South Park: This One Last Time (30_tears prompt #05)
South Park
This One Last Time
Prompt #05: "Death"
PG
327 words
Approx Age: 18
Kenny dies. (Seriously.)
This One Last Time
It’s about a week after graduation when Kyle wakes up to a phone call. Stan’s voice sounds strange on the other end.
“Kenny died,” he says.
Stan only just beats Kyle to the hospital; he’s still arguing with the reception nurse when Kyle bursts through the ER doors. Stan forgets the nurse and just stares at Kyle; Kyle stares back, and time passes in heartbeats.
“Sir? Sir? Hey, kid! I said, I’ve got the room number for your friend!”
They take the elevator. Stan fills the dead silence of the brief ride up by gibbering on about nothing in particular. Kyle knows it’s for real this time because of sound of Stan’s voice. Stan knows it’s for real this time because of the spidery feeling in his stomach and the way he wants to cry whenever he sees a friendly face.
Kenny’s body is still anchored to the hospital bed by a myriad of machines, but they’ve all been switched off. Now they look as cold and dead as Kenny himself.
Stan and Kyle push themselves through the small knot of McCormicks at Kenny’s bedside and take hold of two halves of the same limp hand. In the past, they haven’t been able to explain how they knew Kenny would return; this time, though, they know exactly why he won’t. He’s cold and pale and there’s nothing even remotely quirky or quixotic or bizarre about his corpse; there’s just it, with four of its fingers gripped tightly in the hands of friends, and a single bullet hole in the side of the head.
“You… bastard…” Kyle chokes out, and Stan vomits painfully into the wastebasket. There’s nothingness for a moment, before they manage to reach each other’s side in the blinding swirl of silence in the room; when they finally fall into one another’s arms, their sobs sound like thunderclaps in comparison.
They know it’s for real this time, because this time Kenny did it to himself.
This One Last Time
Prompt #05: "Death"
PG
327 words
Approx Age: 18
Kenny dies. (Seriously.)
This One Last Time
It’s about a week after graduation when Kyle wakes up to a phone call. Stan’s voice sounds strange on the other end.
“Kenny died,” he says.
Stan only just beats Kyle to the hospital; he’s still arguing with the reception nurse when Kyle bursts through the ER doors. Stan forgets the nurse and just stares at Kyle; Kyle stares back, and time passes in heartbeats.
“Sir? Sir? Hey, kid! I said, I’ve got the room number for your friend!”
They take the elevator. Stan fills the dead silence of the brief ride up by gibbering on about nothing in particular. Kyle knows it’s for real this time because of sound of Stan’s voice. Stan knows it’s for real this time because of the spidery feeling in his stomach and the way he wants to cry whenever he sees a friendly face.
Kenny’s body is still anchored to the hospital bed by a myriad of machines, but they’ve all been switched off. Now they look as cold and dead as Kenny himself.
Stan and Kyle push themselves through the small knot of McCormicks at Kenny’s bedside and take hold of two halves of the same limp hand. In the past, they haven’t been able to explain how they knew Kenny would return; this time, though, they know exactly why he won’t. He’s cold and pale and there’s nothing even remotely quirky or quixotic or bizarre about his corpse; there’s just it, with four of its fingers gripped tightly in the hands of friends, and a single bullet hole in the side of the head.
“You… bastard…” Kyle chokes out, and Stan vomits painfully into the wastebasket. There’s nothingness for a moment, before they manage to reach each other’s side in the blinding swirl of silence in the room; when they finally fall into one another’s arms, their sobs sound like thunderclaps in comparison.
They know it’s for real this time, because this time Kenny did it to himself.