Author's Note: Hey guys, I hope you enjoy this chapter, it does get dark but don't worry, I do plan to have some humor in the story! It was a lot of fun to write and I hope you guys enjoy it. Please leave a review letting me know what you think, reviews negative or not are a lot more helpful than some people think! I'll update as soon as possible, enjoy. :-)

When Kyle slowly opens his eyes it feels like a giant weight is being pressed down onto his body, making every nook and cranny of his slim figure feel numb. His immediate thought is that he must've passed out at a house party -probably Clyde's, he seems to have one every weekend- and after having one too many cans of whatever the hell Kenny had been forcing down his throat, Cartman thought it would be funny to sit on Kyle until he either suffocated or was crushed to death. His eyes take their time to focus; all of the dim lights in front of him look like they're blending into one puke-colored shade of brown. It's night time. Kyle knows this from the soft draft that is waving over his arms, giving him the goosebumps. It's the type of draft that seems to only truly be felt at night... the type that sweeps you up and let's you know that the moon is watching over you. Someone must have left a window open.

Once the colors stop spinning in front of Kyle's eyes his vision starts to adjust, revealing to him some clues about where he could be. It's not Clyde's house, that's for sure. It's hard to tell in the darkness, but Kyle can just about see the white walls that are surrounding him, and when he looks to his left he finds the source of the draft; a window has been irresponsibly left wide open, revealing a pitch black sky on the other end. He'd get up and close the window, but he's actually kind of enjoying the sensation of the coldness on his skin, which is strange, because he's felt the cold many times. So why should it feel so significant now? He feels like he's spent the past millennium trapped in an air-tight box, alienated from all of the elements, and only now has he been given the key to freedom... only now can he leave the box and feel the breeze of the wind again. His body is still plagued with the numbness that he had felt when he first woke up, but he somehow manages with a struggle to sit up and rub the sleep from his eyes. When he opens them again, he's shocked and disturbed to see an IV drip in his arm, and it is only now that he realizes that he is sat on a white and uncomfortably springy bed.

Beep... beep... beep...

Kyle jumps slightly at the sudden noise coming from his right. His fears are soon confirmed when he sees the source of the noise; a heart monitor. That's it then... he's in a hospital. No doubt about it. But why? And how long has he been here?

He is about to attempt to climb out of the bed when he hears the door next to the heart monitor slowly open. Like a child playing video games at midnight before his Mother walks in, Kyle quickly moves back into his original sleeping position and closes his eyes tightly; not entirely sure why he feels the need to pretend to be asleep. He listens out for whoever has entered the room attentively, trying to breathe as quietly as possible. He hears the sound of a sensible shoes lightly walking around the bed, and when Kyle instinctively opens his eyes ever-so-slightly, he sees a nurse with her back turned to him, writing on a clipboard and checking his heart monitor or doing something else nurse related.

Kyle opens his eyes properly and prepares to speak, hesitating slightly before opening his mouth and saying in a frail and raspy voice, "Excuse me, nurse?"

Kyle used to believe that the saying, "you scared the life out of me" was a complete exaggeration until a few moments ago. All he had to say were those three words and the poor nurse nearly jumped straight out of her skin. She quickly turns around to look at Kyle, before backing away and leaning against the wall, her jaw drops and eyes widen, as if Kyle's presence had somehow shocked her. She did work here, right? Kyle didn't have the misfortune of waking up in a hospital the day some crazy nurse-dressing murderer decided to show up, right?! He looks down at her name badge:

Dr. Clara Mephesto, Hells Pass Hospital.

Kyle feels somewhat red-faced for assuming this woman was a nurse and not a Doctor, but there are more urgent things on Kyle's mind right now than the stereotype's of a working woman. He makes a mental note to apologize to her later for calling her a nurse.

"Uh..." Kyle begins, clearing his throat with a cough, "I'm sorry if I scared you... Dr. Mephesto? I was just wondering if maybe you could tell me what the fuck is going on?"

"How do you know my name?" she asks in an accusing tone, or maybe that's just her English accent.

"It's, uh..." Kyle says awkwardly, "It's just- I um- read it..." Kyle can feel the confusion pouring from this so-called-doctor's face, he scratches the back of his head while mumbling, "I read it... on your name badge."

"My name badge- OH!" she says a bit too enthusiastically, "Yeah, sorry about that. I just- I can't believe what I'm seeing. You're actually awake, Kyle. And talking!" She gushes with a friendly smile, showing her two noticeable dimples on each cheek. She's young, must be no older than 25, and she has long and wavy brunette hair. "How are you feeling?"

"Well..." Kyle says, "to be honest with you, Dr. Mephesto-"

"Clara." she adds with another friendly smile, when Kyle looks at her bewildered, she adds, "sorry it's just people call me Clara... Dr. Simeon says it's unprofessional to call a Doctor by their first name but I think I've known you long enough to be on a first name basis!"

"Right, uh... Clara." he hesitates, before picking up from where he left off, "I'm not exactly sure how to feel, this is all just so fucked up. I have so many questions."

"That's completely normal." She says, pulling up a chair next to the bed, "Although first of all I should tell you the basics of your condition..." Kyle doesn't like where this is going already, and he's beginning to find her personality a bit too pretentious, but he let's it slip."What I'm about to tell you is going to shock, confuse and possibly anger you. So just... prepare yourself, okay? Okay. Oh- and don't be afraid to cry, it's completely normal for patients to feel overwhelmed with emotion, and I won't tell anybody." she says that last part in a quick whisper, "I promise."

Kyle doesn't know what to say, his mouth has dried up and he can feel sweat dripping from his forehead, he simply nods in reply to Clara. He's totally prepared for the worst. Maybe he was abducted by aliens and given an anal probe like they did to Cartman, and he was found in a forest, laid in a humiliating position with his trousers at his ankles. Or maybe he was crushed by the Mecha-Streisand just like Pip. Or... maybe not.

"Kyle..." she says with a sigh, and Kyle can see the personality in her eyes change completely from slightly pretentious, idiotic Doctor to utterly professional and very serious Doctor. "I'm sorry to tell you this but... you were involved in a very serious car accident. It seems that your car swerved on the icy roads and had a head-on collision with another vehicle. Now from what we can tell you haven't sustained any long-term injuries, although you may find that you have trouble with your memory for the next couple of days and- oh Kyle!" she says, hurrying over to a nearby table to get some tissues when she sees tears forming in Kyle's eyes, he certainly wasn't prepared for this kind of news, maybe the Mecha-Streisand theory was a bit far-fetched, but this is just in a completely different league of fucked up scenarios that get Kyle in the hospital.

"Thank you." he says, taking a tissue and wiping his eyes, "Is that all or-"

"There's... something else too, Kyle." she adds, taking a deep breath before saying, "when you were retrieved from the wreckage, for some reason your body just- sort of- shut down, and... it put you into a coma."

"Okay." Kyle nods, sniffing. He had guessed the coma part for himself. "I mean, yeah- I guess it could have been a lot worse. I'm still alive. So how long was I out? Shit, I hope I haven't missed too much, I mean I'm falling behind on school work as it is-"

"Kyle." Clara says with a serious tone. "You've been in a coma for the past two years."

It takes at least an hour for Kyle to control himself after being given the information that he has missed two years of his life. Two years that he'll never get back. During that hour, Clara went away to make some phone calls, and she had just informed him that his family are on their way. Kyle doesn't know exactly how to feel about this; he's missed so much in his life and theirs. Sheila could have started at least five separate wars against prime-time TV while he's been in a coma, Ike has probably grown twice his size since Kyle last saw him, and his Father, well... let's just say if his Dad walked in the room looking like a dolphin, Kyle wouldn't exactly be surprised. Kyle thinks about Stan, about how many times he has probably visited Kyle while he was comatose; begging for him to wake up, telling him about all the disgusting things that Cartman made Kenny eat off of the ground, and whispering in his ear all of the things that only they can share with each other. All the darkest secrets and untouchable moments. Stan will be 18 now, they all will... even Kyle. But Kyle doesn't feel any older than he was before, with the exception of one particular part of Kyle's anatomy which is noticeably bulgier than it was back then.

The strong smell of expensive perfume hits Kyle like a tsunami of fragrances, telling him that it is only a matter of time before his Mother comes running through that door. He sits up in his bed, taking deep breaths and preparing himself for the smothering of love and attention that he'll have to sustain. Clara is about to leave the room, carrying with her a clipboard that she's been silently scribbling on for the past half an hour.

"You're can't leave now!" Kyle shouts, he sounds pathetic but he's feeling pretty desperate right now, "I'm not- I'm not sure I can face them by myself."

Clara smiles sympathetically, "Kyle, I'm afraid I've got to go, I'm needed elsewhere. Besides you have nothing to worry about. I'm sure you'll be fine!"

"Have you met my Mother?!" Kyle asks.

"Oh, many times actually!" she replies, and Kyle can see the fake smile that she has suddenly forced onto her face, "She and the rest of your family visit you all the time! She's very- uh... very-"

"Enthusiastic?"

"Enthusiastic, yes!" she says, "She's very enthusiastic about your- ah..."

"Well-being?"

"Well-being, of course! She's very enthusiastic about your well-being!" When Kyle raises his eyebrows in doubt at Clara, she simply rolls her eyes with a smile, giving a small wave as she heads for the door again, "Good luck. If you need me just get someone to call reception."

"Thanks Clara. I'll be sure to give you a shout-out on my epitaph if I'm choked to death with love."

Once Clara has left the room, Kyle lays back down on the bed, he looks up at the ceiling and wishes that he had a fast-forward button, so that he could skip all the melodramatics with his family and get to the part where he sees Stan again. He wonders if they'll cry when they see each other; Stan running to Kyle and taking him into his arms, the two kiss passionately as Stan tells Kyle how much he loves him. Deeming this as extremely unlikely, Kyle thinks back to the night of the crash. It's all a blurred-mess in the maze that is Kyle's mind. What exactly happened to cause the accident? Well, he and Stan had been fooling around in his bed, he remembers that much. Kyle feels a light blush spread across his face, happy that this is one of the memories that his brain has allowed him to keep. But wait... something happened after that... someone had walked in on them. Randy. Kyle jolts back up in the bed in pure horror. Randy was there, he saw the whole thing. What if he told someone? What if he told Kyle's parents? It's not like Kyle can just say to his Mother, "Oh it's nice being back from a coma and all, by the way... do you happen to know that I'm gay for Stan's dick yet?" He'll have to see if she says anything to him to indicate that Randy has told her. He's not sure how she'd feel about his sexuality, though he's suspected for a long time that she already knows.

The door next to the heart monitor opens with a crash, giving Kyle no time to pretend to be asleep. When Kyle looks over expecting to see his Mother, he is shocked to see a boy stood in the doorway. Just before Kyle can ask the boy to leave, he realizes that he isn't just some boy at all, it's Ike! He's a little taller than before, and his facial features are a lot more defined, but it's definitely him.

"Ike?" Kyle asks, feeling very emotional all of a sudden, though he's already made a promise to himself not to cry again for the rest of this night.

"Kyle!" he shouts, Kyle is a little surprised at how deep Ike's voice has gotten. Typical, he's only 12 years old but he already has a deeper voice than Kyle. Ike runs over to the bed and throws his arms around his brother, holding him in a tight and loving embrace. Kyle is certain that Ike is crying on his shoulder, though he doesn't mention it, he knows it will only embarrass the kid.

"Okay..." Kyle says, awkwardly patting his brother on the back. He's totally amazed by how Ike is behaving, they were always close but they've never really hugged before, or had any kind of physical contact. "So I take it that you're pleased to see me?"

"Of course I am!" Ike says with a sniff, sounding slightly offended, even though he's still hugging Kyle. "You're my big brother, of course I've missed you. And the real you, I mean. Not the rock that's been laid in this bed for the past two years... no offence."

"None taken."

Kyle feels a tear fall from his own eyes, but he can't let his little brother know that he is crying with emotion too, so he plays it off as a tear of pain, "Ike... you're crushing me a bit here, could you give me a little space?" he asks, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"Oh, sorry." Ike mutters, letting go of Kyle and instead opting to sit next to his big brother on the bed, "So... what was it like being in a coma?"

"Well..." Kyle begins, he hasn't really thought about what it was like actually being in the coma itself, and it is only now that he realizes that he hadn't felt anything at all during those noiseless two years; it wasn't even like sleeping, it was like his whole body was on standby; everything but his brain had been turned off, waiting patiently to be turned back on again. Before Kyle has a chance to respond to Ike, he hears the doors open for a second time, this time a lot quieter and less forceful. When Kyle looks over he sees his Mother walk into the room and stop to examine him from afar. She looks thin, too thin. And her red hair is starting to fade, showing the first signs of gray. Kyle tries desperately to read her eyes, but they just show pain and exhaustion, with two noticeable bags under each of the eyes. However, they soon lighten up when she makes eye contact with her son, they then begin to glisten with the tears that have begun to fall down her face.

"Hi Mom." Kyle asks, pointlessly trying to stop himself from crying too but failing miserably. "It's me, Kyle."

"Oh, Kyle!" she expresses.

And that's all it takes for the two to shamelessly burst into tears of mixed emotion. Sheila runs faster to him than Kyle has ever seen her run in her life as she smothers Kyle with the love that he was oh-so-ready to hate, but in all honesty he's never been so happy in his life. Only now does he feel like he's been away for so long. Only now after seeing the pain in his Mother's eyes and the hope springing right back into them can he appreciate how fragile a thing life can be.

They then spend some time after the reunion talking about the things that Kyle has missed. Apparently Kenny and Butters are a thing. Like, literally a thing. Sheila was telling Kyle how she saw them walking down a street together holding hands and she nearly fainted. This tells Kyle that she doesn't yet know about what he and Stan had been getting up to before the crash, otherwise she would have been a little more discrete about how shocked she was at the concept of homosexuality in South Park. She didn't exactly say that Kenny and Butters being gay was a bad thing, but then she didn't sound thrilled with the concept either.

"Where's Dad?" Kyle asks.

"Oi bubby, your Father couldn't get the time off of work, but he sends his best wishes!" Sheila says in an exhausted tone.

"Oh." Kyle sighs, with Ike fast asleep next to him on the bed and Sheila rearranging all of the 'Get Well Soon' cards on the coffee table in the corner of the small room. Kyle barely had time to notice the cards himself when he first woke up. But since his Mother came to see him he's had a chance to read them all. He has received a card from near-enough everyone who lives in South Park: from Big Gay Al to Jimmy... even Cartman sent one! The message wasn't exactly inspiring nor was it thought-provoking. It said something along the lines of:

Whaddup Jew,

I hear you were in a pretty brutal car crash, that sucks. Hopefully you'll have some pretty badass scars though. You need some anyway, it'll help toughen up your imagine a bit, cos right now you kind of look like a pussy.

Oh, and get well soon I guess...

From the Coon.

Although all the cards and messages were lovely; some even brought tears to Kyle's eyes... there was one card that was missing from the coffee table.

"Hey Mom?" Kyle asks.

"Yes bubby?"

"Did Stan visit me while I was... away?" he mumbles, "I was only asking because I couldn't find a card from him. Like, did he visit at all?"

Sheila stops arranging the cards and sighs, moving over to sit on the unoccupied side of the hospital bed. She spends a moment simply looking at Kyle, with an expression that says that she still can't quite believe that Kyle is even talking to her at all. She lifts her hand and moves a bit of Kyle's red hair away from his eyes. She's keeping something from Kyle, and Kyle can tell from her expression that she's having something of an inner-conflict deciding whether to tell him or not.

"Kyle, there's something that you should know about Stan. I'm assuming that Dr. Mephesto hasn't told you?"

"Told me what?" Kyle asks, starting to panic, "is there something wrong with Stan?"

Sheila opens her mouth to speak, but just at that moment the door opens for the third time tonight. Kyle doesn't even look, nothing anyone at the other end of that door has anything to say that is more important than what his Mother was about to tell him. Kyle has his eyes set firmly on his Mother, waiting for her to tell him what is wrong with Stan. But she quickly turns away from his gaze and towards the door. Her face brightens up the moment she's turns.

"Wendy, dear!" she exclaims, "how nice of you to visit."

"Hello, Mrs Broflovski."

Kyle immediately turns towards the familiar voice, and is somewhat baffled to see Wendy stood in the doorway, looking equally as awkward and out-of-place as Kyle must look right now. He wants to get up and greet her properly, but he's still getting used to having working legs for the first time in two years. Instead, he just stares at her. He smiles a little bit when he sees how well Wendy seems. Admittedly, she looks good. She's put on a few much-needed pounds since Kyle last saw her, and her shiny, black hair is even longer than it was before. When Wendy sees that Kyle is awake and fully aware of her presence, she gives an awkward little wave.

"Hey, Kyle." she say with a bright smile, showing off her set of white teeth in the process.

"Hey Wendy," Kyle utters, completely astonished to see that his childhood friend has come to visit him so late at night, when Kyle thinks about this scenario even more, it does seem suspicious. "No offense, Wendy... but what exactly are you doing here so late?"

"Kyle Broflovski!" Sheila snaps at her son. Wendy didn't seemed phased at the comment, or at least maybe she's better at hiding her annoyance than Sheila is.

"What?" Kyle asks his Mother, "It's just that visiting times don't start until 10 in the morning, and it's only... what? Three in the morning?"

"I know I've come at an extremely inappropriate time, it's just..." Wendy says, stopping and hesitating, as if contemplating whether she should say what is on the tip of her tongue, "I've... brought someone with me who wants to see you, Kyle."

And with that Wendy steps out of the way and Kyle feels his heart drop. Before this person who Wendy has brought even so much as walks through the door Kyle knows exactly who it is. Stan. But why did he decide to come so late? And why did he bring Wendy with him? Surely he can drive now, so why does she need to be here? It's not like Kyle doesn't like Wendy, because he does! It's just that there have been many times in Kyle's life when Wendy has inadvertently come between himself and Stan. And now she's doing it again; the day Kyle wakes up from a coma of all days! But he completely forgets about Wendy when Stan actually does walk through the door. While Sheila and Wendy have both walked in looking tired and frail, Stan looks absolutely perfect, he may even be more handsome than Kyle remembers. All the years of playing football have certainly paid off, giving his arms some tone. And his hair still has that long, boyish quality that made Kyle fall in love with him. But when Stan and Kyle look at each other for the first time in two years, Kyle sees something hidden behind Stan's eyes; A pain that Kyle can't recognize, and only when Stan looks at Kyle does that pain seem to escalate. Whatever is wrong with Stan must be what Sheila was about to tell Kyle before Wendy interrupted them.

For a moment Stan and Kyle stay completely still, still locked into each other's eyes, trying to read each other's thoughts through their facial expressions like they could when they were children. But Kyle can't read anything from Stan, it's like he's a complete stranger.

"I..." Stan says, speaking for the first time since he got here. "I can't do this..." he states, speaking more to Wendy than he is to anyone else in the room, which breaks Kyle's heart. "I thought I could Wendy, but I can't!" he shouts, looking more and more uncomfortable with every passing second. "I'm sorry." he finally says, before running out of the room and away from sight.

"Stan, wait!" Wendy shouts, chasing after him.

Kyle feels like someone has removed his heart and thrown it down onto the cold, hard ground. Repeatedly stomping on it until it is nothing but a ghost of it's former self. He's feeling a pain inside of him that is so intense that he thinks it may put him back into the coma, only this time he'll be in that coma for the rest of his days. Sheila sighs, like she isn't even surprised at Stan's dramatic exit.

"Mom, what the fuck was that?" Kyle says, not even concerned that he just cursed in front of his Mother, "Mom, what's wrong with Stan? Why are you so afraid to tell me?!"

"Kyle." she says gravely, she's avoiding Kyle's gaze, "There's something that you need to know... about the crash."

"Tell me..." Kyle says, growing more and more impatient with every second. "Tell me, Mom!"

"Sweetheart..." Sheila whispers, turning to her son and holding his hand, trying to comfort the blow that is about to hit Kyle with great force. "When you crashed your car, Stan-"

"Excuse me?" a nurse says, knocking on the door. "I'm afraid Kyle needs to rest now, Mrs Broflovski. We're going to have to ask you and Ike to leave, if that's okay?"

"Yes." Sheila says, sighing and shaking Ike, who has been fast asleep next to Kyle for a good hour now, "Ike come on, we have to go."

Ike wakes up and Sheila collects her handbag from the coffee table. Just as she is about to leave she turns to Kyle for the final time tonight, "We'll be here first thing tomorrow morning, Bubby. I love you." And with that, she was gone. Leaving a completely bewildered Kyle to panic about what could have possibly happened in that car crash that could have affected Stan so much. Kyle eventually falls asleep thinking about Stan, and hoping that what ever has happened to him hasn't changed who he is as a person, he hopes it won't change what they had together.

When Kyle wakes up the next morning he quickly has to shield his eyes from the blinding morning sun that is shining it's way through the open window and landing onto a confused Kyle. It takes Kyle a second to remember where he is, and why. At first, he imagines that he is back home and waking up in his own bed as a sixteen year old. A boy whose life hasn't been turned onto it's head by an easily avoidable car crash. A boy who still has his boyfriend with him to share all of his secrets and fears with. Once Kyle realizes where he is, he thinks to himself if he'll ever see Stan again. But as soon as he removes his arm his eyes, he realizes that of course he will see Stan again. In fact, he's seeing Stan right now. Sat on the chair next to the bed, Stan is looking away into the distance, with a troubled yet familiar look on his face, maybe the Stan that Kyle knows and loves hasn't gone away after all.

"Stan?" Kyle asks, his voice is still a little raspy but it's getting better.

"It wasn't your fault." Stan says, still looking away into the distance, "I know that now. It was an accident. But I didn't see it that way before... that's why I couldn't visit you; I didn't know if I'd be able to stop myself from hurting you if I saw you after what had happened."

"Stan, what are you talking about?" Kyle asks, feeling scared for his safety at this point, the two boys have never even joked about hurting each other before, and now Stan can talk about it like it's as casual as anything else, "What happened to you when I was in that car crash?"

"Me?" Stan mutters, turning towards Kyle to face him, he has a sad look on his face, one that Kyle would find absolutely adorable if he wasn't so scared for his life right now. "Nothing happened to me, Kyle. But... someone else got hurt."

"What do you mean 'someone else got hurt', I was the only person in my car, Stan." Kyle says, his voice getting louder with each word.

"Yeah I know that, dude. But you're forgetting that you crashed into another fucking car. A car that had a real fucking person in it."

Kyle feels his stomach drop and his mouth begin to dry. He hadn't even considered the fact that someone else might have been hurt in the crash. He doesn't know if he could live with himself if someone was seriously injured because of his reckless driving.

"It's my fault." Stan says, putting his face into his hands, "I shouldn't have let you drive like that, my Dad had just broken your nose and I just let you drive away like the idiot that I am!"

"Stan..." Kyle asks, his voice shaking as he starts to cry, "who was in the other car?"

"And even if your nose was fine, there was still a snow storm outside!" Stan says, visibly shaking, as Kyle sits up in bed he is greeted with the unfriendly smell of liquor. "I let you drive away and now somebody is dead and it's all my fucking fault!"

"Stan, please... tell me who was in the car."

"It was my Mom!" Stan says, standing up off of the chair and looking down at Kyle, his face is red from all of the crying and he looks like he could kill, "My Mom was in the other car, Kyle. And now she's- and now she's- dead."

"What?" Kyle screams in disbelief, there's no way that this is happening, it must be some sick joke that Cartman has set-up, there is no fucking way Kyle is responsible for the death of his boyfriend's Mother, "No-no that's not possible. She- she was at home! She came back with your Dad just before he walked in on us!"

"What?" Stan says, his anger being replaced with confusion, "No Kyle, my Dad walked back from the movies by himself, they'd just had an argument and-"

"No!" Kyle shouts, "No I'm- I'm sure that they arrived back home together, your- your Dad said so himself 'we're back from the movies' And- and after he hit the wall he went running downstairs shouting for your Mom, Stan! Why the fuck would he do that if he came back alone?!"

"No, Kyle." he says, sitting next to Kyle on the bed and putting a hand on Kyle's shoulder, "It's okay. The Doctor's mentioned that your memory might not be great right now but- but it's okay, I know it was an accident. I've had a lot of time to think this through and-"

"NO!" Kyle shouts, he is crying hysterically now, "No Stan, I'm not crazy, she- she came back with your Dad! Don't you remember?"

"Honestly, I don't know what I remember from that night, it's all one big mess." Stan says, pulling Kyle into a hug and stroking his hair as he talks, "but... my Dad told me afterwards that they'd had this big fight or something after the cinema and Dad got out of the car and walked. But let's just forget about that for now, Kyle. And don't for one second blame yourself for this... I mean- I don't blame you. It was just something fucked up thing that never should have happened and no one is to blame!"

"Stan!" Kyle cries into Stan's shoulder, "How can you be so calm about this? I killed your Mom!"

"No Kyle, no!" Stan says, "It wasn't your fault, okay? At first-yeah, I did blame you. Of course I did, I was angry. But it's been two years and now I can finally see everything clearly for what it is. And I don't blame you at all. I'm fucking happy dude. I mean you're awake and you're alive and you couldn't be more perfect!"

When Stan says this, Kyle lifts his head from Stan's shoulder and the two boys' eyes meet. Kyle can see the pain and acceptance written all over Stan's face, and maybe Stan can see that in Kyle, too. Kyle leans in towards Stan's lips. But when Stan sees this he backs away.

"No Kyle," Stan says, removing his hands from Kyle's shoulder and looking away, "things have changed. I told my Dad-" he hesitates, "I told my Dad that it was just a phase, you and me."

"What?!" Kyle asks, completely exhausted from this conversation.

"It's better this way. You saw how he acted when he thought I was gay-"

"You are gay, Stan. You told me you loved me for fucksake!"

"I know I did." Stan mumbles with a sigh, "and that was wrong of me to say. I'm with Wendy now, Kyle. It's better this way. I'm sorry."

Kyle doesn't know what to say. He wishes now that he never did wake from his coma. He wishes he could be in that state of limbo again when he didn't know that he was a murderer, and he didn't know that the love of his life has left him for the girl of every straight boy's dreams. Kyle opens his mouth to speak, when Stan's phone rings.

"I uh- I gotta get this." Stan says, standing up and pacing around the room when he answers the phone, a habit that he's had ever since he was young, "Hello?- oh hey Dad, I- what- no I'm just at the grocery store right now- huh- yes, Dad I'll bring the eggs. - I can't I'm, uh... seeing Wendy tonight- I gotta go- okay- okay- bye."

He puts the phone back into his pocket and looks back at Kyle apologetically. Kyle can only stare in response, he can't believe what he just heard. "You- you told your Dad that you're at the grocery store." Kyle says, completely heartbroken by all of this.

"Yeah, I did. Sorry about that it's just, he can't know that I've seen you. I've- I've gotta go, goodbye Kyle. I'll see you around."

And with that Stan leaves the room, leaving behind a distraught Kyle, who now must pick up the pieces of his life that have been thrown on to the floor and stomped on. These next few weeks are going to be hard.