"There's an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew yet. It will be cold and bitter, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it's God's own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared." -Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Author's Note: I'm alive! Now, I know that I wasn't the most consistent uploader with my past stories (as in I never really uploaded anything), but after a year off the site, I've decided that I'm just going to forget all those other stories I never did and start… this one. I will try to upload on a regular basis, but that all depends on the support from YOU! Now, without further ado, here begins… Book 1.
Also, I don't own South Park, or anything else that I reference.
A cool breeze flows through the trees, void of fruit and leaves. The sun has dipped below the horizon, and the moon can be seen shining through the ever-present clouds. The stars remain hidden from sight, just as they had for the last few years as a result of both air and light pollution.
Several inches of snow lie on the ground. It looks fresh, but it is actually as ever-present as the clouds, save for a week during July when the snow melts and the kids play with fireworks and catch fireflies, rather than the usual snowball fights and snowman building.
Any stranger to the town of South Park would assume that it was currently winter in that quiet mountain town. However, it's actually a brisk, dry night in early October. A Friday night, to be specific.
And, just like any other small American town on a Friday night in the fall, seemingly the entire population is currently in the stands of the South Park High football stadium, cheering on the home team as they go head to head with a rival school from Denver.
Everyone who's anyone is at the game, because it's a small town, and they all support the team.
Only, South Park is no longer the small, quiet town that it used to be. A few years back, businesses from all across the country came across an idea. They realized that, seeing as how South Park was often on the national news for some reason or other, if they expanded into South Park, they would get some free national advertisement whenever the small town popped up in the news.
And just like that, the population boom occurred. Dozens of businesses started opening up in their new prime real estate, and there plan worked, which inspired dozens more, leading to a business boom in South Park. With these businesses came the first round of the population boom, consisting of those with jobs in the incoming businesses and their families.
As can be expected from such a business boom, the town's economy grew rapidly, and the town prospered. Wanting to cash in on the newfound success of the town, several thousand more hopefuls joined the new cast of what was formerly a small, quiet mountain town.
Over the course of the next few years, business in South Park exploded as thousands more people converged onto the city every year. The town's population flew from 2,000 to 60,000 in the matter of a couple years, and continued to grow. South Park transformed from a rural town to a baby metropolis, and started creeping onto the national radar. America paid attention to South Park, and many envied the town (or, rather, city) as it prospered. South Park soon even got an NHL team (the South Park Ranchers, in remembrance of the town's origins) and an army base located nearby, known as Fort Collins.
However, when a city grows, the problems that it faces grow. Some of these problems were eventually overcome, such as the surplus of people without homes at the beginning of the population boom, or the sudden need to expand South Park Elementary, Middle, and High. Some problems that couldn't be dealt with were just ignored, such as the aforementioned pollution.
On the surface, South Park was the epitome of the perfect city. In reality, however, storm clouds were gathering. Most everyone felt that something was brewing, felt a spine-tingling feeling, but they didn't know just what. Instead, they decided to ignore the feeling, and they carried on their prosperous lives that involved going to the local high school football game every night, because they all support the team.
The storm clouds gathered, carried by an east wind, both inside and out of South Park. As America stood uncertain of the future, untrusting of their leaders, and fearing Russia the most they ever had since the end of the Cold War, South Park slowly, silently descended into hell. During the beginning of the population boom, the crime rate in South Park was incredibly low. However, crime soon took a hold on South Park in the form of El Escorpión, a local gang that sprang up almost as quickly as the city itself. At first, El Escorpión was only involved in small crimes; a little bit of vandalism here, a gas station break-in there. Eventually, though, El Escorpión began to get serious. A gambling operation soon popped up, alongside a drug operation that spread throughout the town like the plague. The city continued to become a more dangerous place, but the citizens chose to ignore the oncoming storm, instead spending their time at the football stadium, cheering on the high school team, because they all support the team.
One day, however, the citizens of South Park could no longer ignore the gathering storm clouds, for on September 19th of that year, lightning struck for the first time, in the form of a crime that would silence the city. On September 19th, a man around forty was brutally murdered, struck down in his prime alongside his wife and unborn son, and the first three lives were carried away by the east wind. The city was knocked out of there state of bliss as a result, and Wendy Testaburger, a junior at South Park High, was left an orphan and alone.
People were shocked and they panicked at first, as they finally came to terms with what was happening to the city. Eventually, however, they went back into their normal routine of attending the game under the lights on Friday nights.
Because they all support the team.
Now, exactly two weeks after the murders, after lightning struck, after the east wind blew, on the brisk, dry night in early October where the moon was shining through the clouds and a breeze blew through the bare tree branches, on a night where it seemed everyone was out supporting the team, two people stood together on the other end of town. They stood together in South Park's downtown district on Main Street where, just two weeks before, the east wind had claimed its first victims.
"What d'you think it means?" a girl with bright red hair asks her companion, who is standing, staring at the ground with a puzzled look on his face. "Do you suppose that it has to do with the… well…?"
"The murders?" the boy finishes for her. She nods. "It has to be. It's the exact same spot, exactly two weeks later. I've no idea what else it could be for." The boy sighs whilst playing with his watch, a habit of his that he does whenever he is nervous or puzzled, both of which he is currently. "The question is why, though. What does it mean?" he asks, continuing to stare at the ground.
The girl with the bright red hair wraps her fingers in the boy's and says, "Don't ask me, I already asked you the same question!" She laughs nervously for a few seconds before silence returns. After a few minutes, the girl speaks up again. "I really feel bad for her, you know."
"Wendy?" the boy asks, looking up from the ground. She nods again and continues.
"Nobody deserves this… this shouldn't have to happen to people like her. She was always so nice, and happy, and bright, but since… this… happened, she hasn't been the same. She seems more… removed. I'm worried about her."
"I'm sure she'll pull through," the boy replies. "You're right, nobody deserves this, and I don't think we're the only ones who'd agree with that statement," the boy says, while pointing at the ground. "But the Wendy I know will pull through. She's already showing signs of her old self, and should be back to normal soon. Plus she has Stan there for her."
"Well, as normal as you can get after your family is killed," the girl replies, and silence once again fills the street.
"I suppose you're right, but in the meantime, we'll have to look into this," the boy says, once again beckoning towards the ground. "Well, I think we've seen all there is to see here. Shall we head down to the stadium and watch the rest of the game?"
"We probably should, otherwise people will start to wonder why we haven't been going to any of the games, and God forbid we let them come up with any of their own ideas," the girl with the bright red hair says, as they walk away from the place they were standing.
From the place where, exactly two weeks earlier, three lives were suddenly and brutally cut short.
From the place where the message was.
From the place where, somehow scorched into the pavement, were the words "NO MORE".
Alright, there you go! Chapter one of (hopefully) many! This chapter may have been a bit dry, but I tried my best. The first chapter is always the hardest. Hope you all enjoyed, and if you did, let me know! I need to see some of those reviews to know how I'm doing! You know that little box at the bottom of this page? Yeah, that's for you to let me know what you think!
Now, onto my second point. As you may have seen in the description, I am taking OCs for this story. However, this is different than most other OC stories-the OCs will be secondary characters rather than main characters (except for mine, who you just briefly met up above.) OC form is below, but the following things are IMPORTANT:
As I said, your OCs won't be main characters, and won't play a huge role in the first story, but those roles will expand as the series moves onward
I will ask for a backstory, but all OCs will have come to South Park during the population boom
You will give me your OC information, but I, as the writer, hold the right to change things as is necessary for the story (I will let you know if this is the case)
Seeing as this story is directed by M. Knight Shyamalan, there will be plot twists, including the deaths of OCs at any time, starting in book 2
I am not homophobic, I'm just not very comfortable writing it, and I frankly just don't know how, so I may or may not end up including gay pairings in the story. Just a quick warning, you can include that in your form, but I'll ask you how you'd feel with a change to see if you're alright with it
You must submit your OC form via the messaging system (pm). Please do not submit via reviews. Those are for telling me how I did
OC Form:
Name:
Age (16 or 17, they're all juniors in HS):
Facial Appearance:
Hair Color and Length:
Height and Weight:
Appearance:
Outfits (minimum of two):
Personality:
Family Life:
Likes:
Dislikes:
Friends:
Enemies:
Crush (Red is taken):
Race:
Religion:
Now here we are, finally at the end! Almost. Just one last thing, a contest if you like. In this story, I referenced three things: two TV shows and a book. The first person to PM me with the name of these three things I referenced will get "exclusive access" to the story. They can ask questions, get information, and sometimes even get to make decisions regarding the story. The book is a pretty hard reference, so I'll give you all a hint: it's pretty maine-stream. Actually, they all are fairly obscure references, as in if you don't watch the shows or haven't read the book, then you will have no idea what I'm on about.
Alright, I think I should probably wrap this up now. Remember, PM me with your characters and reference guesses. I will hopefully update within the next week. La'ers!