How can anything suck as much as this?

"Why do they always put me in the stupid classes?" Kenny sighed as he ate his dinner, feeding over the broccoli on his plate.

"Honey…" His adopted mother sighed as she put her plate down on the table, feeding herself to some as his older siblings ran off to do other things. "You just have it harder when it comes to learning, that's just the way it is."

"Yeah, but not with the retards," Kenny sighed, barely touching his food now. He looked around the house, nice pottery and plants and other assorted trinkets litter the walls. The inside of the house was very pretty thanks to his adopted mother's taste in design. He didn't care very much, but it was a bit of a touch-up from his old house. Rats didn't just have the elegance that this place possessed.

"Kenny, they're not retards. They all have just as hard of times as you. Now eat your dinner okay?" she said as she picked through her own vegetables.

"Meh… Now you just don't wanna talk about it," the 10-year old sighed. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders in a bit of frustration.

"Kenny, listen, you've been here for five years now. Why can't you learn to accept the things that are going to happen? I figured you would have learned that by now since then," She said, a bit off of the topic as usual.

"I'm trying… You always wanna put me in one of those stupid classes though," he sighed. His mother leaned back in her chair, looking the boy over sadly.

"Well what can I do for you? We've tried all of the other things, but it never helped… Maybe you would want to home school?" she suggested. He cringed, feeling that sickening feeling he'd felt the day he thought he might have to leave South Park, let alone his friends.

"Yeah, so I can sit at home and be even more miserable without any friends huh?" Kenny growled, thumbing his pees.

"Well what are we supposed to do?" she said calmly, still a bit sternly. Kenny's adopted Brother Jed entered the room and tapped his mother's shoulder.

"Mom, I need your help with my homework all right?" he said intently. She nodded and began to stand as she directed her speech to Kenny.

"You see that Kenny? Even I could help you when you need it. You didn't take the time to see that did you?" she said. The boy just sighed and shook his head, not looking at them now.

"No, because you were too busy with them all the time. You didn’t care at all…" Kenny began.

"Kenny-"

"No, I get it… They just shoved me into your home without much of a choice. You don't care do you?" Kenny sighed, starting to pout a little. He sighed, nearing the breaking point. The boy had always suspected that he was just a mistake that no one could care about fixing. That's the way it was when she just shrugged her shoulders to the principal that day and said to stick him in the special classes.

That was the day that he got hung up in gym class by his underwear. The day that his teachers wouldn't even acknowledge him in class because they figured he wasn't smart enough to answer. His own friends would even treat him that way, giving him in-depth translations of whatever they were talking about… She knew this, so why didn't she just let him be?

"Kenny, listen. I took you in because I wanted a sweet boy like you to have a good home for once in his life-"

"So it was just 'cuz you felt sorry for me huh? You didn't care then and you don't care now! You just felt sorry for me and put me here where you thought it would make up for the retard classes! I always get beat up in school and made fun of, but you don't care don't you?! You just think I'm pathetic…" he sighed, starting to pout a bit.

"Listen Kenny! I've tried my best with you and I've put all of my effort into this, but you've got to put out some effort for me now!" she snapped back. He shuffled his feet around on the floor, tearing up now.

"No! I hate it! I hate always being stupid to people! I hate you!"

"If you're always gonna be so jaded about this, then you may as well leave! Because if you don't appreciate what I have to offer then it may as well be…" She sighed, realizing what she said was probably not the right thing to say. She looked down at Kenny who had already started tearing up, sighing. This wasn't the best way to go around the situation and she knew it. The boy needed more sympathy than was being offered. "Kenny, I'm sorry-"

"NO! I knew it! I don't need your apology!" Kenny replied back angrily, starting to hyperventilate. "That's the same thing momma always did! She didn't care and neither do you!" Kenny yelled. He felt himself starting to fluster and grow weak. He looked around at the room, it was swirling with colors. They flew all around him as he felt his stomach grow sick.

Kenny's head rolled around on his shoulders, making it hard for him to see for only a moment. He looked around one more time before he felt his head fall to the table, a loud smack. He pulled back quickly. That hurts! He looked up to his adopted mother to see her advancing on him quickly to see if he was all right.

"No! I'm leaving!" Kenny shouted, seemingly having no effect on her as he headed for the door. The door slammed shut as he ran down the driveway, not even looking back to see if he was being followed. He cried and cried even more as he headed down the long sandstone drive.

They lived in a nice cottage out in the middle of the woods on the edge of town, so it was a pretty long run into town. Maybe he'd head to Stan's house for a while, borrow some clothes, and then run away. That was the plan, but he'd have to leave the driveway first.

He looked around at the trees as he ran. They were all so dimly lit because it was nearing nightfall by the time he left the house. He didn't care though, if he ran into something on the way down, it would happen soon enough.

He peered down to the end of the driveway where it would break the curb and go straight on into town. He didn't even break into a sweat as he ran, wondering if he ever would. It seemed like he'd already been running for hours as his feet shuffled downward.

I'm not staying here! She can go to hell! None of them cared! None of them cared at all! I hate them and I hope they die! …Why do they have to make this driveway so damn long?! I've already been running for ten minutes…Haven't I? What's that?

On the way down the driveway, he stopped in his tracks. He could see the driveway begin to grow longer. It was too elusive for him to catch up. He tried to run again, his feet only taking him inches at a time. He couldn't understand why but he gave up, trying to regain his bearings as he walked slowly.

Kenny turned to look back again… He'd only made it a few hundred feet from the house. But how can that be? I've been running for so long. I've been running too long to remember. Why haven't I made it to town yet? He couldn't understand even if he tried. But he turned back around toward the end of the driveway and saw something.

The street wasn't even there. All that he could see for miles and miles was the rocky little road that led to his house. It was too far away to see now and it was like it had been totally replaced by this new street… So he continued to walk. He continued to walk for what seemed like another half an hour before he found himself finally growing tired.

Why am I so tired? I wasn't tired before…I guess that's what I get for running so much. But where's the end of the street? …And who's that?

What he saw was nothing but a faceless figure standing in front of him, down by the edge of the road where the grass grew like a miniature lawn before it finally met the edge of the trees. The boy walked slowly up to the figure that loomed over him. It was a tall person with the features of any normal person except for the face. This person had no face at all.

Where's his face? Kenny shrugged as he looked up at the figure that just stood there, apparently it was looking at him. He shook his head again, not understanding any of its actions. So he tried to speak after a long pause. Every time that he tried to speak though, nothing came out. He knew what he was trying to say, but he never could say it.

He didn't understand what he was trying to say after a moment, feeling tired. The man, or woman, nodded its head at Kenny, motioning to the side. He turned his head and saw that it was pointing to a bed. A small bed was on the side of the road, and he didn't know how it got there. The figure didn't look scary, and he was very tired. It was just too inviting.

Kenny groaned weakly, feeling himself being pulled down into the bed. Not by the figure, but by some unseen force. He looked around before he felt his eyes growing heavy, falling asleep fast. His eyes wandered down to the end of the bed, seeing nothing but a blue light… Weird…Why's that light there? He groaned again and said nothing, staring at the blue light. It was kind of nice for a moment… But it started going away now.

Wait… Where's it going? Why is it…Huh? The boy's thoughts were too muddled to understand what was happening as he felt his body jerk, signaling a soft groan from him before he realized he was no longer in that bed. He turned to take a look, but his eyes wouldn't open far enough for him to see.

"…W-where… I…" Kenny couldn't speak as he looked around, realizing that he saw the light outside of the window leaving in a hurry before it turned and went away completely. He could feel someone's hand grasping his own as he lay on his side, his eyes opening slowly.

"Shh, it's okay honey. Just rest," he heard a familiar voice beckoning him to sleep as the vehicle jerked around the road. Its siren wailed as the ambulance launched itself down the road, clearing the street for its urgent mission. Kenny tried to lift his head, but felt hands keeping him gently pressed against the table. He reached his hands up slowly and tiredly up to his head where he felt bandages wrapped around his head.

"W-what… W-what happened…" Kenny said tiredly, stumbling on his words. He opened his eyes slowly to see his weeping mother holding his hand tightly.

"Shh… I-it's okay Kenny. You were short breathed and you hit your head on the table. You're gonna be okay honey," she cooed into his ear, trying to get him to rest again. He didn't understand for a moment but realized he'd been dreaming the entire time before he looked up to her, seeing her crying again.

"I'm so sorry honey…" he heard his adopted mother sobbing. "I know that it's all tough for you. You've been through so much in the past few years, and I realize you need all the help you can get… I-I'm trying Kenny, I really am. Please just try for me too? I love you Kenny, I hope you can forgive me for what I said," she wept into his jacket, clenching his hand tightly.

Kenny didn't know how to react as he felt her hands tightly clasping his own. He fell short breathed for a moment but picked up his breathing again after he opened his eyes partway. He felt a tear trickle down the side of his face after a moment, wishing he could hug her back the way she was doing. He knew now that he was wrong all along.

He couldn't find any words for the moment, mostly because he was too tired to think about what to say. His brain had put all its effort into understanding the situation and did a good enough job to where he just hugged her with the little bit of energy in his body. This caused her to sob softly into his jacket, trying to cradle him the way any mother would.

"…I-is, everything… G-gonna be a-all right…" Kenny asked weakly. His mother wiped her eyes and pulled back, looking him in the eyes and nodded.

"Everything's all right now."