I DON'T OWN SOUTH PARK OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS

hi so I realized the chapters are getting progressively shorter which isn't really intentional but I felt like mentioning that so you know it isn't. I think the next might be longer. also i like this chapter a lot. please leave reviews because i really like looking at them :). also i don't want to ramble too much but should i add chapter tracks or something? i don't know but i realized that reading with music seems to make stories seem more real. yeeaaaaah

Craig slowly lowered himself from the playset.

I think it's really interesting how out of all the people it could have possibly been standing on top of a playset at the playground at 12:58am on a Friday, it was Craig.

Fate, huh?

After he lowered himself, he put his hands in the pockets of his hoodie and walked over coolly. I stayed where I was, sitting on a swing, swaying.

The closer he got the tighter I clutched my thermos. I had this odd impending sense of doom. I mean, it was obvious this other sleep deprived teenager who decided to go to the playground in the middle of the night probably was just as bored and lonely as I was.

Probably.

"So why are you at the playground this late?" I asked him. It was funny because I wasn't really sure I cared that much. I've always been good with small talk because I don't care about much, so if I need to tell some elderly woman how I spent my Tuesday, I'd be completely honest and say I slept all day instead of doing schoolwork. Which would elicit a chuckle from her because teenagers really aren't that honest half the time.

"I guess I was just bored? Usually no one is here." He said after a moment of thinking.

Does that mean he's here often?

"Do you come here often, then?" I said.

I realize how much that sounds like a chat-up line. That was not my intention, but I think it's okay because I don't think he'd catch that.

"Woah man, are you trying to chat me up?" Craig replied with a smirk.

Oh. He did. No I'm not trying to chat you up, I'm trying to be a sociable human being which, apparently, is very difficult for me.

"Uh, no.." I said slowly.

He chuckled.

It was a nice chuckle. The kind that was genuine, and it seemed to come more from the back of his throat. It wasn't like the scary rumbling laughter that your great uncle has, and not like the soft giggling your cousins girlfriend utters. It was nice.

"Yeah, I know. I do come here often. Earlier though." Craig said.

I think it was nice he shared that with me.

"That's nice." I replied.

We sat in silence for a while, a quiet comfortable silence. The kind of silence that isn't heavy on your shoulders, but isn't floating above you either. The kind of silence that wraps around you like a warm blanket in January, the kind that you feel when laying in bed listening to the rain on Sunday mornings.

"Do you?" He said.

I turned towards him, and stared at his profile. He was looking at the stars.

"I do. Later though." I said.

He smiled.

I don't know why this was, but looking at him admiring the stars while masked in the thin winter air, I felt like I had known him my entire life.

I smiled.

"Do you think this is weird?" He said curtly.

I did think this was weird, but I wasn't sure what exactly it was. Was it that I was sitting with this teenager who I have spoken maybe an entirety of two whole conversations with, and I felt like I had known him forever? Was it that I was alive, existing, on the same plane as all of these other human beings who were just as confused as I was, but never spoke of it? Was it that the soft moonlight shining on everything made the entire world seem bare yet so, so alive?

"Existing, I mean." He added.

"I suppose I do." I replied.

He nodded and looked towards me.

"I like it though."

And I think, hearing him say those words, made me realize something.

I think I like it too.