"Morning" I smiled, wrapping a quick kiss around his lips before ruffling the sleeves of my robe up to my arms. "When are you coming back?" He sighs, and takes a sip of the black coffee, its strong smell getting caught in between the air around us.
"Around 2? I won't take long, plus-" I went on, looping my hands around his hips and pulling him in closer, "I feel like taking you out."
"finally," he laughs and I stick my tongue out.
"What do you mean finally, you little-" I pinch his cheek playfully and wrap another kiss around his cheek. Yeah, of course it's obvious that I don't want to leave. But I have class today, and well...it's no excuse if I keep missing days of class.
"Go on," he rolls his eyes and opens the door for my exit, ouch, I sigh. "Kicking me out so soon?" I laugh and he nods, shrugging his shoulders. "You're a hassle, I need some peace and quiet sometimes."
I'm a hassle!?
"You're not gonna miss me?" I coo, easing my posture and tilting closer to his face, pressing my cheek lightly with my index. Kiss me, I gesture and he raises his brow.
"Not really"
"Not even a, have a good day at work honey?" I pout and rock a hand through my hair, it's obvious that he doesn't want to give me a kiss. But god, do I want one bad.
"I'm not your 50's wife, Craig." He plants an index finger on my forehead and pushes me back, I shrug and think about it for a second before talking.
"Could be"
"Just go to work dumbass," he plants a soft kiss on my lips, and I smile. I lean in for another but he pushes his hands on my mouth, signaling to the door. It's been open for quite some while, causing the temperature inside to drop. He's right, but do I have to?
"Isn't Tolkien, Jimmy or your friends waiting for you!? Just go jeez! You're gonna be late" he pushes me out the door and I look back, stealing a quick kiss before he slams the door in my face. "I love you too!" I yell and he knocks the door twice. "Yeah yeah, GO!"
right, I look ahead and make my way down, it's snowy alright. But tolerable, every step beyond my apartment makes me fall weak. I wish I could just go back, but I know I can't because I know he'll pinch me for staying. The wind isn't as strong as yesterday, but it feels nice.
A fresh breeze of wind to the air, to warm the little chill in my heart. I'm dizzy, because I can't get him off my mind. I shouldn't be such a dummy, but I can't help it.
The walk there is quiet, by now I would've met Tolkien or Clyde by the path, but today. It's a little too quiet, despite the whistle around the trees. I took another path today, it's by the lake. I don't know why I took this path. But it feels nice, peaceful.
But, you ever get that feeling.
That you're being watched. From everywhere.
It's sudden but my body stops mid-walk, everything goes quiet and the world seems just a little too quiet. Since when has the world been this...quiet?
I'm closer to the church, but the closer I get, the more I feel restrained. Stuck to the ground, I'm scared of something I don't even know of. I'm looking around because I'm hoping to at least see one of my friends, or atleast one of Kenny's friends give me a quick smile, but it's empty.
Should I text Tolkien? Or Clyde? I take out my phone and look down at the screen, I don't have any calls from my friends, so I take a deep breath in. I text Clyde just in case to make sure, I just want to make sure that he's made it to church in time.
"Clyde u at church?" I text and his profile pops up, "nah, it's closed, we were emailed to stay back home" he responds back and leaves the chat, I'm guessing he's busy. But to stay back home, today? Why?
I'm curious, of course, who wouldn't? I dig my phone back into my pocket and breath, at least it's nothing bad. I'll just take a quick peek, grab my stuff from the church and head back home.
I guess it's a good thing that we don't have class today after all. Just as I'm nearing the church's entrance I see Kenny by the side of the wall. I'm a bit disappointed, I wasn't expecting to see him first thing in the morning, but it's whatever. I didn't come here to talk with him anyway.
"Craig, I know you can see me" Kenny sighs, and looks up at me from his phone. "Then it must be obvious that I don't want to talk to you" I roll my eyes and walk even closer to the door but he slaps his hand on the entrance and frowns.
"I wouldn't go inside if I was you Craig" he stops me in the act and I groan. I can't believe this fucker.
"Wow, that's so fucking amazing Kenny!" I throw my hands in the air and pinch my nose bridge, "first thing in the morning!" I groan and he visibly gets madder at me. Listen, I don't know what I did to him, but between me and my locker, there's nothing that should be so frighteningly horrible that not even I can go inside.
"You know what!? Fine! Fuck you Craig!" He lifts his hand up from the wall and I look a little confused. What's his deal?
"Just know that this time I couldn't cover up whatever FUCKED up little shit, you got yourself into!" He poked his index finger at my chest and I slapped his hand away, taking a step closer. What the fuck did I do!?
"Kenny you know nothing of the SHIT, that goes on in my life, so stop acting like you know me." I frowned and he took a step back in disbelief.
"Open the door then" his voice goes cold and the sudden air around us gets chilly. "See it for yourself Craig."
"Maybe you'll realize that the last time you fucked up, I was the ONE who got rid of the evidence, so be more great full next time" he gritted his teeth, and tightly wrapped his fingers into a fist.
"Just this time, I couldn't, because the fuck up you did was too massive to cover up." He sighed and turned around, he's not looking at me anymore but I sense anger in his posture. I don't, I don't understand. I'm confused, why is he acting like he's trying to protect me? As if he feels pity for me, that time he left me alone, and now he was trying to make up for it.
I don't need your pity, and I certainly don't need to hear the bullshit and accusations that come out of his mouth.
I shrug my shoulders and open the wide doors.
It's dark at first, but the light captivates my surroundings.
my throat goes dry and my body goes still.
What the fuck am I looking at.
"what the fuck is going on" I panic and grab the outline of my shirt, walls after walls scratched with my name on them.
My name everywhere.
Scratched in red ink, denting the wooden interior. Circled and underlined.
"Believe me now?" He muffles for one last time and I forget that he's been standing right behind me the whole time. I panic, thinking that the police are behind him, but when I turn around I just see Kenny.
"I didn't do this"
"Maybe it was, or maybe it wasnt " he sighed, "but one thing is for sure, you fucked up big time."
This can't be real. I close the doors and take a step back, this can't fucking be real.
"Where-where is he?" I turned my head around and gasped, but no matter where I looked I couldn't see anybody else but Kenny.
"Where the fuck is father Mackey!" I yelled and Kenny stayed silent behind me.
Don't-don't fucking stay silent right now you fucking! I wrapped my hands around his neck and Kenny groaned, wincing from my chokehold. He took a step back and I took a step forward.
He digs at my hands and I loosen them up lightly when I realize that he's about to talk.
"The fuck do I know!?" He punched me in the chest and I hurled back, coughing into my sleeve and raising my chin up. "You're his little pet are you not!?" I groaned and Kenny frowned, tossing another punch to my shoulder. I slid back and coughed, wounding my hand over my shoulder.
He ruffled up his sleeves and disgustingly looked down at me.
"Get out of here, Craig."
...
I don't know how this happened.
But it's been 10 minutes since I was close to the entrance of the church, this time I'm running through the same path I peacefully used to walk over to here. I can't breathe, my lungs feel harsh inside my body, and my feet feel like giving up on me. But I'm fucking running.
Every step feels unreal, a nightmare in my eyes.
"FUCK" I yell underneath my breathe, and trip on a branch, It hurts but I stand up. Every part of my body fucking hurts. But I need to keep running.
Because I'm scared, I'm scared of the worst.
I'm scared of fucking losing him.
Losing the only part of him in my life.
.
.
.
I'm just around the corner of the lake, and what felt like a nice breeze of wind now bites at my face and withers at my skin.
just a little more, I repeat to myself and keep running. Giving up on my knees and hands. Taking the short path I know around the area, until I can see my apartment from the corner of my eye.
I see red and blue lights caging the surroundings and I bite my lip, I hope God the sirens aren't for what I think they're for. But the closer I get, the closer I start to realize.
That I might be too late.
Please.
Please.
Please.
"Please" my voice croaks, it hurts my lungs every time I breathe. My throat, every time I speak.
I've made it to the scene, and now I'm suddenly the center of attention. My apartment's window is broken, Mr Mackey and a few others are looking at me speechless. The officer pulls out his handcuffs and my eyes go wide.
"WHERE THE FUCK IS TWEEK" I yell out and Mr Mackey holts the officer from arresting me.
"Craig, we need you to cooperate with us"
"WHERE THE FUCK IS HE" I wipe the tears from my eyes, and my sleeve turns cold. "TELL ME WHERE HE IS" I approach Mr Mackey and the cop grabs me by the shoulder. "Listen kid."
"Don't fucking touch me" I slap the officers hands away and he reaches over to my hand in urgency, but I walk away before he's able to. Just when I thought things were fine, another cop grabs me by the neck and throws me to my knees.
Fuck, I grunt, and furrow my brows at Mr Mackey.
"Craig Tucker" he walks up to me slowly and his presence turns cold, "you've broken your oath to the church, you've broken our trust"
"And most importantly, you've risked the lives of the people living around you" he breathes in coldly, and waits for my utter response. But I can't bear to hear his words.
"BULLSHIT, HE NEVER HURT ANY OF YOU" I bark back and he holds his hand up, the officer tugs at my arms.
Mr Mackey kneels down in front of me and frowns. He's mad at me, but so am I. "Craig Tucker, 5 nights ago, the same demon that you were hiding, caused chaos. Scratching the walls and remarking statements of being 'back."
"Today he scratches the walls of the church with your name and accuses you," he closes his eyes for a minute and opens them once he's taken another breathe in.
"And to grow concern, not only do your actions have consequences, but the same demon you had hidden under your humble abode, is under possession by Moriah." My eyes grow scarce, and I lose my breath. "I'm sure you know who Moriah is considering you've lost your father to him." He stood up and my body froze.
That's not true...Tweek couldn't, he was with me for the whole time. Even if he was under his possession, he never did anything to hurt me, or others.
"That's got nothing to do with him." I fought back and Mr Mackey shook his head in disagreement.
"Oh, it's got everything to do with him, because I was the one who confined Tweek." He proposes and everything starts to connect. The paper, the scene. The house.
"If things couldn't get worse we lost Moriah's capsule" he sighs and it clicks. The book, the book Kenny accused me of. He thought it was me.
"I'm disappointed in you Craig Tucker, from now on, you are FORBIDDEN, to ever cross paths with the church EVER again." He finishes off his sentences and takes a step back. I'm still in disbelief, it's still hard to take in knowledge of everything. I knew that Tweek was hurt by Moriah, but I never knew he was possessed.
...
"Mr Mackey, I'll ask you this one last time. '' My voice turns hoarse, and he looks down at me. I'm a threat in his eyes, a criminal. A dishonest exorcist. "Where is he."
"Lock him up" Mr Mackey turns around and starts walking away. What, I frown and pull at my arms. The officer behind me looks around my age, but he digs at my arms and causes the pain to grow. "Let's go, you're going to prison" The guy behind me muffles and I throw my elbow straight up into his chest. He groans and lets go of his grip, I stand up and the other officer runs over to me. Just this time.
I'm not going to fucking give up.
Mr Mackey's words play like a video recordings in my mind, but I shake them off. I'm running and the cops are running off behind me. One of the cops grabs me by the sleeve and I take the robe off my body, stumbling across the uneven pavement. I'm tired from running, but the adrenaline keeps me running.
I make it to a dead end, a fence taller than me, looking back I grit my teeth and look at the officers that run towards me. I don't remember the last time I got chased by the cops, but fuck was it filling my body up with blood.
I launch my hands on the fence and start climbing up, the cops watch me in doing so and the youngest cop attempts to climb below me. I throw my foot against his head and he falls back, I make it to the top and jump off, barely catching myself despite the terrible sound of the pebbles scratching against my legs.
Fuck fuck fuck! I hold in my breath and run, I don't see them behind me anymore but it's not safe to stop, so I run for a few blocks. By now they've probably got patrols on the lookout.
And it's at this moment something that should seem like a really really bad, actually turns out to be saving my life. In the corner of my eye I see Cartman, opening the driver's door of his car and I lunge towards him.
"DRIVE" I yell and Cartman freaks out, cracking his neck around to look at me. He turns on the engine and slowly starts to drive but I make it just in time to grab the door behind, tug the handle and open it. "NO CARTMAN, STOP THE FUCKING CAR AND LET ME INSIDE FIRST"
"FUCK NO" he drives off and for god knows how fast, I was even able to open the door and slide inside. But now I'm inside and that's all that matters. "FUCK CARTMAN ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME!?"
"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME!?!" He yells and it suddenly brings me to the idea that the only person who knew about me and Tweek was Cartman. I twitched and my hands wrapped around his neck from behind. I choke him and he gasps.
"NOW I AM, YOU MOTHERFUCKER THIS IS YOUR FAULT" I yell louder until he's yelling with me, the cars swinging left and right, but he presses down on the brakes so hard my face hits the seat in front of me face first.
"HOW THE FUCK IS ANYTHING MY FAULT" Cartman unbuckles his belt, and turns around to look at me. Nose leaking with blood and a tired expression written over my face. "Are you saying that the church going to my apartment wasn't your fault."
"NO!? WHAT THE FUCK CRAIG."
"Shit," I frown and wipe my bloody nose, I was being too careless. "Listen Cartman, I'm sorry"
"get out"
"No"
"what do you mean no!?" Cartman groaned and gripped the steering wheel hard. "Please Cartman, I need your fucking help" I pleaded and for a second I feel like Cartman considered it. The few minutes are up to him, but it's not looking too good for me. It's sudden but the cops suspect Cartman's car for being in the middle of the road, My eyes go wide and he notices.
"Holy shit Craig you're hiding from the cops!?" He twists his face into discontent and I nod, "I'll explain later, please Cartman"
Quickly I notice the visible approach of the officers and hide underneath, my hearts pounding really loudly. I'm fucking scared, this could be it. My only fucking chance.
"Hey, you" the cop calls out from ahead and Cartman verbally hesitates, when the cops come closer Cartman gulps and takes a deep breath in.
Please Cartman.
"Yeah offica?" He smiles and leans in closer to the window, "anything wrong?"
"Yeah uh, have you seen a tall man running around?" The cop speaks gently and Cartman starts to think for a second, before looking back at the cop. "Nah, just cruising" Cartman answers slyly and I hold in my breath. I'm surprised he hasn't said anything ethically wrong yet.
"right, apologies then, please continue with your safe travels" the officer gives the passenger seat one more look before walking off.
Cartman gives me the 'it's good' look and I stand back up.
"Craig" he takes a deep breath in and looks back at me, "I'll help you, but you gotta tell me fucking everything"
"Deal."