The Obsession Drug

Fore Story

Moving houses usually takes quite a toll on someone, and moving to a different town takes a much greater hit. It all depends on how long you have lived in the place, the people who live there you have acquainted over the same period of time and how much the town means to you.

The Tuckers, with the fortunate exception of Richard, latest move to Denver didn't cause Craig much distress at all. If anything, it was more of a sign of relief. South Park suffered from numerous attacks and catastrophes, usually triggered by the group of complete and utter assholes, and all this contradicted with his liking of everything nice, boring and simple.

Denver was more urban than the trashy town called South Park was and ever will be. It was populated with beautiful suburban houses of every pastel colour in each street you passed, the scent of emerald pine trees and fresh, fertile vines would bite your senses along with the bitterness of the mild current of wind and expensive chrome skyscrapers full of many businessmen and women stood up and showed its power from dusk to dawn without wavering.

There were multiple seasons, unlike South Park which only knew winter, such as budding spring, the sizzling summer, the fall which alarmed all farmers for harvest and winter, the only season where the whole town is covered in multiple sheets of snow and people would come together as one for Christmas in the town square. In this same place, a large Christmas tree decorated in plain or glittery multi-colored baubles, golden or silver stars of a different range of size glimmer in the early moonlight and it was topped with the angel Gabriel, this tree was planted firmly in the center and everyone would sing sentimental Christmas carols and hymns till their weary eyes weighed down for sleep.

Craig Tucker loved Denver, with its scenery of strong mountains covered in moss, leaves and some occasional snow, the people he had found a sense of connection with and its simplicity. He didn't know what to think about the town 4 years ago when his mother had told him the week after Richard was evicted from their household to elsewhere that they were moving there. He knew they were moving to a new home before he was even told, for he was ordered to pack everything in his room, and Ruby's without any say, into big, cardboard boxes the colour of umber.

He guessed they were all moving to the estate full of trouble downtown, the one that was owned by notorious pimps because their money was tight since his father's leave. Richard was the only one who brought money into the house, despite the fact he went inside casinos to gamble furiously; they had a source of income never the less.

It was then when his mother surprised him by saying that it was Token's parents who lent her the money so they could live where ever they wanted. The remaining Tuckers were all grateful for this, and they expressed this in their own way; through awkward hugs, cheap drugstore 'thank you' cards and popular gifts.

On moving day, Craig's non blood-related brothers, Clyde and Token, had visited him to bid him goodbye the only way they knew how. They threw a party, a small one in Craig's miniature bedroom as he preferred isolation, including a plain chocolate cake they had bought from the local consignment store, some bottles of alcohol they had stolen from their parent's cupboards and heck of a lot of banter.

They had left at around 7:00 pm according to Craig's cell phone and he was alone in the same empty room. He stared outside at the dull, gray sky full of clouds hiding the lost sun whilst stroking his guinea pig, Stripe, with his dominant hand, his left hand, in the state of contemplation. He could faintly see his reflection on the window and the little vapor caused by the breath emitting from his nostrils. His focus drifted from the townspeople wondering around on the pavements below him to the face staring back at him. He didn't like what he saw; the person in front of him was grumpy, their face was dressed with pre-adolescent pimples, blackheads and healing bruises caused by his old man. The same old man who left a week ago, finally. Craig smiled, showing his trapped teeth, and scowled deeply at the metal braces he was forced to wear since 6th grade. His friends teased him because of this, and he only flipped them off, imagining his parents who did this to him as he did so, too.

Underneath all this was suppressed anger, something he took out on his ex-friend daily, the person's name being Tweek Tweak. His actions were apparently justified once Tweek personally chose to knock Craig unconscious in 7th grade from his betrayal. Craig didn't know why Tweek had done so and still didn't, but he knew that he now had an excuse to vent his emotions through aggressive abuse, and his human punching bag was the petit, twitchy freak that was well known for his coffee, spastic paranoid outbursts and the mild schizophrenia which gave him hallucinations of gnomes that steal your underwear. Everyday and at every given opportunity it had with it was the time when the brittle bones in Tweek's frail frame suffered the most as well as his mental state.

What goes around, comes back around was what the wise man had told us. And surely, this was karma's doing, right? Of course, it was.

The way Tweek would whimper and scamper away whenever Craig would join his presence in the hallway became one of his favourite things. What ever had pissed him off and turned him into a monster would simply fade away; instead it would turn him into a sadistic being that just enjoyed watching Tweek in pain; especially when it was him who was inflicting such a horrifying sensation upon him.

No longer was Richard in charge of this situation, it was Craig now.

Craig was distracted from his thoughts when he felt the vague roaring from the moving van's engine hit his ear drums thanks to his good sense of hearing.

His mother screamed at him nasally from the living room, "Craig, come down now, the moving van is here!"

Craig merely huffed and put Stripe back into his red cage after picking it from the floor, ignoring his animalistic chatters, before looking at his bare, indigo bedroom. He was sure he wasn't going to come back here again, and he was glad that was the case.

'South Park is a fucking horrible town, full of retarded rednecks and dumb assholes,' and with that he opened his chestnut door from its dusty, brass spherical knob with his unoccupied hand, stormed out, banged it against the walls so it would close, headed down the stairs, out of the house where his sister, Ruby, already was texting her girlfriends and hopped into the white van with Stripe's cage still in his arms.

Ruby followed suit and let the men made of muscle throw the boxes into the back of the truck, one large box by another. Elizabeth checked if everything was fine by glancing around the living room and left as she figured she didn't give a shit, she was finally leaving this retched place to go live in Denver. The amount of fucks the Tuckers gave at that time had amounted to none.

After 15 minutes, the two Hispanic men and Elizabeth sat down on the comfortable, beige leather seats with the siblings who bickered with middle fingers. Elizabeth joined in once she settled down next to Ruby in the back and rolled her eyes when both of her children gave her the double flip of the bird before cradling whatever was in their hands and arms once again.

Tossing the bird around was the Tuckers only natural way of communication because facial expressions and melodramatic speeches was not their style. They all preferred it their own way; The Tucker Way.

The lighter skinned driver with a black, partially gelled cow lick switched on the ignition and single-handedly started driving in the speed limit of 20 mph. Stripe was not yet used to being in car journeys and started squealing again; Craig had to calm him down by muttering some Peruvian sayings and looking at him with his cobalt eyes. His red-headed sister always flipped him off for being out of character when it came to his pet and Craig always returned the gesture; The Tucker Way.

The rest of the journey was peaceful; the only sound to have been heard was the strumming guitars and other instruments that were often played in Latin musical pieces on the radio and the blocked noises of obnoxious drunkards from the entrance of the barely empty bars owned by white trash.

They spent the next few years in a mint blue suburban household with a small but reasonably sized garden. It had a terracotta porch and on it were some rickety, wooden white arm chairs that sat beside a matching round table with four legs. Elizabeth got a job online as that didn't require any face-to-face socialization and got paid $250 weekly, a great improvement from having near to nothing, and Craig, along with Ruby, went to the local schools. The schools names were as original as South Park's, Denver Middle School and Denver High School, but was full of nicer and more tolerable people than the irritating fat ass and the depressed jock.

Craig had befriended a couple of people when he went there and was questioned on why he wore the same thing everyday if he was from South Park, he explained why and it was because he didn't give a fuck and they all agreed. In Denver, everyone also wore the same attire everyday because that was just the way Colorado worked. It simply wouldn't be the same state without it.

He was one of the few people who were chosen to join an elite gang that roamed the deserted areas of the school; the old playground. Most students were surprised, especially because he was a newcomer and all he had done to join was to get into a fight with one of the footballers in their school on the first day he arrived, and they became envious at how quickly he blended in.

The malls in Denver had a different taste in clothing and Craig got sick and tired of trying to find another chullo hat after he had grown out of his old one. He could only find a stack of beanies and chose the cool blue one seeing as that was the closest hat to his beloved chullo. He still wore an insulating blue fleece as Denver's temperature was not much warmer than South Park most of the time, his worn out black jeans and tired yellow converses which's laces were almost never tied.

The way Craig had no interest what so ever and didn't try to fit in with them by wearing biker jackets, ripped and bloody bandages usually worn by the Mole, Gothic jewellery from Hot Topic, everything dark and perfect for gangsters in the mafia was what made him seem like the right person for the empty spot.

Damien and Christophe were uncertain with Gregory's choice in members as they usually ended up being 'pussy ass preps' that tried to look bad ass so they could pull girls. They all agreed on testing him as a beginner's trial to see if he was truly worthy. Craig passed eventually after being the first newbie to be able to shoot a dummy in the region where the heart laid in less than 10 minutes. The Frenchman was impressed and congratulated him in his own language, to which he got insulted to by Gregory for being an ignorant mole in the first place.

Craig at first didn't want to be in their gang as he just wanted to get school over and done with, that was before they said that's what they had wanted, too, and spent most of the time doing rebellious shenanigans for the thrill. As grades lowered, energy and adrenaline rose. They all spent time being ruthless by chain-smoking, binge drinking, illegally piercing where ever they can on their bodies, messing with who ever they can and dealing what ever they could. As the scars and piercings on the Tucker's body rose with age, so did the crimes on his criminal record. They made use of all the privileges that came with looking older than your initial age because of height by driving stolen motorcycles and other vehicles over the speed limit, going into bars to get wasted and start intentional brawls with who ever was in their sight by using weapons such as shovels, guns and fire before getting kicked out. As years passed by, so did the limited time he had with his new best friends, Damien, Christophe and Gregory who had taught him to convert his anger into energy and adrenaline. The time in Denver was the closest he ever had to happiness with the exception of his bros back in his home town.

Craig didn't expect it on one warm and pleasant Friday evening to have his mother say that they were moving back to South Park after all these years.

Elizabeth Tucker had ordered pizza for take-away Friday and Craig had scurried down from half-heartedly revising for his English assessment into the 50's style kitchen to place his margarita slices unto his white ceramic plate.

Both Ruby and Elizabeth were both sitting down on their mahogany dining table next to each other near the door as they ate their large sized portions, ready to tell him about the news.

"Craig," said Mrs. Tucker after she wiped her fingers with a kitchen towel and patted the empty seat next to her, "Sit here."

Craig cocked his eyebrow in confusion because as the years have gone by, they rarely ever sat on the dining table together unless they were celebrating a special occasion or holiday with some family members who only came to give them some money and go away again to California or San Diego.

"Why?" he asked before turning around to face his Mum in her teal silky sleeping robes. He was only wearing his space themed pyjama pants and the air conditioning here was faulty, making him feel colder than he should be. He never saw the point in family sitting down and having a meal together when it usually consisted in them telling each other to fuck off, "We never sit together, why now?"

"Craig, just sit down, for fucks sake," Ruby groaned and flipped her brother off the millionth time that day.

"Fuck you, Ruby, no one cares about you," Craig reminded Ruby before leaning his back against the counter, the only reason why it was not cold was because of the late 6 pm heat seeping through the windows.

"Stop talking bull shit, Craig," Ruby snapped back before tying her auburn locks into a pony tail with a violet hair band, preparing herself for a fight she was planning to have with her brother who was already messing the hair that only reached the tip of his neck. They both growled at each other like lions in a cage before trying to charge at each other.

"Ruby Ella Tucker, sit down," screamed Mrs. Tucker before glaring at her only son, "You sit down, too, young man."

The room the colour of coral pink silenced and they both sat down and began eating their food like civilized children, "that's better," before both of them flipped their mother off.

They took their time eating in a comfortable atmosphere, a silent one, before Elizabeth tried raising the same thing up again, "so Craig. Ruby," she said as she nodded her head towards the said person when she mentioned their names, "I need to tell you something."

"Mhmm," they both replied in unison as they wiped their tomato sauce covered mouths with the kitchen towels from Walmart.

Tuckers are always straight to the point, they don't dwell on things and don't stutter from hesitation when telling one something; The Tucker Way.

"We are moving back to South Park."

Both Craig and Ruby's eyes bugged from surprise, they expected that they were going on holiday the following weekend or something but they didn't expect this.

"WHAT?"

"We are moving back to South Park next month," Mrs. Tucker repeated in the same monotonous way.

"But that's when Ryan, only the coolest dude in our year, is having his birthday party," Ruby whined, making sure she does her puppy dog eyes at her Mum to see if she would change her mind.

"Then you can't go, simple as fuck, Ruby," the 39 year old blonde woman sighed at her daughter as she waited for Craig to rant about this as well.

The Tuckers may be straight to the point with such things as this and do not dwell on their troubles often but they always found a fault in everything if it didn't fulfill their selfish desires; The Tucker Way.

"Mum, did you ever think about our opinion on this?"

There was a long pause in the room, telling Craig to carry on with his speech.

"No, you didn't, because you never thought about us, maybe how we actually might like Denver and how we don't want to go back to that town full of white trash, did you?"

It was a rhetorical question that only deserved a middle finger from the woman he was ranting to. Ruby smiled at the response and the temperamental side of Craig came up again.

"Are you smiling?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I."

Craig cringed at her slight overbite and questioned his Mum about it, "Why didn't Ruby get braces and I did?"

"Because it wasn't as bad as yours, Craig," she replied, "you needed it."

Ruby started guffawing; holding her stomach from the laughter cramps, as little tears gradually trickled on her waterline at the paleness of Craig's face. He flipped her off, naturally, before stomping his way out of the room only to hear more laughter from the both of them.

"Fucking assholes," he muttered as he went up the stairs, two steps at a time, opened the door to his bedroom, the room furthest from the stairs, and he flopped face up on his bed. His other brunette pet, an intelligent, rough but high maintenance traditional Persian feline called Spot because of the white spots on all of her paws, pounced unto his bed and starting meowing next to Craig's ear. Ruby loved to mess with Spot and play with her but the independent cat favored Craig for his understanding of animals.

Craig turned around so he was lying on his side, facing Spot, and started stroking her behind her furry ears, earning some low but relaxing purring from it. He thought about moving back and how he preferred it in Denver; he felt the occasional anxious fluttering sensation in his chest as he meditated on it. He missed Clyde and Token, sure, but he would miss his friends from here as well. He didn't give a fuck on how people were going to react to his new appearance. The piercings in his ears and septum, the side shaving on the left side of his scalp and the scars from all the fights he had. What Craig dreaded the most was if there was a change in South Park, a rare thing to happen but the impossible always does in that town.

He had an instinctive feeling that when he was going to go back there, something he didn't want to do but you can't persuade a Tucker to change their fixed plans, he was going to be forced to do something he didn't want to do because of what he did here in Denver. He didn't know why and how that would happen but he didn't focus on that because that was not a very 'Tucker' like thing to do.

He just stared back into the glistening amber eyes in front of him and covered himself with the sapphire bed sheets after letting her go. He didn't care much for the assessment anyway so he stopped revising, he had barely done all the other homework he has been assigned and the dim light from the window behind him told him that he was around time that he got the fuck to sleep.

So Craig just did that, for the rest of month. Sleeping, waking up, rebelling, failing and enjoying the time he had left in Denver because this was the closest he has ever felt to happiness in a long time. His instincts annoyed him further and further but he didn't mind it at all.

Moving away from your hometown usually takes quite a toll on someone, and moving back to the same town, South Park, to go through lots of drama takes a much greater hit. It all depends on how much drama there is, the people included and how much drama affected you.

-Project OD-