Tales From the Loony Bin

CH. 4

Rating: PG-13 or T

Disclaimer: I don't own South Park or the book Cut.

A/N: Soooo sorry it's been taking me so long to update. It's just that I've been trying to get my scanner to work so I can get a deviantART page finally and.. I've also been drawing lots. Oh, and swimming. Once again, thanks to all who reviewed and/or read.

Chap. 8 for Tutor is also in the works.. I've been writing little bits here and there of it, so that'll probably be up within the next week.. or two. Seeing as Tutor has maybe two chapters left, I'm gonna try and finish that before I finish this. I'm not entirely sure how many chapters this is going to have.. But I know where the story's gonna go. I have it all planned out, just too lazy to write it all.. So here's some of it.

Lots of angst here. I just reread all of the past chapters and noticed how sad and stuff they were. Sorry if you hate angst, but.. yeah. I like it. So there. :

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CH.4 - Family Night

- - -

The evening came quicker then I thought it would.

We're all being rounded up and sent to the lobby now.

The door to my room opens and Stella peeks in. "Come on boys, your parents are here.. They seem happy to see you." She smiles and holds the door open for us as we both walk out, Darren first and me not close behind.

I walk down the long corridor, shaking nervously. Darren looks over his shoulder and laughs. "What the hell's wrong with you?" He smiles, showing all of his yellowy teeth. I cringe and look away, still shaking. I fold my arms across my chest tightly as a feeble attempt to stop.

When we're finally in the lobby, Stella shows me to a couch first. My mom and dad are there, as well as two other guests I didn't expect; Clyde and Token.

"Hi, mom, hi dad.. Hey guys," I say, sitting between my dad and Clyde. My mom reaches over and ruffles my hair. "Tweek.. How are things?"

".. I don't like it here." I say flatly, biting my lip and looking at the floor. My dad frowns.

"They say you're doing alright, but if you keep.. resisting treatment.."

"Resist wha-?" I begin, looking up suddenly.

"Resisting treatment. They say during group and when Laura talks to you, you don't talk much. They need you to open up more or you're never going to get out, Tweek."

"..Oh.. um.. oh." Is all I can say. Clyde looks concerned.

"We're, uh, sorry, Tweek.. We can't wait for you to get out, though. School sucks and everything, but.." He smiles weakly.

"Yeah, we want to see you again. It'll be pretty cool, you, me, Clyde, and Craig.. Just hanging out." Token adds.

"Wait, wait.." I say. "Where is Craig, anyways?" I look at both Clyde and Token, but it's my mom who answers.

"..You didn't hear? He got transferred here for something.."

"What! What for? What did he do?"

"They haven't said yet." Token says with a shrug. Clyde looks down and pulls at a thread on his jeans. "He told me.. But he made me promise not to tell anyone." He clears his throat, yanking the thread from his jeans and tossing it to the floor.

"But.. I'm probably going to figure out tomorrow anyway. Can't you just tell me?" I say pleadingly.

"Sorry, no. I can't. I always.. keep my word, y'know? I don't want to lie to him." He looks up at me. I don't answer, I just look to my mom and dad.

"So Tweek, have you made any friends here?" My dad speaks up.

"Uh, kinda.. I mean.. um. Y-yeah, sorta." I cough.

"That's good. It looks nice here, Tweek.. Isn't it good that you're getting better?" My mom says.

"Yeah. Sure it is." I nod.

"Think of it.. Maybe soon you'll be out and you can be normal again." As soon as she says this I feel tears forming in my eyes. Normal again? I never was normal. I watch my tear fall to the carpet and stain the turquoise color a navy blue. Clyde notices this and puts a hand on my shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Tweek.. We miss you so much and everything, and we can't wait for you to come back."

"What if I never get out?" I say as many more tears fall, making a tiny puddle of dark blue in front of my shoes. "I'm n-never gonna get out of here. I'm always going to be crazy. I'll never be normal. Why don't you guys see that? Why can't you hate me?" I start shaking again, sobbing as I do so. Clyde takes his hand off my shoulder and he and Token both sigh.

"Because we're your friends," Token says to me. "We're never going to leave you. No matter what."

And after he says this, April makes an announcement at the front of the room. "Attention! The guests will now have to report back to their rooms. Thanks to all who visited, and have a good night." I lift myself up weakly from the couch.

"Bye, son," My dad says, comforting my mom, who's wiping her eyes. Token and Clyde wave. I give a half-wave back, not even smiling. I turn around and follow the other 'guests', who stop and enter their rooms. April unlocks me and Darren's room and we both walk in. I check the clock on the wall. Nine, or time for everybody to get to sleep here. It's like fucking boot camp or something.

"Lights out, boys," She says, flicking the switch as I slip my shoes off and strip down to my boxers, putting my clothes in a plastic bag that says LAUNDRY across it. I tie the bag up and toss it to the door. Darren has already done so, and is snoring loudly on his bed. It's getting louder and louder by the second.

I huff and bury myself in the sheets, putting my palms tightly over my ears to drown out the snoring. It just gets louder, now sounding like the dying groans of a sea monster. I sit up on the bed and throw one of my pillows at him. He snorts loudly, then rolls over and the snoring ceases.

I crawl under the blankets again and curl up in a ball. I yawn one last time and I'm asleep.

--

As soon as the lights are on in our room I'm awake. I sit up and stretch and rub my eyes. The first thing I notice is that Darren isn't here.

His bed is made and there are no signs that he was ever here. I look over at the dry erase schedule board. His name and schedule is erased, and is replaced with a new name and schedule.

Craig's.

No, it can't be. It can't be the Craig I know. Before I can ponder this any more, the door opens and Stella is standing beside none other than Craig himself.

I feel my jaw drop and my eyes widen. His eyes dart to mine and he stares for a few seconds, before he raises an eyebrow. "..Tweek?"

Stella interrupts whatever he has to say next. "Tweek, this is Craig. I think I can trust you with showing him around.. Make him feel comfortable." As soon as 'make him feel comfortable' comes out of her mouth, Craig snorts and folds his arms. "How comfortable can I get in a crazy house?"

But Stella ignores this. I try and process all of this in my mind, but having woken up like thirty seconds ago, it just didn't compute. Where is Darren? There's no fucking way he got out of here. And why is Craig here? Sure, he always was kind of mean, but anger management seemed harsh. He didn't have a weight or food problem, he couldn't be a cutter, and I don't think he'd be a druggie..

I open my mouth to say something, but all that comes out is some kind of incoherent babble. "A-- buh-- why..?" I run a hand through my messy blonde hair. Stella looks confused at me, but

ignores this as well and motions toward the bed across from me. "Craig, that'll be your bed. They should have a schedule up soon on that board.. Over there." She points across the room at the dry erase board. "And don't worry, we'll make sure you get to the right room on time." She smiles sweetly and steps out of the door. "You two boys can get dressed and all ready for breakfast when we dismiss you at nine o'clock, okay?" The door closes with a swoosh and Craig sits on the bed. "Tweek?"

"..Yeah. C-Craig?"

"Uh-huh."

We both stare at eachother for a few moments before I break the gaze. "So uh.. I guess I should, y-y'know, show you around and stuff.." I stand up and he does so as well. "Um, why are you here, exactly?" I ask before walking across the room to the sink with the mirror, looking at my reflection. He grunts. "Fuck you, why do you want to know anyway?" He scowls, standing over my shoulder in front of the mirror.

"Oh, uh, no reason really, just.. curious."

"Well you don't need to know."

"..Kay. Anyways, we both g-get a shelf here.. And you can keep your stuff on the left side--" I begin.

"I know, I know. They explained all that. So, is this place that fucking boring?"

"Well I guess.. It's not boring.. It's kinda weird." I open the door to the shelf and pull out another bag of clean laundry, all folded neatly. That's another thing I kind of like here; everything's always neat and tidy.. And you never have to worry about losing anything. Except your mind, I guess.

He nods and sits back on his bed, also clean and the sheets made. "You've been here a long time." He yawns.

"Yeah, five months is long.. I want out of here.. It's just like being trapped like an animal and--" I start, my natural 'Tweeky' energy kicking in. "I want out!" I squeak, hearing an echo in the small room. He smiles a little bit. "You would."

"Are you crazy? Everyone wants out of here! How can you.. take something like this so .. so casually? You don't know how long you're going to be in here! A year or two or three or .." I stop to take a breath, pulling on my jeans and a dark grey tee-shirt.

"It isn't just.. a game! Life.. it isn't a game, you know!" I look up at him, who's smiling and nodding. Is he mocking me? "We're trapped in here now! Until we're.. considered 'normal again.. It's all so fucking c-crazy.."

"Yeah, you're one to talk." Is his final reply as April opens the door. "Both of you, follow me. It's breakfast." She says in a monotone. I nod and follow, Craig close behind.

I'm already hating Craig's attitude. At first I thought maybe it'd be nice to have someone I knew before here with me, but..

He wasn't who I really had in mind.

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A/N: Two long chapters in ONE day. That should keep you guys busy for a while.. :