"Mom! I'm home!" Derick tells as he enters into his house, followed by Kendall, Levy and Sam behind him, Sam closing the door after themselves. Derick's mother's head poked through the door frame that connected the living room and the kitchen, a smile on her lips seeing the four boys.
"Hello, Derick," she says, nodding her head in greeting to each boy. "And hello, boys. Lovely to see your three."
"We're going up to my room," Derick states, already thumping up the stairs with Kendall in tow. Sam and Levy waved goodbye to Mrs. Cartman before hurrying up the stairs as well. Upon entering the slightly messy bedroom, Levy had the closed the bedroom door behind him before taking a seat on the carpet next to Sam while Kendall and Derick took the bed. There was a silence between the four of them, but it broke as soon as Kendall spoke up.
"So what do we do now?"
"Be specific, Kendall," Derick says, slurring his friend's name in the beginning. Levy and Sam nodded in agreement.
"I mean, what do we do now? We've gotten a lot of kids here in town, so what do we do with the rest of the magazines?" Kendall explains, earning nods in agreement from the other three at different times.
"We'll move onto the next town," Derick says simply, earning a weird look from Sam.
"The next town isn't for miles. How are we supposed to get anywhere when we're third graders?" The ravenette says, earning a mocking a laugh from Levy beside him.
"I don't know, obviously by car is the answer! 'Hey, I'm selling pornos right now so my friend won't get my ass beat. Mind giving me a lift to the next town over?'" Levy mocks, letting out a laugh before screeching an "Ow!" When Sam punched him in the arm.
"Shut up!" Sam says, before looking to Derick.
The brunette is quiet, and Sam knows what this meant, and let's out a groan. "Here we go again.."
"My friends," Derick says, pushing himself from his bed to start making the speech only Sam had knew would come just prior, "My father rode his bike all the way to California to stop a show from airing. And he wasn't much older than us."
He turns from where he had previously been gazing out the window, a look of determination in his eyes as he raises his fist is proclamation. "Mere miles shan't destroy thee and I! And we shall ride our bikes - like steeds!"
"Or we could take the bus," Levy states simply, although it is only a statement, as this idea had been implemented into each of their minds as soon as they saw the town contraction. Each boy dropped their bike, forgetting them mindfully in a scatter in Derick's yard as they ran after the bus. Derick shouted for his friends to slow down for the first half of the run, but had managed to grab the bus driver's attention to pull over and let them on.
"Afternoon, boys," he said as the door opened, and each boy got on respectively. Levy pulled out change from his pocket and put in the amount for four riders, and took his seat next to Sam, while Kendall sat with Derick. The males sat across from each other, and they were quiet and staring at one another as the bus began to pull away from the stop.
"So, any idea where we'll head off to first?" Sam asks, earning a shrug from Kendall and Levy. Derick cleared his throat, and the three friends raised curious brows as the brunette male pulled out a folded wad of paper from his jacket pocket, and began unfolding it until it was in full view and flat, save for the wrinkles and fold imprints. "What's that?" Sam asks curiously, his eyes wide with interest and curiosity as he leaned forward.
Derick cocked a brow at the male, meeting his eyes before looking down to study the then identified sheet, "A map. I'm routing our path designations so we can get home on time without getting grounded."
"It's practically the weekend, dude!" Levy says, "What are we going to be grounded for?"
"Leaving town without a guardian's consent and notice?" Kendall suggests.
Levy shoots a glance to the blonde. "Shut it, McCormick."
"Aha!" Derick's sound of satisfaction brought the two back, and the three looked over to him in clarification. Derick wore a grin, beginning to fold the map back down before shoving it into his pocket. "Gentleman, we'll be getting off in a few stops!"
"Where are we going to?" Levy asks, cocking a brow. Derick's grin only grew further.
"You'll see."
"Honey, you've got company," Heidi's soft voice cut through the previously quiet air aside from the clicking of the keyboard. Eric looked up from his computer screen, raising a confused brow as the door opened, revealing some of his childhood friends.
"The fuck are you guys doing here?" He asks, though it's clear his tone is in amusement rather than irritation. Kyle and Stan walk in first with Kenny behind them, closing the door behind him.
"Thought they'd be here," Kenny says, shrugging.
"They'd?" Eric questions, visibly confused.
Kyle rolls his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest as he leans against the wall behind him. "The kids, dumbass."
Eric shakes his head, rolling his eyes as well in response to the nickname but doesn't reflect on it. "They were, but I believe they left about half an hour ago."
"Where'd they head off to?" Stan asks curiously, raising a brow. Eric shrugs, beginning to type again as Kenny then speaks up.
"Think they're beginning to turn out like us?" The typing stops, and Eric, as well as Kyle and Stan, look over to the blonde, looks on their face of confusion. "You know - getting into trouble, having weird adventures. Like we did."
"They're third graders," Kyle says, though he cracks a smile on his lips as Eric lets out a small laugh. Kenny grins, crossing his arms as well as he leans against the door.
"And we were fourth graders - your point?"
"How much trouble could they get into that we haven't done?"
"Certainly not an anal probe," Kenny says, beginning to burst out laughing as Stan and Kyle followed suit. Eric rolled his eyes, grumbling inaudibly as he continues typing.
"We don't talk about that," he says, and the lightest tint of pink is visible on his cheeks as his fingers tapped with pressure against the keypad. At that the other three laugh more, and Kyle wipes a nonexistent tear from his eye.
"Oh, yes; we do, actually!"
Eric rolls his eyes again, going back to typing as the three began to talk amongst one another. "But really, though- they can't be any worse than we were as kids," Stan says, smiling as he catches their eyes. "I mean, who witnessed South Park history in the making better than we did?"
"Stan," Eric says, looking up from his screen with a blank expression, "This is a whole new generation we are talking about. That means new gadgets, new trends, new shit -". He shakes his head, mingling, "They're adventures may be a bit different for us to handle."
"If you call a boys' interests an 'adventure'," Kenny chuckles, earning curious glances.
"What do you mean by that?" Kyle asks, raising a brow. Kenny's grinning, pulling a rolled up magazine from his pants pockets before unfurling it and presenting it to the men. Kyle's face turned a bright red before he turned and looked away, Stan stared a second longer than he may have hoped, and Eric glanced up to see what it was, before losing interest and returning to his work.
"My son here definitely takes after me in some aspects," the blonde say, laughing a little. Kyle looks back, avoiding looking at the open magazine as he looked up at Kenny.
"Your wife know about this?"
"Nelly? 'Course not - Kendall'd be grounded till the ground grew feet." Starting to notice Kyle's discomfort, he chuckles a quick sorry before rolling the magazine up and stuffing it into his pockets again. "Her not knowing is probably best for both of us. And besides - as long as he's not doing anything that'd get him trouble, I have faith he'll keep his interests in check."
"True words from a pervert."
"What can I say? Nelly says I can be poetic sometimes~."
"God, damnit, Cartman! We're lost!" Levy screechs irritably, his fingers running and yanking at his smoothed-back red curls as he growled in frustration. His mind was a bit disheveled from the lack of familiarity around him, and Levy felt like his control was being taken away from him as the four stared out the bus windows.
Sam pats his back in a comforting reassurance, with Derick looking over the map, as Kendall stared out the window for any familiar signs. Save for those around them, their compartment was relatively quiet.
Levy hissed to himself, looking up to glare at Derick. "Any bright ideas now, dumbass?" He snarls, high emphasis on the crude nickname. Derick's eyes are squinted from reading the fine print on the map, and he looks up to return the glare as he lets out a small huff.
"I know where we're going," he states, calmly, averting his eyes back down to the map. A few minutes passed, and the bus stops at an empty street with a single lit post light and bench there. Derick, folding the map before stuffing it in his jacket pocket, stands up, turning to head off the bus through the doors near them. Levy and Sam share confused glances as Kendall jumps up and follows him, and the two trail them off the train.
"Hey, Cartman," Levy says, him and the ravenette catching up to Derick and Kendall, "Why'd we get off at this stop?"
"Because it's where we need to be," Derick replies calmly over his shoulder, not sparing the redhead a glance. The four trudged down the barely lit street, the only source being from the lamppost quickly dissolving as they edged deeper into the darkness. As his eyes grew accustomed to the new light setting, looking around Derick could see the silhouettes of townhouses and shops on the street they were on; all dark, showing they were closed. Adjacent to them, Derick looked across the street, was pretty much the same description. Turning back, the brunette came to a stop upon hearing a sound in an alley way they now walked passed. He let out a small "oof" sound and growl upon Kendall bumping into his back, the blonde uttering out a muffled apology from inside his parka. "Watch it, Kendall!" He growls, before snapping his head back in the direction of the alleyway, hearing yet another noise.
"Why'd you stop, dude?" Sam perks up, raising a brow as he and Levy stop before they could walk into Kendall.
"Yeah," Levy adds, "Why'd we stop?"
"I..I heard a sound," Derick confesses, swallowing the dry air that hung in his throat, mentally cursing the hesistant response he had given.
Levy rolls his eyes. "What, are you scared of a street cat, or something?"
"Oi! I am not scared!" Derick snaps, turning around as he shoves Kendall out of the way to stand in front of Levy. Levy stood a little taller, though his scrawny body didn't hold much dominance over Derick's overweight body type. Derick glared with a scowl at the redhead, while Levy blinked a steady stare in response. "I'm just keeping a look out for your cowardly ass!"
"I am not cowardly!" Levy shoots back, glaring now as he towers over the brunette with meek power. Derick lets out a snort, rolling his eyes as he turns back. However, instead of continuing down the street, he strolls into the entrance of the alleyway.
"Where the hell are you going?" Sam questions from beside Levy and Kendall.
"Into the alleyway!" Derick proclaims loudly. "Going to shows pussy Levy that I'm not afraid of some. Stupid. Cat!"
"I'm not a pussy, either!" Levy shouts at Derick's disappearing form, Levy's right hand cupped to the side of his mouth to make his voice louder. Derick doesn't respond, and for the first thirty seconds, all is quiet. No grumbling, no thrashing of limbs or trashcans. It's almost unsettling, the way the silence rolls about in the darkness none of them could adjust their eyes to. Then -
"Agh!" Derick's voice screeches in a high pitch inside the darkness, thrashing around and footsteps beginning to stumble towards them in replacement of the silence. Levy is the first to stumble backwards, a look of terror addressing his face as something is thrown at him in the darkness. It hits him in the face, and he doesn't consider what it was as he let's out a shriek, stumbling and falling backwards as his back collides with the street.
He lets out a groan, raising his head to rub the back of it as whatever had been thrown at his face had toppled onto his stomach. He lets out another shriek, stumbling on his butt backwards with his hands and feets as whatever it was then falls on the ground. Laughter is then heard, and as Levy looks up in the direction he sees Derick, a shit-eating grin on his face with his hands clutching his stomach in laughter, stumbles out of the darkness, his face lit with sickening glee. Sam and Kendall, who had previously been staring at Levy's fallen form, turned around to face the laughing Derick as he stumbled out of the pitch-black alleyway.
"You should've seen your face!" Derick snickers with glee, leaning his head down as he continues to laugh. As Levy tries to control his shaky breathing and the constant thumping in his hear, he looks down to examine whatever it was that had scared him. There, on the ground in front of him, was a plush doll, sewn and obviously old-looking. "You - you got scared! By a - by a doll, Levy!"
"Shut the fuck up, Cartman!" Levy snarls, stumbling to his feet as he grabs the doll. He doesn't bother looking at it again, as he hurls the thing as Derick, hitting him square in the face. Derick's laughter cuts short, letting out a confused hum in response. Levy snickers, clutching his knees as he wears a smirk.
"Fuck you, Levy!" Derick says, hunching down to grab the fallen doll. As Levy shouts a 'fuck you' in response, Derick remains quiet, examining the doll now that he was in better lighting. It was a sewn doll, as he had predicted back in the alleyway after feeling it's soft material and stitched limbs. It was of a girl, with short black hair and two yellow buttons for eyes. The material that was skin was a tan colour, and the doll wore a simple green dress that reached tonwgere the knees should've been. Clutching it in his fist(but not tight enough to possibly break the doll), he looks up at the townhouse they were next to. He's quiet for a moment, Levy still groaning about whatever else was going on now, before Derick shoves his free hand into his jacket pocket to feel around for something. Something he had broughten along the way just incase of a situation like this. His hand froze after feeling a hard, cylinder like object, and he smiles a little as he pulls it out. It's a flashlight.
"Huh?" Sam is pulled back to Derick's presence, looking over to the brunette as he turns around to head into the darkness. "Hey, Derick; where are you going?"
Derick doesn't bother responding, turning on the flashlight. He blinks a few times at the light hitting his face, directing the light in the direction of the alleyway and observing the dead end. It was empty, save for a few trashcans that littered the area, including the closed one where Derick had found the doll.
Levy, remaining with Sam and Kendall, squinted his eyes in disbelief. "He had a flashlight this whole time? Why didn't he tell us?" He asks, with the ravenette and blonde shrugging in response.
Aiming his flashlight above the trash can, Derick sees a closed window, dark, but the curtains drawn to make the room visible to whoever looked in. He walked over setting the flashlight on the lid of the trashcans, before knocking on the window. It's quiet for a second, before the light from inside turns on and a little looks out through the window. Derick saw the strong resemblance the girl had of the doll, and he noticed how she looked like she was a first or second grader; at most a year or two younger than him.
The girl opens the window, and leans her head out of the window frame as she and Derick meet eyes. "Can I help you?" She asks nervously, her eyebrows twitched together as she awaits Derick's response.
He coughs, before raising the doll towards the girl so she could reach it. "This was out here. Yours?"
The girl's eyes seemed to light up when seeing the doll, and snatches it quickly from the brunette male. She hugs it to her chest, smiling, and it's hard for Derick to not smile as well. She looks back to him, smiling still. "Thank you, mister!"
Derick nods, and he turns away as the girl closes the window and turns the light off, before Derick turns his flashlight off as well. He steps out of the alleyway after a few steps, seeing his three friends again as they spoke with worried looks. Levy is the first to notice his returned presence, and his worry only etches further. Just a smidge. "Dude, where the hell were you?"
Derick replaced the smile with a frown, not wanting to be questioned of it. He rolls his eyes, stepping closer to the trio so they stood in an almost huddled group. "None of yer business," he states gruffly, but grins now, pulling away from the trio as he begins to walk off in the direction they were headed earlier, waving over his shoulder. "Now, shall we do some business? I got in contact with some clients before we left; we're meeting at the park."
The trio exchanged weary glances, before following behind him.