Summertime Hell (South Park summer camp AU)

Chapter 12: Bound Away

Tolkien had checked the girls cabin.

No Nicole.

He had checked down by the docks.

No Nicole.

He had gotten Wendy to check the girls bathroom.

No Nicole.

Tolkien really didn't think she would just disappear. She was so excited about their plans today. She wouldn't just bail.

As a last resort, Tolkien had bursted into his cabin and asked if any of his roommates knew where she was.

None of them did, but they agreed to help look. A few of them skipped breakfast and had wandered off into the woods, shouting her name every few minutes.

Thus, Tolkien, Clyde and Craig were all walking the trails, desperately searching for her.

"NICOOOOLE," Clyde bellowed, cupping his hands around his mouth.

They had been searching for about twenty minutes, still no sign of her.

The lump in Tolkien's throat grew.

"I'm sure she's fine dude," Craig patted him on the back firmly. "Maybe she's just down at the lake already."

"I already checked," Tolkien bit on his fingernails. "What if she ends up like- like that counsellor?"

Clyde snorted. "What if she's the one who killed her?"

That earned Clyde a firm pop in the jaw from Craig.

"Hey!" Clyde recoiled, clutching the side of his face. "That fucking hurt! "

"You don't say things like that," Craig furrowed his brow. "That's really mean. We can't find Nicole and you're making jokes about her being a murderer. That's not cool."

"Well so-ree," Clyde huffed, his eyes watering from the pain.

"NICOLE," Tolkien's voice cracked. God, was this stressful.

They strolled aimlessly down the dirt tracks, stopping every now and then to examine 'clues'. They did so rather poorly.

They made their way around a bend in the forest and Tolkien noticed frizzy hair behind a tree in the distance.

He gasped, his eyes filling with hope as he quickened his pace to a slow jog, deviating from the path to get there quicker.

"Oh my god! Nicole, thank goodness you're o...Kay."

Tolkien stopped dead in his tracks as he turned towards what he'd seen and immeadieatley regretted it.

She was sitting down, leaning against the tree.

He felt sick to his stomach as he looked down at her, her eyes scrawled out of her head and her stomach leaking blood.

He couldn't breath. He couldn't breath.

Tolkien felt like he was going to vomit and cry and pass out and hyperventilate all at once.

His anxiety had been building up all this way and he was expecting some great relief, but this instead made it spike aggressively.

The others caught up behind him, going still in the same way Tolkien had when they saw what had happened.

"Oh god," Clyde covered his mouth as his eyes began to water.

Tolkien crouched down slowly, getting down on her level, looking into the gorged out sockets that used to hold such sweet brown eyes.

He grabbed her limp hand and, without moving his gaze, he inhaled shakily, and brought it up to his lips. He shut his eyes and tears began to run slowly down his cheeks. He kept it there for a while before placing it over his heart.