What's going to happen next? Are Stan and Token going to save everyone? And what about Clyde? What's he going to do now that Craig has been kidnapped as well? The tension is rising! I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 23 – Clyde/Stan

As soon as he heard that Craig had been kidnapped Clyde knew it was all over. Craig would tell Tweek and the others what happened, and no one would ever want to speak to him again. Craig and his family would kick him out.

Clyde sighed as he laid on the bed in the Tucker's spare room. If only he had admitted what he saw when Kenny had been kidnapped. Hell, he should've immediately told the truth when Tweek had been taken. Then none of this would be happening. Why hadn't he told Craig or gone to the police?

Oh yeah, because of his stupid, petty jealousy. He was too wrapped up in himself and his love for Craig to see what an ass he was. How was he going to fix any of this?

A sudden thought occurred to him. He could fix this! Didn't he already know who exactly did everything? Didn't he know everyone attached to this crime? All he had to do was get some evidence and a confession!

Clyde got up from his bed and went over to his computer. Jackson usually posted all over his social media where he was and what he was doing at any time. It would be very easy to track him down.

Currently, Jackson was hanging out behind the school, according to one of his social media pages. He had posted a picture of himself flipping the bird and Clyde could see the football field behind him. If he hurried, maybe he would still be there, and Clyde could confront him.

"I'm coming for you, Jackson, you bastard," Clyde hissed. He rushed outside and jumped on his bike and biked as fast as he could towards the school. When he got there, he was completely out of breath and had to double over, gasping. But it was worth it. Jackson and his goons were coming out of the school at that moment.

"Jackson!" Clyde called. The bully stopped and turned to him. He curled his lip up in a scowl.

"What do you want, loser?" he demanded, "Lonely now that your boyfriend is gone?" His friends chuckled at his horrible joke.

Clyde refused to let Jackson's stupid jokes get the better of him. "I wouldn't kid around with me if I were you, Jackson," he warned, "I know your secret."

Jackson froze up for a moment and his face went blank. Then it got dark, and he took a menacing step forward. As he did, Clyde's confidence started to fade.

"Oh, you do, do you?" Jackson growled, "And what are you going to do about it? Did you think you were going to come here and confront me about it? Play the hero and win everyone over? Do you really think anything you say is going to change anything? After all, if you knew, why didn't you say something earlier? Why didn't you go to the police instead of coming here?"

"Ah, well… er..." Clyde stuttered overed his words and stumbled backwards slightly.

Jackson took another step forward. "Yeah, that's what I thought," he sneered, "You don't have the guts to do anything. You have no spine. In fact, now that I know you're on to me, I can just threaten to hurt your little boyfriend if you try go to the police. You have no power over me."

He spat at Clyde, snapped his fingers, then he and his thugs walked away.

Clyde stared after them in shock. Jackson was right. What was he thinking? Did he really believe he could change anything by confronting him and trying to threaten him? Now Jackson knew, and he could hurt Craig if Clyde tried to do anything.

Frustrated, he fell to the ground and screamed.

When Stan woke the next morning, he still felt crappy, but he felt better than yesterday. He laid in his bed, staring at the wall, doing nothing until his phone rang. Slowly, he reached out and answered it.

"Hello?" he mumbled.

"Hey Stan, it's Token," his rich friend's voice came over the speaker. There was a brief pause. "Are you still in bed?"

"Yeah," Stan sighed, "I'm… really tired. I didn't sleep well. I had so many nightmares."

"…Are you all right?" Token asked.

"I'll be fine," Stan insisted, "I just don't know what to do anymore."

There was another pause, but Stan could still here Token breathing on the other end. He made several noises, like he was having a mumbling debate with himself.

"Token? Are you ok?" Stan wondered.

"How… about… we go see Clyde," Token said slowly after a moment, "I haven't seen him in a few days. Maybe he has an idea."

"Yeah, sure," Stan relented. He didn't particularly like Clyde, but he couldn't think of anything better to do. Besides, he would probably be just as stressed as him and Token since Craig had been kidnapped. Stan could imagine he would want a friend.

After they hung up, Stan very slowly got out of bed and got dressed. He didn't really care what he wore, he just put anything on. It wasn't what he usually wore, but whatever.

Token's parents drove him to Stan's house and then they walked to Craig's house. Stan was glad that the fashionable Token didn't comment on his looks.

When they got to Craig's house, there were no sounds inside and all the lights were off. Stan frowned. Where was everyone? And where was Clyde?

"Hello?" Token called as he knocked on the door, "Clyde? Mrs. Tucker? Is anyone home?"

"Go away!" they heard Clyde shout from the upstairs window.

"Well, at least we know he's still alive," Stan noted. They knocked again.

"Leave me alone!" Clyde yelled, "I deserve to be alone! I'm a horrible human being!"

Token muttered something under his breath before trying the front door and finding it unlocked. "Come on," he encouraged Stan, "Let's find out what's going on."

The two entered the house, finding the living room rather messy. It appeared no one cared to clean up anymore. It was also rather dark, despite still being early morning. They couldn't hear Mrs. Tucker or Tricia at all. It made Stan suddenly feel very frightened.

"What happened?" he murmured, "Where did everybody go?"

"Well, we know Clyde is upstairs," Token joked in an attempt to lighten the mood, "Let's go see him. Maybe he can clear everything up for us."

Stan shivered and stayed close to Token's side. He had a horrifying feeling that they were being watched by the kidnapper and he was just waiting to pounce.

The two made their way upstairs to the guest room where Clyde had been staying. Stan tried not to look at Craig's room. He didn't want to look and see that he wasn't there.

Taking a deep breath, Token reached out a fist and knocked on Clyde's door. "Clyde? Are you all right?" he called gently.

"Go away, Token!" Clyde shouted back, "You were right about me! You were right about everything! I'm terrible! I'm horrible! I don't deserve pity! Just abandon me like I abandoned everyone else!"

"What's he talking about, Token?" Stan wondered.

Token sighed, "I'll… tell you later," he promised. At the moment he was focusing on Clyde's door. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door, ignoring Stan's short protest.

The guest room was in shambles. Clothes and furniture had been thrown everywhere. It looked as though a tornado and an earthquake wrecked the place. And Clyde was in the corner of the room, curled up, and sobbing.

"Clyde?" Token softly called, "What's going on? What happened?"

"Go away," he breathed, "I deserve to be alone for what I did. I ruined everything. I'm a monster."

"What do you mean?" Stan asked, stepping forward, "You're not making any sense. Is this about Craig? That wasn't your fault."

"No Stan, it was my fault," Clyde hissed, "Everyone's kidnapping was my fault!" He took a shuddering breath and looked up at them. "Because I saw who kidnapped Tweek… and I never told anyone."

"WHAT?!" Token blurted, his voice full of anger, "So I was right! You did know more than you were letting on and you were only hiding the truth, so you could get close to Craig!"

Clyde remained silent, not denying a thing.

Stan stood still, unable to tell what he was feeling. Rage, sadness, betrayal, and a spark of… something else. And he didn't know what it was.

"All our friends and loved ones are suffering because of you!" Token continued angrily, "How could you be so selfish?! How could you be so heartless?!"

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I'm sorry," Clyde whispered over and over.

"Clyde," Stan said in a steady voice, "If you want to redeem yourself at all, you have to tell us who the kidnapper is. You have to help us put an end to this."

"B-But if I do… Jackson will hurt Craig," Clyde mumbled.

"Of course Jackson is involved in this," Token muttered, "That should have been obvious from the start." He crouched down and looked Clyde right in the eye. "If you have any self-respect left, you'll tell us everything. Then we can go to the police and free everyone before anything happens."

Clyde wiped his eyes and shuddered. "The night I saw Tweek get kidnapped, I saw Mr. Johnston pull up in a black car and threaten him," he explained, "He forced Tweek into the car and I saw Jackson in the driver's seat. I was behind a tree recording everything, so they didn't see me. I learned that Jackson is Mr. Johnston's son."

Stan and Token stared open mouthed at him. Stan felt like his heart was a bag of popcorn kernels ready to burst from his chest.

"M-Mr. Johnston is the kidnapper?" Token breathed.

Clyde nodded.

"Oh my God," Token muttered.

They were all silent for a minute. Eventually Stan broke the silence.

"Ok, we know who did it," he said, "But we have no evidence."

"Yes, we do," Clyde murmured, "I filmed a video of the kidnapping on my phone. You can see Mr. Johnston forcing Tweek into the car." Shaking, he reached over to the nightstand and grabbed his phone. He pressed a few buttons, searching for the right thing before turning the phone around and showing them the video. Despite taking place at night on a phone camera, it was surprisingly clear quality.

Stan held his breath watching. Even though Clyde had already said who it was, seeing Mr. Johnston as a kidnapper was truly shocking. He had always been such a nice teacher! How could he do this?

"Does this mean that he was responsible for the kidnappings in North Park as well?" Stan wondered.

"I don't know," Token muttered, "It doesn't matter. What does matter right now is we have our kidnapper. Now we just have to take him down."

This chapter is rather short, but it was mostly recapping things. Next chapter is when things start to escalate, and the showdown will happen. Get excited! Hopefully, I'll finish this story this year. Hopefully.

Also, thanks to my beta reader Fluxit Aqua et Sanguine for fixing my mistakes and making the end of this story stronger than it would have been! Couldn't have done it without you!

And feel free to follow me on Twitter. WhiteThunder ThunderingWhite. I post about my stories, games I like, and I also occasionally post pictures from my Switch. Especially Animal Crossing.