South Park: An Adventure Into the Deep

Beneath Stark's Pond

Kyle found himself lying on the hard ground of a dim, red cave. His entire body ached, and he was bleeding from a few skinned places on his feet and forearms. He sat up, the jagged ground splitting the skin on his soft hands. A drop of something wet and cold fell against his forehead, making him jump. He looked up to see nothing but darkness above him. The water must be from the pond. He thought, but how did he even get here? What was this place? He stood, trying to remember what happened. Cold, freezing - I was nervous. I felt awkward, confused. Was he okay? He kept zoning out - who? we were talking, someone was gone- 

"Stan!" Kyle whispered to himself, he had to find Stan. Then he could get out of this place. He was missing Stan. He looked around, the cave was barren. No stalagmites or stalactites to point menacingly at him. It almost looked man made. The walls were smooth but the ground was so sharp it nearly cut his feet to walk. Who would make a place like this?  He was torn from his thoughts when he heard a rhythmic pounding in the room, like stone against stone. Kyle examined the walls closer and found that the sound was louder when he was closest to what seemed to be a crudely carved out cubby hole toward the ceiling. He could reach it if he was just a bit taller, but decided against trying to climb up the unnaturally smooth wall, not wanting to fall painfully onto the ground.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Stan was panicked when he woke, he nearly gave himself whiplash looking around for his friend. "Kyle?" He called out,  but the panic soon turned to fear as he realized he couldn't see anything. The room was freezing, and he stood to get as much of his body off of the icy floor but even his bare feet recoiled and his toes felt as though they should be a cartoonish blue. He hugged himself, taking in his surroundings. His eyes had adjusted a bit but he still couldn't see much. He stepped forward with his arms outstretched, to find a wall very close to him. He realized that the thick, nearly impenetrable darkness wasn't darkness at all but black walls that surrounded him. Stan made his way around the room with his hands, it seemed to be small. He'd made his way to the other side when he felt warm air blowing through a crack in the wall. Fresh air, a way out.

Stan was elated, he kicked the ground around him to find a rock without moving his hand for fear of losing his spot. He found a jagged rock and leaned down with one hand to pick it up. Making sure he still knew where the crack was, he smashed the rock against the wall. It didn't seem to make a difference but he didn't stop, he couldn't stop. He had this gut wrenching feeling that something was wrong - that Kyle was in trouble and he had to help him. 

He was never too good at keeping tracking of time without a phone or watch but a good half hour had to have passed before he started to see a light through the crack in the wall. He laughed with joy, wedging the rock between the crack and knocking out more and more of it. He was tired, starving and freezing but he was so close to freedom. He could almost taste it. The more he knocked open, the more warm air poured onto him and motivated him. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Kyle had grown desperate and had attempted to jump up and grab the ledge of the hole above him to pull himself out of the room, instead of escape he got fresh wounds on the soles of his feet. Then, he heard a crumbling and a familiar voice shout "Yes!" It was unmistakable, "Stan?" Kyle called out. "Kyle?" He heard the echoed voice of his friend reply. "I'm down here! I'm stuck, I can't-" The sight of Stan peering at him from above the ledge was enough to make him go silent. "Help me up, man." Stan grabbed Kyle's hand and hoisted him up into the cubby hole. Instinctively, Kyle hugged him. "Oh fuck, dude, I've never been so glad to see you." Stan buried his hands into his friends knotted curly hair as he spoke. 

"Let's get out of here." Kyle pulled his head away from Stan's chest, overwhelmed with emotion. They helped each other up but Stan hesitated, "Wait, I feel like we're supposed to be looking for someone - yeah." He looked intensely at Kyle, grabbing his shoulders, "What's the last thing you remember?" Kyle searched his mind, "Cold... We were at Stark's Pond! We were with Craig and Tweek..and Clyde was crying because he thought I drowned." Stan nodded along, "That's right, and we were talking about something, we remembered that someone was missing. And then we ended up here."  The boys looked at each other, it still didn't feel quite right. "Who's missing?" Kyle mumbled.