"I'll admit it wasn't the easiest fix, but I managed to set us up an appointment in Middle Park that's just late enough to lend us the opportunity of making a few small stops on the way," Stan explains to his friend in the back of his father's vehicle. The 1987 blue sedan runs at only five miles per hour at the moment. They haven't even left town yet and Kyle begins to get a little fidgety about whether or not they will actually get to see Kenny before the day is over. Suddenly the car slows even more once reaching the parking lot of Hell's Pass.
"Huh?" Kyle immediately raises an eyebrow when he sees them pulling up to the dingy building. "Did Kenny get transferred here or something, or was it Cartman or Butters?" Kyle was released from the hospital a week ago after being there for double that time. His friends came and went within that period. Token left a week in of Kyle's stay but returned shortly after to visit Nicole after Athlete's Foot completely engulfed her lower-left leg. Tweek came back as well, this time after developing a severe case of narcolepsy caused by a paranoid fear of overdosing on caffeine again and trying to quick cold turkey. Lola fell off the jungle gym and hurt her hip before being sent here. A tiny scratch on the elbow doesn't seem like much at first, but the cut caused internal bleeding and the brunette was quickly shipped off to the ER. Not to mention that there are countless other accidents happening to people of all ages in other towns all around Park County. It's bad enough that it's at the point that every one of their friends has visited Hell's Pass or some sort of clinic at least once.
"Not exactly," Stan attempts to explain. He twists his head around the front seat to face his best friend. "You saw everyone visit you when you were here. I just thought it would be better to get a full perspective of just how many of our classmates sleep here now." They step out of the vehicle, Kyle's heart pounding at the thought of seeing all of his friends in pain. Mr. Marsh locks the car and it lets out it's obnoxious, beeping signal. Then they're off to the hospital. Stan pushes the front double-doors open and the three step into the hallway. There are a few elderly people in wheelchairs that look up to see their arrival. There's not much else other than the red-haired receptionist dressed in white at the counter. All of their classmates' parents are probably with them right now if they're here at all. Kyle feels a hint of frustration boil inside him against his better judgement. All these children from South Park Elementary contracting horrendous illnesses and injuries and not one of them is Cartman.
"Alright, boys," Randy turns to Stan and Kyle. "You two run along and visit your little friends while I stay here and chat up the hot receptionist. Come back down here and let me know when you're ready to move on."
"Okay, Dad," Stan replies before grabbing Kyle's arm. "We won't be long." The two boys pass by the nicely-lit nurse's station and continue down the hall. Nicole and Token is their first stop. Her room is conveniently in the same hallway as her boyfriend's was. They walk down the many doors and white-washed walls. "Alright, so the nurse said that Nicole's room is Room 44, right across from Token's old room. Let's go see how she's doing." He gently raps on the door. "It's Stan and Kyle. Can we come in?"
After a moment, they hear Nicole's familiar voice, "Oh, yeah. Stan and K-kyle. Please! Let yourselves in!" Stan grabs hold of the doorknob and pushes the door forward. Inside is the same, sterilized, bright lights on the ceiling that Kyle had to sit through for over a week. Token does not seem to be present at the moment. Nicole lies in bed looking unusually healthy. Stan makes a note that she looks much better than Kyle did when he was here. She has her regular, cheerful face on, but her hair is not tied the way it is at school. Instead, it spreads in a giant cloud of poofy curls around her head. It's almost as bad a hairdo as Kyle's is whenever his hat is off. At the foot of the bad, there is a pan of icy with this strange, turquoise liquid inside. Her brown feet show an apparent contrast to it's color.
"Hello, Nicole," Kyle stutters awkwardly. "I'm sorry you have to stay here..."
Nicole suddenly seems to become aware that there are others in the room with her, "Oh! I'm sorry. I completely forgot about my hair!" She hurriedly bends forward and gathers a bit of the turquoise fusion on her hands. She then smooths it out over her hair so than it becomes sort of a flat plateau of black dirt. It still looks like a mess, just less of a mess.
"So I guess Token had to leave," Kyle tries again to make conversation.
Nicole smiles again in response, "Yeah. You just missed him. He's so sweet. He visits me every day." To this, Kyle smiles.
Stan doesn't attempt to fake emotions. Instead he tries a polite, formal conversation, "So how have you been, Nicole? Are you feeling better?"
"Oh yes, I'm much better!" the girl pipes up cheerfully. "There was never anything wrong with me in the first place. I'd just like to get out of this bed."
"Well, if you're fine, then I guess we'll be going," Stan says and grabs Kyle, leading him outside.