Through the Corridors

Chapter One

It is just an ordinary day ... or is it? (Dun dun duhhh)!

Edd is sitting in the corner of his dormitory (shared with Tord, Tom and Matt), chugging on cola. 

Tom is being an emo piece of poop and staring into the abyss of nothingness. 

Matt is in the bathroom, gazing lovingly at his gorgeous reflection for hours on end. 

Tord is beating up the orphanage teacher with Edd's empty cola cans. 

"TORD LIRSON! IM NOT A PUNCHING BAG!" bellows Mrs Veshquashias, spit flying from her mouth as she swats the cans away. 

"WELL YOU LOOK LIKE ONE TO ME!" he retords (pun not intended), chucking another cola that hit her right in the face. 

Meanwhile ...

The manager of this feeble little orphanage calls for Matt, Edd and Tom. Trudging to the manager's office, they each wonder why they are being summoned. 

"Maybe they're giving me a new mirror!" Matt says dreamily as twinkling stars appear in his eyes. 

"Stop fantasising, Matt ..." Tom mutters irritably under his breath, hands stuffed in his hoodie pockets. 

They all enter the large office, fully expecting to see a purple-faced Mr Hardywildabutt (don't question, he was born with this name).  But instead, the three bewildered boys are met with two finely dressed adults, with overjoyed looks evident on their faces. The woman is tall with short dirty-blonde hair and icy blue eyes with a menacing gleam. The man is large and burly man, complete with a perfectly styled moustache. And beside them was a cheery-looking Mr Hardywildabutt, who was a tall, raven-haired man. As the boys exchange bemused glances, a passing goes through all three of them: they couldn't be getting adopted, could they? 

"Edd, Matt, Tom, meet your two new parents!" Mr Butt exclaims merrily. 

"YOU'RE JOKING!!" Edd screams. He couldn't believe it, literally...

... Tord wasn't getting adopted along with them.

"No, does it look like I'm joking? You're getting adopted by us!" the woman, who goes by the name of Keres says, with a slight tone of annoyance.

"Tord's coming, or we stay here!" Matt shouts in despair, shaking his fist in fury. 

Mr Butt looks utterly stunned. 

"Right! That's it!" roars Tyson, Keres' husband, and makes a harsh move toward the three furious boys. 

Tom shoves Edd and Matt out of the way, taking the impact of Tyson. Howling, the man rams Tom straight into the glass door like a raging bull, causing it to shatter into a million pieces. Mr Butt is screeching, "STOP! STOP!" like a headless chicken is doing absolutely nothing to help.

Tyson instantly releases Tom for several pieces of glass have found a home in Tyson's skin. Hollering with agony, he clutches his wounds, Tom lying unconscious at his side. Mr Butt has also passed out, but from trauma rather than injury.

"What the hell do we do know?" hisses Edd, fear rapidly rising in his chest. 

But Edd doesn't need an answer as a familar caramel-haired boy bursts into the room, a harpoon gun in hand. 

"OUT OF THE WAY AMIGOS!" Tord cries, aiming the gun at Tyson's toe and shooting him in the big toe. 

Tyson fires a volley of curses grasps his big toe, howling louder than a hungry wolf with anguish.

"LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!" Tord screams. 

Edd makes an attempt to hoist Tom's limp body up onto Matt's back, but Matt buckles under the weight of Tom. 

"EDD, TAKE MY HARPOON GUN!" Tord commands, chucking his gun over to Edd while sprinting over to Tom and hoisting him onto his back. "REALLY, WEAKLINGS? HE'S NOT EVEN THAT HEAVY!" Tord mocks as the three of them tread over the splintered glass and bolt straight to the exit. 

"This is like a life-and-death situation and Tord still feels the need to mock us," Edd sighs as he hastily pushes the orphanage doors open.

The moment they make contact with the pavement outside the building, the three of them sprint faster than they had ever done in their lives. Soon enough, Mrs Veshquashias is hot on their heels, causing the boys' heart to beat so violently they were afraid it would break in their chest. They did not dare look back. 

"COME BACK HERE YOU LITTLE SH-" but Mrs Veshquashias is abruptly cut off as the boys hear her stumble. Naturally, the three boys did dare to look back just in time to catch the orphanage teacher fall flat on her face. She had tripped on a passing, greyish-pink sloth. Matt swears he saw the sloth wink at them. 

And so they keep running. They soon reach a park, and the three ten-year-old boys collapse onto a wooden bench, panting profusely. Tom is still unconscious. 

"Where the heck are we going to go now?" Tord asks.

"We need to go some place where we can clean up Tom's wounds," Edd responds at once, grimacing as he eyes the little shards of glass sticking out of Tom's skin.

"Really? It's the psychopath's fault he got himself injured. Let-"

"TORD!" Edd and Matt yell indignantly.

"-him tend to his own wounds." Tord continues, completely ignoring his two mates' cries. "The git deserves to perish in he-"

"HEY, TORD!" Matt abruptly cuts in, his eyes narrowing dangerously at him. "Do you want me to ram you into a glass door, and leave you to care for yourself?"

"You could, but I would shoot you with my harpoon-"

"OKAY! OKAY!" Edd screams with exasperation, not being able to take his friends bickering and lack of sympathy anymore. Where's Cola when you desperately need it? "Let's find somewhere to clean Tom's wounds. Any suggestions?"

"A hospital, duh. Isn't that the whole purpose of hospitals?" scoffs Tord. 

"Do use your logic," Matt replies. "You think we can just waltz into a hospital and ask the doctors to heal Tom without them questioning where the fork our parents are?"

"You have a better suggestion, ginger-head?" Tord snaps back. 

Edd eyes the posh-looking hotel over the road. 

"I have an idea ..."

Hope you enjoyed our first chapter :)!