apologize to you about it until this case was closed, which it finally has," Evan replied before looking at Eddy with a serious face, "I want you to know that I do care about you and your friends; I gotta look after you because you're my little brother, and…"

Evan glanced away for a second, "I now know Alice is our sister; she was the one who told me this when she found me in town a few weeks ago. I was trying to keep an eye on all of you, but she and your hat-wearing friend are very sharp."

"… Wait a minute, you told Alice AND Double D about your job, but not me?!" Eddy asked in disbelief.

"Because I knew the Corvin Family was after her; she needed to know that I was only trying to check on her from a distance," Evan replied, "I had a feeling she was at our house because Mr. Anderson was dad's best friend, and he was also a friend of mine as I grew up… I had no idea that Alvin had a medical condition, so it never crossed my mind that our dad agreed to help him have a child with Mr. Anderson's wife."

Evan scratched the back of his neck, "And yeah, your hat-wearing friend also knows about my job because he was with Alice. They both confronted me with a lot of questions, and he was just as confused as you were… Kinda happy he didn't say anything about it to you."

"… Eddy, your friend with the beanie is named Eddward, right?"

Everyone turned to Rebecca, "There's something that came up about him that you all need to know, but I think we should save that conversation when we go back inside to see him."

"… Right, speaking of, we should do that and check on Alice," Evan stated as he and Rebecca got up from where they sat. He looked at Eddy and Jade as they got up, "You can also tell me what you've been doing while I've been gone."

"… U-Umm…"

Everyone turned to Jade, "I'm sorry I didn't say anything when you were talking, but my name's Jade," she said to Evan and Rebecca, "I-I didn't want to interrupt what was going on, but then I realized I didn't say my name to you…"

"Heh, it's okay," Evan stated to her as they all began to walk back to the entrance of the hospital.


Meanwhile, back with Double D, Ed, and Reese, the three teens were still in the waiting room, sitting around the area. Ed and Reese were looking at random things on Reese's phone to pass the time while Double D was also looking at something on his phone. Ed brought Double D's phone back to him when they were reunited. He thanked his friend for giving him his phone back. He also told him that he was proud of him and Reese for realizing that something bad had happened to his friends before calling Evan since Double D had pulled up his contact info before being taken away. Double D made a small sigh to himself, thinking about everything that happened today.

After he arrived at the hospital for a checkup, Double D contacted the police to talk to them about what Mr. Corvin revealed to him, that Double D was his nephew. A detective came by later to give him an interview about his claims, along with his statements for the full story of events that happened.

"Is there any sort of records you have about my real mother and father?" Double D asked the detective, "My parents died in a fire when I was seven, but I thought it was some sort of accident, but now…"

"Don't worry Eddward, we'll try to help you figure everything out," the detective told him, "We will also inquire these questions to the ones responsible."

"Thank you, sir…" Double D muttered before thinking about something else, "Umm, should I give my DNA to you to help confirm or deny if that horrible man is my uncle?"

"Well, it wouldn't hurt anything if you did; it might even help us more about a few things related to him," the detective said before making a serious face, "Though I do have some advice: If it turns out that he is your uncle, don't let it get to you. You shouldn't feel guilty for something beyond your control just because he's related to you. None of this is your fault, understand?"

Double D looked at the detective in surprise before nodding his head, "I understand…"

Back in the present, Double D had pulled up a picture he had taken on his phone; it was of him and Alice. Alice was holding his phone as she was trying to take this picture, she was smiling while he looked a bit nervous about her holding his phone in that position to take a selfie together. He was starting to feel his chest become tight when he saw Alice; she looked so happy in this picture…

Shaking those feelings aside, Double D began to pull up the local news app, pulling up the article about what happened today to see Mr. Corvin's mugshot. He decided to examine both the mugshot and the few photos of himself, trying to see if what they said about his appearance could be noticeable to him.

Double D could see that the two of them did not have the same hair or eye color; Double D's hair was light blond and had bright green eyes. Mr. Corvin's hair was black and had dark brown eyes. Double D continued to examine the mugshot and the pictures of himself. He remembered them saying that he looked so much like his father in his facial features, which is how they knew he was Mr. Corvin's nephew. The only thing he could see was that their cheekbones were similar around the eyes, but that was it.

'I really hope this isn't true, that it's just sort of an awful joke,' Double D thought to himself as he closed the news app, swiping back to look at the photos on his phone again.

Double D looked at the selfie photo of him and Alice again. He could feel himself smiling before a few tears started to form on the brim of his eyes. He was not certain of when it exactly happened, but he had fallen in love with Alice between the time she moved in with Eddy and now. At first, he was uncertain about what he was feeling toward her until he had a very vivid dream. It was a dream about her that happened a few nights ago.


Double D was lying on his bed before he felt someone gently latch onto his arm. He turned to see Alice, who looked to be sleeping beside him, sleeping in her pajamas; she looked so peaceful. He almost yelped out loud in shock before he saw her beginning to wake up from his voice. Alice grabbed Double D's arm tightly, asking him to stay with her tonight. Her eyes were mesmerizing as she looked up at him like they were drawing him in. Double D was stunned at her words before making a gentle smile. He felt himself grab his sheets to cover them both before he leaned in toward her, not holding back. He could feel himself and Alice doing something but could not see what it was; his vision became blurry as he was beginning to wake up… But, judging by how fast his heart was racing at that moment, along with several other emotions he could not put into words, he had an idea of WHAT they were doing…


… And that was when he woke up in a cold sweat that morning, stunned at the dream he had. He never had a dream like it before, nor did it ever happen again after that. He honestly thought he would never have a dream about doing something so… 'intimate' with anyone, but it helped him realize his feelings for Alice made him have that dream; it felt so real to him. He loved her that much, to even dream about doing something like that one day with her… They were both fourteen, so he knew teenage hormones were a big factor in the dream he had, but he genuinely cared about Alice as a friend and not just as someone of the opposite sex.

And now, Alice was in the hospital, shot in the back by the man who killed both their parents. Double D was beyond distraught that Alice was in so much pain. She had saved his life, even risking her own to save him from the burning warehouse, and yet there was nothing he could do to return the favor… He never even had a chance to tell Alice how much he loved her.

'… I need to confide with Eddy about this,' Double D thought to himself, 'I need to tell him about how much I love his sister. I just hope he doesn't get mad about my feelings or about the dream I had with her… Wait, do I even WANT to tell him about that?! Probably not.'

Double D could feel himself blushing, remembering the dream with Alice once again. Transitioning from being a preteen to a teenager can be very drastic for a lot of different reasons. This was one of them.


Author's Note (April 3rd. 2024): Not much going on with me this week, unlike last week which was extremely terrible. Anyway, the next chapter will be soon!