Is This True Love? (DNF)

Chapter 31: Panic Attack

Karl POV.

Quietly I walked up the stairs of Niki’s house, not knowing how to deal with a person having a panic attack but assuming that Jimmy would be decent enough to send me instructions. I walked into the guest room, which Jimmy had directed me to. Slowly I opened the door and saw the brunette sobbing on the floor.

After taking a moment to get into character I walked over to him, a caring smile on my face as I settled on the ground beside him. “George? Sweetheart? Are you okay?” I knew the moment I said it that I shouldn’t have called him ‘sweetheart’, yet unfortunately I wasn’t able to try again since I didn’t have that kind of job.

He was just shaking and sobbing, not saying anything as I gave a sympathetic smile. My hands moved to him, cautiously pulling him to me so that I could comfort him in a warm hug. I hushed him, managing to quieten the annoying sound of sobbing as it just went to sniffles. “George… what’s wrong?” I asked.

“I… I…” He couldn’t say much, just turning to rest his cheek on my shoulder. The dampness of his tears reached my shirt and it made me disgusted at the word feeling of warmth. The shudder that was building up at the feeling managed to disperse and I continued to watch him.

From my earpiece I heard Matthew, one of Jimmy’s employees, whispering out some things that I should say. “Don’t worry George.” I kept my tone calm. “I know that you don’t know how to tell me what’s wrong, but I promise you that I will be able to help you.”
George let out a pathetic whimper. “You’ll judge me…” He muttered. “You’ll tell people.”

A hand moved to rest on my chest, sending out an offended gasp, yet still my voice stayed low. “I would never tell anyone, and I would never judge you George. You are my best friend.”
“Well… I was thinking about what happened.” He muttered, his gaze lowering as he fidgeted with his hands in front of him. “Y’know… when we were kids… at the… at the ocean.”

I let out an ‘oh’, knowing exactly what he was talking about. The day when Jimmy’s father wrote Techno and Quackity out of the show. The two of them were his other best friends when we were growing up, but Jimmy’s father wanted to make a way of keeping George on the island.

It had been a decision between the three of us (myself, Quackity, and Techno), the original creator of the show wanted to kill off two of us to scare George away from the water. I ended up being the one lucky enough to stay, meaning that I would be able to further my career on the show while they had to go back to life outside of the show.

Techno has grown quite successful as the star of a drama called ‘The Blood God’. It is about a warrior who lives in his own icy solitude and is trying to take down the corrupt government of a nearby country that some of his family betrayed him for. Quackity however has developed a gambling addiction, being frequently spotted at different casinos.

“I just keep… keep feeling like it is my fault.” He said, sniffling. “I should have told them to… to go back. But I didn’t…” He trailed off, hiding his face in my shirt and I sighed, knowing that I would have to have it cleaned when I got hom.
I kept my voice soft. “George, that wasn’t your fault. None of it was your fault.”

“But… b-but…” He stammered out, sounding tired and pitiful. "They could've…"
"Anything could've happened.” I told him. “You aren’t to blame for anything. You don’t have to worry about this, you don’t have to feel guilty.”
“B-but I can’t even go near deep water.” He muttered. “I feel so guilty.”

He sighed and shuddered, not saying anything and I looked away. Much to my shock he continued. “B-but maybe I have been hating myself too much.”
“What?” I asked, since the suddenness of his words made me concerned, it seemed like an epiphany which was on the horizon.

"Maybe I should stop punishing myself." He said, with a mutter. "I miss out on so many different activities. This island is basically a prison." Oh shit…
"There are not many things you've missed off of this island." I tried to insist.

He took a second to dry his tears. "What about your 21st birthday at Disneyland? Or when Sapnap entered that skating competition in New York? Or your parents' wedding?" I winced as he listed those things, only three out of dozens of examples. "I missed those important events. I should've been there for you all."

"George, you don't need to worry about that." I reassured. "We understand what it is like for you and we help you. I brought you a souvenir from my birthday, remember? And we filmed Sapnap’s skating competition." The brunette nodded uncertainly. "So it doesn't matter, we'll always include you."

From my ear the voice of one of the directors flared up, when Jimmy wasn't managing us another person was. "Karl… be careful…" It was a woman's voice. The woman knew what could happen if George got over his fear of water, everyone did. He could try to leave the island, exposing everything to him.

And that could mean we'd have to do something else to keep him afraid of leaving. Maybe someone he's close to would get sick… or die… I hoped that wasn't the case, I didn't want to be written off the show just after Fundy got written off, at least I wasn't caught cheating first though. I was loyal to Sapnap.

"Plus, Fundy is still here." He stood up, stretching himself after sitting on the carpet for a while. "I don't want to live here with that cheating… scum."
"Tell him that Fundy is leaving."
"Actually from what I heard, Fundy is planning on moving out of town."

That shocked him. "Really?" He asked, and I merely nodded.
"Yes it's all over the ChatR's town chat logs. Or rumours of it at least, he's been quiet though." I saw the way he thought about what I had said.
"I… I guess that's good, but I still could go." Wait? No.

"But why? Fundy’s going! You won't have to see him ever again." I reminded him.
"Well even if that's the case I could still get over my fear of water." George admitted, taking slow breaths to calm himself. “Even if I won’t run into Fundy I could still go and explore the world. You’ve done it.”

“Why would you go though? Everything you need is in this town.” I spoke, exasperated. “Truth be told, my trips out of town weren’t worth it. I missed you George.” My hand moved to hold his back, rubbing it caringly before a voice echoed from downstairs.
“George?” Clay called out. “We’re home!”
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1206 words

Now since George is thinking of going off the island they'll have to kill someone else off to scare him again 🤷‍♀️