Eddsworld - Deep Blue Sea

Everybody - Chapter three

"It's mother nature's candy, man," He said as he wiped more dead fish on me.

"You're disgusting!" I squeaked, taking off my jacket, and tying it around my waist.

Paul chuckled, wiped a final batch of brutally murdered fish carcass on me, then made his way to the backroom.

I sighed.

Four more hours of this shift. Then I see him.

-

I ringed up May's sister, June, at the counter. She tapped her fingers on its surface, her face sour. I took my time.

She practically slapped a 20 on the table. I looked up at her for an instant, then down at the cash.

"Okay, that's," I eyed the single, lonely, hardly-even-a-pound bass lying in front of me, "'Bout a pound."

I took up the cash, and popped it in the register. I fished around for change, pulling out a few pounds. She snatched it from my hand, grabbed the fish, and speed walked right out of the shop without even a goodbye.

I eased myself back into my squeaky rolly-chair, and sighed, filling my lungs as far as they would stretch, and turning on the radio.

Three more hours.

-

The Weather's new hit single, Carlos, finished up, and my ears were met with Delilah's warm voice. She continued on about her tangent on sirens, which most people, including myself, tended to tune out for. But now I listened. I actually heard what she said, instead of zoning out until the next customer arrived. It was important, but, to everyone but me, irrelevant. 

Maybe that's what drew me to him. Not the way he looked, behaved, or talked... It was the seclusion. The whispers. The thoughts.

The secrecy.

Two more hours.

-

My phone buzzed me out of a state of semi-consciousness. I lazily took it out from my pocket, and found Edd had texted me.

"yo can we get the usual load ova here homeboy"

I suppressed a grin. Homeboy. What an excellent way of speaking.

I responded, "ye i'll be there in sec homeboy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"thx homeboy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

We were terrible. The absolute worst.

I got to my feet, stretched out for a moment, and peeked into the fridge. There was a plastic bag in there, loaded to the brim, that was, quite simply, labelled, "Edd fish."

I shuffled out of the shop, the bell chiming on my way out. I got down the stairs, taking my time, before letting out a breath of air. It showed for an instant in the chilly, fall, sky. I found myself missing summer.

I made my way to their restaurant, passing the same, familiar, streets. The cracks in the sidewalk remained constant, the potholes in the road stayed unfilled, and the people buzzed about their usual routines. We were the ultimate small town.

I arrived at Edd and Tom's, and struggled to push the door open with my hands full of the ocean's turds. Tom stood just a few feet from the entrance. He held his usual air of pure hatred and regret whenever I was even remotely close to him. I ran a hand through my hair, and let the bag down at my side.

"Hey, Tom," I tried my best to sound natural, but I failed horrendously, my words coming off clunky and awkward in every way imaginable. I noticed others in the restaurant taking glances at the two of us, getting ready to gather gossip material.

"Hi," He glared with his hollow, unblinking, lose-yourself-in, husks for eyes, "It's 195, right?"

A beat passed in which I had to forcibly remove myself from my utter enchantment.

I nodded hastily, handing him the bag. He quickly swapped it for a bundle of cash.

Our hands brushed each other for a split second in the exchange, and we had a fleeting moment of eye contact. His "eyes" bore holes into mine, and as they did, for a moment, I felt like I could see into the abyss.

And that abyss could look back.

I cleared my throat abruptly, "Thanks."

I tried to meet his eyes, just one more time, but he had already turned to leave to go back to the freezer. To go back to the kitchen. To go back to his lover.

His achingly beautiful lover.