Tonal Song: Soren Sabet Sarvestany - Memories
When Kenny comes to, it's to the sun shining on his face and a pool of drool on his shoulder. As he wakes more, a soreness passes through his back from the awkward position he fell asleep in, lying between the wall and hard floor. He lets out a groan as he sits up, and moves away the long strands of his hair that he forgot to tie back before passing out. As he finishes sputtering his hair out from his mouth, his leg pushes the DVD player away from its spot next to him. It had been playing a movie before he fell asleep, so its screen was still open but was now black from shutting off on its own.
As Kenny glances around the room, he almost forgets that this was the new house he had moved into from the previous day. After a few more seconds pass of waking more, he shrugs out of the sleeping bag and stands up to stretch. Then with a yawn he heads to the washroom. When he's done, he goes to get a snack from one of his bags, that being the only food in the house currently as he and his new roommates still needed to go out shopping for groceries.
He walks around the living room a bit before making his way to the dining area that's across from it. He still hadn't really explored all of the house yet, and while he may have wanted to wait till their furniture arrived, he knew he'd also be pretty bored till then. So with that he decides that he might as well explore now, since he had time to kill before the movers or his friends got back.
So from the dining area he makes his way around it to the back, where the kitchen was, it has a couple boxes resting on its wooden counter tops from the day before, still needing to be unpacked. As he continues walking through it, he passes by a door leading to the backyard in it before he makes his way to the other entrance connecting to it from the main hallway of the house. He glances at the front door on the opposite side of it before his gaze falls onto the doorway that leads to the basement. After a few seconds of self debating, he decides to check it out.
When he opens the door, he's greeted with darkness, for a split moment he hesitates before flipping the switch on the side of the wall and heading downstairs. A few steps creak under him as he descends down them. The scent of concrete fills his lungs as he reaches the bottom and glances around the mostly big empty space. It was 'mostly' empty, because there was the water tank and furnace in it, along with the house's support beams. He gives it another once over, noting the small windows around the upper walls of it that gave very little view to the outside, and a staircase that he figured led to the backyard, before he heads back up.
As he closes the door behind himself and makes his way down the hall, passing the washroom and small closet, he comes to a stop near the staircase leading up to the house's second floor. He stares up at them for a while before he actually starts to move again, grabbing onto the old wooden railing of it. As he makes his way up the stairs, a strange feeling that he can't quite place passes through him. Whether it was excitement or apprehension he wasn't sure. But the idea of exploring further certainly was making him feel something.
When he reaches the top, he glances around the new hall he now found himself in. There's a window at one end of the hall and similar looking doors that all lead to, what he could only guess were the bedrooms and such of the house.
He makes his way down the hall and opens one of the doors. It opens to a bedroom with a wide window in it, letting in lots of outdoor light. There isn't much that stands out about it, other than it looking like a typical bedroom. He opens the door across the hall from it and is greeted with another bedroom. He makes his way down the hall to the next door. It's another bedroom. He crosses the hall. A bathroom is there. He makes his way down the hall again and eyes one final door that he had yet to open in it. Thinking it to be a closet of some sort, he's instead surprised to find a staircase hidden behind it, leading to what he could only guess was an attic.
It's dark. And even when flipping the switch it remains that way.
"Guess the light bulb's burnt out…" he murmurs to himself. He mulls over what he should do about it, but a ring at the front door catches his attention, "the movers?" he wonders, and with that he decides to just leave it for now and makes his way back downstairs.
Kenny opens the front door to find a man in a blue uniform. It only takes one glance at a parked truck for his earlier question to be answered. With a short exchange of words, the movers go about their job.
Kenny had hoped that Stan and Kyle would have been back before the movers got there, to help him oversee things, but it wouldn't be for the next 2 and a half hours that they would make their return to the property.
"Sorry we're late," Stan says, upon spotting Kenny now sitting on a couch in the living room.
"Don't worry about it," Kenny replies, "the movers came and left already though," and he gestures a hand around the room, " as you may have noticed."
"Yeah," Stan chuckles, sounding a bit guilty.
"Most of the main stuff was placed on this floor, which I took some minor liberty with the placement of this room and the dining one. But I didn't really know where you guys wanted the stuff for your rooms to go, so half of your stuff is in the hallway upstairs, while the other half is placed in one of the bedrooms," Kenny explains.
"What about your stuff?" Kyle asks.
"I already picked my room," he replies. Just as Stan and Kyle go to head upstairs to organize their belongings Kenny adds, "how was your father?"
"Oh, he's alright," Kyle replies, "my mom just over exaggerated a bit when describing the events of what happened to him to me. He has a broken leg and sprained wrist, but for the most part he's going to be okay."
"That's good."
"Yeah," Kyle nods, then turns and starts his way upstairs.
For the majority of the day, they all spend it unpacking boxes and organizing where to put what. Stan and Kyle have a debate about who should get what bedroom, before ultimately having a coin toss be the deciding factor of it. Kenny helps them move furniture and boxes into their new rooms and once done, heads back downstairs.
His room was already mostly settled into, said for one or two boxes, he was pretty much done with it. Now all he wanted to do was relax for a while, before the three of them needed to figure out what to eat that night for dinner.
As the following days pass, it takes a while for Kenny to get a normal sleeping schedule in the new household, but once everything is set up and feels more like a home, he begins to ease into it. The subtle creaks and cracks of the house settling becoming something he quickly grew used to after a few nights.
And by the end of the week, most everything is unpacked.
…
"Hey Kenny, we're going to get some groceries and restock on toilet paper, wanna come along?" Stan calls up the stairs.
"Sure!" Kenny calls back from his room.
It was mid afternoon now, and Kenny had spent the better half of his morning setting up one of his preferred gaming consoles; that he had saved up for in the past, to a small T.V in the corner of his room. A corner that he now had self dubbed as the 'gaming corner'. Filled with sparse miscellaneous video game merchandise and a couple of movie posters.
He leaves his room to make his way downstairs and casts a quick glance at the wooden door leading to the attic in the hallway. He pauses at the top of the stairs and observes it for a few seconds. He still had yet to explore it with how busy he'd been with unpacking.
"Kenny? We're going now!" Stan's voice calls up.
"I'm coming!" Kenny replies and makes his way downstairs.
The attic exploring would have to wait till later, he thinks and quickly meets up with his friends.
"So Kyle, when do classes start?" Kenny asks during their car ride into the city.
"In about two weeks, I think. My fall classes should be starting then," Kyle replies.
"You excited to become a psychologist in the future?" Kenny asks.
"I suppose. It's certainly something that I don't mind doing," Kyle says.
"That type of job also pays a lot too doesn't it?" Stan asks.
"The amount in which I may or may not make from it in the future isn't really important to me. I just find this kind of stuff really interesting is all," Kyle replies.
"So does this mean that we'll get a discount if we ever need a psychologist to talk to in the future?" Kenny snorts.
"Hmmm, I'll think about it," Kyle chuckles.
"You're going to be pretty busy soon though, between work and school," Stan says.
"Oh right, you're going to be working and studying. Man, that sounds like too much for me," Kenny says.
"I'll manage," Kyle tells them, "Stan will be pretty busy soon as well too."
"Hopefully," Stan says, "all depends on if I hear back or not from that place my uncle said he could help me get into."
"What was it again? An assistant?" Kenny asks.
"An intern," Kyle replies.
"A veterinary intern," Stan tells them.
"I was close enough," Kyle shrugs.
Stan rolls his eyes with a smile and shrug of his own as he concentrates on driving again. The two don't ask Kenny about his work in the future, because they already knew the answer. And the answer was, it was up in the air. He didn't have any place in mind for where he wanted, or was going to work, but when he was given the chance to leave that crappy small town behind, he jumped at the opportunity to. He had saved at least some money from his old part time job in South Park when working at a convenience store, but knew it wouldn't be enough to last more than two or three months of rent. He still had no clue as to what he was going to do now that he was here, but he was sure he'd find something to do. All he needed was to search around a bit. Scan the local stores and businesses for work and help wanted signs.
They arrive at a grocery store near downtown in the city and buy some more food and other supplies for the week. But before they take their leave for the drive back home, Kyle draws their attention.
"Hey, let's go check out that place," he gestures, walking towards an older building across the street.
"A second… hand store?" Kenny squints, trying to read the thin curvature of the letters on the sign above it.
"Why are we going here?" Stan asks, as they catch up with Kyle.
"I want to see if they have anything we could use at home," Kyle replies, "besides, it's not like we're exactly stacked on money right now to buy expensive new things."
Stan gives a small nod of agreement to that with a slight shrug as Kyle opens the store's door to the sound of a small bell jingling. The scent of old wood and incense fills their lungs as they enter.
"This looks more like an antique shop, than a second hand store," Kenny thinks aloud.
"That's because it was one," a voice suddenly interjects, bringing surprise to them all. They look to find an older man with a stubble beard and receding hairline.
"Oh, uh… it was?" Kyle asks, confused.
"Yes," the man smiles.
"Oh, uh, okay," Kyle says, still confused.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop or anything. I'm the owner of this shop," the man laughs.
"Oh," Kyle says, now much more understanding.
"This store did indeed used to be an old antique shop, before we recently changed it to a second hand store. Thought it would be good for business, most things in here are still antiques, but it's something we're working on," the man explains.
He seemed friendly enough and probably just wanted to talk to someone, as the shop was currently empty right now. Said for the three of them that just came in.
The man starts on a long topic, that Kenny finds won't be ending anytime soon, so he slips away in order to wander the shop on his own. And not having much interest in talking about tax rates going up and such.
He looks over the various different things in the shop. Some old furniture that has fancy engraved carvings on it. Old silverware that you'd only find in household china cabinets now. And an array of old wardrobes and dressers. None of this really catches his attention, until he comes across a clothing section. Some of the clothes are indeed old fashioned, while others not as much. His gaze lands on some shelves set up next to them that have several rows of small objects placed upon them.
Rings, bracelets, necklaces, crystal balls and crystals. Mixed with some other small objects such as globs, ornaments and other trinkets of the sort. He finds some Christmas themed ones and can't help but smile to himself at them. Reminding him of the more fonder times from his past. The smile slowly fades when the less than fond ones start to take over, and his gaze goes back to scanning the shelves again.
He finds a small silver ring with a pair of wings on it, and almost debates on if he should actually buy it or not. He tries it on, but it's too big. He goes to take it off and it slips out of his fingers and falls to the floor. It rolls under the bottom shelf and he goes to retrieve it.
He spots something when doing so. A string? Curious, he grabs it and pulls it out along with the ring. The end of it reveals a clear crystal entangled in it. However, holding it up, the crystal isn't actually entangled in it, but in fact, the string is wrapped around it to hold it in place. Making it a necklace.
Despite the fact that the necklace had been under the shelf for who knows how long, the crystal was so clear and pure, like brand new. Maybe it fell down there recently? Kenny wonders to himself. Placing it in the palm of his hand, he tilts it to reflect the light.
"Not a single scratch…" he murmurs.
Even though it was just a plain clear crystal wrapped with; now that he looked at it, a black string seeming to be made out of leather, there was something he found very beautiful in the plain simplicity of it.
He looks for where to place it, but in the end decides that he wants to purchase it instead. Maybe something so simple and clean would be a good way to represent his new beginnings in life.
He places the ring back where he found it, before scanning the shelves a bit more for anything else that catches his interest. He finds a brown wristband that he thinks is neat as well and heads back over to his friends, when Stan starts calling out asking where he is.
"Kenny, where were you?" Stan asks as Kenny rejoins them.
"Sorry, was looking at some stuff," he replies and gestures with his carrying hand.
"Oh, you going to buy that?"
"Yeah," Kenny nods.
The two look back up as Kyle steps away from check out, now holding several pots and pans in his arms.
"You need some help?" Stan asks, walking over to him.
Kenny goes up to the register next and the shop managers round face beams.
"Ohhh? Are you buying something as well?" he asks, cheerfully and Kenny smiles with a nod in response. "Hmmm, no price tag on this one," he says, examining the necklace. "Oh well, guess we forgot to put one on it. Let's see then… since the wristband is $10, I'll say $20 for the both of them then. Does that sound good?"
"Sure," Kenny replies.
"Excellent!" the man smiles and finishes checking him out, "you all have a good day now!"
"You too!" Stan says back over his shoulder as the three of them leave with their purchases.
"We are never coming back here," Kyle tells them as they head back to the car.
"What? You didn't like his long monologue about taxes and how the government is ripping us all off into debt?" Stan laughs.
"No. I did not," Kyle frowns, "you saw what I had to do, Stan. We were being held hostage when we came across these pots and pans and the man wouldn't let us go unless we bought the damn things! It was the only option to freedom! So I did what had to be done, and I'd rather not discuss this any further."
This causes both Stan and Kenny to let out a laugh in response to his disdain.
Once they reach the car and finish placing the pots and pans in the backseat of it, they decide that they've had enough adventuring for one day and head back home.
…
A few days go by and the three of them manage to finish unpacking their remaining boxes. Things had been pleasant so far in this new home Kenny found. And definitely a lot quieter than what it had been in his previous living conditions.
Kenny places down a sheet of printed paper with several job listings on it. He had been scanning through them all, and looking up what prerequisites he would need in order to do them. He'd managed to send in job applications to 2 of them, but was starting to debate on whether or not he should start making up small lies to put on his resume so that he had more options of where to apply.
With a sigh, he tosses his head back, and leans further back into the chair he sat in.
"Any luck?" Stan asks, entering the dining room where Kenny was searching on an old laptop.
"Sort of, I guess," Kenny sighs.
"Hang in there," Stan tells him with a smile.
"What about you?"
"Oh, actually, I just heard back from that place my uncle recommended me to today," which Kenny lets out a groan at. "Oh gee thanks, I'm glad you're so happy for me," Stan says with sarcasm.
"No, I am happy for you," Kenny sits up, "I just don't know what to do."
"There really is no rush," Stan tells him, "I'm sure you'll be able to find some place that is hiring, you just gotta keep trying man."
"I know, but Kyle has already found some place to start work, and now you're going to be off soon too, and just," Kenny lets out a long sigh and leans over the table.
"You worry too much Kenny," Stan smiles and starts walking off, "just keep at it. I'm sure you'll find something."
Kenny looks back up and rests on his chin, scanning over the printed page once again. Then unceremoniously, turns his head to the side, and rests it back on the table with a small thud.
After some time, Kenny eventually decides to take a break from his searching and watch some shows on stream. Several hours pass before he even notices night begins to fall and once realizing he had wasted the better half of a day watching shows, a bit of guilt seeps in and he decides to try and send in at least one more job application before ultimately heading to bed that night.
The following day comes, Kenny isn't expecting much to happen with the job applications he had sent in the previous day, but is pleasantly surprised to see that he has received an email response from one of them. And even more so when finding out that the place wanted him to come in for a job interview that very same day.
Hopeful about it, Kenny gets ready early that morning. His shower is quick and once done he changes into some decent clothes, not the greatest, but decent enough. His gaze lands onto the recently purchased wristband and necklace he had obtained, which after some minor debate on if it was 'appropriate' job interview attire, he figures 'why not?' and puts them on as well. The pristine of the crystal glints in the light around his neck for a second, before he zips up his hoodie over it.
Still having some time to kill before he goes, he gets some food and goes over some questions in his head about what may be asked. Before slowly realizing that he hadn't planned out a route on how to get there and starts to panic about it. Luckily, Stan is home and offers him a ride when hearing about the situation.
While on the way there, the two try and plan out any possible route Kenny could take in order to get there, if he were to get the job. That and doing so helped to calm Kenny's nerves as well.
Eventually, they arrive at the destination. A car auto-shop.
"Want me to wait here?" Stan asks.
"You don't have to," Kenny replies.
"I don't mind."
"I'll text you and let you know if I start right away or not then," Kenny says and Stan gives a nod.
Kenny exits the car then and heads inside.
After some stressed induced minutes, Kenny's interview comes to an end. He exits the building and makes his way over to where Stan is still parked.
"Hey man, how'd it go?" Stan asks as he enters the car, "You didn't text me or anything, so does that mean…?"
At first, Kenny's expression stays downward turned, and worry crosses Stan's features because of it. But slowly, his expression changes into an upward smirk, then evolving into an eventual grin.
"I got it."
"Really?"
"Yeah! Said I can start here tomorrow!"
"Oh that's awesome dude! Congrats!"
The two fall into small talk for a short time after, before deciding on celebrating the occasion with some nice and healthy takeout food. They get some extra for Kyle, making sure not to leave him out of the celebration as well, before heading back home and eating their food there.
Night comes and Kenny is glad to have made some progress since moving here. He lies flat on his back on the bed and his fingers lightly run over the small crystal resting on his chest.
"Heh, maybe this is a good luck charm," he thinks aloud to himself.
With a smile, he places a kiss upon its cool surface and closes his eyes. His hand wraps around it gently as his head turns into his pillow. There's a faint creak from somewhere in his room, 'the house settling', he lazily thinks, his mind already drifting off to sleep.