South Park property of Parker and Stone. Ella Tweak is mine.

Mmm.. Flashback.

*

Tweak Residence. Sophomore year – August.

Ella arranged her school bag for the 20th time. Tomorrow was her first day of high school and she was nearly as twitchy as her brother. I'm not touching that bag again. It's packed. That's it. She stood in front of the full length mirror and braided her hair. The clock on her dresser read 11:58. She'd already been up too late worrying about it. She flopped on her bed and clicked the bedside lamp off. Nothing could be worse than junior high, right?

"GAH!"

Dammit. Ella sat up and flipped her light on.

"Ack! GAH!"

She trudged to the door and cracked it open. It was midnight, a bit early for underpants gnomes. She looked at her brother's bedroom door right across the hall. She could hear the muffled sounds of her parents fighting in their bedroom a few doors down.

"-with that goddamn whore Liane Cartman!" she heard her mother say.

She strained to listen for Tweek, who sometimes talked in his sleep. Nothing… nothing…

"ACK!" Tweek came bursting out of his room, hair crazed, pajama top on backwards. "Ella. God-oh no! Look!" he pointed to his room twitchily, eyes wild, slight body trembling.

Ella took his hand and squeezed it tightly. The pressure of her grasp usually soothed Tweek, but he was trembling awfully hard. She looked around his room and not seeing any gnomes, turned back to him, confused.

"GAH! W-w-window!"

Ella crossed his room to the window and saw, in the distance, a faint orange glow. What?! "Looks like it's near Stark's Pond." She shrugged. "Could be a fire Tweek."

"Fire! ACK! Fire! Fire! Fire!" Tweek ran in a jerky circle around his room, stumbling over discarded Harbucks cups.

Ella caught his arm and clapped her hand over his mouth. "Shh. I'm going out to see what it is."

"Mphmmmhh!" said Tweek, reminding Ella momentarily of Kenny McCormick, one of Eric Cartman's friends in elementary school.

"Yes I am." She took her hand away slowly, ready to replace it in the event of further outbursts.

"D-d-don't! Y-you cant!" Tweek insisted, eyes bulging as she walked out of his room and returned a minute later with a powder blue robe thrown over her pajamas and ratty Vans on her feet.

"It'll only take a few minutes. I can't sleep anyway." Ella said opening his window and climbing out to the trellis outside.

"I-I'll come with GAH! With you." Tweek insisted, putting his own shoes on and climbing out after her.

*

The pair jogged down the street and through town in the direction of Stark's Pond. Ella set the pace. If she kept Tweek moving, it gave him less time to worry. The strange pulsing glow became more intense as they raced along the path before the pond. As she reached the water, Ella stopped. A soft breeze tickled her bare ankles and sketched ripples on the surface of the pond. Tweek caught up with her, too out of breath to protest much. Just as he reached her side, the glow flickered and faded.

"W-what.." Tweek whispered.

Ella skirted the pond, walking slowly. "Dunno.." she said, reaching back for Tweek's hand and felt it, slender, warm and trembling in her own. "It definitely came from over the next rise."

Tweek said nothing, but shook harder as his sister led him up the hill behind Stark's Pond.

Ella climbed, slipping a bit on the dew-wet grass. As they reached the top, her nose was assaulted by a sharp, acrid smell. Tweek clapped his free hand over his nose, his eyes watering.

"E-Ella.." he whispered hoarsely.

At the top of the hill, Tweek's tight grasp on her hand became a death-grip. For once, Ella was squeezing his hand just as tightly in return.

*

The full moon hung like a pearl earring in the velvet ear of night. As South Park slumbered, two high-pitched screams echoed over Stark's Pond and rent the stillness with their terror.

*

Now if only Craig was there to tell Ella not to investigate the spooky glow… ^.^