Every day is always the same, except it gets worse as time goes on. There's not a day that the children of the McCormick family didn't have to deal with their abusive parents. It was mainly their father, Stuart, not as much as their mother… at least physically. She was more prone to abusing them verbally. Their father on the other hand, was very brutal when it came to punishments, especially when he was drunk, which unfortunately was the case 99 percent of the time. Kevin, the oldest brother, who was now 21 years old, was lucky enough to escape their bullshit since he legally was an adult now. Like that mattered though since he ran away at 17. Unlike Karen and Kenny, who were still legally minors, had to keep living with it... only because Kenny didn't know if he could succeed running away due to having to take Karen along with. There was no way he'd leave her alone with their parents, so that plan was out of the question. Karen was only 13, so she recently hit the mark of becoming a teenager. Kenny was 17, only one year away from being a legal adult himself like his brother. He was getting tired of being a minor, and actually wanted to grow up so he could get out of the house and take his younger sister along with him, away from the painful environment. He didn't care if he wasn't her parent; he might as well be with how he took care of and protected her. When he was 18 years old it would be so much easier to get away with it, but for now… he was still just a kid in any adult's eyes. The police would catch him and send him back home.

…

"This is getting ridiculous…" The youngest son of the McCormick's grumbled to himself, forcing his body out of his so called 'bed'. It was more like sleeping on a brick. The mattress was extremely worn; sheet-less, stiff as hell, and his blanket compared in the same way; torn and too small for his body. He'd had this bed since he was at the most… 5 years old. Kenny had lived here his whole life, ever since he was an infant. The cracks on the walls and squeaky floorboards were a constant reminder as Kenny stepped out of bed that his family home and life was absolutely disgusting and unstable. He had been woken up to the usual morning routine that consisted of waking up to his parents screaming and yelling, and Karen watching or listening to it all unfold silently in fear… or at least she tried to be quiet. Kenny often woke up and peered into her bedroom to find her crying… but this morning was different. It was a terrible different.

…

When Kenny peeked into Karen's room through one of the cracks in the door, he saw his sister doing the unthinkable. She had a pointed shard of glass in her hand, probably from a broken beer bottle off the floor. Kenny couldn't believe his eyes. Was she self harming? Or was it… no, it couldn't be! He knocked on the door using a certain secret knock that he and Karen had come up with over the years so they knew who/what to expect when they opened the door. As expected, the knock startled her and she froze, staring at the door like a deer in headlights. She didn't just look frightened, but guilty as well. That one expression said it all… Kenny didn't need to know anything else to understand the situation.

"Karen…"

…

It's been a few hours since Kenny had caught Karen red-handed with the shard of glass. Kenny had a serious, yet heartfelt talk with Karen about what she had been planning on doing. She cried the entire time, clinging onto her older brother while shaking helplessly. It was hard for Kenny not to start crying too, but he knew that he needed to be strong for his younger sibling. She looked up to him. He was all she had. She nearly took her life because of all the shit their parents put them through. And poor Karen thought that SHE was a burden… that SHE was the problem. Kenny couldn't take it anymore. This was NOT Karen's fault… not ever.

…

And that was the day Kenny McCormick decided he was going to take Karen and run away from home… to run away from South Park, Colorado. There really was no point in staying. The town was never really much of a home. The people were all hypocritical assholes. There were about three people Kenny could still stand, and those people were Kyle Broflovski , Stan Marsh and Craig Tucker; but… Kyle was always busy with school. As everyone in town knew, he's the top student in the state. He even graduated high school early and is now taking college classes; meanwhile Kenny was still a senior in high school. Stan was all over the place. He'd finally reached his main goal in life, and that was to become a professional football player. He had received a scholarship about a month or so ago, leaving Kenny the odd one out. He was surprised he hadn't just dropped out of school already like both his parents did. Maybe he hadn't done so since he didn't want to follow in their footsteps… not even a little bit. The very thought made him ill to his stomach. Stan also was too busy with all his sports meets and STILL fighting for Wendy Testaburger's heart. The guy really needed to let her go, seriously, but he never listened despite how correct everyone was about the relationship being unhealthy. As for Craig, Kenny never had any problems with the guy. Of course, there was that one time when they were in elementary school where they had gotten him deported out of the United States when guinea pigs were taking over the world. Kenny still felt bad for his friends' stupid idea to take Craig's birthday money to form a Peruvian flute band. It had to be one of the dumbest ideas they'd ever had, and Kenny felt idiotic to this very day for going through with it. For some reason, Craig tolerated Kenny… or so the raven called it. He never really admitted to liking Kenny around, but something told him that Craig definitely didn't mind. Over time, Kenny started to feel close to him… closer to him than anyone relationship wise. No, they hadn't been together… as much as Kenny dreamed about it. He didn't know how Craig would respond if he found out about his crush. He didn't want to lose Craig. He was his best friend… or so that's how he viewed it as of right now. One day, he hoped to call that Tucker kid his boyfriend… and not just for the sake of fucking, but for the sake of affection and love.

"Meet me at Stark's Pond right now." Kenny sent Craig an audio text with his cracked iPhone 5. The blonde was already at the Pond, expecting Craig to show up. Kenny never sent audio messages unless he was really serious. Normally he was too lazy to even text people back. Craig should know that, and Kenny hoped he did because he needed to tell him about the plan to run away. He wouldn't hold back… He no longer cared that he could get in trouble with the police and possibly forced back home. He couldn't live like this anymore and he couldn't bear to see Karen cry any longer. She deserved happiness… but other than Karen, Kenny also cared for Craig just as much. He didn't want to leave the guy here without at least telling him his plan. And if Kenny was lucky, Craig would agree to coming along with. That… was another topic he planned bringing up at the Pond.