ATWN: Chapter 11

It was a somewhat calm and peaceful Friday night here in Tusca. We zoomed in on the house at the end of the long stretch of road, where we could see some teens watching a few things on TV before preparing to go to sleep for the night.

It had been two weeks since Amelia, Lily, and Naomi mysteriously found their way over to another world, and vice versa to the folks they found and became friends with, the three teen boys named Ed, Double D, and Eddy. The six teens began to hang out for a few hours after school, flip-flopping between their two worlds to not make them seem suspicious about their secret; at least for the kids in the Cul-De-Sac.

They mostly spent their time in Peach Creek rather than Tusca since the town itself was further away from Amelia's house than most other things around Peach Creek. The six teens even had study group sessions sometimes, since it was school time in both worlds and they both studied similar subjects that they could help each other with. Double D found it interesting to learn more about the history of the girls' world, as well as the various technologies that were very much ahead of his, like Roombas, flat-screen TVs, and, of course, the concept of the internet being a very big thing. From what they could tell, the history and geography of both worlds were pretty much the same; minus the weird thing they learned about with Peach Creek and Tusca in particular, as well as the advancement in technology for one of their worlds being drastically ahead.

Speaking of their worlds, to cover their tracks, they moved the white door that lets them travel to Peach Creek in a hidden room inside the abandoned house of the Cul-De-Sac, while the white door for Tusca (that was previously in Amelia's house) was moved outside, up against the inside wall of the tool shed that Amelia had in the backyard. Double D held onto one of the keys they found that activated the white doors, while Amelia held onto the other key.

During the times they began to hang out, the girls learned they could do most of the whacky cartoon physics they saw on the show while they were in Peach Creek; even practicing what they could do with this as well. Meanwhile, the Eds found out (a little painfully) that they could not do the slapstick actions they could usually do in Peach Creek when they were visiting Tusca. Since Peach Creek and Tusca were different worlds with very different kinds of rules, this would make sense; but it was good to confirm this sort of thing. Besides doing a few scams here and there, they decided to continue to try and find out WHY this strange situation happened in the first place, looking around Peach Creek for any answers, as well as trying to find any information they could online about the show that the Eds appeared on in the girl's world along with finding out who 'Tri-Ultima' was as a company 'animating' the show. Unfortunately, they still could not find any answers, no matter how hard they tried.

The three girls also interacted with the other teens and kids of the Cul-De-Sac when they came to visit. Everyone seemed to get along with them; even Kevin to some extent, though he did not understand why these three girls would hang out with the Eds, especially someone attractive like Amelia (even though he did not admit this to anyone or say it out loud; he personally liked Nazz a lot more anyway). Unfortunately, the three girls have encountered the Kanker Sisters a few times already; they were just as nasty as the show made them out to be. When the sisters found out that the Eds were hanging out with these three new girls that seemingly came out of nowhere, they did all they could to try and get them away from the Cul-De-Sac, calling them their rivals. The girls could see the Kankers were jealous, especially Marie. This kind of reaction did not surprise the girls; the Kankers were always like that, as far as they could tell. The girls did tell the sisters they were only friends with the Eds before threatening the sisters to stop bothering them. This came as a great relief to the Eds; no one had stood up to the sisters like this, especially for them.

Either way, the three girls were planning on visiting Peach Creek tomorrow to spend the day there. They were spending the night at Amelia's house for their visit the next day. Sadly, Naomi had to bring her little brother with her for the slumber party; their parents had to leave town earlier today due to an emergency family situation in another town. The girls debated on what to do with Carter while he was here, only for them to conclude that they would have to take him with them tomorrow, which would reveal their secret to him, "I'm not going to leave him here at Amelia's house alone; I'm in charge with babysitting him!" Naomi said to her friends, "Besides, maybe he could make friends with everyone else, just like us!"

Amelia made a small, tired yawn, "Geez, school has been such a drag lately."

"Yeah, for sure," Naomi replied with a groan before stretching out her arms, "I'm so glad it's the weekend now."

The two teens turned to see Lily coming into the living room alongside Naomi's little brother, Carter. He was a very pale preteen who was around 11 years old. He had short, bushy black hair and dark brown eyes. He was currently wearing his pajamas, ready to go to bed.

"Hey, Amelia," Lily started to say as Carter went over to Naomi's side, sitting down next to her, "I need to ask you a favor. Can you follow me for a second?"

"Uh, sure," Amelia replied as she got up from where she sat, following Lily out of the living room and into her kitchen, "What is it?"

Lily was silent for a second before explaining, "I… I've been having a lot of vivid dreams every night, and last night's dream was the most real one to me so far," she glanced away for a moment, "I can't tell you what I've seen, but… I need to go visit Double D. I need to talk to him about what I saw! It had him in it, and I want some answers from him about it!"

Amelia looked at Lily with concern, Lily had not said anything to her about any weird dreams. That was when she realized what Lily was asking permission for, "Wait, you want to go visit him now? It's almost 9:30 at night!"

"I-I know! That's why I need to try and talk to him before he goes to bed," Lily stated, "I'll come right back once I'm done talking to him."

"… Okay, I get it," Amelia sighed as she reached into her back pocket to hand Lily the key to the white door over to her, "Just remember that Carter is here for the weekend too. Even though we'll have to take him with us tomorrow, be careful that he doesn't see you cross over. I don't feel like explaining this to him until tomorrow comes around."

Lily nodded her head, "Thank you."

A few minutes later, in Peach Creek, we could see some lights on in a few houses of the Cul-De-Sac, including Double D's house. It seemed like he was still awake at this time of night, not even in his pajamas yet. He was currently at his writing desk, finishing up a draft on an invention for a scam Eddy was planning to do tomorrow, "It's gonna be the best scam ever! We'll be drowning in quarters after it's done, I promise you that!" Eddy told him and Ed with confidence two days ago.

Double D only made an irritated sigh, setting down his pencil to relax for a moment, "I thought for certain that Eddy would stop doing these kinds of scams after meeting our new friends a few weeks ago, but I guess some old habits are just too stubborn to go away," he said to himself, tapping the eraser part of his pencil to the table before making another sigh, one that was less annoyed and more tired.

Double D could tell Eddy had changed quite a bit since they met their new friends, he seemed a lot calmer instead of angry most of the time and started to help a little with other things around the Cul-De-Sac now; despite him still being very pushy with his scam ideas. Even Ed had changed slightly, with him being a lot more… Coherent when he's describing things to them. That seems about right.

"… It makes me wonder what about myself has truly changed," Double D started to think out loud to himself, putting his right elbow on his desk while placing his chin on his palm. He looked very tired, "I feel the same as always, but…"

He made another small sigh, getting up from where was sitting at his desk before walking over to his nightstand to open the drawer. He took out a very small photo album that he had hidden in a secret compartment, looking at a few of the pictures inside of it for a moment, smiling a little.

Suddenly, Double D could hear his doorbell ring, causing him to jump in surprise, "Eep!" He yelped slightly before setting the photo album down on his bed, jogging a little out of his room to see who was at his front door.

Double D went to open his front door, only to see who was standing there in front of him, "Lily?!" he questioned with surprise, "What are you doing here? It's so late right now…"

Lily was silent for a few seconds before saying anything, "I need to talk to you about something. Can I come in?"

"Oh, yes, of course," Double D muttered as he stepped out of the doorway, "It's starting to get colder here around late August, there's no need to stand outside."

Lily made a small smile, "Thanks…"

Lily walked inside Double D's house, "So… What is it that you need to discuss with me so urgently?" he asked.

"Umm…" Lily seemed a little nervous about what she wanted to say, looking away for a moment, "… Double D. I'm so sorry that I need to ask you this because I know you get uncomfortable talking about it, but…" she turned back to him with both a sad and serious face, "I-I need to see what's under your hat! I need to confirm something!"

There was a strong pause between the two before Double D widened his eyes in horror, clutching onto the brim of his beanie for dear life, "W-Wait, why would you—"

"I had another really vivid dream last night," Lily began to explain, closing her eyes to recall the dream she had, "I could see a huge house that was on fire… and I saw you running into it, you looked kind of young in this dream. I could hear that you were calling out to someone, probably someone that was inside the house, and I… I-I saw the house collapsed to the ground with you still inside; you were hit in the head… And then I woke up. The whole dream constantly kept changing from your world's appearance to mine, and I couldn't make any sense of why that was happening; even your younger self kept changing appearances like the worlds."

Double D was silent about what Lily was describing to him, his eyes widened more and more in terror as she said each passing word, gripping onto his beanie even tighter. He was beginning to panic from what she was saying.

"I-I, umm… I wanted to know if what I saw in the dream was…" Lily started to ask him, but paused for a second before continuing, "Is that something that happened to you in the past?"

Double D yelped very loudly before dashing off to his room upstairs and away from Lily. She widened her eyes, quickly realizing what she had done by accident before going after him.

Lily approached his bedroom door which was now closed, knocking on it, "Double D?" She called out to him, only for him to not say anything back.

She made a heavy sigh, "I realized now I probably crossed a line, bringing back painful memories for you, and I'm sorry about that… I've seen other people I know suffer from PTSD," she turned her back away from the door, "I-I was worried about what I saw. I thought it could have been something that was happening right now while I was away, but that's not the case," Lily could feel herself lean up a little against his door, sliding her back against it before sitting on the ground, "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it, I-I just wanted to make sure you were safe."

About a minute passed by between the two teens with neither of them saying a word to each other. Lily started to feel like she was not welcome here anymore like she had permanently opened an old wound for him, "… I'm sorry, Double D. I'll leave you alone."

Lily started to get up from where she sat as she began to walk away toward his staircase. That was when Lily heard Double D open his bedroom door, "Lily, please wait."

Lily turned around in surprise; she could see that he had been crying while he was in his room, but now his tears had dried up, "I'm sorry… I shouldn't have run from you like that," Double D started to say, glancing away from her, "I know you were only asking because you were worried, and…"

"It's okay."

Double D looked back to see Lily walk back over to him, "I'm not going to say anything about what I saw to anyone, I promise. But I do want to know about it if you don't mind."

"… Alright," Double D replied to her before turning around back to his bed, "I have something to show you."

Lily suddenly started to feel nervous as she entered his room. This was the first time she had come into his room since arriving two weeks ago; it was as tidy looking as always, just like it was on the show. Double D walked over to his bed where he had sat down the photo album earlier before grabbing it. He then went back over to Lily, "This is an old family album."

Lily looked down at the small album Double D handed her. She could see quite a few pictures of Double D when he was young, most of them seemed to have been taken when he was around 8 or 9 years old. She could also see someone else in almost all these photos alongside Double D, a young girl who looked to be 4 or 5 years old. She had the same hair color as him, which was light blond. Her hair was a little long for her age, with some of it being pulled back by a big, stretchy red headband with a white line going horizontally across the band. Both kids looked to be playing around, enjoying each other's presence in the photos. She could see that Double D was not wearing his beanie in any of these photos because there was nothing for him to hide.

Lily slowly began to realize exactly what she was looking at. She grew pale in the face, "Oh… oh my god," Lily looked back at Double D with shock.

"… The girl in these old photos was my younger sister, and her name was Evelyn… But I used to call her Lynn as a nickname," Double D started to say; she could hear his voice begin to quiver slightly in sadness, "She died in an accident four years ago, at my old home in Lemon Brook. It happened about a month before I moved here to Peach Creek. My family and I were out in town that day, but once we got back home, we could see our house had caught on fire somehow, with a few firemen and a fire truck already there on the scene. While they were trying to put out the fire, Lynn somehow sneaked past them and ran inside our home; I could only assume she wanted to save something important of hers from being burned…" he lowered his head, glancing down to the floor, "I was the one who noticed her heading into the house by herself. But, instead of telling the firemen or anyone else, I went after her alone; I wanted her to be safe, but… But when I got inside, the house collapsed with both of us in it. I was the only one that was found when they reached me in time. Lynn couldn't be found afterward… N-Not even her body."

That was when Double D reached up to his forehead, fully taking off his beanie to show what was there. There was a very nasty scar left behind by a burn that went across most of his forehead. The scar was slightly hidden under his blond hair which he also hid underneath his beanie. His hair was not enough to cover up the scar; not even the cartoony world he lived in could hide how bad it looked.

Double D started to touch the part of his forehead that had his scar, combing his fingers through a bit of his hair as well, "This is the scar I got when I was struck with a piece of the burning house; it was the only injury I had that day. And, well… I consider it a painful reminder to myself on how I failed to help my little sister that day, and it's why I respect Ed so much when he tries to do things for Sarah, even when she doesn't appreciate it back."

Not even a second passed by between them before Lily pulled him into a tight hug, much to Double D's shock. He thought for sure she would run away in fright because of how awful his scar looked when he took off his beanie.

"That's so horrible!" Lily said to him, almost as if she were about to cry, "It's a miracle you're still alive! I'm so sorry that happened to you!"

The two teens stood there for a moment, with Double D deciding to let Lily continue to hug him before he hugged her back, trying to comfort her in some way after she heard the story about his past. It was while they were in their hug that Double D could feel Lily begin to tremble a little; she was scared, 'Lily…?'

It honestly shocked Lily that something like this happened. She always had the impression that most cartoon characters did not suffer much from things like that, being that they could usually recover and get back on their feet quickly; kind of like what you would see in other media in her world like Looney Tunes. But now, Lily realized that even people here in this cartoon world could die; they were still human beings with real problems, real sicknesses, real lives, and were not ageless. It was still a form of reality; people in Peach Creek had different rules applied to them with a higher tolerance for physical pain than people in her world. The revelation started to make her feel scared, and not just for him and his friend; she was scared for everyone here, especially with all the nightmares she had been having lately.

It was about a few minutes later that they separated from their hug, noticing that Lily had finally stopped trembling, "A-Are you feeling better now?" Double D asked.

"I… feel like that's something I should ask you…" Lily replied to him, "But yes, I-I'm fine now, thank you," she looked back to him, "Umm, do Ed or Eddy know about how you got your scar?"

Double D looked back at her before making a sad face, "N-No, I've never told them this; I never dared to say anything about it, about why I moved here… But they have seen what it looks like and know it's from a burn, of course."

"I see…" Lily looked back at the clock that was in Double D's room, it was a little past 10 pm, "I should, um, head home now, back to Amelia's house."

Lily noticed that Double D was still holding onto his beanie, not putting it back on his head yet. She reached out to it, placing the black beanie back on his head, "I want to say sorry again, but… I also wanted to thank you for telling me. It's not a good thing to keep things bottled up like that, it makes you feel worse as time passes."

"… Y-You're absolutely right," Double D replied, adjusting his beanie a little more to properly fit back on his head.

The two teens left Double D's room, walking back downstairs to his front door; he had decided to walk Lily back to the white door. They walked out of his house to go to the abandoned building. Double D brought a flashlight with him to see where they were going when they arrived there, since there were no lights inside, especially at night. They proceeded to go to the hidden room in the library where the white door was.

"Here we are," Lily stated, "Thank you for the help so I could see where I was going here."

As Lily was about to pull out the key to the white door in front of her, she felt a hand on her right shoulder, "U-Umm, Lily…"

"Hmm?" Lily questioned as she turned to him, "What is it?"

"I-I, umm… I want to tell you something, at least before you go back home to sleep."

Double D took Lily by her hand for a moment, looking around with his flashlight for a moment to see if something was in this dark room to help him, quickly seeing there was a type of clear glass vase sitting on an end table nearby. He and Lily walked over to it to lay the flashlight down behind the vase; this helped make the room a little brighter than before, even with a flashlight.

Lily noticed he had not let go of her hand until he walked over here to the vase, 'What is he doing…?'

She looked back at him just as he finished adjusting the makeshift light from the glass vase. Double D turned back to her with a bit of a nervous smile forming across his face. That was when he grabbed her hand again, but with both of his hands to hers instead of just one. She immediately felt several butterflies fluttering around in her stomach.

"Lily," Double D started to say to her. Lily could not see well in the room, but she could see the blush that was clear across his face thanks to the small light he set up. She could feel his right hand leaving her left, raising it a little to her, "I-I'm unsure of how else to say this to you, but… B-But I—"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Double D leaned forward to Lily's face, kissing her on her lips as he gently cupped her left cheekbone and jawline into his right palm. Lily's eyes widened in shock at him as a deep blush formed across her face. She then closed her eyes, accepting his kiss back with her own. They stood there in their kiss for what seemed like an eternity before separating, looking back at each other. Double D was making a gentle smile to her while Lily was still in a bit of shock. They could both feel their hearts racing from standing so close to each other.

"I wanted to thank you for entering my life, along with your friends as well for Ed and Eddy. You've accepted both me and my friends, even with how we are treated by the other kids… E-Even knowing what's under my hat now; knowing how scarred and damaged I am, and not judging me for it or running away," Double D continued to say, "I-I, umm… I love you, Lily."

Lily looked at Double D before a few tears started to form in her eyes. She then pulled him into a loving hug, "I-I never dreamed that my first kiss would be with you," she hugged him tighter, "I love you too, Double D."

The two teens stood there for another minute before Lily let Double D out of her hug. They glanced towards each other before Lily started walking back to the white door, "I should get going now," Lily stated to him, "I don't want the others to worry about me if I take too long."

"I know, please go rest," Double D stated with a smile, "Eddy has a scam planned for tomorrow, and I need to prep some supplies for it, but…" he made a bigger smile at her, showing the gap between his teeth, "You'll still visit here tomorrow, correct?"

"Yeah, of course!" Lily replied with a bright smile before turning back to the white door, the key in her hand, "I'll see you tomorrow, Double D!"

Double D could see Lily open the white door with the key, walking into the light before closing the door behind her. He made a sigh to himself after she left, feeling relieved that she felt the same way about him as he did to her.

Meanwhile, back in Tusca, we could see Amelia in her living room, flipping through the channels on her TV in boredom. She was also waiting for Lily to get back from Double D's house, seeing that she had one of the keys right now. It was while Amelia had stopped on one of the channels to glance away to see if Lily was back that she began to hear something familiar on the TV. She looked to see what was there, it was a commercial for Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy. Amelia raised her eyebrow for a second at this; she had stopped it on ESPN just now and not anything related to CN.

"In this new TV movie made by Tri-Ultima Production, a scam gone wrong has forced the Eds to be hunted down by the other kids of the Cul-De-Sac! They have no choice but to run away and seek refuge elsewhere, and Eddy's brother will be the one to offer that chance to them! But will the three Eds make it to Eddy's brother in one piece? Or will something happen to them along the way with the other kids?! There's only one way to find out, you three! Come visit Peach Creek early tomorrow at 7 am EST, 4 am PST! Farewell for now, ladies!"

The commercial suddenly switches to a college football game that is currently in overtime; it is very clear that the commercial had been aired over the footage of the live game on purpose. Amelia could only stare at her TV, trying to process what she just saw.

"W-What the heck was that?" Amelia muttered to herself in confusion, putting her hand up to her head as if she had a headache, "Am I that tired right now? I'm starting to see fake TV ads."

She shook her head a little, trying to shake off what she saw. It was about a minute later that Lily finally came back to Amelia's house through the back door, "There you are!" Amelia said to Lily, "Did you tell him about that thing you needed to talk about?"

Lily was silent for a moment, looking like she was in a dream-like phase before snapping back to reality to talk to Amelia, "Y-Yes, I did tell him about what I saw. He said he'll keep an eye on, umm, anything unusual for a while…"

Amelia immediately noticed her tone of voice and how she was acting; Lily had never acted this aloof before, "Okay, well… I'm gonna go to bed, and you should do so too!"

"I'll be right behind you," Lily replied before Amelia began to walk away. She sat down on the couch for a moment to rest, placing her right hand up to her cheek, remembering what happened earlier.

Author's Note (January 11th, 2024): Oh snap! Here's an interesting twist that will soon play out. How will it go for the girls once they step into the Big Picture Show? Well, you'll have to wait and see!