Hell House

Chapter 1: Psychology Class and a Special Assignment

The first day of Senior year for the kids of South Park, Colorado brought many great dreams and thoughts aplenty. The most important of these wonderful dreams though, was the fact that it would be the last year of High School for them, with the promise of a looser schedule and some more freedoms once graduation hit and everyone was college bound. But alas, these thoughts would need to be put on hold for the time being, as there was still a whole year's worth of work, mid-terms, and finals to be taken before any thought of Summer Vacation and college could begin. And for several particular kids, this work-load would center mostly on their Psychology class.

Yes, South Park High School, like some High Schools around the country, offered a Psychology class, mostly to those who were interested in that sort of field, but also to people who were looking for extra college credits to use in order to lessen the time that had to be spent there. This particular year, the Psychology class was small in number, only 9 people in total. For starters, there were the three more "gifted" kids in South Park High seated amongst the 9, those being Kyle Broflovski, Wendy Testaburger, and Butters Stotch. Wendy, the loan girl in the class, had long black hair and brown, somewhat hazel like eyes. She wore mostly purple in her ensemble, from her beret down to the shoes that she wore. Being of somewhat high attraction, several boys in town had their eyes on her, but Wendy only belonged to one boy, his name being Gregory St. Marks. The two of them met way back when they were kids during what was too be known in town simply as "The Great U.S Vs Canada War." The two had been madly in love with one another during that time, and, except for a brief hiatus from one another, they had been going out ever since then. Gregory was currently going to school back in his home town of England, but, once his schooling was over there, he was prepared to fly back to America to go to Harvard, the same school that Wendy was going too.

Kyle Broflovski was also slated to go to Harvard. Jewish in his faith, he had a crop of red hair, usually hidden by a green hat he frequented ever since he was a boy (Though by now his hats were bigger and a bit more stylish then his days of youth.) If Wendy was the smartest girl in school, Kyle was the smartest boy, getting grades higher then most of his classmates, but usually either only even or falling short of Wendy. At the moment, Kyle wasn't dating anyone, though he did have an on again, off again romance with one Rebecca Cutswald over the years. Unfortunately though, due to increased pressure from her parents, Rebecca was forced into a private school in Denver, and, because they wanted only the best from her grades wise, she was given a list of things she couldn't do, one of them being that she couldn't date anyone, and so, Kyle was now a confirmed bachelor for the time being.

Butters Stotch, his real name Leopold, was the last of the top order of kids in this particular class. His short blond hair matched neatly with his crystal blue eyes and usually blue shirts. Once picked on and made fun of as a kid, Butters was now seen in a much better light, though not by much. While his fellow classmates wouldn't pick on him endlessly like they used to, they still really didn't treat him with the respect he thought he deserved, and for the most part, they just ignored him. He had grown up into a somewhat attractive teen, having started to work out in Freshman year, he had some muscle definition to his arms and chest going for him, and the stutter that used to depress him and sometimes be the source of jokes from his classmates had long since vanished, replaced with a normal sounding voice.

The remaining 6 kids in the class weren't the higher tier kids that Kyle, Butters, and Wendy were, but at the same time, they also weren't struggling grade-wise, pretty much falling in the middle area of the spectrum. For starters, there was Clyde Donovan, a brown hair, brown eyed lad who was quiet for the most part, but whenever he was called on in class to say anything, or whenever he was hanging out with his circle of friends, he said and did the right things. Next, there was Craig. Craig was a rather unique guy as, for the life of them, none of his friends honestly knew his last name. It wasn't the fact that Craig didn't have a last name, he was usually just too lazy, or just too pre-occupied with life to say it. His long time habit of flipping people off, which was still around to some extent in his teen years, also did a part in turning people off from him somewhat so that they wouldn't even bother to ask him his last name. Tweek Tweak was the next person on the list, a rather high-strung and overly-excitable blond haired lad. His parents, owners of a coffee shop, had given him a constant string of coffee to drink over the years, and that, unfortunately, took it's toll on him, as he was easily spooked, jittery, nervous, and an overall wreck of an individual. Even now, Tweek always carried a flask of coffee with him, as, according to him, it "eased his nerves" whenever he felt nervous.

Token Black was the next occupant of the class, and, like his last name suggested, he was, in fact, African American in descent. Financially wealthier then the rest of the kids, his family lived in a mansion near the edge of town where the so called "Upper class" people lived. Because of this wealth of his, people tended to think that Token was rather stuck up and obnoxious, looking his nose down at what he considered "low class classmates". This wasn't necessarily so, as for a very short time in his youth, he dated Wendy Testaburger, and, as recent as that summer, he was seen dating Bebe Stevens (Though that relationship dissolved mere weeks before school started as Bebe, according to Token, "Grew tired" of his ass). Next was Phillip Pirrup, also known as Pip. Like Gregory, Pip was also from England, he had come here to the United States as an infant along with his mother and father. Unfortunately for him though, a tragic car accident took both of his parents away, and a orphanage is where Pip had to spend the next 12 years of his life, finally being adopted at that age by a large family in South Park. Pip, by nature, was a kind hearted boy, with this kindness of his usually repaid by sarcasm, bullying, and even some violence against him from some of his classmates, mainly Eric Cartman. Fortunately for Pip, Eric wouldn't be in this class this year, nor any of his other classes, as a look at his schedule and a secret perusal of Eric's schedule saw. So, with relief, Pip saw that it would only be lunch that he would have to contend with Eric's usual rowdiness and behavior.

Finally rounding out the nine was one Stan Marsh. Stan, from looking at him, just seemed like an ordinary kid. He had black hair and brown eyes, was of a regular looking athletic build, and had a smile that could brighten up anyone's day, no matter how sour it was. Being athletic in his youth, Stan made his way through High School on sports, playing for the baseball and, for a short time, the basketball team (Though since he only really excelled in baseball, Stan stuck with that. He had, long ago, also played football, but he had lost interest with it once High School came around.) Stan, like Kyle, was single, not because of certain rules that parents set, like Rebecca's parents, but, bluntly, by choice. He had far too many times been heartbroken by girls, starting first with the very lone girl in this class, Wendy. The two, like Kyle and Rebecca, dated on again and off-again in their youth, but, her constant nagging and jealousy of other girls quickly turned Stan off, not to mention her "fling" with Token, and one with Gregory that soon turned into a relationship, much to Stan's chagrin. After a hiatus from dating, at around his Sophomore year of High School, Stan attempted to jump into the dating pool again, this time dating a girl named Jordan. But alas, things soured after just 6 months, as Stan, at a party one night, caught Jordan cheating on him with another guy. So, the next day, Stan broke things off with her, then made a vow to never date again, as it would just cause him more pain and heartbreak in the end. It was something he had kept till that present day, but, that didn't mean he didn't sometimes have longings.

Yes, Stan sometimes envisioned himself back with Wendy, as, after all, she was his first love, his first kiss, and his first real relationship. No matter how hard he tried to keep his "never again" mentality when it came to love, he sometimes found himself drifting away and imagining a relationship with Wendy again. But, like always, Stan would somehow manage to shake these thoughts away, and they would be replaced by his usual bitterness towards Wendy. Yes, as much as it made him look bad in some eyes, Stan held a grudge against Wendy for the way she handled their relationship and how she dumped him. He attempted a reconciliation with her the year before, if not to just be friends with her, but things just blew up in his face and turned into an argument, and thus, he and her were back to being just tolerant of one another.

It was these 9 kids that were all sitting in wait of their Psychology teacher to enter into the room. This being the first class of the day, at 9:00 AM, the majority of them were still in half-sleep mode, and thus, weren't all in the greatest of moods.

"They couldn't make this fucking school day start an hour later?" Clyde snarled to himself under his breath as he sighed and put his head down on his desk in an attempt to sleep.

"If you didn't want to do this class so badly, you should have chosen an easier class to do" Wendy, who was seated behind Clyde, answered back in a somewhat annoyed tone.

Clyde lifted his head up off of his desk and looked over his shoulder at Wendy, a scowl on his face as he did.

"Did I ask for your opinion cunt?" He fumed at her, causing a frown to appear on Wendy's face now.

"Now was that necessary to say to me?" Wendy shot back, now looking right in Clyde's eyes.

"Well was you opening your mouth to preach to me necessary?" Clyde replied back.

Both kids would have probably went back and fourth with this argument if not for Stan, seated a few chairs away from Wendy, speaking up.

"Clyde, would you seriously shut up? And besides, Wendy was right…if you really didn't want to have a hard class this early in the morning, you should have chosen something else…"

Clyde, a combination of being too tired to answer back, and also slightly intimidated by Stan, quickly quieted down and went back to attempting to sleep as Wendy turned to look at Stan. As he expected, rather then a thank you, Wendy replied with a rather annoyed statement.

"You know, I could have handled that myself…."

Stan didn't answer back, he simply rolled his eyes and turned away from her in his seat as the door to the classroom opened, and in walked their teacher for the year, one Professor James P. Snyder. A man in his mid 50's with a grey and brown beard, thinning brown hair, and hazel eyes, Snyder was the one Professor that was equally admired and despised by kids in South Park High. His class could be fun if you gave it a chance, but it also was high on the difficulty list, mostly because he wanted very much to challenge his students, as well as pass them.

"Good afternoon gentlemen and lady…" He began, adjusting the glasses and setting down a small stack of books that he was carrying in his hands onto his desk. "I don't want to waste any time, so I'll get right to role call, and what I plan on doing with you in this class for the year."

True to his word, Snyder breezed through the short role call, then, he took a piece of chalk from his hands and walked over to the board, writing a single word on the board, "Psychology".

"Psychology….." Snyder began, his eyes scanning over the kids as he did so. "Can anyone tell me what exactly that is?"

Wendy's hand was the first to go up, and Snyder pointed to her.

"Basically, the study of the mind and of behavior."

Snyder nodded and smiled "Very good….Do any of you want to add anything to that definition?" He asked, pointing to Kyle when he raised his hand.

"It's all about mental processes, both in individual people and groups" Kyle said plainly.

"Ah, I'm glad you brought that up, Kyle was it?" Snyder said. When Kyle nodded, Snyder went back up to the board and began to write on it. "I'm glad because the major project that I have in mind for you kids this year involves a study of groups."

When Snyder finished his writing on the board, he stepped back to reveal two simple words.

"Hell House"

"Hell House?" Stan said, a hint of curiosity to his voice as he did. "That sounds familiar."

"It should, it's only one of the most well known and premiere haunted houses here in South Park." Snyder replied as he walked over to his chair and sat down at his desk. "For those of you who don't know, it gained prominence for being a haunted house about 30 years or so ago, when, somehow, a family that was living there, a husband, wife, and three kids all wound up dead. To be more specific, the husband of the house went mad and killed his wife and kids, then hung himself in the middle of the kitchen."

"Sounds like a friendly guy huh?" Craig muttered in a joking tone to Clyde, who snickered in reply.

"Ah Craig, according to his friends, this man in fact was a great man before his family and himself moved into this house." Snyder replied, standing up slowly as he did. "So, the question that arises is this….did he somehow psychologically go mad from something in this house? And is that what caused these hauntings to begin after the murders and suicide happened?"

"How exactly would we figure this out Sir?" Wendy asked after raising her hand.

"I'm glad you asked Wendy…" Snyder said, slowly going over to her desk as he did. "This coming weekend, we'll figure it out by going to this very house and staying in it from Friday night to Sunday night."

"My word! A whole weekend in that house?" Pip said after a slight surprised gasp. "Won't that be a bit dangerous?"

"Of course." Snyder replied, adjusting his glasses. "In fact, over the years, as reports stated in various newspapers, Everyone who has stepped foot into the house has never come out of it alive."

The excited looks on some of the kids faces very quickly faded to be replaced by one of worry. They had all heard of the haunted goings on in the house, but nothing about people dying in it because of it.

"Die?" You mean die as in never come back ever? Die-Die?" Butters asked, nervousness creeping into his voice as he did.

Snyder didn't respond verbally to the answer, he merely nodded his head, which sent another wave of nervousness not only through Butters' body, but through the bodies of the other kids as well. After a quick survey of the kids, Snyder nodded in satisfaction and spoke.

"Very well then, it's settled, we'll all be heading over there this weekend, this is a small group, so it'll work out just fine I think."

"Hey! Wait a second now" Kyle began, sitting up in his seat as he spoke. "Suppose one of us doesn't want to go up to this house huh?"

"Oh, it's quite simple then….you'll just have to live with a grade of D…" Professor Snyder replied bluntly, pushing up his glasses a bit and running a hand through his beard. "As this project will be the majority of your grade…and refusing to do it will result in the highest you can get in this class being a D grade."

The 9 kids all exchanged shocked glances with one another. All of them, Kyle, Wendy, and Butters especially, did not want to risk failing this class just because they didn't want to do one particular project. They all would rather just get things over with, and besides, three days in a house couldn't be that bad, could they?

"So…do we all have an agreement now?" Professor Snyder asked, his eyes shifting among the students in his class once again.

One by one, the kids all nodded slowly, none of them wanting to voice any objections this time, including Kyle.

"Very well then….I'll give you the directions to the house at the end of class, and come Friday, I expect all of you to be at the house…"

It would be the last of the project that Prof. Snyder would mention, as he would simply move onto the first subject that the kids would have to learn for the year. However, none of the kids could really concentrate on this, as all they could think about was one particular sentence that Prof. Snyder said.

"Everyone who has stepped foot into the house has never come out of it alive."

None of the kids wanted to face the prospect of heading into a house where death could possibly await them, some mysterious evil or evils waiting to torture and kill them. But, with Professor Snyder's promises of a failing grade, as well as his strict adherence to his syllabus and rules, it didn't look like any of them had a choice in the matter.