South Park GAZETTE
Wednesday, July 26 2017
MYSTERIOUS ILLNESS SICKENS TOWN
10 cases of an illness with a likeness to the plague have been confirmed. Symptoms include vomiting of blood and other substances, with frequent fainting. The Department of Health advises that people wash their hands frequently and have their vaccines updated (and their pets) until more information about the disease is found.
...
Sometimes when he closed his eyes, he could still see it. The three-paneled altarpiece, resting on a gray shelf in the Denver Art Museum. This was their family outing- a day in Denver, where Gerald and Sheila thought they might soften their wild boys by unmasking them to bumpy paintings and sleek sculptures.
A flock of flaming curls fell into the sink. He wasn't a stranger to feeling the buzz of a razor on his scalp.
The piece that Kyle remembered most was that Keith Haring work: silvery-gold hieroglyphics with various arms and legs, cast in bronze. The bodies so tight together, shaking their spoon-like arms, twisting lines and dashes filling the vacant spaces.
Carefully, he snapped on black gloves.
The altarpiece was meant to detail the life of Christ, but at the time, Kyle thought it looked like a music festival. Falling bodies, halos and angel wings, tear drops the size of finger tips. Now that he stared at it more when he closed his eyes, yes, it's Christ. A small child in the center. A heart. A cross. It's an altarpiece, of course, he chided himself. Contemporary Christ.
Coolness surrounded his fingers as he dipped into the purple goop, squishing it in the palm of his hand.
According to an article he read, Haring carved out the images freehand in one session. Total freedom left him breathless, exhilarated, moved. Wild.
Kyle loved this piece. He loved this artist. But the more he pictured the intermingling bodies, the claustrophobia, the chaos, he couldn't help but wonder, if he made an altarpiece showcasing his own life, what grand image would be etched into the top? He couldn't think of anything.
Right now, it was blank.
...
Kenny McCormick crawls into Kyle's window to find that Kyle isn't there. But he knows that he can't be far. In the murky lighting, he can make out the clutter of his desk and resolves to steal a look while he waits.
Taped on the wall was the tarot card: The Fool, above a stack of wire-bound notebooks, a large Ziploc bag of sympathy cards and wilted flowers in the corners. Some had dwindled to the floor.
In a 5 by 7 inch silver frame was a photo of Stan and Kyle. A selfie where both of their faces were scrunched, illuminated by a bright light. Kyle's eyes glowed red. The background was black. Kenny figured they forgot the flash was on but Kyle decided to keep it because it was funny.
Next to it, a photo he didn't expect to see: himself and Kyle on the first day of kindergarten. They were outside in the early September sunlight. Kenny had his arms flung around Kyle's shoulders, his gap-toothed grin peeking just above the cotton of his hood. Kyle's hands held onto Kenny's arms as if he was holding onto the chest guard on a roller coaster, squinting with his equally gleeful gap-toothed smile. Once, they stuck each end of a Twizzler in the other's teeth to see if it would hold. After a couple of tries it did, and neither of them stopped talking about it for the rest of the day.
In an open pocket book, random chemistry notes (no doubt from the study sessions with Karen) were scrawled in his cursive.
Dopamine
YOU ARE READING
River Teeth
FanfictionOn the edge of graduating from high school, Stan proposes to Kyle in the hopes they can run away together; finally getting out that little mountain town. However, Kyle isn't sure if it's the right thing to do and turns him down. The next day, Stan g...
