The door to the emergency room slammed open. "Three-year-old male, collapsed for unknown reasons. Pulse, blood pressure, and temperature normal." Kyle lay on a gurney, eyes rolled back in his head. Oblivious to the shouting doctors and nurses above him.
Sheila ran next to her son but was pushed back as they took him back through the double doors into the emergency room. She sobbed a little as she and her husband went to sit in the waiting room. "Oh Gerald, what do you think happened? All the stress over Stan and Kenny finally affected our poor Kyle?"
Gerald holds his wife. "You've been so stressed helping out, Kyle will be ok. Hopefully, it's just the flu or something."
"He wouldn't wake up. Even when we tried to shake him, he wouldn't wake up." Sheila cries into a tissue.
Sharon had been asleep when her phone lit up. "What now?" She grumbled but felt bad when the text message popped up. 'We had to take Kyle into the ER.'
"Oh no." She whispered and moved out in the hall to not disturb a sleeping Stan. She called Sheila. "Sheila? I'm so sorry."
"Oh Sharon, I didn't expect you to be awake, but I had to tell someone. We're in the waiting room right now."
Sharon rubbed her weary eyes. "What happened?"
"Kyle got up in the middle of the night and went into our bedroom. He was calling out for me and collapsed as I woke up. He hasn't regained consciousness since we've gotten here. I don't know what to think."
Sharon feels her blood grow cold. "Just like Stan. We're here for you with anything you need. Poor thing. He's such a big help to Stan."
"I'm so scared, Sharon."
"I am too. We're here for you. No matter what."
The doctor came out. "The parents of Kyle Broflovski?"
"The doctor wants to talk to us, bye Sharon." Sheila hung up on her to go meet with the doctor.
The sun peeked through the curtains. Stan sat up and yawned. "Mommy? It's morning time. Mommy?"
Sharon hadn't been able to sleep the rest of the night, just clutching her phone for any word from Sheila. None had come. She turned bloodshot eyes to her son. "Hi, Stanley. Did you sleep good? Have nice dreams?"
Stan shook his head. "It wasn't a dream. Kenny was here and he was mad. I told him to go to Kyle for help. Go play with Kyle."
"Oh baby." Sharon holds him close and starts to cry.
"Kyle visit today?" Stan asked.
"We may go visit him. I need to check on a few things. Let's just play with your toys while we wait for the nurse to come in." Sharon passed Stan a few blocks and action figures and tried to push worry out of her mind.
Sharon breathed a sigh of relief when nurse Emily came in. Emily smiled and started to check on Stan.
"Emily, I was wondering if you could help me. It's ok if you're too busy." Sharon asked.
"Depends what it is but I'll try my best." Emily said from taking Stan's blood pressure. The boy obediently held his arm out for the nurse, a feat among medical professionals for Stan.
Sharon looks at Stan and says quietly so he won't overhear. "I got a call from his friend Kyle's mother. He has some kind of fainting spell and was brought into the hospital last night. I just want word if he's ok, or if he's admitted, or anything we can do to help."
"I can't say much about his condition, but I can say if you look to the room to your left, you'll find him." Emily winks at her. "Just admitted an hour ago."
Sharon's eyes filled with tears as she hugged Emily again. "Thank you again. After we give Stan his breakfast and medicine, we might take a little trip."
"Noooo!" Stan yelled. "I hate my medicine, it's icky!"
Sharon and Emily both looked over at Stan. It was going to be a long morning.
Kyle was sent to a hospital room right next to Stan's. He still hadn't regained consciousness. He lay with his eyes closed, tucked into a hospital bed with oxygen, IV, and a heart monitor attached. He had a barrage of tests done on him but nothing definite for now.
Sheila sat at his bedside, unsure what to think. Nurse Emily entered and came to check his vitals. "Hello, Kyle dear. Sorry you're not feeling well. How are you holding up, Mrs. Broflovski?"
Sheila wiped her eyes. "Worried of course. My husband took off to cover some things at his office to be here this afternoon. I want to yell at the doctor to find out what's wrong with my little Kyle."
Emily takes Kyle's blood pressure. "I saw the doctor in the hall, and he'll be in soon to give you an update. I know it's upsetting to see your son like this. His vitals look good right now. Hopefully they will diagnose him soon."
"Well, I certainly hope so." Sheila huffed, holding Kyle's hand.
A knock at the door and Sheila looked up expectantly, but instead of the doctor it was Sharon carrying Stan, still attached to his IV pole. "Hi, Sheila, Kyle." Sharon said softly. Stan kept his arms tightly curled around his mother's neck.
He started to cry when he saw Kyle lying in bed. "Mommy! Kyle's not moving!"
"Shhh, baby I know. Kyle's sick like you were sick. He needs our support to get better." Sharon sits in a chair next to Sheila with Stan on her lap. "I'm so sorry this happened."
"I'm just so angry. I want to go find that doctor myself and yell at him to tell me what's wrong." Sheila said, frowning as she held Kyle's hand.
"I don't suggest doing that Mrs. Broflovski." Emily says. "The doctor is busy taking care of other patients and we're still waiting on Kyle's test results."
Sheila ignores her and takes off into the hall with Emily chasing after her. Sharon is left alone holding Stan, slightly in shock.
"Mama? Mama I don't like Kyle like that." Stan cries in a small voice.
Sharon's own stomach drops looking over at her son's best friend. She's reminded of how Stan was a few days ago. "I know, he looks scary. He is very sick like you were. But we need to talk to him and let him know we care so he can slowly wake up." She scoots closer in the chair and picks up Kyle's hand. "Kyle, sweetie. It's Stan and his mom. We're here for you. We want you to get well soon." A tear falls from her eyes.
Stan is still clinging to his mom but looks over at Kyle, behind him in the form of Kenny. Kenny shrugs and points to Kyle. Stan hates this but knows what he needs to do. "Mommy? I'll sit with Kyle. I want him to get better."
"You sure, Stanley? I don't want you to be scared and you get sicker."
"I'm sure, Mommy. Put me down."
Stan was scared as he was placed at the edge of Kyle's bed. He crawls closer and lays down next to him. "Kyle? You sleepy too? You got strings, why aren't you getting better?" He touched his hand which had an IV hooked up to it, tears filling his eyes.
He took his pterodactyl and held it up. "Look I brought Petey the pterodactyl, I want him to keep you and his brother company."
Kyle sat on top of a rock with his arms crossed glaring at Kenny. "Let me go home." He said.
"Stan said you could get me home. Take me with you." Kenny said back leaning across another rock facing Kyle.
"I-I don't know how." Kyle heard a screech above as the pterodactyl dropped something into his lap. "What? Candy? Why- hey that's from Stan." Kyle puts the lollipop down and walks to follow the pterodactyl. "Hey! What you tryin' to tell me?" He calls after it.
Kenny follows Kyle curiously along a path. Petey the pterodactyl keeps dropping a trail of candy. Kyle picks up a piece and it sends a pain in his stomach. He drops it. "That candy is bad."
Kenny looks at him weirdly and picks up and piece. "Seems fine to me. Maybe something is wrong with you."
Kyle gave Kenny a dirty look as the other boy unwrapped a lollypop and started to lick it. "Stan? You there? Tell me what you want me to do! Which direction you want us to go to? Just follow your pterodactyl?"
Stan lay in bed next to Kyle. "Then when we get out of the scary doctor's office I want you me and Kenny to go to the park, then the toy store and we'll get more dinos." He tucks Petey the pterodactyl in Kyle's hands. "He'll keep you safe until you're much better. We can go to the candy store after."
Sharon sits off to the side supervising. "You're doing so good, talking to your friend. Making sure he knows you're there."
"I don't like it." Stan starts to cry again.
"It's okay, Stanley. You're still getting better yourself." Sharon scoops her crying son into her arms. She sees Sheila come back dragging a frazzled looking doctor behind her with Nurse Emily following.
"Tell me what's wrong with my son, Doctor!" Sheila yells at him.
The doctor with thinning brown hair pushes his glasses up his nose as he looks over his file. "We've run extensive tests over him. He had blood taken last night in the ER and just now this morning. From what we can tell his glucose level is very high, too high for someone his age. We're going to test the blood once more and if the glucose is still high, we're going to start an insulin treatment as soon as possible."
"Insulin treatment? Don't tell me." Sheila gasped.
"We suspect your son may have type one diabetes and that's what caused his collapse and why he's not waking up. I'm rushing the results to the lab but once we have confirmation, we can start treatment." The doctor confirmed.
Sheila faces the doctor and puts her hands on her hips. "Why not start it now and wake him up?"
"It's a best guess at this point. We can take his blood sugar right now but want the confirmation results from the lab before we start treatment."
"This hospital is useless!" Sheila yells.
"Sheila please." Sharon puts a hand on her shoulder. "They're trying."
Stan sits on Kyle's bed and holds him close. He's softly crying. "Please wake up. We need to play."
Sharon shakes her head and picks up Stan, holding him close. "Let's take you back to your room for lunch and a nap." She kisses him on the forehead.
"No! Noooo! Kyle!" Stan cries out.
"We don't want to make you worse or scare you. We'll come back once Kyle's mommy is calmer." Sharon looks back at Sheila who is arguing with the doctor and Nurse Emily. She shakes her head and takes Stan back to his room.
Stan sobs a little bit but finds himself soon crying himself to sleep. As soon as his eyes close, he finds himself dreaming of a candy store. He smiles to himself as he runs to one of the bins and unwraps a piece of chocolate. He sees a large Petey the pterodactyl behind the counter and Ruffy walks by and licks Stan on the check before continuing to the back.
Stan waves to Petey before following Ruffy behind a curtain. He gasps in horror and starts to cry. He can see Kyle pressed up against a large glass jar, passed out under piles and piles of candy. "Kyle?" Stan chokes out, running up and tapping on the glass. "Wake up, please."
Kenny appeared at his side. "Candy is bad for him. He's had too much."
"Well how do we get him out?" Stan knocks on the glass again.
Kenny shrugged. "He didn't want to play anymore."
"This isn't a game. We need to help him." Stan smacks his hand on the glass again.
"You sure it's not a game?" Kenny asks.
"How do we get Kyle out!" Stan yelled again.
"He's very sick. We need to play the right game to connect the three of us." Kenny bowed his head solemnly before he and Kyle disappeared.
Stan sat up in bed and started to scream. "Kyle! Kenny! No." He felt his mother's arms around him as his father and sister also looked at him.
Sharon held Stan close. "Baby you're having a bad dream. I think, maybe it's best we don't see Kyle anymore until he's better."
"No, mommy. We have to save Kyle! I'm the only one. He saved me!" Stan continued to cry.
"Stanley, the doctors have diagnosed him and are giving him medicine. We're just waiting for him to respond to it. I don't want you to be that upset again." She scoots him over to her lap. "Look, Stan. Daddy and Shelly came to visit you."
"Hi, Stan. Sorry about Kyle." Randy reached down to hug him. "Shelly? Want to tell Stan hi?"
"I already touched his hand when he was asleep. I'm playing with my dolls!" Shelly said from the corner, Barbies in her hands, eyes not leaving the tv.
"Shelly Marsh, you come and play a game with your little brother right now. He was really sick and you can show some support." Randy scolds her.
Stan looked up at his sister, a bit afraid she would hit him even if he was still in the hospital. Sharon put him back in bed and Shelly went to his side to look at him. "What game do you want to play, baby?"
Stan thought back to his dream. "You play a lot of games with your friends at school?"
Shelly tilts her head to the side. "We play tag, hide and seek, superhero."
Stan sits up a little taller in his bed. "What kind of games would bring you and your friends together?"
"Oh well I love red rover. We hold hands and someone runs through, and we try to push through. We play jump rope, London bridge."
"So, you hold hands to be together." Stan looks down, how would Kenny be able to hold his and Kyle's hands?
Nurse Emily came in, her normally smooth hair looking a touch frazzled. "How is my angel Stanley and his nice family doing?"
"Fine." Stan piped up.
"He had some bad dreams after visiting Kyle." Sharon said, putting a hand on Stan's leg. "I'm not letting Stan visit anymore."
Emily shook her head as she took Stan's vitals. "Kyle's mom is something else. Good news is tonight will be your last night in the hospital! Doctor thinks you're well enough to go home tomorrow."
Sharon couldn't help but cry as she hugged her son. Randy also went over to hug both. "Hear that Stan, you get to go home. I bet you're happy about that." Randy told him.
"Kyle can go home too?" Stan asked between his parent's hugs.
"No sweetie. Kyle needs to stay and be looked after more." Sharon says, looking at Emily. "How is he?"
"Sadly, they might move him to PICU tomorrow if he doesn't respond to his medicine today." Emily puts the stethoscope to Stan's back and smooths his hair.
"Oh no. Sheila will be in our spot too. We'll help her but not take Stan. I want him to not be scared." Sharon put a hand to her mouth.
"I'm not scared of Kyle, mommy! I need to save him. He saved me." Stan cried as Emily slipped the nebulizer mask over him.
Sharon shook her head. "I'm so happy to see you get better and don't want to risk anything to make you worse. The answer is no, Stanley."
"Mommy no!" Stan looked up at Sharon with his eyes filled with tears.
Sharon also starts to cry but holds him close and soothes him.
The Marsh family had an impromptu celebration for Stan. Randy and Shelly went out to get the KFC originally promised before Stan had gotten sick. They even stopped and got cookies with M&Ms in them. Stan hardly touched his food. The colorful candies in the cookies reminded him too much of Kyle. Candy was making Kyle sick.
Randy and Shelly said goodbye for the evening and Sharon helped Stan get ready for bed. Stan stared at the ceiling of his hospital room as his mom settled on the cot next to him. "Isn't it great Stanley, you get to sleep in your own bed tomorrow night. I know I'm looking forward to my own bed."
Stan just continued to look up. "I want to see Kyle, mommy. I want to tell him good night."
Sharon sighed. "We're about to go to sleep. I don't want you to be upset. We'll see how Kyle does and maybe you can visit once he wakes up." Sharon got quiet if Kyle woke up. She didn't want to lie to Stan, but she also didn't want to upset him.
"Mommy I need to save Kyle. He saved me." Stan looked at his hands, having them hold each other and let go. A game of hand holding.
"Stan, baby no more talking. Just close your eyes, I can tell you're sleepy." Sharon said, putting her own head on the pillow.
"I'm not." Stan yawns. He starts to close his eyes.
Midnight hit and Stan woke up. The green glow of the monitors and something purple in the corner. "Hey Kenny." Stan said in a little voice. "I know you can't talk right now but maybe you can help me? We have to hold hands. Hold hands and hold Kyle's hand. Play a game and we can save you both."
Stan looked around the room. His mom was sleeping peacefully after another stressful day. He knew he would get into trouble, but he had to save his friends. "Kenny, you have to help me." Stan hesitated. "Help me cut my strings and get down."
Kenny nodded and went to Stan's side. Kenny's ghostly hand went to the IV in Stan's arm and pulled it. Stan didn't want to wake his mom and he cried into his pillow as the IV was yanked out. He had Kenny help pull off the electrodes attached to his EKG and Kenny put a hand to it to put the machine to sleep to not alert anyone.
Stan looked down the side and carefully put one foot down. He scrambled and kicked his feet until they found solid ground. He landed a bit painfully on his butt, but slowly got up. Looking down at the hospital gown he was in. "Kenny, lead the way but don't let me get caught. This is Kyle's last chance for me to save him."
Kenny's ghostly glow turned into a speck of light, glowing multicolored lights that reflected against the plain hospital walls. Stan took a few steps after it; he felt his heart beating a million miles a minute. The room was dark except for Kenny's rainbow glow. "Bye, Mommy." Stan said softly as he stepped into the scary and dark hall.
The hall was illuminated in dim light and the steady hum of the well-oiled machine that was the hospital. Stan looked both ways before spotting the glowing light of Kenny. The light paused and floated at a door a few feet away from Stan's room. Stan took a deep breath and walked down the hall and pushed open the door.
The room was dim and had a heavier feeling of sadness to it. It felt familiar but uncomfortable, like petting a cute animal you were allergic to.
Kyle had been having trouble breathing so he had an oxygen mask strapped to his face. His eyes were closed, and he looked pale as an IV of insulin was being pumped into his body. He was being stubborn to the treatment, which made his doctors consider moving him to PICU for more intense treatment.
Stan wanted to call out to Kyle but saw Mrs. Broflovski sleeping on a cot next to Kyle's bed, similar to his own mother. The flickering light of Kenny floated around the room, hovering above Kyle.
Stan hesitated but stepped forward and started to pull himself up onto a chair next to Kyle's bed. "Kyle?" He asked timidly, poking at the other boy's hand. He pulled himself all the way up and sat next to his friend, making sure to be cautious of his strings.
The glittering jewel of Kenny touched to the other side of Kyle and a wispy ghost form of Kenny appeared. "Well?" He asked Stan expectantly.
"Games. Games to make Kyle come back and want to play." Stan's eyes went from Kyle's hand to the large IV attached to his arm. He squeezed his hand. "Come on play with us."
Kyle remained unresponsive as Kenny eyed Stan curiously. "What game?"
"Uhhh." Stan swung his hand with Kyle's slightly. "Red rover, red rover send Kyle right over?"
Stan swung Kyle's hand but nothing. Stan held out a hand to Kenny. "You have to help me too, even if it hurts."
Kenny nodded and touched Stan's hand. It passed through. He reached over and tried to grab Kyle's hand, again, it passed through.
Stan let out an exasperated sigh and tried again. "London bridge is falling down, falling down, London bridge is falling down, my dear Kyle."
Quiet in the room, the steady beeping of Kyle's machines and his slow breathing. Stan felt his own breath draw in sharply. "Why isn't it working? Come play, Kyle." Tears welled in his eyes.
"We need to play at the same time?" Kenny asked.
Stan nodded. "On the count of three grab both our hands. One, two, three." As Kenny touched both Stan and Kyle's hands Stan felt an uncomfortable chill down his spine. "At the same time, sing with me. Ring around the Rosie, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes we all fall down."
Stan gasps as Kenny's hand feels slightly more solid in his, Kyle's fingers twitch slightly. "Again!" Stan says a bit louder. "Ring around the Rosie, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes we all fall down."
Kenny's hand feels almost real but cold as hell, Kyle's hand curled tight around Stan's and his breathing quickened.
"Ring around the Rosie, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes we all fall down." Stan did a little bounce for effect, Kenny's hand gripped Stan's solidly as he found himself face to face with his deceased friend, real in front of him. A stir and Kyle moaned and opened his eyes, blinking and looking around.
"Stan? Kenny?" Kyle said weakly.
"Kyle!" Stan said happily, reaching down to hug his friend. "I made you better, Kenny made you better and we made Kenny better. Right Kenny?"
Stan turned around to see Kenny's figure dissolve in front of them. "Oh no." Kyle said weakly.
Stan put a hand to his chest. "No…I think things are gonna be okay."
Sharon awoke the next morning, surprised to see the sun was halfway in the sky. Stan usually woke her up at the crack of dawn. She looked up in horror at Stan's empty bed. She hit the nurse button hurriedly.
Emily rushed in. "Yes? Oh dear. Don't worry, Sharon, Stanley is fine, mostly. We found him this morning asleep on Kyle's bed. Kyle's awake now. We wanted to let you sleep in since I know you needed the rest."
Sharon wiped her eyes, trying to relax from the thudding of her heart. "Kyle's ok? Stanley went to…oh dear."
"Stan ripped out his IV but other than that he's perfectly fine. Come to Kyle's room when you're ready."
Sharon took a moment to compose herself before she slipped her robe on and went to Kyle's room.
Stan sat up in bed, playing with his pterodactyl. Kyle sat back in bed as his mother fed him eggs. "Come on now, bubbe. You have to eat, the doctor says to keep your blood sugar even.
"No mommy! I play with Stan!" Kyle yelled and squirmed in bed.
"Kyle, finish your eggs and whole wheat toast then we got to practice taking your blood sugar again." Sheila scolds and puts another mouthful of eggs in her son's mouth.
Stan looked down at his own eggs and toast, hardly nibbled. He wanted something sweeter, like French toast or pancakes but that kind of good food was what made Kyle so sick. Stan perked up when Sharon entered. "Mommy! I saved Kyle!" He waved at her, a large bandage on his arm where he ripped his IV out.
"Stanley." Sharon went over and scooped him in her arms, she planted a kiss on Kyle's head. "Kyle baby, I'm so happy you're better. Oh Sheila." She looked up at her friend.
Sheila wiped her eyes as she made Kyle take another bite of toast. "He has type one diabetes. Things are gonna be different now that we have to watch what he eats and make sure he takes care of himself." Sheila sighs and shakes her head.
"I'm glad you have your boy back and I have mine." Sharon hugs both boys but sheds a tear for their little friend Kenny.
Carol McCormick sat at her kitchen table, picking at the peeling paint on the side. It had been a week since her little Kenny was taken from her and all the alcohol and drugs in the world couldn't erase that memory.
Her husband was laying on the couch, beer cans littering the floor of their modest home. Little Kevin across the table from her, playing with a broken toy truck. Carol sighed as she waited for the toaster to pop up his frozen waffle. At least Kevin wouldn't have to share a room anymore, a cheap consultation prize for Carol feeling the pain of losing her youngest child.
A pain in her heart traveled to her stomach. She took a sharp intake of breath. This didn't feel right. "Stuart? Stuart! Wake up you dumb piece of shit!" Carol screamed as she stood up in the kitchen, seeing her water break all over the cheap linoleum floor.