Cartman sure is an ass, isn't he? But thankfully he's not really in this chapter so we don't have to worry about him for a while. We return to Craig and Tweek in this chapter and it may make you cry. So, be ready for that.
Chapter 17 – Craig/Tweek
Craig stared at the calendar on the wall across from his bed as Clyde slept peacefully beside him. In three minutes, it would be midnight, and that meant it would be two days since Kyle had been kidnapped. But that's not why Craig was awake. As soon as the clock struck midnight, it would be a special day. A day Craig had been looking forward to for a long time, but now would just fill him with sadness, misery, and loneliness.
Today was Tweek's birthday. Craig had been planning on finally confessing his love for Tweek on this day and had gotten him a wonderful gift that he had spent quite a bit of thought and money on. He had planned the whole day out perfectly in his head, but now he couldn't do any of it.
A few seconds later the digital clock changed to twelve and Craig sighed sadly. "Happy Birthday, Tweek," he whispered miserably. He wondered if Tweek even realized what day it was from wherever he was being held.
He knew he wasn't going to sleep, so Craig carefully got out of bed without disturbing Clyde. He went over to his closet and clicked on the light. This was where he had hid Tweek's birthday present. He reached up and took it down from the top shelf.
It was wrapped in cool-green wrapping paper and tied with blue ribbon, accented with a blue and green bow. Inside the package was a personalized thermos that Craig had ordered for Tweek. On it was a plaque that read "I have and always will love you – Craig." He had been really looking forward to seeing Tweek's face light up when he opened his gift and read it.
Now that might never happen.
There was a sound behind him, and Craig quickly put the gift back before turning around. In the dim closet light, he saw Clyde stir before waking and sitting up.
"Mmm… Craig?" he said groggily and rubbing his eyes, "What are you doing up?"
"I couldn't sleep," Craig confessed.
"Another nightmare?" Clyde wondered. Craig shook his head.
"Nah, something else this time," he replied, "It's fine. Go back to sleep." Clyde gave him a concerned look.
"Are you sure?" he asked, "I can stay up with you if you want."
"Don't worry about it," Craig assured him. Clyde gave him a worried look but didn't argue. Instead he laid back down and went back to sleep.
Sighing, Craig went downstairs and turned on the TV. He tried to watch some cartoons or maybe some old Terrence and Phillip episodes to get his mind off things, but nothing seemed to work. He couldn't stop thinking about Tweek.
Tears started to swell up in his eyes. This wasn't fair. He was supposed to be with Tweek right now, snuggled up safe and warm in bed in each other's arms. How could the kidnapper be so selfish and take that away from him?
"Tweek," he whispered out loud, "Where are you? I miss you so much. I would give anything to have you back right now."
He buried his face in his hands and silently started to cry.
…
Tweek had been quite surprised by the state Kyle had been brought in the previous few days. He had a haunted look on his face, like something terrible had happened to him before he was brought here. It was like he didn't even realize he had been kidnapped and was still more upset about what had previously happened to him.
But then he had looked up and spotted Kenny. Tears sprung to his eyes and he broke out of the man's grip and ran over to his friend. The two embraced tearfully, having haven't seen each other in weeks. Then Kyle murmured something in Kenny's ear, something that Tweek couldn't hear, but it seemed to upset Kenny because his grip on Kyle tightened.
Then the man dragged Kyle off his friend and chained him to the wall and he hadn't spoken since. Tweek wondered what had happened to Kyle that traumatized him so. Was it really that bad? Even now Kyle just sat with his knees up to his chest and his head in his arms. Tweek feared what would happen when it came time to inject everyone again. He wondered how Kyle would take it.
He noticed that Wendy had been staring at Kyle most of the time he was there. Perhaps she was wondering what was wrong with him? Or maybe she wanted to ask him about Stan. It had been a while since she saw him.
Any time someone new was brought in Tweek thought about asking how Craig was doing, but he was scared of the answer. Ever since Jackson dragged him to that party he worried that Craig's mind had broken and he had completely spiraled into depression. Tweek didn't know if he could take it if he didn't have a Craig to come back to if they were ever saved.
Kyle was the only one who hadn't been injected yet and Tweek was fearful for him and the others. Wendy had been left mute while Nichole had problems controlling the volume of her voice. Kevin couldn't speak above a whisper and surprisingly Timmy now spoke perfectly and in a posh accent. Red's speech was completely jumbled and no one could understand her.
Tweek was having a hard time seeing from the last injection. Each time it seemed to last longer and longer and he was afraid there would soon be a time when he could no longer see at all. That thought scared him more than anything else.
What if he literally never saw Craig again?!
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the basement door open. Tweek desperately hoped it wasn't the man coming to inject Kyle. But then he felt his own chains being unshackled and he knew exactly who it was.
"H-Hey!" Butters called out nervously, "You leave him alone!"
"Fuck off, blondie," Jackson growled at him, dragging Tweek along behind him, "Or I'll have my dad cut back your meals."
Jackson pulled Tweek along the now familiar path to his bedroom. Ever since Tweek blew up at him, Jackson had cut back on the sex. He had done it once since the party, but other than that he would just kiss Tweek or complain to him.
They came to a sudden halt and Tweek could barely see Jackson staring down a hallway as if watching for something. For the first time Tweek wondered if Jackson's father knew about his son's affair with him. The man would probably be pissed.
Eventually, Jackson started moving again, tugging Tweek along. They made it to the bedroom where Jackson pushed the blonde onto the bed before laying next to him. Though it was hard to tell, something seemed different about the room. Those faint glows, were those candles?
"Do you know what day it is?" Jackson asked.
That was a rather silly question. Tweek had lost all sense of time down in the basement, so of course he didn't know what day it was. To Jackson he slowly shook his head. The bully let out a small laugh.
"Of course you don't," he said, "You probably have no concept of time down there. Or you lost track of it. It's totally reasonable, don't worry." He leaned over and planted a soft kiss on the corner of Tweek's mouth.
He whispered: "Tweek, today is your birthday."
A tear formed in the corner of Tweek's eye and he took a sharp breath. Today was his birthday. Today was his birthday. He was fifteen years old today.
And he was trapped with a mad man and a rapist. And no Craig.
…
There was a knock on the Tweak's front door that brought both adults to answer it. After all, they hadn't gotten many visitors since the police had questioned them many weeks ago. So, when they opened the door and saw Craig standing there, tears immediately formed in their eyes.
"Craig," Mrs. Tweak whispered.
"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Tweak," Craig greeted, "May I come in please?"
"Of course," Mr. Tweak replied, "Come in, come in." He ushered Craig inside, shutting the door behind him. The two led the teen to the living room where they all took a seat.
"It's… been a while since we've seen you, Craig," Mr. Tweak noted.
"I know," Craig sighed, "I'm sorry. I would have come by and visited you a lot sooner, but ever since, well, you know, I've just been really depressed."
"Oh, of course, dear, we understand," Mrs. Tweak said, "It's been hard on all of us." She looked down in sadness. "I just wish I could know if he was ok or not. Or even if he was still alive."
"He's still alive," Craig told her, "I do know this." Rapidly, he explained to them about the party he went to and how he saw Tweek there. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to rescue him," he finished, "I'm still angry at myself about that."
"Don't beat yourself up about it, son," Mr. Tweak consoled, "At least we know he's still alive. I'm sure the police will find him and the others soon."
Craig had his doubts about that, but he wasn't going to say them out loud. Instead, he simply nodded. "Anyway, I figured since today is his birthday you guys could use some company," he said, "And honestly, so could I."
The Tweaks smiled warmly at him. "We would love your company, Craig," Mrs. Tweak told him, "Would you like to stay for dinner? We were going to make Tweek's favorite dish."
"I would like that," Craig replied.
Through out the dinner, the Tweaks and Craig talked casually to each other, trying to mask their sadness over the missing birthday boy. Craig avoided talking about how his life was going recently. Without Tweek it was pretty miserable. Even though he wasn't there, they had a cake for dessert in his honor.
After dinner, Craig went up to Tweek's room. It looked completely untouched, as if the Tweaks couldn't bear to come in here. Craig carefully crossed the room over to Tweek's bed and sat down. He put the Tweek's present on the nightstand before laying down and falling asleep in his love's bed.
During the night he dreamed of the day he just had, except this time Tweek was there, and everything was going how it was supposed to go. And they were happy. When Mr. and Mrs. Tweak came in to tuck Craig in, he had a small smile on his face and a tear running down his cheek.
Another super depressing chapter. Sorry, this is going to continue for a while. Next chapter is a Token chapter and now we're going to start really getting into the thick of things. The mystery is going to get even deeper. Until next time, please leave a review!
