Kids in the Dark chapter 1
They weren’t kidding when they said ample parking day or night..and that ample parking was in the old mall parking lot, a group of teens surrounding barrels with flames roaring in them. Trucks and cars blocking the worst of the cold wind from the harsh Colorado winter. Winter in South Park was like any other day, snowy and cold. It was hardly ever green in the small town, the only green they ever saw was on some snow covered trees or patches where the snow managed to melt on a warm day. But as of now, the snow was pushed away to make way for the various couples curled up together on blankets and tarps.
Four boys however stood around one barrel off to the side, not talking, two playing on their phones, one listening to music while being half asleep and the last one just staring up at the stars above. The one staring at the stars finally looked down and around at his friends before sighing softly. “ You guys should check out the stars,” he said softly. One of the heavier set ones looked up from his phone and cringed “ Shut the fuck up Kenny” he said before going back to his phone. Stan looked up from his phone and then up at the stars, smiling softly “ It does look pretty cool dude” he said as he nudged Kyle who was curled up under a blanket, half asleep and leaning against Stans legs, mostly just his ushanka and red hair peeking out from the blanket burrito. The redhead grunted a bit and looked up at them before taking a headphone out
“What the fuck Stan?” he asked as he rubbed his eyes. He saw what the raven haired teen was looking at and looked up at the stars, a small smile spreading across his lips as he enjoyed the little twinkling balls of gas millions of miles away of course that could be from his slight drunkenness. Cartman glanced up and shrugged before looking at his phone and hummed “What the fuck! Bebe just changed her status to single. What the actual fuck? That fucking bitch” he said before frowning “We agreed to be just complicated for now” he said as he huffed and went back to scrolling. Kenny nudged him and frowned “ Dude just leave it for now, and enjoy the night. '' he said as he chuckled “ For all we know it could be our last one together” Kyle chuckled a bit at that and shook his head “Dude,we have been together since like… kindergarten” he said as he moved to offer his now open headphone to the one above him. Stan took it from him and put it in before nodding “ Yeah, we’ve done everything together,so there's that. Also Cartman, we all know she's only with you because youre the closest thing she can get to Clyde, where else will you find a dumb fatass” he said with a soft chuckle, earning a small ‘ Hey’ from the pudgy redhead below him. Kenny shrugged a bit and smiled “I just don't want it to fade anytime soon. One of us could die tomorrow, or two…or all of us” he said softly before looking around at them. Cartman frowned at that and rolled his eyes “ Jesus fuck Kenny, why do ya gotta be so fucking morbid.” he said as he shoved past the other and started walking away “ Screw this shit i'm going home, this fucking stupid shit is boring anyway” he said as he started walking towards his car. Stan flipped Cartman off as the other walked off and sighed a bit “ Fuck Cartman, he never thinks anything is fun anymore” he said before looking down as Kyle piped up “ It is kind of boring though, think about it. Everyone is here by themselves or on a date and we came together, no wonder everyone thinks we are all gay” he said before chuckling. Kenny flushed a bit at that comment and looked back at the heavy set boy walking away before nodding a bit, his heart sinking as he watched him walk away “ Yeah…but hey, we are here with friends at least, it counts right? Platonic date?” he joked as he looked back at the others who were already focusing on the song they were listening to. He sighed a bit and looked down before kicking at some snow by his foot, watching it melt as it got close to the fire barrel. “ Great talk guys, riveting conversation” he whispered before turning away slowly and started to walk away. He sighed a bit and stopped to glance back at the two a few times, seeing that they didn't even notice that he wasn't there anymore. He shook his head a bit and started to walk home, making his way down the street, checking his pockets for any type of cash he could use to get a coffee. He pulled out two pennies, a paperclip and a hair band that was Karens, he groaned and shoved them back into the pocket of his parka before shivering against the wind. He didn't want to be home just yet, his dad and Kevin had a huge fight before he left earlier. He felt bad for leaving his mom and Karen but he couldn't handle it, he felt like Tweek, too much pressure, He walked the road slowly, walking towards the storage place before making his way down, kicking a small block of ice along before it flew into the street. He looked at it for a second before making his way. He heard his brother outside, shouting drunkenly at something when he got close to the house. Kenny sighed a bit as he walked towards it and saw his brother just as the older one knocked the rest of a bottle back, and with it his balance making him fall back onto his ass hard. “ Shit Kev” he mumbled before jogging to him. “ Mother…fucker” Kevin groaned as he rubbed his back a bit and looked at the bottle in his hand, seeing that it was now smashed from the neck down. “ Motherfucker!” he said as he threw the rest of the bottle away and looked up at the blonde “ Kenny ken…Hey~!” he said as he waved to his little brother. He looked at the house and pointed to it “ Dad kicked me out again…can I sleep with you?” he asked as he looked up at him Kenny sighed and nodded a bit before moving to help him up, “ Just don't be loud, I have school tomorrow” he said softly. Kevin snorted a bit and shook his head “ Why don't you ju-just drop out like me?” he asked, having hiccuped in the middle of him talking. The tall male moved a bit and leaned on his brothers shoulders a bit, petting the others blonde hair after pulling his hood down “ heh…you're hair is so fluffy” he muttered Kenny shook his head and sighed before looking down, “I cant do that to Ma, besides I gotta be a good role model to Karen, and quit touching my hair Kev, you know I hate that ” he said as he walked to the front of the rundown house “ Meet me at my window” he said as he shoved his brother back a bit as the brunette tried to follow him towards the front door. He knocked gently and looked in as the door opened a bit to Karen. Kevin could be heard behind him as he smiled and drunkenly waved to Karen “ Hey KareBear!” he said loudly only to get shoved in the face by Kenny to make him walk towards the side of the house. His heart broke a little as he saw her sporting a new busted lip, he closed his eyes and sighed before moving to gently cup her cheek .She looked around for a second before looking up “ Dad is passed out again” she said softly “ He started to beat Ma…I tried to stop him.”
Kenny nodded a bit and sighed before patting her head “It's fine, you did good but it wasn't your place to step in. I know it was scary, but you should have called me. But for now go to my room, help Kev in through the busted window and watch out for the glass on the floor” he said softly. She stopped and looked at him “ Why is it broken?” she asked softly. He shrugged a bit “ Lets just say the night terrors were pretty bad the other night” he said, not wanting her to know it was from his head being shoved through it by their dad the night she was sick and kenny tried to go get medicine for her after stealing money from their dad. She nodded a bit and went to do as she was told, making sure to prop the door against the frame so it looked closed. Kenny sighed and looked around the room, seeing their mom passed out on the couch, sporting a new broken nose with a tampon shoved up both nostrils. He shook his head and looked around for his dad, seeing him on the floor in the kitchen, he hummed a bit and kicked his side with the toe of his worn converse, hearing a slight groan from the older man “ …Ass” Kenny mumbled before walking towards his room, hearing Karen giggled softly as she tried to hush their drunken older brother.
Kevin was laying on the floor gently poking at her legs, pinching her knees as he used to do when she was little. He smiled softly and watched her laugh, it was angelic to the brothers hearing their younger sister be happy and relax. Kenny had now slipped into the room and fixed the door. “ You know dad will find out about you in here if you keep hiding in here, I can't hide you forever” he said softly. Kevin nodded a bit and looked up at his brother. “ Yeah yeah I know.” he mumbled before closing his eyes.
Kenny sighed and looked at Karen “Come on Kare, you can sleep here with us” he said as he moved to turn the lantern off and walk to his bed. He moved and laid on the mattress, feeling Kevin move to the bottom and tucked himself under the bottom of the blanket as Karen and Kenny got the top half. The three cuddling close for heat, Kenny shifted a bit and rolled to his side as he looked out the window up at the moon, wondering what the others were doing or better even, how they were doing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It hadn't been more than twenty minutes after Kenny left did Stan look up and notice that the blonde wasn't there.” huh…guess he went home” he said as he looked down at the redhead who was asleep again against his legs. He sighed a bit and shifted his feet slightly to try and wake him back up “ Yo…dude” he said softly “ It's getting pretty late” he mumbled. Kyle groaned a bit and rubbed his eyes before slowly blinking and looking up at him, seeing Stan's face in the golden light of the fire “ Hmm….okay” he mumbled before fixing his ushanka before slowly getting to his feet. He hummed and stretched his arms up above his head a bit, his back cracking a bit before he fixed his hoodie to cover his belly a bit more again. “ How long was i out?” he asked as he scratched his head under his hat Stan shrugged a bit and looked down at his phone before seeing a text from Wendy “Dunno dude maybe in total like an hour” he said as he moved a bit and turned away to text her back, smirking slightly as if it was a flirty teasing text. Kyle groaned a bit and clapped at him “ Dude sext Wendy later, let's go see if there is anything else to drink here” he mumbled. Stan shook his head a bit “ You know I don't touch that shit, and you shouldn’t either, you already downed a six pack by yourself” he said to the redhead. Kyle groaned a bit “ Whatever “ he said as he moved away and shuffled to another group to seek out more booze. Stan frowned a bit and shook his head a bit, not knowing why Kyle got a sudden attitude towards him. “ This will not end well” he mumbled softly as he followed his half drunk friend around. “ Kyle…dude…kyle stop” he said as he grabbed his arm, “ Just stop for a second” he said to him as the redhead whipped around to him, a flare of anger in the hothead's emerald eyes quickly fading as they cooled while looking into cool blue ones. “ Why? Why should I stop? Its a fucking party isn’t it?” Kyle asked as he picked up a bottle that seemed to be half empty, he shrugged and went to take a sip. Stan's hand quickly covered it before it reached the others lips “ Because you are resulting to drinking from others drinks…” he said as he took the bottle and set it down. “ You're making me worry dude. You don't normally drink either…” he said softly “Besides I'm the one with the alcohol addiction genetics, not you” he said trying to make light of it.
Kyle pulled his hand away and moved to keep walking, looking agitated with how the other was acting “ Fucking hell Stan just..let me drink okay?” he said as he moved to the truck with the coolers on the tailgate, he wanted to see if there was anymore beer in them. “ I’m fine, besides I walked here” he mumbled. Stan stood in silence at first before tilting his head, clearly something worse was going on with the redhead at this point, “Gah! Fuck!” he said in exasperation before following him a bit “Kyle stop, seriously, you know you can talk to me right?” he said as he jogged a bit to catch up to the portly redhead. “ Kyle you know drinking isn't good with your diabetes” he moved and slammed down the lid to the cooler that Kyle opened a bit. “ Jesus fuck Stan I fucking know, I have my insulin in case I need it” he said as he shook his head and moved to another cooler. “Just leave me alone,” he said as he looked at him and grabbed a drink from it, quickly cracking the large can open and chugging some of it. “ I’ll be fine, go…bang Wendy or some shit” he said as he shuffled off towards the barrel they started at. Stan frowned and watched before looking away. He wanted to leave but he had to stay for Kyle, in case he needed him. He shuffled along behind him and stood by him. “ Hey dude… I didn't…shit…” he mumbled as he watched Kyle sip from the can “ I'm sorry dude” Stan said softly, looking towards the fire barrel in front of them. “ I just…want to make sure you're okay.” “ Why don't you just mind your own Stan? '' the redhead said as he sipped the can again. “ You don't have to worry about me all the time, jesus. We aren't kids anymore” he said as he looked at him. Stan was a bit taken aback by that and tilted his head “ Ky…” he wanted to say more but just stopped talking and looked into the fire. “ Fine” he mumbled softly.
How did a night that started out great with originally five friends, Butters having to leave early due to a curfew with his parents, end up with now two. If friends was even what they were now, Stan couldn’t tell anymore. He felt betrayed by the redhead, in a sense that hit harder to his heart than he could say. He looked over at Kyle who was nearly done with the can already, swaying slightly on his feet. Stan moved a bit closer and set a hand on his back “ Dude..lets get you home” he said softly before taking the can.
Kyle nodded a bit and groaned softly before leaning into the other “hmm… yeah maybe…” he said before looking over at Stan and moving away from him. “ I can walk myself home” he said as he shrugged away from him and started to talk away. Stan sighed and watched him stumble away, “ What the fuck has happened to us?” he asked softly to himself as he watched the redhead nearly trip over Red who was asleep in the middle of the parking lot.
Stan looked down and sighed before looking at his phone, seeing a rather dirty picture of Wendy, he rolled his eyes and just deleted the picture, not really wanting to see that right now. He was just watching his best friend leave without him, drunk and clearly hiding something that was eating at him.
“ Seriously what the fuck happened to us?” Chapter 2