everything now - an epilogue

178 16 10
                                    


// i went over this again and! wow! do i not like it! oh well here's an epilogue because there's a few Good Points in there and that nostalgia is hitting me hard
// dont @ me madison >:(
// also dont read this madison thanks


TOM POV


"Welcome to Molly's Mysteries! The only mystery podcast on the internet dedicated enough to dig so deep it kills- and has just hit 1.5 million subscribed listeners!" She chirped into her microphone. We sat together in a nice hotel room close to the coast, listening to seagulls chatter outside, and waves crash against the sandbar. I watched her face change to match her words, regurgitating out my own damn story for the thousandth time I've heard it repeated back through countless mouths. I sit through her tedious monologue with an ounce of visible impatience.

"So, today, we have a very special interview with a very special someone. Broadcasting live, on Molly's Mysteries, is the, and I mean the, Thomas (insert last name here. not gonna use ridgewell)." She made direct eye contact with me and held the mic out in my general direction as she said it. There was a slight pause before I realized I needed to actually start talking.

"Uhm," I cleared my throat, "Hi. It's me. Tom."

She gave me a "keep going" look and a nod.

"I, ah, I'm here to talk about.. Edd's death. The full story behind it- well, the story I know."

She pulled the microphone back to herself, took a deep breath, and continued, "No other mystery podcast has been able to actually get him on their show, so I would like to say that I'm quite honored to have you on, Tom!" She smiled wider than I thought was possible for a human to smile, and, to my disgust, looked me up and down with hungry eyes. I visibly winced.

"Yeah... no problem."

"Anyway, I wanted to ask you a few questions, of course," She took out a painfully large stack of note cards. I sighed deeply. "So, the running theory is that Edd and Tord- you know him? - had a suicide pact to 'donate themselves to the sirens'. Is this true?"

I was set back abruptly.

"Ah- no- what-"

"Do you know Tord?"

"..Um, yeah, I knew him," I noticed her use of the present tense. What were these people on? Thinking that Tord was still alive somehow? Coming up with absolutely insane theories on what happened to him? To Edd? Fucking sick.

"And what do you think the cause of his disappearance was?"

"He fell into the ocean. Simple as that."

"Really? Don't you think it's interesting how close together their deaths were, not to mention, but how they used the exact same boat?"

"... What are you implying?"

She visibly shifted, her expression something resembling smugness, "I don't know. I'm asking you the questions, remember?" She laughed forcefully, flashing the whites of her teeth. I laughed along with her, but in a more horrified tone than forceful. She continued, "Anyway, do you think, and I don't mean to pry, but, have you considered the possibility that Edd was cheating on you?"

Now I was pissed.

"Are.. Are you fucking serious?" I scoffed, smiling. I shook my head, continuing on, flushing anger out of my mouth like a faucet, "Tord fell into the ocean and drowned, Edd went crazy and wanted to go find him, he went into the water, got attacked by an animal, went back to the boat, bled out all-fucking-alone, and I showed up a million years too-god damn-late! That's the story!"

I stood, shoving the chair I had been sitting in onto the floor.

"And I know that's not the story you wanted. I know it isn't. You know why? Because you look disappointed. Like you wanted me to recite some conspiracy theory bullshit about how Tord became a fucking mermaid and how Edd's actually alive in Area 51 or some absolute fucking shit you pull out of your ass on the daily to hide your lack of a personality!"

"Thomas, I know you're upset, especially after Edd's death, but you have to think about the possibility-"

"Possibility? I already fucking have! That's why he's dead! I disappeared out of spite, he lost it because of handling Tord's loss all alone, and, fuck, he might've even killed himself! But he never cheated. You see, you forget that we're actual people, and you go off and you tell your fucking stories without even acknowledging the fact that we are real. You don't even get it when I'm standing right here in front of you telling you that I am!"

She stammered, her show host brain coming to a screeching halt. I took this as an opportunity.

"And now, if you don't mind, I'll be taking that check you paid me to be on your shitty show." I snatched the check from the table, turned on my heel, and stormed off.


TORD POV


Matt hung over me like a curtain from behind, his arms draped down to my sides, his cheek pressing into the side of my head. I simply idled and waited for him to quit it. He pushed his head forwards, attempting to make eye contact with me. His face contorted into something of a sad expression.

"Awh, baby, what's wrong?" He cooed. One of his hands reached up to touch my face, but I grabbed his wrist before he could. He looked shocked. He always looked shocked.

"Oh! Ahaha, sorry, forgot," He tore his hand away from me. I sat, dead eyed, at the infinite hazy blue nothing in front of me. He fidgeted. 

"I saw an octopus today," He carried on, "Yeah. Don't see many octopuses in this area. Guess it might have been migrating, or something. Do octopuses migrate?"

There was a long silence while he waited- no, hoped, I'd respond. I stayed my usual stony silent. He kept fidgeting.

"I wonder what it's like to migrate; to go somewhere every year. Like a vacation." He sighed, looking out at the same blue nothing. "I don't need to know, though, 'cause I've got you!" He reverted his attention to me, wrapping his arms tighter around my waist. I almost cringed.

He sighed in a ditsy way, tilting his head so that it rested on my shoulder. I clenched my hands into the sand below, pushing little grains of the stuff up into my nails. He continued not to notice, and began to sway back in forth with me, involuntarily, in his arms.

...

...

...How much more of this could I take?

I felt the buzzing sensation of that same craving, the one I'd been denying myself for as long as I'd been down here. That urge. That temptation. It grew so big inside my gut I felt I would explode into a bloody rampage fueled by pure hatred. It boiled so hot in my veins I could almost feel it sizzle just underneath my skin. That endless want, that endless need for relief. It was the only thing that kept me feeling human; the only thing that separated me from my deformed body.

But I could never give in to it.

So I sit, and I wait for an opportunity. An opportunity, of course, that will never come.


// i have another idea for this ??? kinda ??? but idk if i should go into it
// WHATEVER hope u liked

Eddsworld - Deep Blue SeaWhere stories live. Discover now