The video above belongs to anyyvink. Anyway I wish I could've posted sooner this week but it's been stressful as all hell and I had more homework than usual for some stupid reason but this chapter is really long so :
Enjoy
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Kenny
"OH G-GAH-OD WHAT TH-HE HELL HA-APP-PENED!?"
The moment I opened the door, the first thing I saw was Tweek shaking like there's no tomorrow.
"Tweek honey, calm down." Craig appeared behind him, his face reassuring but he seemed alert all the same.
"Well then..." I trailed off, aware that the cup of coffee Tweek was holding was probably the 9th he had that day, "Come in."
The two of them walked in, holding hands. Tweek looked as if he was either ready to punch someone out of reflex or start crying. Both were possible, knowing him. Craig was silent. Which isn't weird but he usually has these snarky comments he throws at me all day. Him being in my house and having this much ammunition to throw at me, and not saying anything, was making me nervous.
Obviously, he was only trying to be sympathetic but it had the opposite effect on me. I thought he might slap me across the face. Or maybe he brought his boyfriend over to slap the shit out of me.
Oh no.
Pip was away, on holiday visiting his sister apparently, and I didn't even know until Damian mentioned it when he showed up. Sucks. Mostly because he was good at baking and would've made something really tasty for us to eat whilst I wallowed in my depression. But uh...obviously I miss him because he's my friend as well. Obviously.
We all sat in my room, talking. I could hear Kevin in Karen's room, whispering and her whispering back. I didn't want to listen in on their conversation so I tried my best to focus on what Kyle was trying to tell me.
"Those guys...they are around Kevin's age, right?"
I nodded, "Yes...so?"
"So? They're twice our size!" Stan sighed, rubbing his temples, "I suppose we could take one if jumped him all at once. And it's not like we'll bump into all of them at once, right?"
"No," I agreed, "We're going to their houses. You know, to tell their mommies. I guarantee you they all still live at home with their parents."
Craig cleared his throat, "Listen, I know I don't really give a shit about a lot of things. And even when I do, I don't always show it. But Kenny," he turned towards me and the fact he said my name instead of an insult or the usual McWhoredick, startled me, "if something like that happened to my sister, if anything remotely close to that happened to her, I would've burned down this whole town by now. You're my friend, man and I want you to know I have your back here. Alright?"
I was left speechless. After a moment, I let out a huff of laughter, "I think that's the most I've ever heard you speak at once, Craig." My laugh intensified when he glared at me and I patted his shoulder, "Don't worry dude. I know. And I appreciate it. Seriously." I turned to the others, "And you too. I know you would've rather be anywhere but here today."
Tweek took Craig's hand again and kissed the back of it, his voice quiet. "I agree with Craig. We're here because we're y-your friends, man. It's...it's kinda our job to help you out. And b-besides..." he gave me a wide grin and winked, "We've done worse things together right? W-what's a bit of assault and harassment compared to the s-s-shit we pulled off when we were younger."
"No kidding," Damian, for the first time in a while, spoke and he smiled too, although his was a lot more intimidating, "Say the word man and I'll turn them all into inanimate objects. Or pour oil down their ears and throat. Or-"
I put both of my hands up, as if to dismiss his idea regardless of how much I appreciated it, laughing still and feeling happier than ever. It was weird, a good weird, having such a strong support group, "Nah, no need. I just...I want to shake them up a little. That's all."
"And that's exactly what we'll do." Kyle stood up, resolute and followed by Stan, who gave me his hand so he could lift me up as well, "We'll threaten them a little bit and maybe break their shit. And if they want to throw a fuss over that, we'll just threaten to sue them for sexual harassment and illegal use of drugs."
I nodded again and we all collectively began gathering our things to leave.
The only thing running through my mind was what I would do once I found those cretins.
***
We finally got to one of the asshole's house and knocked. We just had the addresses and a brief recollection of what they all looked like so I just hoped we wouldn't stumble into a random person's house or anything.
An old lady answered. I blinked in surprise.
But Kyle, whose specialty was impressing parents and every adult he came across, visibly relaxed and smiled, politely. That boy had a charm on him like nothing I've ever seen before.
"Hello there ma'am, we were wondering if we could see your son...?" He ended his sentence on what sounded like a question, indicating he would fully respect whether or not she would consent to us seeing him. Although, as I sat there, I realised we didn't even know any of their names so really, our plan was poorly planned out from the beginning.
The old lady smiled, clearly shocked but pleased with Kyle's manners, "Are you talking about Gerald? Oh, of course you can. I didn't realise he was going to have friends over today. That boy never tells me anything," she moved a bit to the side, allowing us to enter into her home, "Please, come in. And Gerald isn't my son. He's my grandson."
Kyle smiled kindly as he stepped in after wiping his feet on the doormat, "I would've never guessed it. You don't look a day over thirty, ma'am."
Holy shit??????? Kyle??????!!!
Stan gaped at him in shock, his eyes wide and brows furrowed. The lady laughed, not believing him (not to be mean, but she was pretty old. Not ugly necessarily but old definitely) but I could tell she appreciated the compliment anyway and immediately pinched his cheek, "What a lovely young man. I had no idea my grandson was in the company of such wonderful friends." She drifted off a bit as she closed the door behind us and for some reason, the somber look on her face made me feel sorry for her. She seemed like such a lovely person, I couldn't believe someone like Gerald could possibly be related to her, "I was worried about him, you know. Involved in all sorts of nasty business. I'm glad to know he's better off than I thought."
Kyle continued to smile politely and I decided, with my big brain and IQ of 500, not to point out that we were several years younger than her grandson and him being friends with us would've been alarming in more ways than one.
Instead, I glanced around, took in my surroundings.
It wasn't the kind of house a millioner would have but it was very nice and clean. The furniture was well dusted and stylish. I thought back on how Gerald and his friends looked earlier today, all ragged and dirty. I never would've guessed any of them could live in a house like this. I'd have assumed that they would've sold it to finance their drug addiction but I suppose grandma had enough sense to not give anymore money than necessary to Gerald.
She told us where his room was and, after Kyle thanked her, we went up a polished staircase and headed towards it. We were told he was home, in his room as always, but now I was hesitant. I didn't want...I didn't want to make a huge fucking scene in this lady's house. If she found out why we were here, what kinds of thing her grandson was into, surely she'd have a heart attack? Could I have that on my conscience?
Maybe people like Kevin and Craig and Damian could, but I don't think I'd handle it that well.
"Kenny?" I looked up from my thoughts to see Kyle's hand resting on the doorknob of his room. He tilted his head at me. A question.
I nodded. He nodded back and opened it a second later. I expected him to throw the door open-to barge in and jump on the fucker inside-but he did it softly, cautiously.
The guy, Gerald, was playing on his PC but must've heard someone come in because he said, "Just bring me dinner later, grandma. I'm busy."
"Like hell you fucking are." Kyle stomped across his room and snatched his headset off his head, tossing it somewhere else.
The guy jumped when he realised he had a bunch of strange kids in his room and he seemed so taken aback, he couldn't even react to Kyle practically pulling him out of his chair as if he were a sack of potatoes.
"What the fuck-who the hell are you guys-" His eyes landed on me and he stopped mid-sentence, completely perturbed. I just stared at him. He sat on the edge of his bed, his eyes scanning all of us one by one before flitting back to me. He looked worried and pissed off at the same time, "Why are you here?"
I snorted, "Why do you think, dumbass?"
"Look," he raised his hands, as if wanting to settle this with us amicably, "I don't understand why we can't have a conversation about this-"
Before I could even interrupt him, in the blink of an eye, Tweek had stepped forward and smashed his fist in his face. I barely registered the first hit, just briefly got to watch the blood start to pour out of his nose, when Tweek hit him again (maybe with less heat and more precision this time around).
"You p-piece of shit-" Tweek was saying and as much as I was enjoying the wonderful atmosphere of joy and happiness before me, I knew that Gerald would be of no use to us if he was beaten unconscious. I'm guessing Craig must've been thinking the same thing because he managed to pull Tweek off within minutes. Although the blond in question was still vibrating with fury, he did back off for the time being.
"Gerald," my own voice surprised me. He glanced at me disoriented and confused, "This is what we're going to do. I'm gonna give you two options. One: I beat the shit out of you and your friends once I hunt them down and then turn you all over to the police for illegal use of drugs like cocaine," he looked at me questioningly and I nodded towards his gaming desk, where a clear line of white powder was left, scattered all over the place. His face fell. Yeah...not exactly subtle, "Or two: you turn yourselves in, get through your sentence, come out of prison a finer citizen than you've ever been in your life and stop trying to involve fucking minors in your stupid ass schemes."
"Also," Kyle piped up from the back, his face red, pointing his finger at him, "If I catch you talking to twelve year old girls again, I swear I'm gonna force you to drink your own stomach acid after shoving 5p gallons of petrol down your throat from the nearest petroleum station, you stupid fuck."
Damian laughed in delight, "That's better than anything I could've come up with."
Gerald, only nodded, clearly scared. Which was silly. I didn't think we, a bunch of high schoolers, could possibly be that intimidating. But I suppose we weren't exactly all timid and quiet. Oh and also the son of Satan was with us so that probably helped. His face didn't have any colour left and I patted him on the shoulder, all smiles.
"That's what I like to see. If I find your ass anywhere near my siblings again, I will turn you into roadkill," I flashed him another smile and then motioned for the others to follow me out of the room.
I felt sooooo cool. But also, it felt good knowing I could do something about what happened to Karen. That I hadn't been as helpless as I feared I would be, especially at that small moment in time when I thought I was going to be too late. For all I knew, I was going to find her dead in that alleyway. My heart almost jumped out of my throat just at the idea.
"Well," Stan was saying, as we left his house, his hands in his pockets. Kyle was still talking to the old lady at the door, clearly invested in their conversation, "That went pretty well. What a pathetic loser. How could you lose and act all weepy like that in front of a bunch of 16 year olds?"
Craig shrugged, "It's not like he had his stupid friends here to back him up."
Kyle returned to us, "Right-that's done. Seriously, she's such a sweet person-I feel really bad," He looked back at the house, his face slightly downcast, obviously referring to the grandmother before he glanced back at us. "So...? The others?"
***
We ended up finding the others relatively easily.
And unsurprisingly we used the same method of intimidation as before. The trick is to barge into their house, hit them as a warning and then threaten them with whatever they feared most.
The second guy, his name was William I think (a scraggly looking twig of a twat, who had immediately called us fags which had encouraged Craig to kick him in the balls. I personally didn't think he would have any but props to Craig for having better intuition than me) and he wasn't as terrified at the notion of prison as good ol' Gerald was. So we threatened to burn his stash of meth and then he folded pretty quickly.
Actually, Damian folded him. Like physically. I don't think he broke anything but he did bend him in half the way you would a straw so that was pretty cool.
Similarly, the other assholes gave in to our demands pretty quickly considering most of them were not in a situation where they could afford to sue us for slander or beat us without arousing the suspicion of their guardians. So, at the end of the day, as we walked back to my place, all five of them have voluntarily turned themselves in to the local police station.
"Convenient," Craig mentioned, as I tried opening my front door. The others had left for home a couple of streets back and now, it was only me, him and Tweek. They had only walked with me so far to make sure I got home safe.
"What's convenient?"
"They didn't put up that big of a fight."
"That's b-because they're c-cowards!" Tweek shook his head, "God, we should've known. Only p-people like them would harass little kids for this kinda thing."
"Well, anyway," I opened the door but faced them for a moment, "Thanks-for all your help today. You didn't have to come but it was nice knowing I wasn't alone. And it was nice knowing you guys cared about my sister as much as I did."
Craig waved his hand dismissively, "Don't worry about it, McWhoredick. I spent the whole day threatening and flipping off sexual predators and drug traffickers. I've never been soooo happy."
Well, now I know he was back to normal.
I smiled again, wished them a good night and stepped inside. My house was as cold as it was outside and I shivered.
Kevin was in the couch in the living room, watching TV. The volume was low so I assumed my parents were upstairs sleeping. He heard me come in and turned around to watch me over the couch, "Hey."
"Hey."
"...how was it?"
"They turned themselves in," I smiled then, "Voluntarily, of course. They were so consumed by guilt, they could barely stand it."
Kevin laughed then, "I bet. They must have seen the error of their ways."
"Clearly-maybe they can turn to Jesus before it's too late."
"I don't think Jesus wants them Ken."
The whole conversation was made funnier by the fact that neither me nor my brother were particularly religious. He patted down the seat next to him and invited me to join him.
I did.
I asked about Karen. He told me she was fine. That she was a strong kid and that if she survived this long in our family, there was little else out there that could break her.
I wanted to cry. Kevin had probably cried at some point. Out of pity or guilt. The idea made me want to cry harder.
"I'm lucky to have you guys," Kevin said, when an ad interrupted the soap opera we were both, ironically, watching. His voice was steady but a tremor in it betrayed him, "You might as well be a lifeline."
"Yeah," I agreed and then turned to him, trying to give him the cheekiest grin I could muster, "You are pretty lucky."
He punched me, playfully, in the arm and we laughed again. And then, completely unprompted, I told him something I haven't told anyone else yet. Not directly. Not even myself, "I like this kid at school."
Kevin glanced at me, "Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"As in...romantically?"
"What else could I mean?"
"You sleep with a lot of people, Ken."
I shrugged, "I guess."
We stayed silent for a bit, the TV continuing to play. Once it got really late, around two in the morning, and we were both yawning, Kevin got up and shut the TV off, "I'm glad."
"Hmm?"
"That you like someone," he patted me on the back and I realised that I haven't hugged my brother in years. I got the urge to, in that moment, but I didn't. He looked at me, fondly, "You're a good kid, Ken. Good night. I'll see you tomorrow."
He ruffled my hair. I let him. He went upstairs and I stayed in the couch, staring at the blank TV screen. My stomach growled and I remembered I haven't eaten that much today. I was too lazy to make myself anything at that late hour so I just stayed there.
I fell asleep on that couch at some point.
I dreamt of a big dinner, loads of food. I dreamt of Karen and Kevin and Stan and Kyle. I dreamt I was alive and happy.
But most vividly, I dreamt about Butters and whether or not I really wasn't suited for a long-term relationship like I've been telling myself for years.
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Whooo done, it took me an hour to do this but it was worth it.
I'll see you guys on Wednesday and have an awesome day.
Bye you lot😊