The kitchen table made an obscene sound as Ed's body collided into it. It scraped several feet across the floor before he found his balance and turned, gripping the edge so he wouldn't spill onto the freshly washed tile. Lightning radiated from his lower back which was currently sending signals to his knees to protest in mutiny against him but he managed to stay on his feet. His father stood wordless, the old belt in his hand with the leather looped once over his big fist.

"I told you," Ed tried again. "This morning… at breakfast." He was breathless from that rattlesnake strike to which the large buckle had connected with the most vulnerable part of his spine.

"You did no such thing, Edward," his mother spat as she stood at the sink with her hands upon her hips. "You are nearly two hours late, where were you when Sarah needed you?"

He lifted his face, his expression pained as he peered at her through heavy auburn bangs. His lips pulled back from his teeth in a grimace as his father struck him again, but he didn't flinch. He had stopped flinching years ago. "Honest!" he said, desperate for them to believe him. "Honest! I told you this morning that I was going to stay with my math teacher because he was going to tutor me and help me get at least a B on my test!"

"Nonsense," his father grunted, but otherwise remained silent. After all; it wasn't he that wore the pants in the family.

"What have we told you about lying to us, Edward?" she asked without hiding the disdain in her voice.

"I didn't lie!" he pleaded, and then leaned forward as the belt bit into his back once more. This time higher up. He slowly sank down upon one knee, his hands still gripping the edge of the table as he waited for the wave of nausea to pass. "I swear! Sarah was there! She can tell you!"

"Don't you dare bring your sister into this mess," his mother spat as venom now fueled the seething anger to her words. "Don't you dare! Aren't you bad enough that you have to sully her?"

"Sully?" he asked, his lips quivering as he fought to keep them still. Whenever he grew vulnerable and truly showed them the agony he was in, they joyfully pounced to make it worse.

"Yes, sully. That means to spoil, tarnish, or defile!"

He knew what sully meant, he just couldn't believe that his parents would think such a thing. Didn't he take such good care of Sarah? And now that the entire gang was so close after the ordeal with Eddy's brother, didn't they all take good care of each other? Of course they did, and that's when Ed's punishments began to really grow harsher. Sarah was no longer a pawn to be used against him because of the bond they had formed and it had infuriated their parents to no end.

"Aah!" lowering his head, Ed closed his eyes tightly as the belt began to rain down blow upon blow to the backs of his shoulders. "Stop it, please, it hurts!"

"Don't you think it hurts us to do this to you?" his mother spat and something within his soul took a trembling breath, and then grew courage.

He lifted his face, staring at her with a mixture of fascination and wounded wonder. "No," he whispered. The next blow felt faltering before his father lowered his arm and lifted his face to gauge how his wife would react to such an act of defiance. Ed was supposed to take his lumps, not defy them.

"No?" she asked as she closed the distance between them. "Am I getting sass back from you?"

It was a feat of will Ed didn't know he possessed just to muster the physical strength to push himself back onto his feet. He swayed as his stomach lurched and he felt his gorge rise before fighting it back down. His back was on fire and agony was radiating down his left leg. Must be nerve damage, he thought to himself. Double Dee would know.

She looked at her son for a long while now. When he was a baby, she had been so disappointed that not only was he the wrong sex, but he looked just like his father. Now, as time wore on, she had begun to see what a beauty Ed was. He truly had been an ugly duckling of a child, but time was slowly erasing that as he was beginning to favor her side of the family now. "Why don't you cut your hair, you look like a girl," she tried a different direction. Emotional abuse since the physical discipline wasn't working.

"Sarah likes it," he said softly, and then sniffled once. "I grew it for her, and she likes it." He closed his eyes as the palm of his mother's hand connected with his cheek with a shotgun crack, leaving behind an angry red print.

"What did I tell you about sullying your sister?"

"I did it for her," Ed whispered. His head turned this time as she struck again. "I'm going to my room," he said dismissively as he pushed away from the table. It made one more horrible scrape since it was holding most of his weight, and his parents pounced. He made it to stairway door before the belt connected with his back again, and this time, he lifted his arm to try to ward away the blow. He tried to close the door against his father, but that only enraged his mother, who pointed at her son and instructed her husband to do what he should against such a bad, headstrong boy.

Sarah stood in the hallway, her hands clamped tightly over her ears as she cried over the entire ordeal. Of course they were wrong; they were always wrong when it came to Ed. Why didn't they just come out and say what they really felt? Why didn't they just get it over with and tell him how much they hated him? Why not just kick him out of the house if he made them that miserable? But she knew the simple truth. They liked hurting him. It made whatever bad things in their own lives seem better when they took it out on him. Usually after a good whipping, while he lie on his bed sometimes weeping, they would be smiling and relaxed. He was their outlet. He was their whipping boy. Her heart began to grow cold for them.

She was pulled out of her morose reverie by Ed's sharp sudden cry. A moment of silence passed, a sliver of a second before it was joined by another, and then the sick sounds of his body as it tumbled down the staircase.

Double Dee hummed a soft tune to himself as water rushed into the sink where it met the soap to create a heady lather over the dinner dishes. His parents had asked if he would like to join them for a movie, but he had only smiled and ushered them out the door, clucking to them about how three was a crowd on date night. He chuckled softly at the memory that was only a half hour old. He was halfway through the dishes when the sudden pounding at the front door caused him to start. A glass slipped through the grip in his yellow gloves and it made a soft tinking sound as it bumped into a plate at the bottom of the sink. The doorbell rang next and there was no mistaking the desperation as the pounding resumed.

"Coming…" he said as concern etched his brow. It was nearly eight thirty. "Why who in the world would be by so late?" he murmured as he removed the gloves and placed them neatly in the adjoining sink before untying his apron. "I'm coming!" he called louder, so his guest would know they weren't knocking in vain. "Just a moment, please!"

When he peered through the peephole, he was surprised to see Sarah standing on the porch. "Just a moment," he said again and the door opened after the lock snapped to. He canted his head, looking at her in concern as she began to cry.

"It's Ed!" she cried out. "He fell down the stairs and I can't help him up!"

"Oh dear!" he exclaimed with a shock he wish were genuine.

Sarah nodded once, and then reached out to grip his arm, tugging it gently. "You know I can't call anyone," she whispered. "It makes things so bad… and instead of being mad at me for calling it, they punish Ed because he was the reason why I did."

"This has got to stop, this isn't right, it's not healthy, and I can't stand by while my friend is being abused," Double Dee answered heatedly as he gently removed her hands from his arm. However, this was a situation where he needed to remain calm and in control. "Come, I put a good medical kit in his room just for occasions such as this."

"Thank you, Double Dee," she said through her tears.

He had brought his fears to his parent's attention and they were concerned, but uncomfortable. His mother explained to him in situations like this, it could tear apart the entire social fabric of the neighborhood. It could cause the siblings to be removed from the home and separated, it could cause very bad blood. The last thing everyone in the cul-de-sac needed was a Hatfield and McCoyesque feud.

"But he's my friend," Edd had pleaded with them, but in the end, they had won out.

Thunder rumbled in the distance as Double Dee escorted Sarah back to her home.

Ed swayed on his feet, looking down with hazy eyes at the pool of blood that had spread beneath his cheek as he lie on the cold basement floor. Better clean that up if mom wants to do the laundry his mind murmured as he continued to stare at the pool. Don't want her to step in it, I'll get it for sure if she does. It wasn't large, which was good. He was just grateful that it didn't spread beneath the washer or dryer. Turning, he walked in slow stilted steps towards his bedroom door, wiping his hand absentmindedly along the cut on his chin. Blood, fresh now that the wound had been reopened, began to seep once more, gaining traction with gravity and moving down his neck. He didn't register the handprint he left on the door facing as it gripped it and fought to keep the darkness from the edges of his vision. At the moment, he knew he was in pain, he just couldn't pinpoint where. Signals were scrambled and he just needed to go sit down.

He inhaled once, twice, and then nodded with faint determination as he began to walk once again. Just go sit down, the room was spinning, his heart felt like it was galloping in his chest and wherever it was going he dearly wished it would take him with it. Anything to get away. His name was called, but it felt like it was so far away. He felt like he was underwater and he was sure he was still walking, but he couldn't tell if he was any closer to his chair or not. His room was dark, but the light cast into the doorway behind him gave him plenty of light to see by. The light was broken once, and then twice, his name, a startled familiar voice, and then Sarah's voice joining it. The world was growing lighter, as if he could fly, or perhaps float. He no longer felt attached with the weight of his still growing body and then, there was his name again followed by a jolting sensation.

He came to for a moment, a brief interlude of clarity in this waking nightmare called Ed's life. He blinked stupidly and realized that he was indeed in his room, but not as far from the door as he had assumed. He was on his knees and a voice was calling to him urgently. Someone was holding him up.

"Sarah? Is it Sarah? Does she need me?" he slurred as he turned his head. The voices again, they sounded muddy and far away and the darkness was creeping in around his field of vision once more. He frowned and thought he could feel hands on his back and arms around him, keeping him steady. He just wanted to lie down and rest for a moment. Just a moment, then he'd clean up where he'd bled on the floor. "Am I here?" he asked before he lost consciousness.