The Way That Gravity Pulls (Creek FanFic)

Chapter 21: The Rainbow Bridge

!! banner art by ludidops !!

* Dedicated to my angel puppy Bo, with love <3 *

In a flash, Craig hurriedly unlatched the gate and swung it open before roughly grabbing ahold of me by the face.

"Are you okay?!" he asked worriedly. "Why are you covered in blood!? Did someone hurt you?!"

"No! No I...I'm okay!"

"Then what the fuck happened?!"

I went to talk, but all I could let out were whimpers and whines as I failed miserably to use my words. I breathed out sharply through my teeth as I shook my head, trying to shake away the feeling of despair that was beginning to take over my body.

"Tweek...hey, look at me," Craig began as he bent down, trying to look me in the eyes. "What happened?"

I didn't want to talk about it. Not at all. For all I knew, I might've just watched someone die. Again.

"It...it was Cartman and his m-mom...and she...she got hurt by some g-guy...and...and she was b-bleeding and I had to call 911... and now Cartman's gonna..."

"Hey hey hey, it's okay Tweek..."

"No! No it's not!" I yelled as I ripped away from him and stomped into his backyard. "Nothing's okay! Everything is falling apart and there's nothing I can do about it...and-..."

I stopped rambling on as something caught my eye.

I glanced down at the picnic table beside me and saw the small brown shoebox that Craig had placed there. It was covered in poorly drawn, crooked stars which had been colored in with yellow crayon, and across the middle was Stripe's name written in Craig's handwriting. And down on the ground next to me, was the shovel. Then I put two and two together, finally realizing why Craig had been outside and in his backyard in the first place.

I looked over at him as he slowly walked towards me. He reached over and embraced me from behind, tightly wrapping me up in his arms and setting his chin on top of my head. I could feel his heart beating hard up against me.

"I tried to call," he whispered. "But now I understand why you didn't answer."

"I'm sorry...I just...wanted to hear it in person..."

Craig held his breath for a second, making the silence feel brutal and sore as he leaned his face down next to mine.

"He died shortly after you left."

I lowered my head and covered my eyes with my bloody sleeve, trying my hardest not to cry, but my tears finally fell when Craig kissed me on the cheek. I could feel the gash on his lip up against my skin, and I could hear his shaky and short breaths as he swallowed hard at the lump in his throat.

He then let go of me and walked over to the picnic table, picking up Stripe's box.

"Tricia and I decorated a shoebox for him," he sighed. "And I uh...I'm digging up a hole for him over there by the tree."

"Won't your mom and dad find out if you bury him here? Are you sure you don't w-wanna bury him over at my place?"

"They won't find out, and they don't care enough to even notice anyways. My dad won't be living here anymore here soon, and my mom has better things to worry about other than just some pile of dirt. And no, it's alright. I want to put him to where I can see him from my window. Stripe deserves somewhere special."

"Yeah," I agreed as I wiped my nose. "He sure does."

"Yeah," Craig nodded while forcing a smile.