Gone
When we were fourteen, Kenny vanished.
One day everything was fine, and the next day, he was gone. He had taken his sister in the night and just... left. We were all honestly pretty shocked. We had thought that we would all stay in South Park forever. At least, the most likely person to live in South Park forever was Kenny.
So when we went to school and he wasn't there, we weren't surprised. Kenny cut class pretty often. When we went to his house afters chool, we were surprised to find he wasn't there. We weren't surprised to find his parents unconcerned.
He never came back, though.
We always sort of wondered where he went. Kenny had always been at the back of the group, and we had grown apart over the years, but not so much that his absence was not noted. As time wore on his empty seat became all the more noticeable, the distinct not-thereness of him was obvious. No more of his vulgar quips, no more poor kid jokes from cartman, no more Mysterion, no more Princess. Just, no more Kenny.
We looked for him, of course. But Kenny goes missing all the time. The police looked briefly, but no one put that much effort into finding the kids of meth dealers. So he just... vanished. As far as I know, he never spoke to any of us again.
It was actually months before I found the note he had stuffed into my backpack.
"I loved you." it said. It was obviously his handwriting, messy, hard, quick. It wasn't signed, and it hadn't said anything else. I've always wondered if I was part of the reason he left, or if the note was just an afterthought.
Of all the things though, it was the 'd' that most bothered me. He didn't say, I love you. He said 'I loved you.' Past tense. The implications of that tiny letter were never lost on me.
I wish he had told me in person.
I would have made him stay.