King of the Cell (DNF)

Chapter 51: Files (Pt 2)

George POV.
✨Seventeen years ago✨

“So George, are you in Wilbur’s class?” Philza asked as he drove through the busy streets, full of parents and school buses picking up students.
“Yeah I am.” I nodded. “I never realised that there was another British kid in class though, until today at least.”

“Where are you from?” The blond continued. “What part of Britain?” I began to explain where my family was from as we crawled through traffic, with Wilbur asking a lot of questions about what the UK was like, and differences between our schools and shops and stuff. Philza occasionally hushed him, but seemed curious about changes since he moved out of the country.

Wilbur seemed especially excited when Philza pulled up in front of my house, since it was apparently only a ten minute walk from his house. His father and him talked for a few moments, with Wilbur trying to convince the older blond to let him stay over to play. In response his dad said, “you’ve just met him, plus it’ll be rude to turn up uninvited.”

Both of us were slightly disappointed as I grabbed my backpack and climbed out onto the path in front of my house. “Maybe I can ask my parents and see if you could come over tomorrow.” I suggested, but I needn’t have bothered because my mother stepped outside as I did.

“George?” She asked, walking down the driveway curiously towards us. “I thought you were walking home? Who are these two?”
I glanced over my shoulder to look at her before smiling. “This is Wilbur, my friend from school, and this is his father.”

“You can call me Philza.” He introduced himself, climbing out of the driver's seat and reaching over to shake her hand, which she did.
“Nice to meet you Philza. My name is Ashley.” She responded. “Would you two like to come in and have some coffee?”

Philza seemed to consider it for a moment, ignoring Wilbur who was begging him to come in so that we could hang out a little longer. “I have to pick up Wilbur’s brother from Kindergarten in an hour, but a drink wouldn’t hurt.” He eventually concluded.

Wilbur let out a sound of excitement as he jumped out of the backseat and I motioned for him to follow me inside. The two of us giggled amongst ourselves as we ran to my room, with Wilbur taking in everything in my room as I asked what he wanted to do.

Both of us played a couple of games, both board games like Snakes and Ladders, and games we made up using lego and hotwheels. We immediately got annoyed since we were in the middle of a game, but the two of us were reassured that tomorrow my mother can pick us both up and we can hang out again.

That became normal for pretty much the next few years. We’d hang out most days after school, unless one of us had something else on. Occasionally we’d get a ride from our parents, but most of the time we’d walk together.

✨Present day✨

For years we were friends, but became more like family over time. He and Tommy were both like brother’s to me, and while sometimes they could drive me insane just like real brother’s did, I still cared about them. Philza and Kristan were like parents to me. Even nowadays, I care about them.

I barely paid attention to what the pair of blond’s were talking about. Being able to hear them talk, but not making out exactly what they were saying. It wasn’t until I felt the hand that was still holding Dream’s being squeezed lightly. For a couple moments I was confused before noticing that the blond had stood up beside me.

“Come on George.” He hummed. “The session is over and we have to meet up with the guys for lunch.”
I nodded and went to stand up before hearing Philza talk. “Actually I have something for George.” He stated. “I need to talk to him for a moment alone, if that’s alright with you Dream.”

The blond seemed slightly confused but nodded nonetheless. “Sure, I’ll wait outside.” He stated before walking out of the room, leaving me alone with Philza.
“So what did you want to talk to me about?” I questioned, watching as he watched to see if Dream was gone.

A couple of seconds passed before he looked over at me. “George, you can not trust Dream, at all.” He said firmly.
“Wait what?” I responded, feeling confused. “What do you mean I can’t trust Dream?”

“Look, I am not the most sure about what I’ve read in Dream’s file, and I still plan on calling his arresting officers and court members who were involved with his case, but it doesn’t seem good.” My expression furrowed at what he said.
“I still don’t understand what you are talking about.” I murmured.

Philza pulled a file out of his desk and handed it over to me, and I was surprised to see the name ‘Clay Smith’, since I didn’t know who that was. Once I flipped open the cover though I realised that it was Dream once I saw the photo of him.

“What’s this for?” I questioned, flicking through the pages which had headings such as ‘jobs’ and ‘education’. “Why are you showing me this?”
“Look at the last page with the police statement.” He instructed, and so I cautiously flicked to the last page like he told me.

I read it, my eyes narrowing as I went down each line. There were several paragraphs, each written by a different person, one was from the arresting officer, a couple were from psychological assessments, and some were from prison staff. All of them had the time and day they were written noted down.

Most of them all said something similar, about how Dream or ‘Clay’ was manipulative a lot of the time and was relatively untrustworthy and even violent. It said some more things which I didn’t think were as important, but I then saw the time and date stamp for the arresting officer.

He was arrested on the same morning that I was, on a street that was not too far from where I lived, well up until I was arrested. It confused me a lot, and I looked up to Phil for some sort of explanation. “I don’t understand.” I muttered. “Why are you showing me this?”
“Because you need to know that there is something up with Dream.” He responded.

Before I could ask anything else I was handed another file, this time I flipped open the front page to see Techno. Without being told, I flipped back to the police statement and began reading what it said, before noting that it was the exact same day and just a few hours apart from the blond’s arrest. The officer’s statements were nearly identical too.

“This doesn’t make sense.” I muttered. “How is it possible that all three of us were arrested on the same day from the same part of L’manburg?”
“I still don’t have all the details on that yet. I’ve been trying to find out more information though George.” He explained. “But all of this doesn’t feel coincidental.”

“What are you suggesting?” I asked him. “That two of the only people who have shown me any kindness and sympathy after I was falsely accused of the murder of my best friend have some dark incentive? That the people who protected me from all these creeps have a secret that’ll make me hate them? Dream looked after me after I was r*ped, and you are telling me that he-”

I was cut off as he shook his head, muttering something about how he didn’t know but telling me that he’d find a way to tell me if he found out. Before I could even ask any questions he told me that I needed to go and practically pushed nearly out of the office where I saw Dream waiting for me.

“Hey,” he greeted with a smile. “Are you ready for lunch?” He questioned, to which I wordlessly nodded before we headed down towards the first floor.
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