Song: Afraid by The Neighborhood
Soon enough, Wendy was back with her friends, and Stan was in the bathroom, ranting to Kenny.
"Holy fucking shit dude," Stan's voice cracked, "I completely fuckin forgot... I don't even have enough money to buy her anything."
Hearing this, Kenny wasn't surprised that his friend got himself in this situation. With everything going on already with their friends, it was hard to remember or care about much of anything.
Especially about a day that truly means nothing to you.
"Calm down," Kenny muttered, smoking some more from his blunt. "Head to the dollar store and get her a few things. Say you got something better planned for next year."
"I would, but I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Wendy has expensive taste, dude." Stan sighed. "She's gonna want some promise ring or some shit, I swear."
"Damn..." Kenny mumbled. Stan took a swig from his beer bottle.
"It's just not even worth it anymore. I don't even like her." He looked down.
"Break up with her."
"Are you kidding?" Stan scoffed. "How many people would hate me if I broke Wendy Testaburger's heart?"
"I mean... Uh, you have a fair point..."
"Exactly."
Trying to think of some sort of solution, Stan leaned his head against the wall of the small, vacant room. The valid solution he had in mind was to steal some money from his parents and head to the mall to buy a ring. It couldn't be anything too extravagant or anything, but it was better than nothing.
"Shit my dude..." Kenny giggled deliriously. "I am so fuckin horny... I think I gotta leave school early."
"Ugh," Stan groaned, "I don't need to hear about your secret prostitute meetings."
Kenny licked his lips. "You wanna join me some time?"
"DUDE. I have a girlfriend, and I would not just go fuck a prostitue."
"And? You just talked about wanting to break up," He grinned, "And you'll get way better head than Wendy's ever given."
Stan cringed a bit, uncomfortable with talking about this around his friend.
"No, it's not happening."
"Your loss, dude."
The rest of their lunch period went faster than Stan would've liked, really. He knew, luckily, that he didn't necessarily have to go to his next class. He had P.E., and the chances of the coach checking if he was there or not were slim to none.
"You coming?" Kenny asked, looking down at now his only friend.
"Nope."
"Would love to stay with you, but you know how Ms. Williams is."
Stan chuckled. "Good luck with that. See you later, dude."
"Later."
The door shut, leaving the raven-haired boy alone.
After the bell rang, as if on cue, Stan immediately started crying.
His beer bottle next to him, he pressed his knees against his face and sobbed into his hands.
He really had close to nothing left. Nearly all of the people he knew as a kid were dead. His best friend died not too long ago. He didn't even truly love his girlfriend. And he only had one friend left.
But what if Kenny was next?
Was Stan cursed?
Why was this all happening so suddenly? What did any of them do wrong?
It was all bullshit. He really couldn't handle much of it anymore. Stan was right in the edge to suicide. What was even the point anymore? What's the point of living when nothing makes you happy?
"God... I'm a fucking failure..." Stan whispered to himself between his sobs of grieving and misery.
It was almost like he just sat there and allowed all of the people he knew and cared about die. Soon, it'd probably be Kenny, too. Then he'd be completely alone. Just a shadow of the boy he once was.
What was the point of carrying on if he'd just die soon enough anyway?
By the time the bell rang, Stan had drank nearly everything that he had stored in his bag. He slowly got up and stumbled out of the bathroom. His face was red, and his eyes puffy from tears, but he didn't really care. He couldn't care less what his peers thought about him.
It was pretty obvious at this point that Stan was drunk. But, since he was typically drunk, he always acted this way. He figured, at this point, they couldn't tell the difference.
That was good, at least.
Now he just had to get through three more periods.
The thing was, Stan wasn't sure if he wanted this school day to finally end, or if he was dreading it.
On one hand, he hated school, and wanted every reason to get out of it.
On the other hand, after school, he had to go buy a ring for a girl he didn't even have feelings for.
It was a lose-lose situation.
When the day did end after three grueling class periods, Stan walked out to his car.
Stan started drinking even more while he was still in his car. Being in a discreet section of the parking lot, this wasn't noticed by anyone else.
There were only a few cans left to drink. He drank nearly a whole one before he finally started to drive. He first stopped to his house.
Surprisingly, Stan made it safely to his house. That might've very well been because they didn't live far from the school, so maybe he was pushing his luck.
Seeing that his parents weren't home, Stan was kind of relieved. That would make this whole process a lot easier.
Stan stumbled a bit upstairs before finally making it to his parents' room. He took a fair amount of money: $50. He took $25 from each.
With time, Stan made it back into the car after dropping off his bag back to his room.
Since he was still very drunk, this was bound not to end well.
Stan hiccuped a bit as he turned the corner. He smiled in a drunken and weary state.
"Ah fuck... I should not be driving..." He admitted to himself.
A big part of him didn't even care that he could die while doing this. So, he just kept on driving.
That was one of the biggest mistakes of his life.
No, no, it was the biggest mistake of his life.
Stan suddenly felt the car swerve, and saw a large truck right in front of him. His eyes widened and he screamed for a split second before he fell eerily silent.
People passing by witnessed this all.
"Oh shit...!"
Stan's face was bashed right on the steering wheel with his body contorted in a way no human should ever twist.
His ribs were penetrating out of his body.
Stan lifted his head up. But... He also didn't.
Everything about this was off putting.
First thing that he noticed was that he didn't feel as weary and drunk. He also didn't really feel like he was just disfigured in a horrible car crash. But, the weirdest thing was... Why did he see all his friends?
The ones who have all died?
Kyle then walked up to the car and opened the door.
"Hey dude, come on."
"Woah... Where are we going?"
The ginger smiled at him.
"Somewhere better. Where you won't need to drink beer all the time to not be miserable."
"That place exists?"
"It does... Follow me, Stan."
