Last Summer - South Park [Style]

THIRTY¬SEVEN [goodnight]

Two chapters left.

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Nothing could have prepared Stan for the next few weeks. Lately his life had been like a bad dream but now after the incident it had turned into a nightmare.

Once he had returned to the cabin where his friends were waiting, Eric's corpse had disappeared. None of them knew how that had happened. It was just gone.

A few minutes later, the police came. A passing driver had heard the gunshots and informed them.

They brought the four of them to the police station where the school principal was already waiting. Because there was no proof for an act of violence, they believed Kenny's story. That he had found the gun the day before and they just wanted to test it.

The officer was of good nature and the principal gullible so the only consequence was a week of suspension. Well, two for Craig since he had smuggled his boyfriend into the school.

Stan was surprised that Craig went along with the lie since he had been furious about Kyle and Eric. But apparently he realized that exposing the truth would get him into trouble as well.

The next day Stan called his parents. They had a long talk and decided for him to move back to Denver and start going to therapy again. His old therapist, Ms. Maisely, welcomed him with open arms and for a second, Stan was hopeful that everything could soon be normal again.

But reality did not hide for long.

He was broken. His nights were horror. He was hardly able to sleep and when he did drift away, everything was pitch black. Stan had stopped dreaming completely. Ms. Maisely had prescribed him sleeping pills but after his last experience with them, he decided to not use them. Not now. 

As soon as Kenny was back at school, he asked him if he had heard from Kyle, if someone had noticed that he was missing. But what Kenny told him after doing some digging, ripped Stan's world apart. According to the teachers, Kyle had moved away.

That's all. That's all they knew. Stan kept recalling every day what Kyle had told him.

He had promised to come back and exnlain everything.

But as days turned into weeks and those weeks into months, Stan realized, that he was gone forever.

The boy he loved had just left him, heartbroken and confused.

In therapy and at home he put on a facade, used every opportunity to convince the people around him that he started doing better. He even managed to fool Kenny.

But in reality, he had decided for himself, that there was no way out.

And why keep pretending when there was no point in it? Stan was trapped. Just empty.

Empty like the bottles of sleeping pills that are now lying next to his bed.

Rest in peace, Stan.