South Park: Tortured Souls- Chapter 1

The storm continued into the next day, but despite the random bursts of rain the schools festival was a huge success. As the sun sunk behind dark grey clouds all the students staying behind to clean up retreated into an upper floor classroom. Seven shapes sat round the dim flickering of a candle, the desks and chairs piled in corners of the room to make space for their little gathering.
Tweek sat just underneath the blackboard, positioned so he could address all six other members of their party, on his lap lay open a thick leather-bound book, his hazel eyes drifting over the page as he spoke. His voice was clear and rehearsed, his stuttering all but vanished the more he got in to the story.
"It happened on a rainy d-day after school, just like this one...
A teacher lost his footing, fell down the stairs and died. The principal treated the school as if it were her o-own child, but the misfortune continued..
After some students at the elementary school went missing it was decided the school would be closed down, and finally the principle snapped. On the closing day of the school s-she climbed on to the rooftop.. And committed suicide!"
Around him his companions gasped, Bebe pressed herself closer to Wendy's side, gripping her friends shoulder out of nervousness. To their right Stan and Kyle listened intently to the story, Butters clinging to Stan's arm, terrified eyes glued to Tweek.
"Where we are now, is where the cursed South Park Elementary once stood."
"S-seriously?"
Butters squeaked nervously, watching Tweek's face as he waited for an answer that didn't come. On Tweek's right Craig rolled his eyes, head slumped in his hands, he'd heard this one before.
Pleased with the reactions from most of his friends Tweek continued,
"But the teacher that fell down the stairs had no idea he'd died on that day, t-they say that on rainy days after school he still roams the hallways.."
Hazel eyes moved quickly up to the clock and Tweek's face became pale,
"Yes.. Right around this time."
Stan let out an involuntarily gasp of horror, covering his mouth a moment later as his cheeks began to turn red. Beside him Wendy giggled,
"Something wrong Stan?"
The dark haired boy shook his head,
"No, b-but isn't it about time we head home..?"
The red in his cheeks darkened when his question led to chuckles from both Craig and his best friend.
"Let him continue, you can leave if you want"
Kyle grinned, playfully elbowing Stan.
"Whatever"
Stan pouted, crossing his arms across his chest but making no further comments.
"Just get it over with"
Prompted Craig, unable to hold back a yawn as he adjusted his position, leaning back against the classroom wall. Tweek smiled and nodded,
"So, whenever the teacher appears he is always accompanied by a sudden blackout. From outside you'll hear it,
'Knock Knock'
Then then door slowly opens..."
Tweek fell into a hushed whisper, some of his companions now had to lean forward to hear him.
"A pale face will appear in the doorframe, 'Is anyone still here?'
And then-"
But no one got to hear what happens next, Tweek fell silent when two loud knocks drummed against the classroom door. All seven heads turned to stare wide eyed at the wood, no one spoke.
After a couple of seconds silence, punctuated only by steady breaths from the students Kyle turned himself to face the door.
"Someone just knocked right?"
"M-maybe it was just the wind!"
Butters was trembling now, not taking his eyes off the door handle.
Then it happened again. Two loud knocks landed on the wood and the students around the candle screamed when the small flame disappeared, plunging them into pitch blackness.
"Tweek, stop screwing around!"
Stan yelled in the general direction he thought the blond was,
"I-it's not m-me!"
Tweek defended himself, fear obvious in his shaking voice.
"I can't see the candle."
Bebe complained from somewhere across the circle.
"Where's the light switch?"
Wendy's voice demanded, standing up so she could search for their way out of the darkness.
Before anyone else could speak the door handle turned, squeaking on it's hinges as the wood opened a crack. Now all of the students were on their feet, bunching together as dark fingers curled round the edge of the door, a deep voice floated through the gap between the wood and the wall.
"Is anyone still here..?"
The classroom erupted into shrieks.
A moment later the lights turned on, illuminating the room with their florescent white glow. Laughter cut through the screams, but not the terrifying laughter the students were expecting. The deep chuckling came from one of the few black attendees of their high school.
"Token.."
Craig growled at his friend, ice blue eyes channeling only anger at the school's teaching assistant still laughing on the other side of the classroom. Through the door appeared another figure, Clyde was also giggling and looking over his classmates with a bemused expression.
"Did we surprise you?"
Craig had Tweek hoisted over his shoulder, holding the blonds tiny figure out of harms way. Stan and Kyle, having previously had their arms around each other quickly broke away and shuffled their feet nervously. Bebe was being shoved away after using the blackout as an opportunity to attempt a grab at Wendy's chest, and Butters stood in the centre of the room quietly trying not to hyperventilate.
"How long are you guys going to stay here? I told everyone to clean up after the festival and leave."
Token asked them while Stan moved to calm Butters down, Clyde trotted towards Craig carrying a large umbrella.
"You can probably put him down now."
The brown haired boy smirked, Craig glared back, placing Tweek's feet back on the panelled flooring. The blond was still in shock.
"Why are you here?"
Craig demanded, ruffling Tweek's hair to pull him out of his stupor. Clyde exaggerated a hurt expression,
"I only came to offer you guys this umbrella, and you greet me with the coldness I was trying to save you from."
The brunette wiped away fake tears and sniffed, Craig wasn't convinced by his theatrics,
"Harsh bro. Hash."
"Thank y-you Clyde."
Having returned to his regular self Tweek thanked his friend, giving him a wide smile before glancing up at Token.
"Um, i-is it okay if we do o-one last thing?"
Token considered for a minute before nodding,
"As long as it doesn't take too long."
Tweek hurried over to the book he'd dropped, leafing through the pages until he found what he was looking for. The others turned to look at the paper doll he'd produced from between the pages,
"The Ever After Charm"
Tweek announced, returning to his place by the blackboard. Craig followed, standing next to him and observing the paper figure with interest, curious to know how the tacky charm his friend had created was supposed to work. For the second time that evening everyone gathered in a circle while Tweek explained,
"If we perform this spell then no matter how far apart we are, we will always be friends."
He gave Butters a meaningful glance, the yellow haired boy blushed as shuffled his feet bashfully when he felt all eyes turn to him.
"It's going to get really lonely without you."
Bebe told him, laying a hand on his shoulder.
"You're not moving too far away right? We'll make sure to come and visit you when winter break comes."
Kyle announced, followed by a chorus of 'Yeah' from the others.
Tears began to well in Butters eyes,
"Gosh you guys"
He sniffed and tears made their way down his cheeks, across the circle Clyde joined him, snivelling considerably louder than his blond friend.
Tweek gave Butters a quick hug, using his sleeve to dry his friends cheeks,
"We'll always be friends."
Butters nodded,
"Everyone, thanks. I'm so happy that I met you all. I promise I'll never forget about you guys."
Kyle pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned it on,
"Think you can smile for me?"
The redhead grinned at Butters. Wiping his sleeve across his face one final time Butters smiled up at Kyle.
There was a quiet click as the camera did it's job, Kyle slipped the device back into his pocket and returned to his place in the circle.
"No group photo?"
Clyde pouted, Kyle smirked and shook his head,
"I took one yesterday."
"Aw, please! After this?"
"Fine."
Kyle submitted, wanting to avoid Clyde crying again. Once there was silence again Tweek held the paper doll out in the middle of the circle,
"In order f-for this to work we must all grab onto the doll and repeat 'Spirits we beg of you' once for each person in the g-group then once more f-for the spirit we're praying to."
Hazel eyes did a quick sweep of the circle and the others shuffled forward to place their fingers on the paper.
"T-that's ten times in total, no more and no less."
"What happens if we mess up?"
Stan asked nervously, Tweek looked at him, his eyes suddenly serious,
"Then you risk angering them."
The black haired boy didn't even bother to ask who he might be angering, no matter how good an actor the coffee-addict was the look Tweek was giving him had already told him enough.
Looking back at the doll Tweek closed his eyes,
"O-okay, start chanting now."
There was silence in the classroom for a minute as the students repeated the words in their head. Clyde was the first to open his eyes,
"Is everybody done?"
A second later most of the others opened their eyes and nodded before looking at Tweek for instructions,
"N-now we all need pull on t-the doll until i-it rips."
His grip tightened on the paper limb he was holding, the fingers brushing against his did the same,
"Three,
Two,
One,
Pull!"
The paper came apart, but any tearing sound it would have made was covered by a bright flash of lightning accompanied by the rumble of thunder.
Stan yelped in surprise, Kyle laughed, Stan elbowed his ribs. Wendy turned the scrap of paper over in her hand, looking for something on the sheet of white,
"So what do we do with this?"
"We keep it, it's supposed to signify friendship."
Craig answered, repeating what Tweek had told him about the charm.
"It's wonderful, I'll treasure mine forever."
Bebe cooed, holding her piece to her chest.
Tokens' eyes moved to the wall clock,
"This was a really nice thing to do but we better get going, our parents will start to worry."
Before anyone could object there was another rumble, but this time it didn't come from the clouds. The ground beneath their feet began to tremble, stacks of chairs rattled and toppled over.
"Earthquake!"
Tweek shrieked, latching onto Craig's arm for support. Clyde stumbled, bumping into Stan,
"Like this, in Colorado!?"
"Everyone under the desks!"
Token commanded, wrapping his arms around Butters to stop him falling over.
But as quickly as the shaking had begun it was gone.
Wendy brushed dust from her shoulders, looking round the classroom warily,
"Is it over?"
"What the heck was that?"
Craig grumbled, straightening his back after being curled over Tweek.
"Alien spaceship landing?"
Stan suggested jokingly, but no one laughed. No one had time to because the floor of the classroom split open, the floor crumbling away as the students fell into the black nothingness below.