Is This True Love? (DNF)

Chapter 62: Town Meeting

Karl POV.

The crowd continued to grow around the park, leaving not much legroom for anyone else. This caused many of us to not have room to breathe. A woman bumped into me and gasped out an immediate apology. I turned to glare at her before my gaze snapped back to Sapnap. “I wish they gave us more space.” I spoke pointedly. “So we don’t have to touch the extras.”

“I understand.” He murmured, brows furrowing as he said it. “But if we want to remain the stars then we have to help out with finding George.” I groaned out in annoyance, loudly enough to catch the attention of many of the people who were around me.
“We have people who can do this.” Despite not saying anything it was clear Sapnap agreed.

The crowd still grew, people ended up having to gather on the streets in order to hear. We were all standing around an open stage, one that was used for performances during Christmas and on national holidays. Unfortunately we were unable to convince any of the extras to move and let us sit down.

Jimmy appeared on the stage from the small side room and a wave of silence ran through the town. Despite the fact that he had the most to lose from George and the show he had a stoic expression. “Hello everyone…” he began. “I’m sorry to interrupt your days and call you out here.”

Yet he didn’t continue to organise the group, instead Kris stepped forward and talked into the old crackly microphone. “Okay, so I want everyone to get into pairs. We will send you to different areas around the woods off of the island and you will work together to find Clay and George so we can get our show back up and running.”

There was a brief ripple of eagerness running through the crowd, a few excited murmurs passed back and forth between people. This time Nolan spoke up. “We are all very thankful that so many people agreed to help us look for George to save our show.”

“We plan on giving each pair a needle with some drugs which will knock George out and leave him forgetting what happened over the past few days.” My brows furrowed, that honestly sounded dangerous. Especially given Sapnap’s track record he could easily end up stabbing himself and forgetting our last few days of relationship.

I’d tuned out of the conversation, truth be told, no longer caring about what Jimmy, Kris, Chandler, Nolan, and all of the others were saying. My head rested on Sapnap’s shoulder, honestly considering having a rest while I was packed in among these bodies.

But then my phone began vibrating my pocket and my eyes blew open wide. It wasn’t loud enough that the whole crowd could hear, yet some of the people directly around me turned to glare, auras of their own self-importance emanating. The few heads turning to me drew even more attention, and then more, spreading outwards.

As embarrassment flooded over me I pulled the phone from my pocket, and all that I could do was let out a noise of shock as George’s name appeared on my screen. A couple of people saw my screen and quickly the name ran through the crowd, spreading like a virus would. After getting over the initial shock I lifted the phone to my ear.

“George?” My voice wasn’t silent, nowhere close to silent, yet it was still loud enough to have half the town look at me at the murmur of his name.
“Hey Karl.” He responded, and despite the fact that nobody else could hear our conversation it felt as though everyone was attempting to strain to hear.

“Where are you? I was worried since Niki said that you and Clay ran off.” I immediately fell into character, even going so far as to smile on the phone as I turned to look at the ground. Despite how talented of an actor I was, I couldn’t keep my composure with a couple thousand people watching me in person.

“I’m sorry but I can’t tell you that Karl.” His voice was monotone, seemingly full of regret and uncertainty. As I stood there I attempted to listen to what was going around him, trying to take note of what was around him. Admittedly it was a bit of a grasp, thinking that I would be able to figure it out from quiet background noise, yet I still tried.

“But George… I’m worried about you.” I took slow breathes as I spoke, trying to sound convincing and not annoyed and/or pissed. “Please, tell us where you are and Sapnap and I will be there to pick you up in five minutes.”
“I can’t Karl.” He responded through gritted teeth.

“We are worried George.” I glanced over at the stage, seeing that the group of four standing up there were all watching me. Jimmy was one of my best friends, and I was close to the other three as well. All of them felt worried for George and felt betrayed by Dream. I too shared in their frustration. “George please, I’m worried.”

“No you aren’t.” His voice turned harsher than he had been.
“What do you-” I was cut off as he answered quickly, tone continuing to rise.
“I know the fucking truth Karl! Clay told me! He told me about how this whole fucking island is fake and I want out!”

It felt like everyone heard what he had said, despite the fact that the phone was near silent and pressed right against my ear. From the look in Jimmy’s gaze I could tell that he knew, despite not being able to hear himself he was aware of what it was that George had said.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” My aura of confidence didn’t seem to convince him though as I continued to blabber out an excuse. “This isn’t a show… are you feeling alright? Perhaps you are sick.”
“I know I’m not sick.” He quickly replied.

“Are you sure? If you tell me where you are then we could pick you up and then go and get some warm soup.”
“No.” I could basically hear the tears running down his face, yet I wasn’t sure if I could trust it or not. Perhaps the tears were those of joy that he’d finally shattered the false reality.

“George plea-”
“Karl, don’t try and convince me of anything.” He firmly stated. “I don’t want to be manipulated by anyone anymore. I just want to be able to live my own life without people watching my every move. Is that too much to ask?”

On the other end of the call I heard a long sigh, but before I could add anything to the conversation he continued. “I always thought you were my best friend, but after what I’ve been told today I’m not sure. If you have any ounce of care for me Karl, then please tell me you’ll help me.”

I felt a tear. I couldn’t believe it, I never cried after all. It was just a single tear though, so perhaps it didn’t really count. “Clay told me it would be a bad idea to call you, but I had to try after all. I just feel so angry that I believed you really cared about me, but if you had you would have helped me out years ago.”

“George, we can talk about this.” I felt the eyes continuing to drill into me. It felt as though everybody who could see me was judging, knowing that I hadn’t been able to handle the situation. Sweat was beginning to run down my face as my grin turned into a snarl, annoyed that the brunette was being stupid.

“This is a goodbye Karl… to you and to this whole fucking show.” Then he hung up, and all I could do was slowly return my phone to my pocket as I looked over to Jimmy.
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1345 words