Cartman stood in his four man group with a snowball behind his back, waiting silently for a victim to come crawling into his grasp. His eyes shined in the manner of a snake hunting for its prey. Kyle sensed the tension he released and crossed his arms.
"Dude, you aren't fooling anyone." He growled.
"And who's gonna care, Jew?" Cartman challenged.
"The person who gets hit with that snowball your carrying around."
"Oh please they'll never know what hit em." Locking his sights on Craig he brought his arm back and slung the snowy sphere from his hand. "Hey Tucker!"
Craig looked up in time to catch the snowball with his face. His gray eyes blazed angrily at Eric, the heat melting the snow off his face, marching away steaming. Stan faced Cartman and smiled.
"That's the tenth time you've pissed him off, dude. Next time you do it you'll really be in for it."
"Aw come on, that sissy can't do nothin."
Cartman bent over to scoop up more snow in his gloves and patted it down softly. Smiling devilishly he quickly looked away and coughed once, flicking the snowball towards Kyle's face.
"Bah!" Kyle cried out in surprise and furiously wiped the snow off his face. "Cartman!"
He was busy rolling on the ground laughing hysterically pointing at Kyle's wet face.
"Hahahaha! I got you good Kahl! Oh man you shoulda seen your face when that snow hit you!" He wheezed with giggles.
"Cartman it isn't that funny!" Kyle blushed.
"It's totally funny!" Eric hoisted himself up using Kenny's shoulder. "Right, Kinneh?"
"Yeah!" He agreed and started laughing.
"Kyle, you gotta have more humor." Stan looked to his best friend.
"I'm sorry." He apologized through his teeth.
"And Cartman, you gotta stop being such a bully."
"What?" Cartman came down from his laughing high and hit hard.
"I said you have to stop being a bully. You've just been out of control with it."
"I'm in total control! See!" He danced around the three boys.
"I don't mean that, I mean you just get out of hand with it. You could really hurt someone."
Again Cartman gathered snow up into a tight ball and tossed it without even looking at who he hit. A faraway cry echoed to his hears and he quickly looked over to see. Shay struggled to pick himself up, the back of his dark ice blue jacket powdered with the snow. To the other students he was weak, to Cartman he was easy prey. Like a bird swooping down on a worm, he attacked in a split second. Laughing in Shay's face he gently kicked his side (in his mind it was gentle). Shay felt blood drip from his mouth and still wiggled to get up off the ground. This made Eric smile in content as he harshly kicked slushy snow in his face calling him obscurities that made everyone look in their direction. Kyle raced toward Cartman and jumped onto his back using all his weight to bring him down onto the ground. Cartman simply brushed him off his shoulders and continued abusing the new student. About to kick the poor boy's teeth in, Kenny stepped between the two boys, his arms spread out to keep Cartman from seeing a way to get to Shay.
"Stop it!" He shouted.
Rage flared in Eric's dark brown eyes as he clenched his fists.
"Get out of the way Kinneh. Slushy's my prey, you have nothing to do with this." He hissed.
"Just look at yourself dude! This isn't like you! Stop while you still can!"
"I said get out of my way Kinneh!"
With that he punched Kenny's mouth hard with his fist. His bottom lip was cut against his teeth and blood trickled down his chin. Kenny didn't move an inch from Shay and stared defiantly back at Cartman with bold, blue eyes. The two boys had a stare down until Eric took Kenny by the shoulders and threw him down next to Shay, crawling onto him and ruthlessly punching his face. If it meant having to let him beat him to death in order to keep his mind off of the victim beside him, then he'll die of bravery. His nose cracked as it broke and even more blood spurted out leaving his face bruised and scarlet red. Kyle tried again and tackled his friend down and off of Kenny, holding him down so that he couldn't escape from his grasp.
"Keep it together, dude! Don't let it get to your head you've got to keep holding on!" He screamed. "Just look at what you're doing! This isn't right!"
Kenny coughed once and scuttled to see if Shay was alright. He was still breathing, but motionless and freezing. Swiftly he removed his jacket and wrapped Shay in it to help keep him warm. He was a small, lithe boy and so Kenny was able to carry him to the nurse's office in the building. Cartman felt like he was brought out of a trance as he looked into Kyle's scared green eyes. Looking passed him he saw his best friend walking away from him and disappear from his sight.
"Kahl? Where's Kinneh going?" He asked with all the innocence he had left.
Stan helped Kyle to his feet and allowed Cartman to get to his as they continued to lock eyes.
"Come on dude, we gotta go see if Shay's alright." Stan tried to guide Kyle on the other side of him.
Kyle stepped forward and put his finger in his face. His hand shook with fear and irritation and his eyes were clouded with sorrow. His voice quivered slightly not from the cold, but from the shock that his friend would actually do this to someone else.
"Listen fat boy, if you ever try that again with anyone I swear I will kick your fat, racist ass right where you stand." He rumbled.
Slowly, Cartman followed his two friends in silence back into the building. Stan looked back at him and didn't have anything to say, for he was speechless of what just happened. He felt feirce tension between Kyle and Cartman that he had never sensed before. It was the feeling of fear mixed with anger and sorrow and it made him sick to the stomach. They arrived at the nurse's office and sauntered through the door to see Shay on the examining table still and barely breathing. Kenny sat in a chair next to the table with his hands against his head lacing his fingers through his own dirty blond hair in angst. He didn't even look up when Nurse Gollum escorted his friends to where he sat nor when Stan put his hand on his shoulder in an effort to comfort him.
"Why?" He croaked out in a clear voice.
"What?" Cartman pretended not to hear.
"Why did you do this? Was it because you gain some sick pleasure off of someone else's suffering?"
"I don't know what your talking about."
Kenny abruptly pushed back his seat and stood before Cartman while Stan still kept his hand on him.
"You know damn well what I'm talking about you just don't want to fucking admit it!" He shouted then calmed down into a groggy tone. "You're such a sick fuck, Cartman, you really are. You could have killed him out there."
"I don't see the big deal I mean I didn't even hit him that hard."
"Shay's malnutritioned, meaning he doesn't get the nutrients he needs. That's why he couldn't stand up for himself and fight back." Kenny stared back up at Cartman and shoved him back, his voice raising back into a shriek. "And you just had to go and put his life in danger! How heartless can you get Eric? Death is a serious thing, you should never play games with it."
"Kenny, calm down." Stan reassured.
"Yeah stop trying to play God and act like you know what it's like to die!" Cartman battled back.
Kenny froze in shock and sat back down. He looked at the lifeless Shay and didn't say a word.
"You of all people should know that, Cartman." He whispered. "Get out."
"What?"
"Get out! I don't want to have anything to do with you anymore!" Kenny repeated loudly.
"Fine! If that's the way you want to be then screw you Kinneh, I'm goin home!" He retorted and stormed out of the office.
Kenny didn't even bother to watch him go out as he reached over and put a hand on Shay's face. It was very cold to the touch and he didn't seem to be warming up like he should. Worried he turned to find Nurse Gollum standing where Cartman once was with cheery, red cheeks and a kind glow in her eyes.
"Shay will be okay, Kenny, his body temperature is where it needs to be."
"Then why is he so cold?"
"The outside of his body will seem that way due to the fact that he's used to the fridged air. His skin has adapted and while he still retains his body heat on the inside I don't think that warmth can find it's way to the outside."
"So you're saying that he's basically an icy pop?" Stan asked.
"I guess you can put it that way. His kind is what we call a psychrophile."
"That isn't some kind of molester is it?"
"No, Stan." Nurse Gollum smiled.
"It's an extremophillic organism that can live in temperatures ranging from -15 degrees to 10 degrees Celsius. Usually things like that are only found as bacteria or archaea." Kyle explained.
"So, if that's the only way that a psychrophile is found then how can we be sure Shay is one?"
"I'm not 100% sure, but I can already see that he's lived a life where he's had to endure the cold for most of his life."
"That makes sense." Stan agreed.
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, rumor is that he lives in an old playground on Kenny's street."
"It isn't a rumor, it's true." Kenny spoke up.
"What?" Everyone turned to him.
"I saw him yesterday. He doesn't have a house or family like we do and so he lives alone in the cold."
"Oh dear, I don't think that's physically healthy for a child." Nurse Gollum ponderd. "Hypothermia could easily kill a child. I'm surprised he hasn't passed on yet."
"He's a strong soul, which is why I don't want anymore harm coming to him."
"But, Kenny you barely know him." Stan said.
"That shouldn't be used as an excuse for me not to try and protect him. He's just a lost soul who wants to be like everyone else, but can't. That doesn't stop him from living his life the best he can."
"You're a brave young man, Kenny. I'm sure Shay will appreciate your concern for him." Nurse Gollum nodded.
They all waited for Frost to recover in the warm office in silence with Kenny's little speech floating in their memories. In Cartman's house he sat at his window looking at the snow fall onto the ground and frost the glass slightly. Using his finger he wrote the words "Kenny+Eric+Kyle+Stan=Best friends 4ever". He gazed at the frost slowly covering their names until only his remained alone.
"Eric, why are you so sad?" A voice rang in his head.
"Who's there? Who are you?" He looked around his room to find nobody.
"You didn't forget about us did you?" The voice said again.
"C-Clyde Frog? Is that you?"
"We miss you, Eric." another chimed in.
"Polly Prissypants? Is everyone there with you?"
"We're all here."
"Please, tell us why you are sad."
Cartman thought about it for a while and then looked back out the window.
"Well...everyone's mad at me. I don't know why, but Kenny just doesn't want to be around me anymore."
"What did you do to make him that way?"
"I don't know I can't remember."
"You're anger is becoming a threat to others around you, Eric." Clyde said in a small voice.
"My anger?"
"Yes, you feel vulnerable therefore you take it out on others."
"No I don't."
"Yes, you do." Polly agreed.
"No..no I don't." Cartman felt a burning in his mind and stomach.
"There you go again. Control it, Eric, and no harm will happen."
Cartman pictured himself inside his mind with a butterfly net, trying to catch all of the butterflies that were making him mad. He put them in jars when a vision of Clyde Frog and his stuffed animals appeared.
"Do not keep your anger bottled up. Destroy them." Peter Panda said.
Dropping the glass jars he smashed the butterflies in the shards and smeared them all over the green grass of his imaginary place. A wave of serenity rushed into him and he felt at peace for the first time in years.
"Thanks you guys." He smiled.
"We're always here for you, you just need to believe." Rumpertumskin smiled.
"Believe in us, Eric, believe in us." They soon faded away with the wind.
Brought back to reality he got into his night clothes and got into bed, snuggling up against the covers as if he were a child again. He glanced to the corner where his stuffed animals used to sit watching over him as he slept and sighed. It had been six years since he had gotten rid of them, blaming their murders on Polly, and he had been so lost without them by his side. In his mind he knew it was the right thing, but in his heart he felt that he had betrayed them by growing up. Deep inside he wished he could never grow up so he could keep his stuffed animals without being called a rude, kidish name. He wished everything would return to normal, back to the way things were, when Kenny still liked to hang out with him, Clyde Frog, Polly, everyone was with him to give him advice, and school wasn't so boring.