Song: Little Me - Little Mix
"Hey fellers!" Butters said to Jimmy, Clyde and the others. None of them were really talking much.
All of the deaths that were going around in the school, and especially the death of Token was all just a lot for them to handle. But, no matter what, Butters still tried to stay overall optimistic. Although, this was becoming very hard, with the mix of all the deaths these past couple months, and with some other things that nobody but the Stotch family could know.
A few of the others just muttered a "hey" or "hello", clearly not wanting to talk. He couldn't blame them all that much, though.
"It uh, really has been sad this past while, huh?" He asked, trying to start a conversation.
"Hey, B-bu-butters, it's nothing against you, but we'd really r-ra-rath-rather not talk now." Jimmy said, trying to stay polite.
"Yeah, seriously, can you fuck off?" Clyde said bluntly.
"Oh, well that's alright, I understand...!" Butters said, a bit sadly.
He noticed Kyle, Cartman, Stan and Kenny all sitting across the hallway. The four of them all looked depressed. But Butters usually saw them like this, so wasn't too questioning on this. Plus, Token had just died. None of them were all that close to him, but the death obviously still hurt them badly.
Butters decided to try and cheer them up and talk to them instead. He might not be too successful with it, but he could at least make an effort.
Stan sat there with almost, it possibly a truly drunken expression on his face, was slumped over slightly, and had bags under his eyes. Kyle sat next to him, his eyes half closed and smelling strangely of something Butters recognized but forgot the name of. Cartman sat there, playing on his phone, not acknowledging anyone around him. Kenny sat at the end, as usual having most of his face covered by his parka, as per usual, and looking just pale and numb. He avoided eye contact with everyone.
"Hey you guys...!" Butters said hopefully.
"What do you want, Butters?" Kyle grumbled.
"I was just wondering if you three wanted any company. I know you all must be real sad-"
"Fuck off." Stan cut him off. He slurred his words slightly and looked at the blond with empty eyes.
"Oh, I just-"
"HE SAID FUCK OFF, STOTCH!" Cartman now yelled at him, standing up. This made Butters flinch.
"Hey, I'm sorry, I don't want any trouble...!" He said, getting a bit scared.
"GET OUT OF MY FACE!!" Cartman screamed and raised his fist. He stumbled back a bit and cried out in pain.
People started to gather around.
Stan suddenly stood up as well and put out the final blow to his face. Butters only saw black after that.
It was a little bit later when Butters woke up I'm the nurse's office. He had an ice pack on his head. He slowly glanced over and saw only Kenny sitting next to him. He was looking down, and some tears seemed to be falling out from the opening of his orange parka.
"Kenny...?"
Kenny looked up at Butters after quickly wiping up his tears.
"Hey Butters... I'm really sorry about them all..." Kenny sighed. He actually pulled down the hood of his parka and revealed his face and hair. "Cartman and Stan don't really hate you. Stan's drunk, and angry, and Cartman needed someone to take his anger out on... None of us are doing good, with what's going on and all..."
Kenny looked very pale, his eyes were dull, and he had an expression on his face that just read of pain, guilt, and misery.
"It's okay..." Butters said. "I understand why... I know how people can get when they're angry..." He laughed a bit, sadly. He understood it perfectly well.
"I don't know how you stay optimistic through all this..." Kenny chuckled. Butters just smiled a bit and shrugged in response.
"Are Stan and Eric at least okay now?" Butters asked.
"Don't know. I think they just got ISS for a couple days. Doubt they even know Stan's drunk." Kenny sighed.
As the two blonds talked for a bit, Kenny noticed something. Butters seemed to have quite a few bruises and scratches on him. They didn't really seem so... Accidental, though. And this, of course, excluded the one he got from Stan and Cartman. They were pretty dark, too.
"Hey, uh... What are all those bruises from?" He finally asked. Butters paused for a moment.
"Oh, they're nothin'! Just, accidents, y'know?" He laughed a bit, getting nervous. He hoped that Kenny wouldn't push him for direct answers. It felt wrong to lie, but...
"You sure? They don't seem like they were an accident."
"Yep! You know how clumsy I am sometimes!" He said simply. Butters was fidgeting a bit and avoiding eye contact. He tried to lie as best as he could, but Kenny could just tell something was wrong with this all.
Butters dreaded going back home. He rode the bus, not sitting next to anyone, and staring out the window. He hoped for his parents not to be mad at him for getting into a fight. Although it was more of a one-sided fight than anything, they might still be mad for not being a man and defending himself. So, he really didn't know how they'd react.
Soon, they made it to Butters's stop. He slowly stood to and walked to the opened bus door. He has his fingers crossed in his pockets, hoping that maybe they wouldn't bring it up. But, of course, that was still pretty unlikely. He walked up the front steps and took a deep breath, slowly opening the door with dread and hesitation.
Inside, Linda and Stephen were both sitting down in the living room. Neither of them looked pleased in the slightest, which terrified Butters.
"H-hey Mom, hey Dad..." Butters said quietly, looking down to the floor.
"Butters," Stephen stood up. "Your school called and told us that you got in a fight today. Is that true?"
"Y-yes sir..." He didn't dare to try and excuse himself ever again.
Stephen walked up and pulled Butters up by his throat, making him gag and gasp for air. He slammed his son against the wall. Butters knew what would happen from here on.
Butters got paler and paler, seeing more black as his father held his throat tighter. He was in the verge of passing out completely when Stephen suddenly dropped him onto the floor, making a loud thump. Butters grunted as he was kicked in the side and fell over. He was kicked over and over, all on his fragile body, causing almost an unbearable amount of pain. He should've gotten used to this by now, but no. It never got better.
"I-I'm sorry s-sir, I promise I'll d-do better...!!" Butters gasped and yelped loudly in pain.
"YOU NEED TO LEARN YOYR LESSON!" Stephen screamed down at him. He then kneeled down to his level and started punching, and punching, and punching.
Linda sat at the couch awfully calmly, looking at her magazine. She was too used to this, and scarily okay with this kind of punishment. Well, she figured, at least, that grounding didn't work as efficiently as her husband's new method, so what was the problem with it? It's not like it could kill him. It was just a few beatings when they saw fit. So what's the big deal?
Stephen kept hitting his child, creating more bruises on his frail body. The only thing that he was lucky for was that nobody pointed it out. Everyone figured Butters was just that clumsy. But the one who was truly clumsy was himself, in the sense that he didn't really mean to keep beating his son. His fists and feet just slipped a lot, and happened to be right on Butters. That was all.
What felt like hours wasn't actually all too long, when Butters passed out right there on the floor. His body laid, tired out and hurt, when Stephen finally stopped, and went back to what he was doing like nothing just happened.
Later that night, Butters woke up in the same place as his parents were eating dinner calmly. He slowly stood up, but with a struggle now. He limped his way up the stairs. He heard his parents offering him dinner, but he just denied. He didn't have an appetite. How could he, though?
Butters limped into his bedroom and went to the first aid kit he kept for when his parents got mad. He grabbed a small mirror and checked any places for blood. He cleaned up all of those areas and bandaged them up. He had a bottle of Advil as well, and took this with a few sips of water, hoping this would ease the pain fairly well. Soon enough, he was finally bandaged up from all of his cuts. Although, he still did have a ton of bruises all over, and still had a slight red mark on his throat in the shape of a hand. But, what could he do about it? Nothing. So, what reason did he have to mope around?
Butters tried to cheer himself a bit, and started to watch T.V. while he did homework. He kept the volume down so he could focus. But the T.V. wasn't the thing that was distracting him. It was what Kenny had said to him earlier. He didn't know how Kenny could tell that they didn't seem accidental. After all, nobody else asked that before, so it just confused him, and worried him.
His thoughts started racing. What if Kenny tried to talk to his parents himself? He really hoped he hadn't thought of that. He knew he'd just get in more trouble than anyone even suspected anything. That thought scared Butters. He even started to get tears steaming down his face. He suddenly got down on his knees and started praying.
"God, I know that I've asked this a lot before, but... Please make Dad stop... It hurts, well it hurts a lot... Just, please let my folks know that I really do try my best to be good... Amen."
