The Day Kyle Slipped Away

The Day Kyle Slipped Away is a songfic written and published on FanFiction.Net by Ben Barrett. It was inspired by a YouTube video of the same name by user EvilSpork. The story parallels the video in many ways, but is not a scene-by-scene replication of said video.
==Synopsis==
Kyle dies, and Stan doesn't handle it well.
==Plot==
The story recounts the death of Kyle and involves a great many flashbacks.  In the present, Stan is trying to come to terms with the fact that his best friend is really dead.  The story begins in the cemetery, where Stan is talking to Kyle's gravestone and crying.  The focus then cuts to Stan receiving the news from Dr. Doctor that although Kyle received a kidney transplant from Cartman in "Cherokee Hair Tampons", his body is beginning to reject the organ and that Kyle does not have long to live.
As the focus returns to the present, Stan is sitting on a curb, regretting not telling his friend how much he cared while he was alive.  He begins to blame God and view Him as unmerciful.  This segues into the next flashback scene, where Father Maxi is Stan's bedroom, trying to comfort him in his hour of need and help him to understand why some people get sick and die.  He tells Stan a story from the Holy Bible, found in John 9 of a man born blind from birth.  When Jesus' disciples ask whose sin was to blame for the man's condition, Jesus replied that no one was to blame, but that the man was made blind from birth so that "the works of God could be manifest in him".  This simply infuriates Stan, and he throws Father Maxi unceremoniously from his bedroom.
Back in the present, Stan returns home, reflecting on how his family has started treating him since he sank into his depression.  His parents have become inconsistent in their treatment of him, coddling him at times and treating him normally at others, while Shelley has accused him of using Kyle's death to garner attention.  He retreats to his room, where he talks to Kyle, although this is more therapeutic than anything, as he seems to be unsure about his stance on the afterlife.  As he speaks to Kyle, he begins to reflect on the day Kyle actually died, starting with the conversation with Sheila at the hospital, where she tells him there's no hope for Kyle.  Stan runs away after hearing this and sits alone, reflecting on how he did the same thing in the episode "Kenny Dies".  Upset by this memory, he throws himself onto his bed and cries at the top of his lungs until Shelley yells at him.
The next day finds Stan at the footbridge, then walking in the rain, in a mirror image of a scene in the episode Raisins where he did the exact same thing after Wendy broke up with him.  The next flashback shows Stan still sitting alone in the same spot he was in at the end of the previous flashback.  He realizes that Kyle is more than just a best friend; Kyle is his brother.  He rushes back to the hospital, praying that God will at least be merciful enough to allow him to say goodbye.  When he gets there, he finds Kyle in a vegetative state, alive only because machines are keeping him that way.  When Gerald gives consent to pull the plug and Kyle dies, Stan loses his faith entirely.
After the conclusion of the flashback, Stan returns home, soaked by the rain, and is chewed out by his mother.  He retreats to his room once more, where he becomes very self-indulgent and begins looking at an old photograph of him with Kyle.  He suddenly hears Kyle call his name, and turns to look.  He sees Kyle standing there for a brief moment with a look of pity on his face, then the image is gone, which only exacerbates Stan's grief.  He falls asleep sitting at his desk, wondering if Kyle had died because of something he did wrong.
The next morning his mother yells at him again for sleeping at his desk and leaving his wet clothes on the floor.  He ignores her and takes off on his bike.  As he rides across town at breakneck speeds, flying through intersections without the slightest consideration for any cars that might be coming, he considers running away, as everything in his life reminds him of Kyle.  He is stopped as he encounters a funeral procession, which leads into the next flashback.
Stan shows up at Kyle's funeral completely disheveled and dirty.  He walks up to the casket and sees him laying there and goes berserk, screaming and having a fit.  He is led out of the parlor by Gerald and Randy, who try desperately to calm him down.  He is given a heavy sedative.  It is this, combined with his exhaustion and grief, that causes him to sleep for the better part of two days.  He misses Kyle's burial, which he blames himself for.
Returning the focus to the present, Stan rides home after seeing the funeral procession and is chewed out by his parents.  They accuse him of being a selfish brat, and Shelley celebrates this turn of events by punching him.  As he lays in bed, he ponders this.  He has never been accused of being selfish before, and isn't sure what Kyle would think of the way he has been behaving.
That night, he dreams of Kyle.  He is sitting in their old third grade classroom.  Stan is at his old desk, and Kyle is standing at the front of the room.  Kyle writes the word SELFISH on the chalkboard and asks Stan what it means.  When Stan cannot come up with a satisfactory answer, Kyle writes the entire definition on the chalkboard.  Kyle then accuses Stan of being selfish and encourages him to cheer up and stop causing everyone to worry about him.  When Stan expresses how much he misses him, and how he never got to tell him how much he cared, Kyle hugs him and tells him he already knew.
When Stan wakes up, his mood is better.  He realizes that Kyle is watching over him, that this is indeed an afterlife, and that Super Best Friends never say goodbye, even in death.  As the story concludes, Stan sits at Stark's Pond with a long-stemmed rose in his hand.  He tells Kyle he loves him and places the rose in the water.  As he watches the sunset, he thinks he feels someone put an arm over his shoulders and realizes that everything is going to be okay.
==Reception==
Reviews of the story have been overwhelmingly positive, with some readers even claiming that the story helped them deal with losing people in their own lives.  To date, it has gained over 70 reviews and has been viewed over 5,000 times.
==Errors==
The story contains some factual errors and inconsistencies, some the fault of the author and some due to the changing nature of the show itself.  One example of this is Kyle's funeral, which is not at all like a Jewish funeral should be.  At a Jewish funeral, the body is never seen and the burial usually happens within twenty-four hours.  In the story, Kyle's body is clearly on display, as Stan sees it in the flashback and loses control.  Also, at the beginning of the story, Stan expresses regret that he never said "I love you" to Kyle.  While this was true in 2008 when the story was written, this has happened more than once since then, leading to inconsistencies with the official canon.
==References==
The story contains many references to past South Park episodes, movies, and other media.  The scene in which Stan stands on the footbridge, then walks home as it begins to rain is a direct reference to the season 8 episode "Raisins".  The scene in which Stan shows up at Kyle's funeral and loses his composure upon seeing his friend's body is a reference to the 1991 film My Girl starring Macaulay Culkin.  There are also many stated references to past episodes, including "Kenny Dies", "Trapped in the Closet", 'Cherokee Hair Tampons", and others.  The scene at the end where Stan sits by Stark's Pond and feels Kyle's arm over his shoulders is also a reference to the opening scenes of the season 9 premier episode "Return of Chef".
==External links==
*"The Day Kyle Slipped Away" on FanFiction.Net
*The Day Kyle Slipped Away, the YouTube video the story was based on.
Category:Fanfiction on FanFiction.Net
Category:Fanfics Dealing with Drama/Angst
Category:Fanfics Dealing with Tragedy
Category:Songfics
Category:Fanfiction by Ben Barrett