ASC: Chapter 2

Quite a few hours passed by very quickly here in Peach Creek. The three Eds were still hanging out with Alice, showing her things and places around the neighborhood, including the Lane, the playground near the entrance of the neighborhood, the junkyard and construction site, and even the small lake that was deeper in the woods close by. The sun was starting to set in the distance as they finally got back to Eddy's house, they could see that Eddy's parents were still there but now inside, judging by their car still being parked in the driveway.

"Wow, this little town was a lot bigger than I expected," Alice stated to them, "I know Savannah is a bigger city, but this town feels so cozy by comparison."

"Hah, Peach Creek is a little small, but at least there's a lot of stuff to do!" Eddy boasted slightly.

"Yeah, like that new arcade and bowling place that was built! And the good candy store that's still open near it!" Ed interjected with a big smile, "Maybe we can all go to the arcade tomorrow? It's still summer!"

"That sounds good to me!" Alice replied with a smile, "I really need to get my mind off of things, so count me in!"

Double D glanced at Alice when she said that; he could sense the stress she had behind her words, but decided to not inquire about what was wrong, "Say Eddy, if Alice owns a cell phone, I think it would be a good idea if you gave her our numbers, just in case if she needs to contact us for any reason."

"Uh, oh yeah!" Eddy replied with a nod of his head, "I'll remember to do that later."

Alice turned to Eddy's house, "I think I'll go check on the things they put in my room," she stated, "My computer setup is really expensive, so I want to make sure nothing was broken in the move."

"Whoa, a computer?" questioned Eddy, "The only other person I know that has one is Double D. You're gonna set it up in your room?"

"Yeah, it is mine, after all; there's a lot of personal stuff on it that I use every day," Alice replied, "But you can use it too whenever you need it. You'll have to ask me first before you use it, of course."

"Oh, okay. Good to know!" Eddy laughed a little, "Now I don't need to go to Double D's house if I need to look something up."

Double D rolled his eyes a little, "You do know you can always look things up on your phone, Eddy."

"Yeah, but it's better to look up things on a bigger screen!" Eddy replied.

Alice laughed a little at them, "Well, it was nice to meet you two!" she stated to Ed and Double D before walking off back to Eddy's house, "I'll be inside checking things out in my room. Bye!"

"Goodbye Alice!" Ed waved to Alice as she left.

Eddy made a very deep sigh of relief to himself, which was noticed by Double D, "It looks like you got over your nervousness with your sister," Double D stated to his friend, "I hope everything turns out okay for you and her. She seems very nice."

"… Yeah, I hope so too," Eddy stated, scratching the back of his head a little, 'I don't wanna repeat what happened with Evan last year…'

He shook his head from side to side, "Anyway, I'm gonna go home now. I'm freakin' starving!" Eddy said as he began to run back home, "Talk to you guys tomorrow!"

"Bye Eddy!" Ed waved once again as Eddy ran to his house. He turned to Double D, "I'm gonna go home too. I don't want anyone yelling at me if I'm late!"

"Of course, Ed," Double D replied with a chuckle, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Both Ed and Double D began to walk back to their homes. As Double D was walking back to his house, his mind began to wander a little back to Eddy and Alice. It was obvious that Alice had gone through something traumatic but was not willing to say why she moved in with Eddy and his parents. They both claimed to be step-siblings as well; not even knowing they were related until today…

'Alice said her last name was Anderson… I think I've seen someone with that last name come up on the local news a few days ago, but I can't remember what for,' Double D thought to himself as he arrived back at his home, going inside and locking his front door as he did.

Double D took out his cell phone and unlocked the screen to look up something on his local news app. He typed in Alice's last name in the search bar of the news app, only for him to widen his eyes in shock at the article he found.

"A highly prolific state prosecutor and his wife, Alvin & Marisa Anderson, were found dead in their car after their daughter called the police to report hearing gunshots outside their house; the police stated that foul play was involved. Mr. Anderson was the head prosecutor for an upcoming case against the head of the Corvin Family. Many people suspect Mr. Reuben Corvin was involved in their deaths, but there is no real evidence to support this theory at this time."

Double D audibly gasped at his phone, "Oh… m-my word…" he muttered as he continued to read the article he found. He could feel his right hand start to cover his mouth in shock and fright, 'Does Eddy o-or his parents know a-about this…? This is a-awful…'

Double D had seen and read a few things about the Corvin Family on the news and online. They were an organized crime syndicate that was based around Atlanta. Despite being well known for what kind of operations they did, the head of the Corvin Family was not in jail for any sort of illegal activities, leading people to believe he had inside help in the police force to avoid charges for various things. Double D could see that Alice's father was the one who was trying to charge both Mr. Corvin and another person of interest with a laundry list of crimes, but he was murdered along with his wife, leaving Alice behind.

Double D finally calmed himself down from what he read on his cell phone, "If this news article is about her father and mother, Ed and Eddy would need to know about it," he stated before making a sigh, 'If she is willing to, maybe I can try to ask her more about this… At least, I hope I can. I want to help them out.'

About thirty minutes later, back in Eddy's house, we could see Alice in her room, setting up her two computer monitors, her computer tower, and her L-shaped computer desk up against one of the corners of her new room. The other side of her L-shaped desk had her TV and all her game consoles on it, with a few more shelves around the longer part of the desk. The things for that part of her desk were already set up by Eddy's parents while she was with her brother and his two friends; at least it was all set out for her to hook up herself.

Alice made a sigh to herself as she finally finished plugging everything in, flopping down in her computer chair for a short moment to rest, "There we go…"

She then heard a knock on her door, making her jump a little, "Alice? Are you almost done?" Daisy asked from the other side of the door, "I have dinner ready for you if you want it now."

"Oh, y-yeah, I'll be downstairs soon!" Alice replied to her before getting up from her chair and walking out her door. Her new room was on the second floor of the house; she could tell that the room was never used at all until now because it was a guest bedroom.

Alice made a sigh as she walked over to the staircase near her, going down the stairs to go through the living room to get to the kitchen. She could see Daisy and Luis were there, with her father already sitting at the table.

She could hear Eddy walking up from behind her, coming to the kitchen from his room, which she noticed was on the first floor of the house. Eddy also told her the back door of the house goes right to his bedroom, "… So you better knock first if you need anything from me! I'm gonna make that a rule; at least if you need to get inside the house through my room for any reason, got it?" he said to her a moment ago.

"There you two are!" Luis stated with a smile as the two teens came into the kitchen, "I hope Eddy and his friends were helpful in their tour today, Alice."

"Don't worry, they were," Alice replied as she and Eddy sat down at the table.

"Good to hear," Luis said with a smile before glancing at his wife, who was still near the stove, making dinner for tonight.

Luis made a sigh before turning to his son and daughter, "Alice, I know you'd rather not talk about it, but Eddy needs to know what's going on with your situation. It's for everyone's safety; you know."

Alice was silent to what he said, making a small glare before turning her face into a sad frown, "I-I know…"

"… Uh," Eddy muttered in confusion, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Eddy, remember when I said Alice's parents were gone?" Luis started to explain, "Well, it's not that they died in any sort of accident; they were murdered."

Eddy's eyes widened in horror at what he said, "H-Huh…?"

"My friend was the lead prosecutor in a case against a very dangerous person," Luis continued to explain, "A lot of people believe that they were killed by someone connected to the person he was trying to put behind bars, and…" he paused for a second before saying, "Alice was a witness of what happened to her parents. She's technically hiding until they can find and catch who killed her parents and to see if they are connected to the case he was working on."

"… What, w-wait…" Eddy could feel himself growing very pale, "If she's a witness… D-Does that mean these psychos could target her next?! Or anyone here?!" he shouted back.

"Of course not!" Luis replied, trying to calm his son down, "No one knows that Alice is here right now besides a select few people on the police force. Everything will be okay now, trust me!"

Eddy glared harshly at his dad before making an irritated sigh, "I hope you're right…" Eddy grumbled, facepalming from the news.

Alice stayed quiet to them; everything felt awkward now thanks to the bombshell that was dropped. She knew that Eddy had to be informed about why she moved, but it still hurt to hear anyone explain the truth, "I'm sorry…"

"Whoa, hey! There's nothing to be sorry about!"

Alice widened her eyes in surprise at what Eddy said, "This whole situation is messed up, but you didn't do anything wrong."

"I-I know, but still…" Alice muttered before making a sigh of defeat to herself.

"Anyway, sorry I soured the mood with that statement. I only wanted Eddy to be informed about it, just in case," Luis stated before clearing his throat, "Let's just enjoy the food when it's finally done."

"Okay," both Eddy and Alice replied at the same time to Luis. He could only smile at the two of them, 'Seems like they are getting along well… Let's hope it stays this way.'

Author's Note (February 24th, 2024): Hey, it's a new chapter! Yay! Things are being set up in the background now for this story, as you can see in this chapter. How will it all play out now? Find out next time!