14
The scars are souvenirs you never lose
The past is never far
Did you lose yourself somewhere out there
Or did you get to be a star?
Don't it make you sad to know that life
Is more than who we are?
You grew up way too fast
And now there's nothing to believe
(John Rzeznik)
Another meteor streaked across the star filled sky, dropping toward the pines ringing Stark's Pond before disappearing in a brilliant flash of light. Kyle looked over at his brother Ike, who was looking back at him, eyes full of awe and grinning hugely. "That was a nice one, Kyle!"
"Hell yeah it was!" He looked away from Ike and back up at the stars, which were shining fiercely tonight. That meteor had been amazing, one of the brightest he had seen in years, and as they did every year at this time, Kyle couldn't stop his thoughts from turning to Stan, wondering where he was and how he was doing; and if he even remembered that tonight was the Perseid Meteor shower, or if he was even still alive.
Kyle wondered if somehow, beyond whatever years and miles separated them, Stan might have seen this very same meteor.
Three weeks later Stan reappeared in the same place, this time seated behind the wheel of his vehicle. Dawn was just beginning to light the sky behind the trees on the other side of Stark's pond.
He looked around. He was behind the wheel of another luxury SUV: Check. His wallet was on the dashboard and he opened it and wasn't at all surprised to find another large amount of cash inside, along with the platinum American Express card. He'd won the lottery again. Check.
He looked at his watch. It was 7:05 A.M., which was about what he expected. What he didn't expect to see was the date: Sunday, September 9, almost three weeks after they had camped out to watch the meteor shower. Three weeks? Why not a year and three weeks? He tried to visualize a calendar for this year and couldn't, and realized he would have to go buy another newspaper to make sure he had returned to the right year, 2001.
THE END
After words
Don't die with your music still inside you
(Wayne W. Dyer)
This story has been a very long time in the making; in fact, it's been stuck in my head for over half my life. I initially planned to write it as an original novel, but the complexities of that proved discouraging over the years. When I realized that, with a few modifications, it could work within the South Park Universe and that I could write it as a fanfic (and get some nice artwork by writing it for the big bang) I finally got motivated to finish it.
I would love to hear any and all comments about this story.
A big thanks to howtodisappearcompletely for beta reading this.
And to everyone else who's made it this far: Thanks for reading!
Chapter Tracks – Title and Artist:
9. Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd
10. Landslide – Fleetwood Mac
11. I Wanna Go Back – Eddie Money
1. N/A
2. Summer of 69 – Bryan Adams
3. Running On Empty – Jackson Browne
4. Against The Wind – Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
5. Time – Pink Floyd
6. The Hands of Time (Brian's Song) – Perry Como
7. Where Do The Children Go? – The Hooters
12. N/A
13. Time And Tide – Nazareth
8. N/A
14. Name – Goo Goo Dolls