Craig of the Dead

20. Why Do You Love Me?

"MMMMMHHMMFFFF!" Kyle managed a solid kick to the balls of one of the Sixth graders, but received about three more in return. He groaned at the impact, but still had an intense anger about him, all directed straight to Eric.

"What was that? I can't hear you, Jew, you're gonna have to speak up." Eric tried to walk in circles around his prisoner, but Kyle kept attempting to try and kick him, or head butt him, or something.

"Stop it! How am I supposed to enjoy myself with you acting all like this? Sixth graders!" Eric snapped his fingers, making one of the older boys take out a.... a.....

"Eric, please, don't do this again! You're my friend..." My protests were futile, however, as the boy still took the pistol, my pistol, and pressed it against the side of my head.

"JESUS CHRIST HE'S GONNA KILL BUTTERS!" Tweek screamed, not helping the panic that was building up inside me. I didn't think that I would actually die, I had to keep telling myself that, but I could never get Scott Tenorman out of my head. It wouldn't be beneath Eric to have me shot in the head.

"Dude stop! Holy shit, what is wrong with you?" I couldn't turn my head, the nozzle of the gun was pressing hard against my temple, but I could hear Craig's voice yelling over Tweek's shrieks.

I saw a look of utter defeat pass over Kyle's face as he ceased his squirming and stood still, his head lowered to the ground. I felt awful, it was because of me that all of this was happening. If I had just, I dunno, not let them get my gun, or maybe if I wasn't so scared....

"There, that's better. Now, where was I?" Eric resumed his circling of Kyle, laughing at his complete power over all of us.

"You're one sick motherfucker." Craig snarled.

"I may be, but look where it has got me? Now Kyle, I want you to do one simple thing for me. Do you know what that is?" Kyle glared at Eric but still shook his head in reply. "Well, I want you to be my slave."

Kyle blurted out a "MMMRRRPH!" which sounded a little like he was saying "NOT AGAIN, FUCK YOU!", but the sixth grader dug the pistol a little deeper in my skin and Kyle shut up, nodding. I was starting to get a headache from the pressure.

"Good, that's all. Let's head back inside guys. Oh wait, you can't!" Eric pointed at us and doubled over laughing at his own joke, snickering and snorting. It wasn't even that funny of a joke, but Eric was sure having his fun.

"Wait seriously? That's the only reason why you came out here? To rub in our faces how helpless we are?" Token shouted at the fat boy as he turned around to leave.

"Yeah.... pretty much."

Something suddenly occurred to me, just out of the blue. "Wait, what happened to St--"

"MRPHH!" Kyle cut me off, his eyes wide. Okay, don't bring that up. Thankfully, a little girl piped up before Eric had time to process my slip up. 

"THIS ISN'T FAIR!" Karen shouted. Everyone snapped their heads to gape at her. She had been so quiet lately, and yet this outburst, this little phrase held so much anger, so much resentment, that I was surprise she didn't just shoot out of her bonds and sock Eric right there and then. She really was Kenny's little sister, huh.

"Hmm, well, you're poor, so your opinion doesn't count." The group headed back through the door, Kyle shuffling behind them, his whole body sagging with defeat.

There was a moment of silence, each of us trying to process what had just happened.

"That son of a bitch..." Damien muttered. "I mean, I've seen some pretty fucked up shit down in Hell, but this kid is second level satanic."

"Yeah, tell us something we don't already know." Token gave a miserable laugh.

"Well, maybe Stan did go get help." Karen said. It kinda made me want to laugh at the fact that Damien and Karen had the same pitched voice, but looking into his fire red eyes, I decided against it.

"You better hope he went to get help, or else you guys are gonna starve to death." Damien said grimly.

"Wait, they don't bring us food?" I sputtered. I thought at least they would give us food. A little something to eat each day.

"Of course! They give us a fucking four course meal for lunch each—NO WE DON'T GET FOOD! I'm literally STARVING TO DEATH BUT I CAN'T DIE, so sorry if they won't bring you any SNACKS!" Damien shouted, the sudden noise making Tweek yelp.

"You can't die?" Craig shook his head. "That's so weird."

"No, I can't. At least not in this body. There's all this stuff you gotta do if you want a mortal body but, honestly, I just feel so crappy right now, I dunno what I want. Like I said, I've been out here for weeks."

"HOLY SHIT WE'RE ALL GOING TO STARVE! WE'LL HAVE TO EAT EACH OTHER TO SURVIVE!" Tweek screamed, shaking in his bonds. Man, why was he so paranoid all the time. I mean, I'm not the bravest guy around, but still..... you didn't see me screaming every five minutes.

Plus, how would we eat each other if we were tied up?

"Tweek, you need to calm down. Remember what I said. Deep breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth." Craig said in a soft, cooing voice. He and Tweek had locked eyes and,by looking at the two of them, it seemed like the whole universe had stopped to stare along. A silence settled over us like a blanket, the only noises being the quiet whispers exchanged between the two friends. The two lovers.

"Craig....why do you love me?" Tweek mumbled. His pale face had flushed red, gazing into Craig's eyes.

"Why wouldn't I?" Craig replied, giving a small laugh. Tweek joined in, flashing a tiny smile at his boyfriend, but looking pained while doing so. I guess that's just how Tweek's always gonna be. Even if Craig has made a list of reasons that he loved him, Tweek would find a reason to be uneasy. Seeing the absolute love between Tweek and Craig, it made me think about someone else. Someone I had been trying hard to forget.

He, uh, wanted you to know that he loved you. You were the one thing that kept him going. He missed you a whole lot... I never knew. After my dad came to pick me up, I had left that place and never looked back. It was just too many things going on at one time. I had been so confused, so many people killed themselves, and then Bradley was gonna jump... All I wanted to do was run away as far as possible. Everything had been fine. A little blip in my crazy eventful life.

That was, until I finally saw him, years later, standing on the bridge as I sped by in my school bus. He was with some counselor, looking deep into the murky water. It made me sad when I thought about it. He was with a counselor and still wearing his blue shirt, so his parents had never come to get him. It had been years and he was still trapped in that horrible camp. We had locked eyes, just for a moment, and I could see his jaw drop. I had smiled and waved at him, because he was my only real friend when I stayed there, and he had gone redder than a tomato and waved back.

Now I know that it wasn't friendship that made his eyes go wide and his knees go wobbly. It was, well, something much deeper. Something I, uh, didn't feel the same.

He was dead now, so it didn't matter.

"Okay gang, lets try and get some rest. Maybe we can sleep in shifts." Craig suggested, surveying our little group, his brow furrowed in worry. We sure were one beat up crew. Damien looked starved, Tweek was about to snap, Token looked tired as anything, Karen was still fuming from Eric's presentation of his new slave, and I, well, was far from being fine.

"NO! I CAN'T GO TO SLEEP! WHAT IF I NEVER WAKE UP?"

"Okay, then I'll take the first shift. How does that sound honey?"

"It sounds fine I guess..." It was just so weird. Craig has this whole other, gentler side to him that never comes out. That is, until Tweek comes around. Seeing him just switch off his toughness and bluntness was crazy.

"Well, everyone try and get as much sleep as they can." Craig announced, putting his leader face back on. Craig was gonna wait to go soft again until everyone was asleep. Everyone but him and Tweek, that is.

I tried to get as comfy as I could and closed my eyes, but I knew I wasn't going to fall asleep. I never did.