Fortune Park: A South Park AU

Chapter 9: Instincts

The sound of a phone's alarm went off loudly. Kyle sighed as he reached for his phone, angry that another school day has started. He got ready, and walked to the bus stop like every morning. Like usual, he waited for the bus. But today, he was greeted by Stan.

Kyle: Oh, hey Stan-

Stan: Kyle, do you have any idea what could've happened to Cartman?

Kyle: So you're still worried about him huh?

Stan: Well not really, but my gut is telling me something is wrong, and he is our friend after all..

Kyle: He is you and Kenny's friend, I myself do not consider him my friend.

Kyle rolled his eyes, and Stan furrowed his brows.

Stan: Well you were the last person to see him, so I don't see how you're being so passive about it-

Kyle: You don't know Jack. Shit. You should leave this job to the police, they are professionals? You are a fifteen year old boy. Who do you think would be able to solve this better, Stanley?

Stan: Well, I, uhh..

Kyle: You what? You're just sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, and you need to leave this to the adults, okay? I assure you that he is going to be fine.

Kyle put his hands on Stan's shoulders and smiled.

Kyle: I promise that it'll all be okay.

Stan: Okay..

Kyle: Even if he didn't come back, I'm sure it's all just a big joke that asshole is pulling because of his mom or something.

They stood there silently afterwards until the bus arrived. Stan sat by the window with his earbuds in, but this time he was listening to true crime podcasts, hoping that would help him with his little "investigation" because of the police describing how they caught their killer. He was shocked about how one of the people started rambling about the killer having "instincts" to kill, like a predatory animal has instincts to hunt. His face went pale, and he tried to keep listening to what that officer had to say on the podcast. He didn't know how to feel about that statement, and he felt sort of nervous about how many people at school that have joked about killing at some point. He was worried this would make his job more difficult, since so many people seemed like potential suspects.

[STAN'S POV]

Fuck, I don't know what to do. I've asked around and nobody wants to help me, not even Kenny. And they even had all the same excuses. So I guess nobody cares anymore.. I'll just take a break from this, it's giving me a really fucking bad headache..

He sat under the stairs, eating a bag of crackers that his mom packed for him. He felt stuck, and that shitty feeling came back. He realized that it had never left, not in those five years that he'd been depressed. This whole time, he'd been going through this and gotten used to that feeling and thought he had gotten better. The realization had hit like a ton of bricks, and he finally was able to think about why his friends have been so distant to him. Just then, he realized how deep he was into that feeling, and thought that he couldn't be helped since therapy didn't help him.

[AFTER TIME HAS PASSED]

Stan went to bed, feeling empty and envisioning scribbles in his head as he drifted off to sleep staring at the ceiling.  He was woken up by the sound of someone knocking on his window.  

Stan: I- wha- what the hell..?

He got up and put a shirt on, and then walked to the window to see who it was.  But when he opened the curtains, nobody was there.  

Stan: What the fuck?  There's no way that somebody climbed the fence that quickly just to wake me up..  Unless... a ghost?  No, ghosts aren't real.

He locked his window and closed the curtain, and turned his bedside lamp on.  Then he sat up and plugged his earbuds into his phone, and started to do some more research.  But unfortunately, he couldn't find any reliable information about the phenomenon that had just happened to him.  He flinched when his screen changed to the same screen that would turn on when somebody called him.  It was Kenny.

Stan: Hello..?

Kenny: Dude, you aren't going to believe what the fuck just happened..

Stan felt something change in him.. maybe Kenny just went through the same thing he just experienced.

Stan: Well?  Spit it out.

Kenny: So, I was sleeping, right?

Stan: Well yeah, I was too..

Kenny: And I woke up from something..

Stan: And you heard a knocking sound on your window?

Kenny: No..

Stan: Well what the Hell was it?

Kenny: A cat.

Stan: Wha-?

Kenny: A black cat got into my room somehow.

Stan: Keep it, I don't care.  But I'm kinda trying to sleep..

Kenny: Suit yourself.

Stan rolled his eyes as Kenny hung up.  He was hoping that Kenny would have heard the same thing that he had, for closure cases.  But, no.  It was just a cat.

He sighed and turned his phone off, falling back asleep.