Buried (a Creek fic)

28. Right

Tweek stayed in the hospital overnight. It was nothing too serious - the doctors just wanted to make sure that his broken rib stayed in place and didn't do anymore damage to his lungs. Thankfully, it wasn't serious enough for him to be sucked up to an oxygen machine or anything like that. They did prescribe him antibiotics though, for pain and to make breathing easier.

That night, though, Craig and Kenny barely spoke a word to each other when they got back to Craig's house. His parents made sure he was alright and he said he was (though he wasn't sure if that was true or not). Kenny and him idley headed up to Craig's room, but he wasn't in the mood to do anything. So he just shut off the light, curled up in his bed, wished Kenny goodnight, and attempted to sleep. Attempted being the keyword there.

He tossed and turned all night. For the first hour of him laying down, he'd turn over to find Kenny laying on the floor with a blanket strewn over him and his phone in his hands, the light from the cracked screen illuminating his face through the darkness. After that, his phone was turned off and both of them were left attempting to sleep. Craig figured Kenny eventually nodded off, considering his breathing seemed heavier than before and he was no longer making noise by tapping away on his phone.

There was something different about that night, Craig realized, aside from the obvious chaos that happened prior. His mind was... blank. He wasn't entirely sure what that meant. Usually that was a good thing - a relaxing thing - but now it seemed odd. Everything was just... blank, numb, empty. He figured it was the shock of today's events, but things usually didn't phase him like that. Though, to be fair, he hadn't really experienced anything like that before in his life. He supposed his brain was trying to keep up and process everything, but it was too stunned to react.

The next morning, Kenny was already gone by the time he woke up. He had left a note saying that he needed to stop by his house before going to school. Craig groaned after he read it, completely forgetting about having to attend school after something like that.

He rolled out of bed, exhausted and feeling irritable from the lack of sleep. He pushed open his door, only wearing boxers and a baggy t-shirt, but before he could enter the bathroom to shower, he heard someone call out his name from downstairs.

"Craig?" his mother's voice rang out.

Craig's eyebrows furrowed. What's she still doing here? Shouldn't she be at work by now?

Without replying, he tiredly staggered down the stairs and immediately caught a whiff of something cooking in the kitchen. He entered the living room, noticing that his dad was on the couch with his feet propped up onto the coffee table and a newspaper clutched in his hand.

He turned his gaze towards the kitchen to see Mrs. Tucker's back turned towards him, hunched over the stove with a spatula in hand. He cautiously wandered into the kitchen and at the sound of his footsteps, his mom threw her head over her shoulder and shot him a warm smile.

"Good morning, sweetheart," she greeted, turning back towards the stovetop. "I'm making breakfast. It should be done shortly."

Craig raised an eyebrow. "Mom, I need to leave for school soon."

"That's alright, Craig," his father piped up, glancing over at the two from over the newspaper. "We can take you to school today. We'll let the school know that it's not your fault if you're late."

He took a hesitant seat at the table, looking suspiciously from one parent to the next. He didn't remember the last time his mother made him breakfast, or the last time they took him to school and didn't care if he was late.

"Is this because of Tweek?" Craig asked bluntly. He leaned back in his chair and noticed that a stack of bacon was crackling away on the stovetop, accompanied by a glob of eggs.