He's Not Okay - DNF

Three: The Bathroom Incident

"Did you hear that George and Karl fell out with each other?" Sapnap murmured to Dream as they walked into school the next day, tired and more than ready for the weekend ahead considering he had smoked a few joints just ten minutes before.

At least, they were excited about the weekend until Sap decided to drop the news to the blonde.

"What? Are they even capable of falling out?" He asked, incredulous expression on his face as he awaited an explanation from his best friend. He could tell that the curiosity was mutual, both confused by the fact that the inseparable, preppy boys were falling apart so suddenly: after years of a perfect friendship.

Sapnap shrugged. "Neither told me what it was about, but rumours say that they fell out during their English class - apparently George took some banter Karl came out with as serious and blew up."

Dreams brows furrowed, slowing his pace in his walking as he didn't want to get to class just yet. He wanted to get answers first. "Blew up?"

Sapnap nodded. "Yeah - apparently he turned bright red, shoved his desk over and started to yell at him. I knew the guy could be aggressive, but I didn't know he could go that far..." his voice trailed off in a lower tone as they neared larger friend groups, trying his best to avoid the chances of somebody eavesdropping and taking things out of context.

However, even with context, it still sounded bad.

"There's no way that's possible - like you said, it's probably just some rumours that people made up to start something interesting in this place," Dream tried to reason: whether it was to convince himself or Sapnap, he didn't know.

"I don't know, man... I did see George being escorted to the principles office at the time it allegedly happened."

Now that made things a lot more suspicious.

However, they didn't have time to talk more as they opened the door to their science class, ready to listen to whatever lecture the teacher had for them that day.

---

Dream couldn't focus for the entirety of the class, too fixated on the empty seats that sat in the middle of the class, gaze burning holes into the back of them as he seemed to accuse them of nothing in particular. His eyes felt dry and sore, void from blinking for what felt like only a minute, but was most likely the full class period.

Those two chairs - they were where Karl and George usually sat.

The two boys that never missed a class, especially without letting either him or Sapnap know beforehand so they could come up with an excuse for them.

It was odd - an occurrence that he never thought would happen even once in the groups time at high school, and it perplexed Dream so much that he didn't notice when the bell had rung to signal that first period had ended.

It was Sapnap that ended up having to snap him out of his trance.

"Dude? You good?"

"Where the fuck are they?" He answered almost straight away, taking his friend by surprise and, the raven offering him a look full of concern and worry (even in his half-high state, he could still tell something was off).

"Who-"

"Fucking George and Karl." He seethed, standing up from his desk, leaving his things in the class as he stormed out of the room (leaving Sapnap to pack his things for him). He didn't seem to care that he'd just left his friend for no logical reason, instead focusing on making a beeline towards the boys bathroom.

Why? He didn't know - he just had a sick feeling in his stomach that urged him towards that direction.

His best guess would've been instincts, and as he stood by the door to his desired location, hand resting on the handle, the sick feeling rose to his throat, suffocating him.

Just like it did in the 'nightmare' he had that one night.

His hand twisted, opening the door, and as his eyes gazed upon the tile flooring of the bathroom, he saw (much like on the floors of his kitchen) pools upon pools of blood.

New blood.

And almost as if on cue, he heard a strangled cry from across the room, darting his attention to look for the supposedly injured person.

Except, they weren't injured, they were fine.

The person on their lap, however... was less than fine.

"George..?" Dream whispered out, the acid in his stomach curdling and threatening to blow as he tried to keep his eyes locked with his best friend and away from the sight of the unidentified, dead body.

He tried not to stare at the blood spilling from George's mouth, trying his best to take in the still innocent features of his best friend; his soft, dark hair, his mismatched, crying eyes and his-

His blood filled mouth.

"D-Dream... I didn't mean to- I really didn't!" He whimpered out, holding back the heart-wrenching sobs that convulsed his body, sending his hands into shaking spasms along with his small shoulders.

Dream gulped, sealing his lips shut as he held back bile that secreted to the sides of his mouth, bitter taste worsening the situation at hand. "Do what, George?" He asked.

Although the answer seemed clear, he really wanted to deny it. Whatever explanation George gave him, it'd be better than believing what his mind was telling him at this moment.

"I-" George began to say, but cut himself off, staring at the wall behind the blonde to try and collect his scared mind. "I think I killed him, Dream. I think I killed Karl..."

Dreams breathe hitched, finally straining his eyes down to look at the mauled frame that lay across his best friends lap:

It was Karl.

His other best friend.

The boy began to shake himself, taking slow steps forward, feet dragging through the smudged blood on the floor, staring at the obvious chew marks on Karl's shoulder - torn apart in a way that almost brought vomit past Dreams lips (but for some reason, his body wouldn't allow it to come up).

"I really tried to stop it, Dream! I didn't want to do this to him," George began to try and reason with his friend, most likely scared of getting in trouble, losing his friend and the life he had ahead of him because of something he allegedly couldn't control. "I don't know what came over me - I just blacked out, like I was asleep and then-"

Dream dropped to his knees in front of the brunette.

"I just woke up and he was in my arms - I was swallowing something and I didn't realise what it was until it was too late and I-"

The blonde raised both of his hands, cupping George's jaw in a gentle and reassuring way, a way that made the boy halt his crying for just a second, finally meeting his gaze with Dreams.

They sat like that for a few moments, comforting them in a silence that attempted to distract them from the still bleeding body between them. George still sniffled, tears falling down his cheeks constantly, all while Dreams eyes stayed dry. He felt bad for not crying, but he assumed it was because his brain was still trying to process what was happening.

His thumb began to outline tiny circles on his friends jaw, giving the boy a weak smile and nod. "I can see it's not your fault - we can fix this." He reassured.

George shook his head. "You don't understand - s-something's wrong with me, Dream..."

Dream shook his head, using one of his thumbs to wipe the blood from the brunette's lips. "Don't think like that,"

The sound of the door swinging open startled the elder, shuffling uncomfortably in Dreams callous hands.

"What the fuck happened to Karl?"

George began to cry once more, and Dream only brought him closer.

"Nothing's wrong with you."