The Last Chance

Autumn Blues

Chapter Four - Hostile Hospitality

Eddward 'Double D'

"Three hundred dollars?!" Eddy shouted, flabbergasted, jaw half unhinged as he read the bill over and over. The head mechanic simply nodded his head, obviously used to that kind of reaction from unhappy customers.

"It's a specialty part, we have to order it, plus your battery is toast," the boss leaned up against his register, "It'll be done in two days...unless you wanna try pushing it home?"

Eddy grimaced, lips pursed but kept his mouth shut. Finally, he relinquished with a deep sigh, "Just take the money." The head mechanic smiled big and graciously accepted the three crisp hundred-dollar bills. For a second, Double D could swear he could see money signs in the mechanics' dark blue eyes but refrained from adding any comment to the situation.

"Don't worry sir, I have my best mechanic on it," printing the receipt and handing it to the annoyed Ed. "Mar-," the mechanic started but was sharply cut off by Double D coughing loudly.

"E-excuse me," Double D smiled, a drop of sweat rolling down his forehead suspiciously. The mechanic blinked but didn't press the issue; simply bidding them a good day and taking to some clerical duties behind the desk. Eddy shot a strange look in Double D's direction, which he avoided entirely.

"Guess we're walking, huh, Eddy?" Double D added.

Eddy sighed unceremoniously, taking his chained wallet in both hands like a grieving parent.

"Looks like it," He whimpered, defeated.

Though it was October and fall was in full swing, the 20-minute climb up the hill and out of town had been absolutely exhausting for the three lone figures as they trudged down the now lonely early evening highway. Double D fanned his heated face with a lone hand while staring up into the low-hanging sun, which would soon be setting in a matter of minutes. The cool chill of the lone highway was refreshing, to say the least, and with the dusk coming, the air would be even chillier than before, which he hoped would alleviate some of his exhaustion. Eddy kicked an empty can with his sneakers which caused it to clatter across the asphalt in sputtering clangs before resting in the nearby grass ditch.

"This is freakin' lame," Eddy moaned, both hands deeply embedded into his jean pockets. He rolled his head up and let out a rather exasperated sigh, eyes fixated on the reddening sky above. Ed meandered out in front of them, with a lanky gait, eyes ever focused on his handheld console which he held close to his face. Eddy sighed once more, pathetically, before returning his eyes back to the now curving highway road. He flicked his eyes over to Double D, with a cocked eyebrow and spoke up.

"So?"

"So, what, Eddy?" Double D returned, his eyes shifting over to his shorter friend. Eddy snorted and took a hand from his pocket which he used to balance the interrogation he was about to unleash on poor Double D.

"So...why did you call out Marie's name earlier?" Eddy was deadly serious, and that made Double D grimace uncomfortably.

With an idle hand, Double D rubbed the back of his neck trying hard to think of something logical to say that would dissuade further questioning. "I, uh...didn't say Marie at all!" He finally blurted out. Eddy raised a long eyebrow and looked deep into Double D's eyes as if to see if he was lying. 'Geez, this is hard!' The beanie-wearing teen cleared his throat and resumed an air of polite deflection.

"I said...M-Manny."

Once again, Eddy shot a look of suspicion in Double D's direction; eyes narrowed and questioning.

"Manny?" Eddy asked, uncertain. Double D nodded vigorously, maybe a bit too vigorously. He was not a good liar and everyone knew it.

"Y-yes, Manny, he is a... friend of my parents," Double D stumbled out. It was abundantly clear that Eddy did, in fact, not believe his friend for one second. But if he had put any pieces together he showed no sign of it as they neared the entrance to the cul-de-sac. Ed looked up for the first time in almost a half-hour and sniffed, looking around the familiar landscape.

"Sarah's cooking dinner," He smiled through unkempt teeth. The tallest Ed quickly placed his console into his pocket and stopped dead in the center of the roadway. "Sarah always makes the best food," Ed started, beaming with apparent pride, "You should join us Double D."

Eddy's suspicious eye turned away if only for a second before returning to his normally aloof self. "Yeah Sockhead, why don't you join us?" He shifted passively, "Sarah makes good stuff." Double D pondered this, not truly wanting to spend another night alone, but ultimately turned down his friends' generous offer.

"I have a mountain of homework to finish," He reasoned, eyes low and unsteady. Eddy shrugged and turned away, waving a hand up, saying 'Whatever you say, bean counter' and strode off towards Ed's house. Ed stood for a second and smiled before turning off and following Eddy, leaving Double D alone in the cold, newly darkened cul-de-sac. A pop snapped near him as the old streetlamp behind him sprung to life showering his lone figure in artificial light. He sighed heavily, "What the hell am I doing?"

With a defeated gait, he moved on towards his own house, minding his front yard's now slowly yellowing grass, and entered with a gentle thud.

That night, Double D sat alone in his room, eyes closed and head tilted towards the singular ceiling fan rotating lazily above him. A lot was on his mind and peace eluded his clouded thoughts and strange ideas. A pencil sat in his hand and an unfinished math worksheet lay sprawled out across his neat and tidy study desk, its small incandescent bulb illuminating the half-hearted work.

With a sigh, he placed the pencil down and stood up from his perch. He stretched and yawned, rubbing his face with some vigor before moving towards his closed bedroom door. Then came a knock.

Low and gentle, it was faint but very much different from the bedroom's white noise and enough to make Double D jolt slightly from surprise. He looked around, unnerved by the strange sound that he had just heard. After a moment of silence, he laughed nervously to himself, "I must be very tired." With that strange occurrence passed he slipped through the door and into the bathroom to wash off his face and try to wake up.

In the mirror, above the sink, was the visage of a teen freshly washed but entirely exhausted from recent events and completely vexed by the sudden firsts he had experienced. Going to a party, stopping a fight, getting detention, yelling at someone, lying. The image of Marie Kanker flashed in his mind for a few seconds and he shook his head clear of her face.

"Goody-two-shoes?" Double D asked his own reflection, eyes narrowed. He scoffed at his own question, watching water droplets drip down from his face and into the cool ceramic bowl below.

'It was her.' He whispered, a small flame of anger rising in his chest. Or was it disappointment? He hung his head low, eyes watching the water slither down the exposed drain and into the darkness beyond it.

"It's you," Double D said after a moment's pause refusing to look up at himself. "You made her like this didn't you? If you hadn't been such a weak cowar-" A small clatter arose from the direction of his bedroom. That was not my imagination, he thought with a racing mind. He knew neither of his parents would be home until this coming weekend and a stiff shiver overtook him. He gasped as he imagined the face of a hooded, burly burglar raiding his home with a crowbar in hand and a wicked smile sprawled across his stubbled face.

Silently he crept over to the back of the bathroom and retrieved the only weapon he could wield and slipped into the carpeted hallway towards his barely illuminated bedroom. The door stood mostly closed, and though the sound of rummaging had completely ceased he could see the tepid shadow of someone in the center of his room. With slow silent footsteps he slipped across the hallway with the grace of a skilled tiger ready to bounce on some unsuspecting prey creature. He raised his free hand and gripped the door handle shakily, the other tightly gripping in his de facto weapon and took a long deep breath.

Quickly, savagely he flung the door open and yelled, "Who are you?!" At least that was the intention. His voice caught in his throat well before he was even able to fully muster the words to utter his demand. In the center of the room, sitting gingerly at the edge of his bed was the feminine shape of a young woman. Marie Kanker to be exact. She looked towards him, unaffected and raised a single eyebrow in his direction. Double D, currently, was strangling the wooden end of a plunger so tightly his hands were whitened by the strain of it.

"Yikes, Oven Mitt, I know I have a potty mouth but that seems excessive," She cooed with a mischievous smile. Double D froze in place, mouth agape and not a single thought in his panicked and overstimulated mind.

What. The.

"M-Marie?!" He finally said after a few awkward seconds of silence. Marie shifted a little in her spot and looked down at her ripped jeans and canvas shoes.

"Uh yeah, last time I checked."

Double D shook his head, finally allowing the plunger to break from his death grip, and drop straight to the ground with gentle thud. "W-what a-are you do-doing in m-my room?"

She rubbed her neck with a grease-darkened hand and sighed, as if gearing up to say something incredibly profound. "You left your window open," was all that came out of her lips, almost like an untrained reflex. Double D averted his eyes if only for a second to see that his bedroom window was in fact open a crack, letting in a cool autumn breeze as it brushed past his clean curtains. It was at this point that Double D collapsed his knees like a fallen warrior, eyes wide and unfocused.

Marie stood up quickly, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I just wanted to say thank you for keeping everything a secret", she blurted out, "Don't have a heart attack, I don't have insurance."

Double D looked down and covered his face; despite this, however, a small stifled laugh emanated from his bookish frame. Marie looked on with confused eyes, her mouth open but no words to accompany them.

"You scared the hell out of me," he finally said between weak laughs. She sighed and put her hands on her hips looking down at him with a small smirk.

"Alright, alright clowney; don't have an aneurysm on me, I told you I can't afford the bill." With that she reached a hand out to him which he hesitantly took after a few shaky moments. Fully on his feet now he moved over to his desk chair and sat in it, looking like an olympic racer who had just completed a marathon. With as composed a voice as he could muster he once again asked the obvious question.

Marie shifted uncomfortably in her shoes as she looked in every direction except his, "I uh...didn't think I'd get this far to be honest." Double D sighed an exhausted sigh and simply stood up on uneven legs.

"Listen Marie, I don't know what is happening; but I don't think-"

"Let me stop you there Oven Mitt," she interrupted,"don't get the wrong idea, I just came over to say thanks. You and I both know that being around each other is bad for your health so I'll just get going while I still have some dignity left in me."

Double D shook his head and folded his arms, "I don't think so Marie Kanker," his voice unusually harsh, "You can't just break into my house, say thanks and leave like nothing happened." His voice was terse, but much more clear and confident than beforehand. Marie raised one eyebrow yet again, this time in an almost threatening manner, arms folded across her chest.

"Please don't tell me you'll call the cops, Double D, I'm faster than I look," she scoffed, half joking but half serious too. Double D shifted his eyes up with a somewhat horrified visage and an all too real sense of dread.

"C-cops? N-no! Of course n-not! I simply meant-"

Marie interrupted once more, "Relax Oven Mitt, I know what you meant. You mean I should explain my earlier shit including this last stunt, right?"

Double D, in a daze simply nodded and sat down once again. Marie sat down across from him at the edge of his bed with one leg folded over top of the other and nervously tapped her foot gently on the soft carpet floor. Finally she spoke. "Truth is, Double D I'm really freaking pissed off about everything that happened when we were kids, okay?" Her voice was hoarse, almost on the edge of aggressive but she remained still, despite her nervous tapping. Double D tried his best to make eye contact with her, this was incredible news; and yet he simply could not. He was still afraid of her, of what she could do to him. She sighed and stood up, "I'm not saying you have to like me, hell you probably hate my guts," she swallowed and placed a hand on the window sill. "I'm not too good at apologies or any of that sappy stuff, but for what it's worth I regret all those things we did to you and your friends.

"Oh, and don't worry about having to see me again, I'll make sure to stay as far away as possible from you and your pals," She said solemnly. With a silent step and not so much as a chilled gasp, the young woman opened the window fully and slid down the rain gutter so brilliantly placed beside his bedroom, before disappearing into the deep dark of the sleeping cul-de-sac. Double D was stunned, but in no condition to even attempt to think about the situation rationally. Instead he simply closed and locked the window and collapsed onto his bed and into restless, dreamless sleep.