Muffled words

23

TWs- sensory overload, mentions inconsensual kissing, injury, bl00d.

Clay's POV

I couldn't find George.

Both him and Karl were gone- when they left I wasn't sure and where they went even less so. Concern was staring to flood through the anger I still felt, going from room to room to make sure I didn't miss them. The last time I saw George was trying to pull away from Sapnap, and seeing as that wasn't exactly a positive situation I was terrified that he had gone somewhere unsafe. I had screamed at Nick until he was sobbing, running out of the house with tears on his face. Not George. I mean a lot of it had been too much to remember as anything less than a blur- but no regrets passed through my mind.
An unusual rage had taken over me when I saw George's attempts to escape being ignored. I had watched the way he struggled, pushed at Nick's chest with his hands and tried desperately to twist his head away. And at first I had frozen, disbelief that my best friend of years was doing that, forcing someone into something despite how much he had claimed to care for them. But quickly my voice called to break the dreadful moment, and the burning fury behind everything in my body did it's worst.

But was it's worst too far?
If I ended up scaring away both George and Karl, surely it wasn't worth getting rid of Sapnap. No matter how bad what he did was.

So I just had to try and find them.

Any texts I sent were left on delivered, and the calls I made went to voicemail after 1 ring. George was clearly ignoring me intentionally, but at least the declining showed me that he was alive and safe.

There was no use continuing to try getting an answer so I gave up, sighing and letting myself fall back down on the bed. I might as well get some sleep..

George's POV

Karl led me through empty pavements, pulling me behind him with fast-paced steps. The late time meant close to no one was outside, the gentle amber of streetlights leading the way to our lack of destination. His hand stayed wrapped around mine as we hurried past random buildings, staying as close to one another as we could manage. There was no reason to rush- but we didn't even stop to think about where we were going.
Clay's shouted words were still ringing in the back of my head, my eyes were still burning with drowsiness and tears, and the sting on my scalp where Nick pulled my hair still lingered as if I had welcomed it. Lights flashed repeatedly by, lampposts and lonely cars and shop windows.

I didn't even know where we were, everything had just become a blurry mess of lights and noises and pavements and cars- my feet stumbled, eyes searching desperately for something I could recognise as normal. But I couldn't see anything, Karl was moving too quickly, and my feet couldn't keep up so I just tripped and wobbled, almost falling over repeatedly, not noticing the tears before they were running down my cheeks as I kept following and following until I knew I had to stop...and once I did I couldn't keep walking.

The hand on mine pulled, hurting my already weak shoulder. But my body had frozen where it was, and I couldn't make myself keep going. Even though I was standing completely still the images of the world around me span, waving and moving in front of me like water. Stop, stop, stop, stop, I couldn't focus. Even though I had finally stopped running my ability to calm down only grew smaller. Karl was saying my name, forcing his voice quiet as if that would make a difference. It couldn't. All the noises around us were rushing through my ears, completely overwhelming all my senses. The lights got brighter, my breathing got louder, and every rustle or snap was amplified by a million.

"George! It's me. I'm still here!" I know you're still here, I know where I am, I just don't like it. He kept calling my name to try and calm me down, but it only added to the noise that was already buzzing in my head and looped repeatedly. When he took my other hand in his I snatched them both back, pressing my palms against my ears.