Warning: Physical abuse, physical violence, blood, verbal abuse, misunderstandings, self-doubt
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10 minutes later, George had moved to a less visible corner of the room, trying to process what had recently occurred.
On the outside, he was fairly quiet and content. On the inside, however, he had internalized that the whole incident was all his fault and that if he were a better musician, maybe Paul wouldn’t be so angry at him.
Maybe Paul was right.
Maybe he didn’t deserve to play among these absolute legends.
Maybe he wasn’t good enough.
He began to whisper to himself: “Not good enough” on repeat, trying to make sure that he absolutely knew that he knew.
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Some time later, Geoff Emerick had noticed George whispering alone in the corner. This made him wonder what had happened on his coffee break, and why Paul had left the room.
He left the booth in search of answers.
On his way to the studio, he found a shaken up Paul, angrily crying at himself.
“Paul? Did someone hurt you?”
“George… I didn’t mean to- I...”
“Hey, don’t worry.” Geoff said, reassuringly. “I’ll take care of it, ok?”
Paul nodded, still looking down at his hands, and Geoff stormed into the recording booth.
“GEORGE? WHAT DID YOU DO TO PAUL?”
George sat straight up, shaking like a leaf in a storm.
“I...I don’t know what he told you, but I swear-”
Geoff had moved to that corner of the room, standing menacingly over George, ready to strike at any minute.
“You hurt him, didn’t you?”
“No! I swear! We just, we had a misunderstanding, and Paul was angry. Trust me.”
“I can’t trust you. You know this.”
“Well, if it helps, I know it was my fault.”
Geoff grabbed George by the collar of his shirt and slammed him into the wall furiously.
“So you ADMIT to hurting Paul!”
“I didn’t hurt him, but I did piss him off.”
Geoff’s grip on George’s neck tightened, and George could feel his anxiety worsen.
“Now. let me make something very clear to you.” Geoff angrily whispered. “You are not to disrespect Paul the way you did ever again.”
“But-”
Geoff punched George in the nose hard, and George was almost certain he heard it crack.
“LET ME FINISH. You are not to EVER disrespect anyone in this band ever again!”
“How did I-”
“SHUT UP.” Geoff yelled, forcefully covering George’s mouth with his hand, scratching at his cheeks. The blood from George’s nose gushed onto Geoff’s hand, only enraging him more.
“HOW DARE YOU?” Geoff yelled, throwing George onto the ground. “I TOLD you to NEVER DISRESPECT. ANYONE. EVER. AGAIN.”
At the pauses, Geoff kicked George with brute force while he was still on the ground. He ended up getting kicked in the arms, stomach, legs, and even in his left eye.
Ringo audibly cringed from the other side of the door, just waiting for it all to end.
Geoff delivered one last kick to his throat before grabbing George by his fingers and holding him up like a fish on display at a market.
“Listen to me.” Geoff grumbled. “If this gets out, if you tell ANYONE about what happened here, it will get worse. Much. Worse. You keep quiet and keep your head down, understand?”
George weakly nodded.
Geoff threw him back onto the ground and kicked his forehead once for good measure before leaving and slamming the door angrily.
George curled up on the floor, wanting so desperately to cry out for someone to help.
In the end, however, he just shakily stood up and invited everyone back in to record the next song.
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Hunter in the Butterfly
FanfictionPaul has enough of George's seemed incompetence, but when he accidentally goes too far in showing his frustration, George feels as though no one has his back. He tries to deal with the situation alone, but Brian pays too much attention to context cl...
