A/N: Well, here it is! The final chapter! Can you believe it? It's kind of sad, but also awesome! Hope you guys enjoy this last chapter and as a final reminder: Bold = Flashback, No bold = present day.
A few days after the play, Halloween night finally came. The boys all decided to go along with Cartman's idea and dress up in the style of Game of Thrones . Kyle dressed as a ranger, Kenny went as a fair maiden, Butters went as a paladin and Stan was dressed in a knight costume. The three boys headed to Cartman's house in a group, trick-or-treat buckets on their arms, with the exception of Kenny, who was carrying a paper bag decorated with sparkling stickers. As they stepped onto Cartman's front door porch, Kyle reached up to ring the doorbell.
"I still don't know why we're doing this," said Kyle. "After what happened on Friday..." he glanced over to Stan uneasily.
Stan looked back at him and explained, "Well, Cierra's hotel's the last stop, and Cartman's mom wouldn't let him go trick or treating alone, so..."
"He doesn't even deserve to," Kyle said under his breath.
"Look at it this way, fellas," said Butters, "this way we can all go out together instead of Cierra and Cartman going alone together."
Stan and Kyle looked to each other before Cartman's front door opened. Cartman stood before them in a red-violet wizard cloak that mimicked the color scheme of his winter coat. Around his waist was a turquoise belt with pouch. On his back, a deep blue cape held on by gold buttons. And completing the costume was a large wooden wizard's staff and a turquoise wizard hat with a yellow stripe at the bottom and a messily sewn on yellow star with a crude-looking smiley face.
"Greetings, citizens of Zaron!" Cartman raised his staff dramatically. "Our quest for confectionary spoils can now begin!"
"Whatever..." Kyle muttered.
"Lady Cartman," Cartman called inside, "Our party has arrived! Hurry thy ass up!"
"Coming!" Cierra cried from the top of Cartman's staircase.
Upon hearing Cierra's voice, the four boys looked up to her costume. She was dressed as a fair maiden as well. Her velvet dress was a light blue color with a silver trimmed bodice and a white chemise. The bodice was drawn together with laces of a slightly darker blue and a silver, blue jeweled circlet competed her costume. She lifted her skirt slightly with one hand and carried a white trick-or-treat pail with a ghost face on her other arm as she slowly made her way down the steps.
"Wow..." Kyle whispered in awe.
"Oh, Cierra, you look absolutely fabulous!" "Lady" McCormick mumbled in a high-pitched voice.
"Thanks, Kenny," said Cierra as she reached the bottom. "Er, I mean, Lady McCormick." she curtsied to the group.
"Yeah, yeah," Cartman waved his hand dismissively, "Whatever. Mom!" he cried into the kitchen, "we're leaving!"
"Have fun, hon!" his mother called back.
Cartman pushed past the other boys to come to the front of the group, leaving Cierra to close the door. When the door was shut, and she began to follow the group, she suddenly felt a strong tug on her dress.
"Ah!" she shrieked. The bottom of her chemise was caught underneath Cartman's door. She tried to open the door to free it, but it had locked itself from the inside. As she bent down to carefully pull it free, Kyle took notice and rushed to her side.
"What's up?" he asked.
"My dress...it's stuck," said Cierra worriedly, "And I can't get the door open."
Kyle knelt down and reached for the piece of wedged cloth.
"Careful..." The remaining boys heard Cierra say. They looked back to see Kyle knelt down beside her and Cartman shouted, "What's the hold up?!"
"Cierra's dress got caught under the door," Kyle explained.
Cartman rolled his eyes and groaned.
Kyle carefully wriggled the dress until it was finally free of the door with no noticeable damage.
"I worked forever on this dress...Thank you, Kyle," she said appreciatively before curtseying to him, "Sir Kyle."
"Aw," Kyle dismissed the gesture bashfully, "Just...just 'Kyle''s fine."
"Can we get a move on?!" Cartman bellowed impatiently.
Kyle and Cierra quickly rejoined the group and they all began their journey around the neighborhood. Stan and Kyle walked near the back of the group, Kenny was nearer to the middle, Butters walked near the front to Cartman's left and Cierra walked behind Cartman to his right. As they walked an air of tension hovered around them.
For a good five houses, none of the children said a word to each other until someone spoke up.
"Uh...nice costume, by the way, Eric," Butters said trying to break the tension.
"Why, thank you, Paladin Butters," Cartman said proudly, "It was made especially for me by the local seamstress."
Cierra gave a small smile.
"Though with some of my own touches," he explained.
"I bet the star was your idea..." said Stan.
"Damn right it was!"
"Your costume's pretty impressive too, Stan," said Butters turning back towards him. "Your helmet looks like a...a real knight's helmet."
"Thanks, Butters," said Stan.
"Your mom help you make it?" asked Kyle.
Stan shook his head. "Nah...my sister helped me," he said with a smile.
All the kids raised their eyebrows in shock with the exception of one...
"Seriously?!" Kyle asked. "Shelly helped you make that?"
"My sister can be...pretty creative when she wants to be," he said with a short glance towards the front of the group.
Unseen by the others, Cierra was wearing a pretty confident smile...
In the counselor's office, Mr. Wolfe sat patiently as Stan shuffled nervously in the seat before his desk. As Stan sat before Mr. Wolfe, he was unsure of where to begin. He continued to shuffle in the seat but looked up at the counselor and saw Mr. Wolfe had no intentions of hurrying him. Stan heard the faint ticking of the analog clock above Mr. Wolfe's head and after about five minutes of uncertainty, he finally found his words.
"He...he treats her like crap" He looked down to the floor. "He doesn't give her any privacy, he always talks over her and he's always insulting her."
Mr. Wolfe nodded silently as Stan continued to avoid making eye contact.
"He calls her stupid, worthless, useless..." Stan felt his face tense up and he spat out the words spitefully but he tried to relax his expression as he continued, "She's such a nice kid. She's fun, she's funny, and she's super nice to everyone...even him," Stan said the last words with a twinge of bitterness. "I'm just scared that...that one day, he'll have her all to himself. And that I'll never be able to see her again." Stan gripped the sides of his chair tensely. "And if he ever found out about us being friends..." Stan tried hard to fight back his tears of frustration and quickly wiped away a few that managed to escape his eyes.
"I can definitely understand where you're coming from, Stan," Mr. Wolfe said warmly. "No one wants to see someone they care about be mistreated. And from what you've told me, it seems your hypothetical friend just may be in a toxic situation."
Stan looked up at the counselor. "So, what do I do?" he asked. "Sometimes, it's like she can't get away from him," he explained, "like everywhere she goes, everything she does, he has to be right there." He used his hands for emphasis.
"That's very typical for a toxic friend," Mr. Wolfe explained. "They often see themselves as the center of their friend's world; intruding in on activities and relationships they have no business being a part of."
"Exactly!" said Stan. "Who does he think he is?!" His tone suddenly became aggressive. "He's not her father! Hell, he's not even her brother! He's her Goddamn cousin!" he yelled. "Is that how you're supposed to treat family?! Screening their calls?! Calling them worthless?! Doing everything you can to make sure she's never happy with anyone but you?!" Stan growled at the thought and snarled, "I swear one time he's gonna go far and I'm gonna..." Stan tightly clenched his hand into a fist and threw it into his other hand's open palm. He growled to himself softly and caught a glimpse of Mr. Wolfe's concerned gaze. He calmed himself down and tried to change the subject. "It's just...it's so unfair," he said. "How does someone as nice as her get mixed up with someone as big a douche as him?"
"You mentioned that he is her cousin, correct?" asked Mr. Wolfe.
"Yeah," said Stan.
"Well, toxic and abusive relationships often more readily develop in families due to the close proximity its members have. It's an unfortunate truth to be sure, since abusive relationships between family members present a much more complicated situation than those between friends or romantic partners."
"Tell me about it..." Stan grumbled. "But," he said more clearly, "she won't go to her father about it," Stan explained. "And God forbid if she told his mother..." He held his forehead in his hand and shook his head at the thought.
"I see..." Mr. Wolfe held his chin thoughtfully before speaking up once more, "Well, if there is any advice I can give you, Stan, it's this: be sure to be there for your friend."
Stan slightly raised his eyebrows in interest.
"If you want to ensure your friend's well-being, and you feel the situation may escalate if you take it to a parent," said Mr. Wolfe, "then the best thing that you can do is let her know that you'll be there for her when she needs you."
"Really?" asked Stan.
Mr. Wolfe nodded. "Abusers often try to keep their victims isolated and this leaves them in a state of increased emotional vulnerability," he explained. "They tend to be more susceptible to their abuser's influence as they come to depend on them for any emotional support; which they often don't get."
"Yeah..." Stan agreed and glanced away sadly.
"There's strength in numbers in these situations, Stan," said Mr. Wolfe, "As I recall from the videos Mr. Mackey showed you, a piece of advice that's given is to 'build your army'."
Stan looked back to the counselor confused. He hadn't paid that close attention to the videos of that day.
"One surefire way to combat the negative effects of an abusive situation is to build a support system," Mr. Wolfe explained. "Surrounding yourself with people who care about your well-being is key to helping end an abusive situation. If your friend had a variety of social options, it may help her to build up her self-confidence. Let her know that she deserves to be treated well not just from others telling her, but by her realizing it herself."
Stan's face began to show signs of hope as the counselor spoke.
"Yeah...maybe..." he said.
"If she were real..." Mr. Wolfe began again, "I'm sure she must feel very fortunate to have met you, Stan."
"You think?" asked Stan.
Mr. Wolfe nodded. "I believe that she may have found a valuable member of her army with how protective you seem of her...if she wasn't hypothetical, of course," he added with a soft chuckle.
Stan snapped back from that and laughed too, "Yeah...if...if she was real."
"Mmm..." Mr. Wolfe nodded again.
"Well..." said Stan. "Thanks for the advice, Mr. Wolfe," said Stan. "I think...if I knew someone in trouble, I'd say I got some ideas of how to help her out."
"Well, I'm glad," said Mr. Wolfe.
Stan hopped out of the chair and headed for the door. As he slowly opened it, he hesitated on walking out of the office. He quickly glanced up at the analog clock and saw that recess was close to being over.
"Umm...Mr. Wolfe?" he said tentatively.
"Mm-hmm?" said Mr. Wolfe.
"Um...there...might be another friend I want to talk to you about," said Stan.
"Oh?" said Mr. Wolfe.
"A friend who might be in a similar but more...painful situation..." Stan rubbed his arm nervously and Mr. Wolfe picked up on it immediately.
"Oh..." he said thoughtfully.
"Will you still be here tomorrow?" Stan asked.
"Unfortunately, no," Mr. Wolfe said sadly. "I was asked to substitute for Mr. Mackey. So, he will be here tomorrow."
"Oh..." Stan said disappointedly.
"However," Mr. Wolfe rose from his desk and walked towards Stan. He had a small card in his hand and handed it to him. It was a business card with shimmering, silver print. It had his name and the address of a building not too far from Cierra's hotel. Along with a slogan in quotes, "It feels good to help." "If you or your other 'friend' ever need to talk, they can find me at this address."
"Hmm...okay," said Stan.
"But I will leave you with one more thing Stan: misery does indeed love company," Stan looked up at him as he spoke. "Many find solace and comfort in knowing that they aren't alone with any negative feelings or bad situations they have," he said. "So, if your hypothetical friends haven't met, I hope they do. If any good thing comes of their shared pain, it'll be the knowledge that they aren't alone."
Stan smiled at the idea and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah...I think so too," he said feeling happier than when he had first begun to leave. The bell ending recess rang sharply through the office and Stan knew he had to leave now.
"Enjoy the rest of your day, Stan," Mr. Wolfe said in a friendly tone.
"You too, Mr. Wolfe," said Stan.
With that, Stan left the room with a gentle close of the counselor office door. As he walked off down the hallway, Mr. Wolfe watched him go and once he was out of sight, he went back towards his desk and sat down. He placed a hand in his chest, took a deep breath in, and removed his hand as he exhaled.
"It feels good to help," he said to himself.
As the group continued around the neighborhood, Stan smiled towards Cierra and remembered the promise they had made to each other all those nights ago.
"I wish Shelly wasn't your sister," Stan remembered Cierra saying sadly.
"I wish Cartman wasn't your cousin," He said back to her.
"So, Cierra," Lady McCormick asked Cierra. "However did you discover Game of Thrones?"
Cierra turned back to face Kenny.
"Well, actually...my big cousin introduced it to me," she said sweetly.
Kyle and Butters were taken aback.
"Cartman, seriously?" asked Kyle in disbelief.
"Yeah," Cartman said, "We've been watchin' 'em together since I told her about our Halloween costume idea."
Unseen by Cartman, Cierra shot a knowing smile back at Stan.
"If she was gonna make my costume," Cartman continued, "I wanted to be authentic down to the last detail."
Stan chuckled to himself softly, secretly reveling in the invisible conversation Cierra and he were having. He knew it would take some time before Cierra felt secure enough to not care what Cartman thought or threatened to do. So for now, he would take the first promise he made to her seriously. Even if it was in secret.
"I'll tell you what," he remembered once again, "I'll promise be your big cousin... If you promise to be my little sister."
He remembered her laughing at the idea, being three months his senior but also the comfort it brought them to know they'd never be alone with their sadness again.
"Deal?" he remembered asking her.
As if on cue, Cierra said in response to Cartman, not taking her eyes off Stan,
"Yeah...my big cousin definitely knows what he's talking about when it comes to inspiring shows."
Stan and Cierra smiled at each other as he remembered her gentle voice happily taking his offer.
"Deal."
A/N: This story has been going on for a LONG time and only recently picked up steam. I'm sad to see it end but I'm so happy to see it finished! I think it turned out great! My next story will probably take a little while to be posted but until then, I hope you guys enjoyed this one! Read, review and let me know what you think of "But He Doesn't Hit Me". Happy Holidays, everyone!