He's Not Okay - DNF

Five: Charlton

The entirety of next week was tense for them all, cooped up in their science classroom on the third day without Karl as the class was about to be interviewed by police.

"We would not like to cause alarm in the class, but I am sure most of you are aware of the sudden disappearance of our dear friend, Karl." The teacher began, deciding that it would be better for them to introduce the class to the policemen before letting them take over. "These detectives have been informed and wish to proceed with a class interview, followed by individual interviews with a select few of you, is that understood?"

The class nodded, George and Sapnap being the only ones to hesitate with theirs.

Dream supressed the urge to shake his head: they've already made themselves suspects.

The teacher at the front stepped to one side, letting one of the two police officers take their place in speaking to the students.

"Good afternoon all - my name is Officer Charlton and I am one of the investigators of this missing person case. I would like to assure you that we will not be accusing anybody of anything unless we have concrete evidence that links back to you."

Oh, how reassuring.

"I would like to start by asking if anybody had seen Karl on campus on the morning of August 23rd?"

Three people raised their hands, one being Dream.

Dream was asked first.

"Where and who, if anybody, did you see him with?" The officer asked, their companion shifting a pen in their hand as they readied themselves to take notes.

"I saw him walking down the maths corridor whilst I was heading over to science. He was with George," He could feel the brunettes gaze staring at him, most likely scared that his best friend might betray him and tell the police everything. Obviously, Dream wasn't going to do that, but he understood his friends concern.

"What about the last of you two?" The officer asked the other students, one of them mumbling how they saw the same as Dream, followed by the other adding on that they saw George and Karl go into the downstairs male restroom. The unnamed officer noted it down, Charlton nodding along to what he was being told with a raised brow. "And... who might George be?"

The student turned to look behind them, George staring right back at the student before glancing up at the officer. "That would be... me," he murmured, making Dream scream internally.

He's acting so guilty - he's gonna get us all arrested.

Sapnap seemed to have the same thought, as he could see the raven roll his eyes from the far end of the room.

The police officer raised an eyebrow, taking a step around the desk in front of him to come closer to the boy. "I'm guessing you were the last person who saw him... why didn't you put your hand up?"

George gulped, head whirring in an attempt to come up with an answer to what would've been an easy question if he wasn't the reason Karl was 'missing'.

"Please excuse him, Officer. I think he's a little shaken up at the fact that he was the last person to see him in this class." Dream interjected, the man in uniform looking at him with a questioning look, obviously suspicious of the dynamic going on, but still managed to try and understand.

"I see... I apologise for my previous question - would you rather do this in private?"

George glanced at his two friends.

"May I bring my friends with me? For moral support."

---

"You are all close friends with Karl Jacobs, yes?" They began, now in a separate room from the class - a meeting room often used for teacher conferences and very rarely entered by students.

Dream and Sapnap nodded, George refraining from doing so as he assumed it would be obvious: it was the whole reason the police wanted to speak with him.

"Alright. Then you wouldn't mind telling us any information we may need?"

George nodded this time, along with both of his friends who now seemed more relaxed that George was finally starting to act less suspicious.

The officer nodded, wasting no time in beginning his interrogation. "Were you and Karl considered very close?"

George nodded.

"How close?"

George crossed his fingers.

"Don't talk much, do you?"

"No... I think I'm just scared that my hunch on what happened to Karl is true."

Charlton raised a brow. "And what is that hunch?"

"I think he ran away, sir."

Dream refrained from showing his shock through body language, impressed but also concerned at how good George seemed to get so suddenly. Sapnap seemed to be a little more obvious in his thoughts, as he side glanced George quite obliviously.

"Ran away, huh?" The officer questioned, glancing behind himself to make eye contact with his comrade as they noted down important information. "What makes you think that?"

There was silence as the brunette cleared his throat.

"He always had family issues... He never told me what, but I knew it led him to doing some pretty awful things - he used to smoke almost a packet a day at one point. He always told me the only person he could trust was... me-"

"So you're suggesting he ran away because of his home-life?"

George shook his head. "I think it was my fault - we got into a really bad argument and I think it might've been the tipping point." Tears began to fall from his eyes, meanwhile, his friends were in shock. "I feel so awful about it - all I can do is blame myself, it's why I couldn't answer for a while and-"

"It's okay, son, we understand. This isn't your fault, arguments happen all the time, but thank you for the information." Charlton interrupted, facial expression turned completely sympathetic as he placed a hand on George's shoulder. "We'll be sure to find your friend in no time - we hope he is safe when we find him, you will be one of the first to be notified, I promise you that." He turned to look at his partner, silently nodding his head before nodding a goodbye to the three teenage boys, leaving them alone in the room.

And alone in the room they were, silence shrouding the atmosphere as George fiddled with his hands, his two friends sat either side of him, sandwiching the boy with their accusing glares.

"Care to explain where you pulled that story from?" Sapnap broke the tension first, the brunette turning to look directly at the raven-head.

"What do you mean-"

"You know exactly what I mean! What was that whole mind-fuck that you just played on that cop? On the spot!"

Dream nodded in agreement with Sapnaps concerns, waiting more patiently for their friends answer as to why and how they were able to come up with such a story on the spot.

George only shrugged, standing from his seat and picking up his red varsity jacket from the back of his chair (the one Dream had given him to cover his bloody shirt). "I guess adrenaline was running through me - made me come up with things I wouldn't usually come up with, I guess..." He explained half-heartedly, gaze down to the floor as he made his way out of the room.

All the while, Sapnap and Dream exchanged looks - tired, confused and scared.