AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm baaack! I cast my deepest appreciation for those of you who are still reading my work. Now here's the long-awaited(at least I hope so) third chapter of ELECTRIC HEAD. Enjoy!
ELECTRIC HEAD
Chapter 3: Practice Makes Miserable
Kyle was fidgeting as he sat in a cold unforgiving chair in the South Park Clinic. He and the other three, being Kenny, Butters, and Cartman, had rushed Stan to the clinic upon finding him. Now they were waiting, and Kyle hated waiting.
They were all seated in three waiting room chairs, with Butters once again in Kenny's lap. He was petting the smaller blonde in silence, comforting him as he sniffled. Cartman was sitting still, his legs together, and his head hanging down. He had his hands over his face, in what Kyle thought was an attempt to hide his tears. Kyle was tapping his foot on the linoleum tiles impatiently, as he was awaiting somebody to just tell him if Stan was okay. He felt responsible for what happened to Stan. He felt as if he could've done something to stop him, but he failed. He failed Stan.
"Boys." A nurse made her prescense known. All four of the boys looked up at her with nervous anticipation in their eyes. Kyle swallowed as she spoke. "Your friend's gonna be alright." Kyle cried, his tears falling down his jacket. He sniffed and looked back up at the nurse.
"Can we see him?" Kyle asked.
"Yes, but only one person at a time." She said. Kyle nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes. They huddled and devised an order, with Cartman going first. Kyle didn't question this, he thought he was the last person Stan wanted to see now. Cartman was probably the second to last person.
Cartman followed the nurse to a small room, with the one and only Stan Marsh lying on the hospital bed, hooked up to a blood bag.
"I'll leave you alone hun." She said, exiting the room and closing the door. Cartman walked over to Stan, sitting down in the chair beside his bed.
"Hey Stan..." He sighed. "I know you probably can't hear me, but Ah'm sorry for everything I ever did when we were kids. Ah've always been such an asshole, and I want you to know that I've changed..."
Stan eyes twitched, and they then opened.
"Cartman?" He breathed. "Where's Kyle?"
"He's outside, they're letting only one at a time in," Cartman said, putting a hand on Stan's. "How you feelin?"
"Like shit."
"Yeah ah bet." Cartman snickered. "Listen, you just relax dude, Butters is next, get ready for a lot of crying." Cartman said, wiping his own tears away.
"Alright, thanks Eric." Stan sighed.
"Why'd you call me that?"
"I figured you'd prefer it to 'Cartman'." He said, smiling.
"Thank you Stan." Cartman said, getting up and leaving. Then the door opened and in came Butters, blubbering and sniffling as he approached Stan, who couldn't help but start crying himself.
"Hey Butters." Stan said, wiping his new tears away. The blonde boy could only nod to him, as he struggled to form words.
"Th-thank g-god you're o-okay S-Stan, I c-couldn't i-imagine you g-gone..." Butters collapsed onto Stan's lap, who began to pet the smaller boy's hair slowly, as he cried into his hospital gown.
"I'm fine Butters." Stan said. "I'm sorry for scaring you guys." Butters shot back up and gave Stan the most intense glare he'd ever seen on that little round face.
"Now you listen here mister," Butters scorned. "You have nothing to be sorry about you hear me?!" He pointed at Stan harshly.
"Yea I hear you." Stan giggled. Then Butters hugged him, at least as much as he could without interfering with his blood bag. Stan wrapped his arm around Butters small form, holding him tight. He realized that Butters would be the perfect cuddle partner. With his slightly tubby form and soft skin, he was just a bright ball of warmth. Right now that ball was crying because of somehthing he'd done, and Stan felt like shit.
"Okay, now Kenny's comin after me, he's not taking this so well, so let him know you're doing okay huh?" Butters gave Stan a light kiss on the cheek. Stan liked it. Butters was always the affectionate one, and giving kisses was his highest form of compassion, other than sex.
"Sure." Stan said. Butters then left, allowing Kenny to walk in. He looked rather pale, and since he started wearing that leather jacket, he gave up covering his face. Kenny walked up to the bed, and leaned down to Stan.
"What is wrong with you!?" He shouted. Stan was taken aback by Kenny's sudden anger.
"What?"
"Why would you attempt suicide!?" Kenny growled. "Are we such shitty friends that you'd leave us, just because Wendy told you off!?"
"It wasn't just that." Stan said, crying. "It was everything, my entire life was falling apart, and that was just the last straw Kenny!"
"Why?" Kenny leaned over Stan's form, edging his face closer to the other boys'. "We may not all admit it, but we love you Stan..." Kenny said. He then kissed Stan's nose, causing him to blush. Butters kissing him was one thing, but Kenny, the sexual deviant, kissing him was akin to him eyeing you up. Strangely, Stan wasn't uncomfortable, in fact, Kenny's presence was oddly soothing.
"I just..." Stan said, a tear rolling down his flushed cheek. "I just felt like it wasn't gonna end..." He said. Kenny sighed.
"Stan, it always gets better..." Kenny said, walking to the door. He opened the door and looked out at Kyle. The jew boy let out a shaky sigh, before shaking his head, and walking off. Kenny went after him. "Kyle where you going?"
"I'll be right back," Kyle said, making his way to the exit. "Tell Stan I'll be right back!" With that he was gone. Kenny stood there, confused as all hell. He poked his head in Stan's room.
"Kyle said he'll be right back." Kenny said.
"What?"
"I dunno either, but he stepped out for a minute." Kenny said.
"Oh god..." Stan gasped. "He probably thinks it was his fault, I gotta go to him!" Stan attempted to get out of bed, but Kenny rushed in and held him down.
"Relax, he said he'd be right back."
"But I'm worried about him..." Stan said.
"Well he's just as worried about you I'm sure," Kenny sighed. "Just give him a minute." Then the door opened. Kyle walked in, carrying a guitar case. He looked at Stan, and nodded to Kenny, who then left them alone. Kyle set the case on the floor, opening it. He pulled out a Gibson SG electric guitar and sat in a chair. He looked at Stan, who appeared very confused. Kyle began to play some peaceful chords.
"I'm so so happy you're okay..." He said, trying to fight back his tears of happiness after having faced such grim circumstances.
"Kyle I..." Stan began, but Kyle stopped playing, and for some reason, this made Stan stop talking. Kyle continued the strumming.
"I thought about what you said..." Kyle began, as he then switched to a more upbeat arrangement. Stan liked Kyle's guitar playing. He had definitely been practicing.
"About what?"
"About, how you wanted to...practice together," Kyle switched back to his faster strumming, yet still maintaining the same peaceful melody. "Like a band right?"
"Y-yeah..."
"Tomorrow, I'm comin to your house and we're gonna practice..." Kyle said, it sounded like a statement, more than a request. "We're gonna start a band." He said.
"Kyle-"
"Shh, just listen..." Kyle began to play a fast rock riff, he looked up and smiled at Stan. "I wrote that last week, but I'm having a hard time coming up with a drum part." He said. Stan listened to Kyle's riff, dissecting it in his head to form a beat. He began to mimic drum sounds with his voice, and soon they were playing a song. Kyle strummed like a pro, and Stan's sound effects were on par with real drums. The 'song' ended, and they both grinned at each other.
"Okay, tomorrow, we'll practice at my house." Stan said. He had tears in his eyes. It touched him that Kyle wanted to do this with him, even if it was just to support him, he appreciated every bit of it. Kyle continued to play his guitar until Stan dozed off. The ginger-headed boy couldn't bring himself to leave his friend, so in that very chair he slept...
oOo
The next day...
"A band?" Kenny was interested. He had gotten Kyle to tell him the whole story. Kenny had always wanted to be in a band, but couldn't bring himself to ask anybody else to help form one. He wasn't about to ask Kyle.
"Yeah, kinda." Kyle sighed, scratching his head. They were at the local mall, eating breakfast at McDonalds. Stan was with them, but he was currently going to the bathroom, and Kyle figured he'd tell Kenny about the band. "We're just practicing together, it's not legit or anything."
"That's still cool though." Kenny said. "Can I join?" He popped the question, almost without acknowledging he'd done so. He nearly had a heart attack right there as Kyle got that perplexed look on his face.
"You don't have an instrument." Kyle said. Kenny tried his best to maintain his confidence.
"I got my golden voice." He said with a phony british accent. Kyle smirked.
"Oh really?"
"Hell yeah, I sing all the time."
"Well so does my mom," Kyle said, cringing as he recalled his mother's dreadful rendition of Sweet Home Alabama. "I'm fine with it, you'll just have to ask Stan when he gets back."
"Oh c'mon, It was already hard enough to ask you."
"Aww, is Kenny McCormick nervous?" Kyle poked Kenny's nose, causing the blonde to swat at his hand.
"Shaddup." Kenny giggled.
"Consider asking Stan your first lesson in being a frontman." Kyle said, as Stan approached the table, and sat down. He opened his egg Mcmuffin, and took a big bite.
"S-Stan?" Kenny said. The raven-haired boy perked up to look at Kenny, a bit of egg on the edge of his mouth. Kyle stuck his finger out and took off the bit of egg, and ate it. Kenny did that kind of stuff with Butters all the time, but it was weird for Kyle to do it to Stan. Stan didn't seem vexed at the least by the sorta-kinda-gay gesture.
"Yeah?" Stan's eyebrows shot up. Kenny had zoned out apparently.
"I was wondering if I could uhh..." Kenny sighed. "I was wondering if I could join your band with Kyle."
"You told him?" Stan asked, glaring at Kyle, who shrugged.
"Didn't know it was a secret." Kyle giggled, finishing off his hashbrown. Stan sighed.
"Do you have a bass or something?" Stan asked.
"He wants to sing."
"Fuck you dude, I can speak for myself."
"Wait what?" Stan blinked. "You wanna sing?" Kenny breathed.
"Yeah."
"Alright, fine."
"Really?"
"Sure." Stan said. "We're heading right over to my house after this, I got a microphone for you to use." He took a bite out of his Mcmuffin. "We'll see if you're worthy." Stan mumbled through a mouthfull of sausage, egg, and cheese.
"This is so cool!" Kenny beamed. He began to fantasize about singing his heart out in front of a massive crowd, that shouted his name as he howled. He imagined Kyle ripping a killer solo, and Stan following him on drums with impressive precision. Alas, something was missing from this fantasy. "But what about bass?"
"We'll worry about that some other time." Stan said. They continued to eat their breakfast in a collectively eager silence.
oOo
Butters waited for Kenny on his front porch. He sat on the cold concrete stairs that led up to his door. He played with his phone, fidgeted, and stared at passing traffic, awaiting that familiar green beat up suburban. Butters remembered the first time he rode with Kenny in that car, and the first time he kissed Kenny in that car. Then there was the first time they made love in that car. Butters always remembered the scents of that automobile, a mixture of weed from countless smoking sessions, and dust from the car's old age. He thought of all this as he sat.
"Oh gee, where's Ken?" Butters whined. Just then, a red sedan pulled up. Butters acknowledged the automobile, but wondered why it stopped. Though, he couldn't help but think it looked familiar, as the driver's side door opened. A brown-haired head poked out.
"Ey, get in Butters!" Eric Cartman called. Butters, slightly confused, rose from the porch step and approached the car.
"Ken's supposed to be pickin me up..." Butters said. Cartman nodded.
"He's busy right now, he asked me to pick you up on my way home from work," He explained. "He wanted me to drop you off at Stan's dad's shed... dunno why, but I figured I would oblige..."
"Gee thanks Eric," Butters paused. "But that does sound kinda sh-shady though, don't you think?"
"Yea, it didn't come out right," With that, Cartman opened the passenger door. "C'mon."
"O-okay." Butters slumped into the vehicle, buckled up, and they departed. Cartman was a surprisingly safe driver, contrary to popular belief. Butters assumed it was the fact that he was more intrested in self-preservation than punctuality, so he drove near-grampa speeds. "So I gotta question for ya Eric."
"Shoot."
"Why didn't you tell Kenny and Kyle about what happened at the party?" Butters said. "You were there, weren't you?"
"Ah was there, but if you remember correctly, Ah was with Youknowwho in your room, Ah didn't even know it happened until they told me." Cartman said, blushing slightly. Butters sighed.
"Eric, you don't hafta say 'Youknowwho' around me, we're by ourselves, nobody's listening in..." The small blonde addressed. Now it was Cartman's turn to sigh.
"Ah know, but..." Out of nowhere, Cartman pulled over to the curb, stopped the vehicle, and dug out his cd booklet. He then pulled out a black disc, and deposited it into the cd player. He hit play, and dialed the volume down. The car was soon filled with the quiet sounds of Tool.
"Y'know, he's gonna think that you're ashamed of him, if you keep hiding it." Butters said. "Besides, when Kenny and I came out, nothing happened, in fact, barely anybody noticed."
"Ah'm pretty sure everybody already knew you two were gay." Cartman spat, then he took in a deep breath. "Ah'm sorry Butters."
"It's okay, you're stressed out..." Butters said. "Did Kenny tell you why he wanted me at Stan's Dad's shed?"
"Na... He just told me to drop you off there."
"Well now I'm stressed..."
"About what?"
"Nothin, c'mon let's go." Butters said. Cartman started the car back up and drove into the backwoods of South Park, where there was a large metal shed, that Stan's Dad won in a contest, and just left to rot. It had power, which explained the Marsh family's ridiculous bills.
They pulled up to the shed, and immediately they could hear music. It was loud, and sounded pretty good. Cartman huffed, and Butters just looked confused.
"Did Kenny mention having a rave?" Cartman asked sarcastically.
"What's a rave?"
"It's a magical thing, where people do drugs and rape each other..." Cartman joked, but upon seeing the look of horror on Butters' face, he quickly added, "kidding... Okay, off you go."
"O-okay..." Butters exited the vehicle, and stepped closer to the shed, with sounds of music erupting from it's decrepit steel construction...
SECONDARY AUTHOR'S NOTE: Once again, I thank everybody who reads my work. I plan on continuing this story in particular, because it hits close to home. However, I am willing to continue the saga of Craig as the South Park Stress Reliever, so don't fret, great things are coming! I love you all!
