Is This True Love? (DNF)

Chapter 60: TikTok

George POV.

As I sat against the rough bark of the tree I sobbed, since the blond had said a lot of stuff which dug up my past. I mean there was still the small slither of possibility that he had been lying, having dug up this story by looking through this journal. Yet I doubted that that was the case, just continuing to sob.

“I’m sorry…” My gaze drifted up when I heard his voice, seeing Clay standing there with guilt written all over his face. He didn’t dare to look directly at me, keeping his gaze down. “I know that what I told you isn’t something people would want to hear.”

The blond stood there for a few minutes, not knowing what he should say or do. “I’m just wondering…” I began. “Like… how wouldn’t I know that I’m on a show?”
“You were born onto the show.” Clay explained. “You’ve just never known anything different. The entire town is in on it.”

“The whole town?” My eyes widened at the thought. The idea that I was the centre of everyone’s life. I didn’t believe it. “Even Karl? And Fundy? And my parents?” Clay just nodded at me, and I began sobbing louder. He didn’t say anything, yet he moved to sit next to me and I found myself leaning on him.

“I don’t know what I can say other than I am sorry. You didn’t deserve to live like this.” Cautiously Clay’s hand moved to brush through my hair. At the moment I needed the touch, craving some comfort from the blond, who I felt was the only person that I could trust at the moment. 

He continued to run his fingers through my hair, a silent sign of calmness and reassurance. I was allowed to continue crying for as long as I needed, and when I finally stopped with a shaky breath I looked over at him. “I just feel so stupid,” although I wasn’t sobbing as loudly I was still sniffling and rubbing my eyes. “How could I have never noticed?”

“I don’t-” He couldn’t come up with anything to say. “You don’t deserve this George. You don’t deserve to live life like this, as entertainment.” We fell back into silence again, with me thinking it over for a few minutes.

“Do you… do you think that you could show me?” I asked, shuffling over closer to the blond, my head moving to rest on his shoulder.
“Show you what?” He asked me in response. His hands had moved to hold me, with them clutching one another around my waist.

“The show… if I am part of a show then you’ll have footage… right?” I took a moment to glance away and think. “It will help convince me and get rid of any other doubts. Plus I want to know what it would look like…” He pulled a phone out from his pocket and unlocked it for me. Then he passed it over after he’d opened a new app, one I had seen before.

It had a music note logo in black and white, with highlights in other colours. The name ‘TikTok’ ran underneath it. Once it loaded I looked at the first video that popped up, it was something about a cat, and I just sat confused. “This isn't me?” I hummed, and Clay quickly realised this as he moved to click on the magnifying glass icon.

He typed up my name before pressing ‘search’, and the screen was immediately filled with pictures of me. I paled, seeing every doubt that I had flushing away. Slowly I tapped on one of the videos seeing the screen grow bigger. It was an interaction from a week or so ago, between myself and Clay.

The two of us were in bed, talking and cuddling with one another. Words were littered around the screen, saying how cute we were and a ‘#relationshipgoals’ I looked over the video, watching it repeat a few times before my finger graced along the screen and swiped my finger up, going to the next video.

It was a bunch of different images of me, surrounded by emojis and a catchy song that I hadn’t heard before. This repeated for the next video I scrolled on to, then the next, then the next, and then the next. It just went on and on in a never ending cycle. Eventually my eyes began to blur and Clay took the phone from my hand.

“I think that is enough.” He muttered as he turned it off and slipped it back into his pocket. “You seem to have gotten the picture.” After confiscating the phone he stayed silent, as did I. It felt weird seeing those videos of me and I began panicking. The idea that the whole world knew about my life was scary, it made me paranoid.

The blond didn’t make any effort to speed up my crying and my mourning, instead just holding me and letting me sob until my face ached and had no tears left. “I still don’t know what to think. What to do.” my head was lowered.
“We can leave.” Clay suggested.

I was unsure, but he continued. “We could leave the show, leave this dome for good. You could come and live with me. Just the two of us, living together, without anyone to get in between the two of us.” His hand moved to stroke the side of my face.

My breathing continued uneasily, with me glancing around with paranoia. The cameras that had been recording my life were in every place imaginable. Hidden in lamps, corners of ceilings, within the dots of ‘i’s on signs, in hollow trees. They could be hidden out here as well, anywhere I was looking could be a camera showing every ounce of fear and pain.

“Yes.” I answered him. “I want to be able to go. I don’t want to live in this… you called it a dome?... my whole life.”
“Exactly.” He grinned. “You and me. We can travel the world together, become the ultimate power couple.” Clay took the opportunity to kiss the side of my face.

“But how will we get out?” I went on to question. “I doubt they’d let us walk out the front door of this place, or whatever they have.”
“Don’t worry.” Clay responded. “Let’s just stay here for a few minutes. You can relax and I will deal with it. I promise that I’ll take care of you.”

His words comforted me, and I allowed myself a brief smile as I moved to lean into him.
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