Yo. Soooo, after this chapter 13 will be our finale! For this chapter I did heavy research on Cthulhu chants and rituals. Some are translated through a generator but others are originally written chants concerning certain deities
South Down: There's a fight! Between who you'll have to find out.
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She left the truck abandoned on the dirt road on the way in. Running the rest of her way to not get caught so soon when Kenny could be in their clutches at that very moment. Every passing of the familiar tree space haunted Carol, reeling her into her regretful past that was being pitted onto her son. She ran with her breath filling her ears. Her feet were numb as they carried her quickly, wondering at what cost it would take to prevent this. Her life, if she had to.
Carol stopped cold in quitting breath at the border of the grove. Looking at the members speckled about like bugs surrounding lanterns and the bonfire before the circled leaders. Kept mostly distracted as Carol gave no care to marching forward.
As members closest to their ritual borders noticed her, suddenly their patience turned hasty. "Mrs. McCormick, we're-"
The man wasn't able to finish his thought as Carol's punch to the nose jerked him back and he moaned aloud in the arms of another member. She kept forth as other members noticed her by her violent entry.
"Carol, oh, we're so grateful.."
"Bless you and your favor.."
She ignored the praising whispers as she met at the bonfire. The leaders and elders weren't blind to the newcomer as many looked her way including McNeill. He rose from the log he sat on and Carol's eyes captured the orange bundle laying against the wood at his doctor's feet.
"KEN-!" A woman grabbed her shoulder in prevention, though Carol's shove was paid back to her.
"Easy, there's no need for horseplay," a leader in gold trim assured the member. Carol stood with eyes ablaze at the grey balding older man. Pale as the bone underneath his age-spotted skin and old yet crazed eyes behind his round spectacles.
He attempted to clutch her hand though she pulled it back. "I told you I wanted my son in no part of this.."
"Carol, you made that yourself.."
The mom shoved through, coming to her son's side as he lay nearly unconscious with eyes rolling about. Worriedly touching his cheek and holding another arm around him. "What's wrong with him?"
"He was a little defiant to listen."
Carol looked up with evidently tearful eyes. "My ass, Jack." She grounded her teeth.
"You know the only way," the elder said, smiling softly. The bonfire crackled as Carol avoided the split in her heart. Years of practice on Kenny and yet she couldn't do this now. Not in any other way than she normally did.
"Where are the boy's parents..?"
"Don't worry about them," Jack said. "Harlan and Betty are hardly important after their interference. Cthulhu has brought you here, now."
"An' what if I say no.."
Jack frowned sadly, looking dejectedly over actions completely in his and the others' control despite it. "Chloroform is not the only thing occupying his body, Carol. Not much else we can do but time the clock if you refuse."
"Kenny, NO baby!" Carol struggled. She hiccuped tears as she curled in on her son and buried her face into his little jacket. Her hand gently clawed his soft hair, wishing she could rip her heart out and give it to Cthulhu if it left her son alone once and for all. She felt his own heart slow underneath her cheek pressed to his chest and she shrieked. "I'll do it! I'LL DO IT!"
Stuart's pick-up rolled to a squeaky stop as the headlights glared against the abandoned truck. Left smack in the middle of the tree path off the main road as Stuart tapped the wheel while the car of little boys waited on him. Kevin looked at his father from the passenger seat beside him as he stared patiently.
"You boys stay put," Stuart said as he unbuckled his seatbelt.
"What?" Kevin gawked. "No fucking way-!"
"EY! Watch it and stay!" His father ordered as he slipped out of his seat. He shut the door though eyed Kevin through the open window. "Clear?"
Kevin turned away from him stubbornly.
The fourthies and Braxton kept quiet in the back, watching Stuart go to the trunk as he clicked the opening and shuffled through it. He slammed the trunk door with an alloy steel baseball bat crossed over his shoulder. He came to the back window gruffly as he nodded.
"Y'all stay."
"But, Mr. McCormick-" Kyle tried.
"I brought you boys far enough as is," Stuart warned. Carol and the other parents would condemn Stuart alone for keeping the boys out of trouble by taking them near the trouble. "No funny business."
Kyle downcasted his gaze at the Necronomicon in his lap. Grappling his fingers around the old binding before he nodded.
"Stay." He ordered one more time before leaving the safety of the car with the weapon in hand. Following the headlights' trail as the boys watched silently until Stuart was eaten by the darkness and they were left alone in the country's forest.
Kyle sighed, looking to his right at the others he was squished up against. Silent in their assumingly long wait as Stan twiddled his thumbs and Cartman looked into the air jadedly. Braxton pressed his forehead against the window glass though he was Kyle's least point of concern as he shifted his eyes to Kevin. The thirteen-year-old crossed his arms and stared angrily into the night, looking inflamed. Pissed off more than Kyle knew him to be though he and Kenny's other friends only knew so much about Kevin. Being older and at a weird crossroad into teen years, he didn't relate too much to the younger kids.
Kyle sat back with another silent huff. Kevin clawed his nails into the arms he held as his furrowed brow pointed to the window's exterior. One thing about Kevin was he hated feeling useless in a situation that involved him greatly. Not to mention the safety involving a brother he felt responsible for, though it wasn't his favorite to admit that. Even before Kevin knew about the curse, he knew Kenny had always been the more reckless one of the siblings. It was a number of times he went headfirst into things that caused an accident that his older brother could've stopped. Now subjected to the car, what if it were far worse this time?
"You think they've done it already?" Braxton's voice pierced the silence. Kevin flinched in annoyance and rolled even more up against the window. "You think she performed the ritual?"
None of the younger boys said anything either. Simply enduring the quiet dead end to their plan as they could only think of what lay ahead of this truck. Not much they could find out if Stuart was gonna bat his way over to Kenny and Carol.
"I always wondered what it would be like. If it's really as otherwordly as they say."
No one breathed a word of response. They were barely interested in what he was saying.
"I always pictured something ghostly like the stories we told in kids' group. Like a grey explosion but nothing cheesy. I always thought of Cthulhu as a voice since his form is so unpredictable. The books I looked at when I was a kid always pictured him and our deities as their octopus formations. I guess that's the way they were supposed to be looked at when they went to sleep in the Pacific. It's funny, because-"
"Will you shut the fuck up!?" Kevin turned to yell at him, red in the face. "This all started since you got here!"
Braxton jumped before shouting back; "I didn't ask for anyone to get hurt!"
"Yeah, sure." Kevin spat, turning back to the front.
Stan looked between the two before settling on Braxton. "Aren't you supposed to be the expert?"
Braxton sighed. He pouted shamefully as he tried to turn away. "Not since my parents got us into trouble.."
"You say that like it's a bad thing." Stan pointed out.
"What does that mean?"
"Those people don't care about you. You know that right? They don't care about anyone unless it helps them with their stupid god complex. That's why Nelson left."
"It's not stupid.."
"Has it ever helped you? Really?" Kyle shifted forward to look at Braxton down the row. "Has praising death upon people ever benefited human life in a way you could be proud of?"
"Religions and spiritualities are different.."
"Religions and spiritualities are for guidance and comfort."
"Yeah," Stan glared at the kid he was shoved up against. Sourly muttering; "Not using our friend as a prop.."
Braxton wasn't fazed by the boys' glares, keeping his broken eyes set on the dark forest. "I just wanted something to believe in.." he admitted, gaining a look from Kevin up front. "I didn't know his mom would be against it.."
"His mom didn't ask for this. Neither did Kenny."
Kevin frowned, keeping a tight grip around himself as his stomach sank in worry. "This is so stupid.."
"How?"
"It's fucking ridiculous," Kevin said before going on an angry tangent. "Kenny's been like this, what, since the first time my mom made it happen? No amount of hits can kill him yet he still knows what it feels like more than any of you. Talking about what my mom is capable of? What Kenny's been used for? Ya'll didn't know about this any better than Karen or I did! Maybe shut up!"
The boys only stared.
"You're one to talk," Kyle pointed out. "You've been ignoring him ever since."
Cartman blew his lips in laughter, tightly shoved between Kyle and Stan. "Oh, snap."
"You're out of your ass, Brofvloski.." Kevin snarled.
"Oh, I'm out of my ass!" Kyle said, finally over it. "I don't know about the rest of you, but the first thing I wanted to do when I found out about this was to hear what Kenny had to say about it! I wasn't gonna assume when I know absolute shit about necromancy and Cthulhu! And none of you do, either! Not even Braxton! So we can keep pointing fingers, or actually make ourselves useful, and go find Kenny!"
Kevin closed his eyes. Avoiding stepping out of this car even though something told him his family could not handle this alone.
"Can't you do anything?" Stan asked Kevin.
"I can't keep helping Kenny...it'll just get worse.."
"Dude, they're gonna kill your brother and use your mom...how's anything gonna get worse?"
Kevin shifted roughly in his seat, grabbing his head of hair in his palm as he groaned.
Cartman tsked. "He'll come back, he always does-"
"I don't care!" Kevin reminded, pointing out the window in the direction of the ritual. "That's fucked up!"
Stan looked out of the car, pressing a palm to the cold glass. "So then...what're we gonna do?"
She sat in the dirt with Kenny in her lap. Stroking the gentle blond as she pursed her lips against his hairline and rocked back and forth. Humming a gentle lullaby she used to sing when he was much younger and not embarrassed by needing a tuck-in for bed. She ignored the members around her who prepared as if it were Christmas. Those appointed to the circle began gathering in place around the mother and son. Carol attempted to keep the last of the world around her in sight so she could hope to Christ this would work. She had only ever brought Kenny back one way about her. This one was a new playground.
As members stood hand in and hand circled around the bonfire, McNeill and Jack came to Carol's front. The doctor kneeled with a loving smile as Carol instinctively held her child closer to her chest as Kenny muttered something against her. Carol took notice of the members outside the ritual circle as if they had to stand guard for anything. If any of South Park was looking for them now, this may be put to a stop at any second. But, Carol wasn't so sure she could afford that now at the cost of Kenny's life.
"We're ready," McNeill held an open palm. Carol took it and allowed him to lift her to her feet while she clutched Kenny. Letting the leader and elder lead her to the bonfire's casting glow as he let go of her arm and she kneeled against the dirt. Elder members of the circle began the group accompanying chant on a low buzz as Carol laid her son precautiously on his back, loosening his hood more to see his face.
Jack's aging hand clutched Carol's shoulder and she looked over to the loose paper ripped from a Necronomicon copy. "May He guide you."
Carol took the note concerning text in R'lyehian tongue. She placed it so the firelight could be her guide of the foreign scribble and she cast a hovering palm to her son's heart. Whispering a word of tearful forgiveness.
Jack raised his hands, composing the group to the same. "That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die!"
"Cahf ah nafl mglw'nafh hh' ahor syha'h ah'legeth, ng llll or'azath syha'hnahh n'ghftephai n'gha ahornah ah'mglw'nafh!"
"In his house R'lyeh dead, Cthulhu waits dreaming!"
"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!"
"Cthulhu waits dreaming!"
"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!"
"Cthulhu waits dreaming!"
"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!"
"Cthulhu waits dreaming!" Jack laughed vigorously at the sky as Carol shuttered silent tears over her son. "We ask that you put the reanimated back to death. Take our son Kenny back to the dead!"
"Mggoka Kenny l' mglw'nafh!"
"My FRIENDS!" Jack grinned, waving his flexed hands to the sky as his own heaven took him in. Feeling his heart elate while Carol sunk deeper into misery before Kenny. "Join me in putting the reanimated back to the dead! See our n'ghanyth sister Carol through in her call!"
"OGTHROD AI'F GEB'L—EE'H YOG-SOTHOTH 'NGAH'NG AI'Y ZHRO!"
"Put him back!" The old man howled.
"OGTHROD AI'F GEB'L—EE'H YOG-SOTHOTH 'NGAH'NG AI'Y ZHRO! OGTHROD AI'F GEB'L—EE'H YOG-SOTHOTH 'NGAH'NG AI'Y ZHRO! OGTHROD AI'F GEB'L—EE'H YOG-SOTHOTH 'NGAH'NG AI'Y ZHRO!"
"Oh, Ken.." Carol cried, trembling as she pressed her face to his. "My baby.."
Kenny's heart stopped below her palm and Carol screamed.
The steel bat swiped through the forest branches as Stuart gatewayed himself along. Coming to the edge of the grove where members outside the ritual circle stood on the lookout. He scowled at the people he'd hated the spitting image of since the day they got their hands on his wife and son.
"Son of a bitch.." he muttered at the people chanting in R'lyehian tongue. He ducked below and began walking along the edge of the night's dark.
Jack and McNeill looked at the circled bunch. Stone-faced members who gave themselves to the chant were frozen in limbo until the given reign of freedom by Cthulhu as if hypnotized in a fingersnap. As dedicated leaders of this fine day, it gave McNeill and Jack pride to be outside the frozen state that their followers were caught in.
Carol choked quiet sobs against Kenny's limp body before looking up at the footsteps that approached her. McNeill still smiled that eerily loving smile again as he gave her grant. "It's your reign, now."
She wiped her cheeks and looked back at her son, shakily grabbing the paper reference.
"Yo-Sothoth!" Jack howled by Carol's left. "Oh, make use of the essential salts! Assist n'ghanyth Carol!"
Carol let her trembling tongue speak. "Y'ai'ing'ngah, Yog-Sothoth...H'ee-L'geb F'ai Throdog Uaaah.." she breathed, closing her eyes. "I call death...Yog-Sothoth answers...here they call tremblin'.."
McNeill happily smiled into the fire.
"Y'ai'ng'ngah, Yog-sothoth, H'ee-l'geb, F'ai throdog, uaaah," Carol chanted gently, holding to palms to Kenny's chest. "Uaaaaaaah. Y'ai'ng'ngah, Yog-sothoth, H'ee-l'geb, F'ai throdog, uaaah. Y'ai'ng'ngah, Yog-sothoth, H'ee-l'geb, F'ai throdog. Y'ai'ng'ngah, Yog-sothoth, H'ee-l'geb, F'ai throdog, uaaah!"
The bonfire's flames started to rustle as she clutched her boy.
"Y'ai'ng'ngah, Yog-sothoth, H'ee-l'geb, F'ai throdog, uaaah! Uaaaah, uaaah! Y'ai'ng'ngah, Yog-sothoth, H'ee-l'geb, F'ai throdog!" Her tongue floated as this skill she was born cursed with gripped her subconsciously. "Y'ai'ng'ngah, Yog-sothoth, H'ee-l'geb, F'ai throdog, uaaah!"
McNeill smiled and Jack moaned in elation. The flames slithered as it roared in a mighty threat under Carol's governing. Asnwering her call as Cthulhu's presence blew through the leader and elder. The necromancer chanted loudly near her son's ear as she puppeteered the power of death. The flames growled and spat in its own immortal response to Carol as she established inner power. Calling upon the greatest of Old Ones.
"Y'ai'ng'ngah, Yog-sothoth, H'ee-l'geb, F'ai throdog! Y'ai'ng'ngah, Yog-sothoth, H'ee-l'geb, F'ai throdog! Y'AI'NG'NGHA, YOG-SOTHOTH, H'EE-L'GEB, F'AI THRODOG!"
The flames reached a great height as it summoned a presence, and Kenny gained a pulse.
"Kenny!" Carol gasped. She cried out suddenly when her frame was elbowed by a shove and she was thrown to the dirt. Away from her son as she could only look up as Jack took her replacement in front of Kenny's now stirring body.
"Jack-!" she begged as McNeill ringed her shoulders. "Oh god!"
The old man was upon his knees, hailing to the deity with a fast tongue.
"C' r'luhhor, f' shugg, ymg' l' mgepgoka c'! Y' goka fahf gof'n Iiahe haiagl llll ya r'luhhor! Y' goka fahf gof'n Iiahe haiagl llll Cthulhu! Y' ymg' na'ah'ehye hup fhtagn! h' mggoka gof'n Iiahe nilgh'ri sanity ot orr'enahh! h' mggoka orr'e ng goka ya ymg' prestige! h' lllln'gha! h' lllln'gha! h' ahuaaah orr'e llll nafl'fhtagn! h' uaaah ymg' bride l' c' shuggog!"
While Kenny gained consciousness, his back left the dirt as the old man's words lifted him into the air slowly. Held by a magic never seen to the naked human eye.
"Y' ymg' goka fahf bridge! h' mggoka lw'nafhnah orr'e! ymg' uaaahll path l' ymg' shugg llll h' lw'nafhnah bthnk! ahlloigehye goka ya prestige, ya Cthulhu! goka ya prestige ng ymg' ahornah mgep gof'n llll ahuaaah! goka ya prestige ng h' bthnk ephaiah ymg' bridge! Y' ephaiahnyth ymg' aimgr'luh ng mgah'ehye r'luhhor ph'!"
"Stop it! Damn you!" Carol gasped between the doctor and Jack's use of her son. While amongst the shadows, the metal head of the bat reflected the moonlight as Stuart circled the area. "That ain't part of the ritual!"
"Cthulhu feeds on what an elder serves." McNeill said. "Jack wants his prestige in exchange for a bridge into this world through a child's youthful soul."
"No! Oh god, please!"
"Carol!" Stuart shoved through, taking her shoulder roughly and pulling her away. His eyes traveled high to his son shedding air and gaining more height. "KEN!"
"Stuart," McNeill intervened, leaving the circle. "You can't-!"
The doctor fell to the dirt in dodging the swing of the bat.
"Leave my family ALONE!"
McNeill rolled away at the metal hitting the ground as the grove's bushes outside the circle shuffled. Getting batted out of view as the head of a few boys poked up and entered the grove in hysteria. Kyle's eyes dashed around for their friend as he clutched the book protectively.
"Dude, holy crap! Kenny!" Stan panicked at the sight of Kenny in Cthulhu's ritual.
"The book! She needs the book!" Kyle reminded.
Kevin lead them. Darting forward as members outside the circle swarmed them, not about to let a bunch of children interfere with the process. The kids' fast and shorter legs though were underestimated by the adults as Kevin kicked at the shins that came too close to him and the boys behind him followed in a similar fashion.
"What's wrong with these weirdos!?" Cartman kicked at one of the circle members that were frozen in limbo. He stepped back, freaked by the feeling of their ankles being stone and colder than a human bone. One member that had returned to the chaos grabbed Stan and Kyle as the ladder dropped the book. Not far behind the man, two other members scrutinized for their behavior returned from their punished leave of absence.
"Braxton!" Betty panicked at the sight of her son. The thirteen-year-old grabbed the fallen book and ran. The man dropped Stan and Kyle as they yelped.
"Mom!" Kevin hurried, shoving his way into the circle. Stuart had tackled McNeill into a pinhold on the ground, swinging a punch. In seeing the man chanting before the fire that made Kenny lift higher from the earth, Kevin growled and charged at the elder with a pointed elbow.
The flames whipped at Kevin, shoving the kid to the dirt as he nearly lost consciousness.
"Kevin!" Carol yelped, attempting to go to her son though Cthulhu's flames walled Carol away. Keeping its necromancer under ownership into the circle. Braxton tripped into the ritual, dropping the book as McNeill tried to make a grab for it while shoving Stuart off.
"Oh, for the love of balls!" Cartman complained as he shoved through the wall of legs and into the circle. he grabbed the book out of the doctor's reach and struggled to get away from the threatening flames. Cartman's little frisby launch Carol's way caught her by surprise as the heavy book hit her on the arm while she looked up at Kenny. Making her flinch but stare at the grimoire below her as Kenny still descended higher.
"Cartman! Jesus, watch out!" Kyle yelled as he and Stan body-checked their bastard friend away from the flames shot at him. Cthulhu roared at the outsiders making a rude entry. As Kenny gained more air into the night sky, his body waked. He turned his head and opened very slit eyes. Staring into octopoid sea eyes that looked back at him hungrily from within the fire that crackled and jumped in starvation.
The boys grabbed an unconscious Kevin and dragged him out of the circle while Carol took the Necronomicon. Flipping through as she read the ancient tongue while looking up routinely at her son. Attempting to outbid Jack's chant with her own as the fire roared in hunger at Kenny.
"Cthulhu, Y' rid h' na'ah'ehye! Fahf gof'n belongs l' shugg!" She commanded with her hand nearly touching the flames as she held the book for reference. "Cthulhu, Y' rid h' na'ah'ehye! Fahf gof'n belongs l' shugg!"
"No, stop!" McNeill struggled though Stuart was not finished laying down hits on him. Carol yelled over Jack though the old man was taken in Cthulhu's presence too much to realize.
"Ymg' ahuh'eog ph' shugg ah nafl mgepmgah'n'ghft geb! Mgepog'drnn ah'legeth! Ymg''re llll mgokln'gha ah'legeth mgepogg! Ymg' gokln'gha ah nafl llll fahf gof'n!"
As Jack's chant lost grip of Kenny and Carol's took over, Cthulhu's flames retreated from the boy. McNeill got a hard knock on Stuart and stumbled dizzily to his feet. Kenny's eyes blinked wider into Cthulhu's behind the flames.
"I denounce this leader! I denounce this elder!" Carol begged. "The boy is not your craving for hunger! The boy is not your bridge back to earth! The elders abuse your power!"
"You STOP that!" McNeill demanded.
"I condemn them! I banish those into your hands who let you fall! Y' mguln fahff ph'nglui ymg' bthnknahorr ahf' ymg' mgah'ehye ahmgep!"
Kenny lifted his open eyes to Cthulhu's. "...for in his house at R'lyeh...dead Cthulhu waits dreaming..."
"ENOUGH!" McNeill roared as he jumped for Carol. Kenny directed Cthulhu's glance with a turn to his head, puppeteering the flames to run along McNeill's bottom and miss Kenny's mother as Carol ducked in fear. The doctor landed at Jack's knees as the old man broke out of his chanting trance. Looking up as his eyes burned against the flames that engulfed him and McNeill in a horrified scream to their end. As Cthulhu consumed his victims of an unmade promise.
Kenny's body dropped from the air and landed in the dirt and Carol was blown back to the circle's outside by the dying flames that screeched from the consumed souls. The people who were frozen collapsed from their limbo in a collective gasp. Fearing what they had seen as they screamed and ran in terror for safety. Flooding away from those who remained in Cthulhu's destruction. As the boys who'd taken cover ran in past them to their limp friend.
"Kenny!" Kyle hurried with Cartman as Stuart and Kevin got to their feet unsteadily from their hits. Kyle grabbed Kenny's jacket in two fists. "Oh, Christ! Kenny, can you hear me!?"
"Guys, move!" Stan yelled as he rushed over with Carol coming up behind him. The kids backed up warily as the mother came to her knees and grabbed Kenny by his torso.
"Kenny, baby?" Carol took Kyle's place as he shuffled away. Her arms wrapped around his tiny frame while Kevin helped his father to his feet, both worriedly looking at Carol and Kenny in the process. "Honey..?"
While not a scratch on him, his face was pale to the bone and his eyes had closed in the fall's hit. Still engulfed by Cthulhu's, the drugs, and death's effect as he lay very loosely in his mother's arms. His neck collapsed weakly as Carol held his head in support.
"C'mon, baby.."
"Kenny..?" Stan tried, worried tears now threatening the edge of his eyes.
Carol held his head by the softness of his hair, pushing a thumb along the strands that made a piece fall across his forehead. Her tears stickily ran down her face as she only stared at his soft lids...and watched his eyes blink open.
Kyle gasped silently, while Cartman's lips parted in shock.
He stared into the face that greeted him. "...mom.."
"That's it.."
Kenny's eyes looked like he didn't believe it as he felt a darkness leave his body. Feeling foreign in his own skin even with the familiarity of his mother holding him. His throat cracked with a murmur as he tried to speak. Water trickled the edge of his eyelids.
"Mom..?" His frown widened as his eyes pinched in resisting more falling tears. "I-I'm sorry they did this to you.."
"Oh, honey.." Carol ran her hand through his disheveled blond. "Baby..I shoulda been sorry for lettin' them start this..."
"But I was sick...you didn't have a choice..."
Stan creased his brow. "You were never sick, Kenny...McNeill lied about the whole thing.."
Kenny blinked watery eyes at his friend, turning to look up at his mother again with shocked crying.
"It's over, baby...it's done..."
Kenny stared up at the night's country sky. Finally resorting that his mother's gift, this cult's curse, no longer involved the death subject of his own body. He gently hissed in a sudden cry of relief, pinching his eyes closed shiveringly as tears flowed and he rolled over to cry into his mother's chest while Carol bundled around him. Letting him cry out years in the making suddenly gone in a snap. His whole reality of living, dying, and going in the same cycle was gone. He could feel that the curse no longer touched his heart and he cried painfully in the broken remains. This new norm hurt.
"Carol..?" she turned as she still held her son, seeing Betty approach gently with Braxton's hand firmly in his mother's. "It may be over for Kenny...but not for your family I'm afraid..."
To be continued...