Shot in Love and Crime (DNF)

Chapter 60: The party

George POV.

“Where are we going Karl?” I questioned, my gaze jumping from one thing to the other as we drove through the streets. It was past 5pm, meaning that rush hour was well underway. But we’d left the heart of the city, and were now in an urban neighbourhood where the only cars around were residents returning to their home.

He hadn’t spoken to me for the past five minutes, which was mainly me repeating the question, asking where we were going, but the entire time he had a bubbly look on his face. I didn’t know what to think at this point because this could go any number of ways.

After having slept until noon, almost having my stomach explode at the buffet restaurant at lunch, getting a couple of bruises on my arms at paintball, and buying more things at the mall than I have in years, I was understandably exhausted. All that I wanted to do was go home and sleep until tomorrow, when I’d definitely be told to do more work.

Once we’d finished loading up the car with all of our shopping I expected we’d have headed straight home, however we were driving in the opposite direction to the mansion, heading to the opposite side of the city.

“Are you taking me out into the middle of nowhere to murder me?” I asked, which got him to break his silence with a loud laugh.
“No. Do you really think I’m the type to kill you in the middle of nowhere?” He questioned, and I gave him a confused look, since after all he was a member in the mafia who is trained to kill.

I went back to staring out the window, but as I looked around I couldn’t help but notice some of the surroundings were familiar. It wasn’t any particular building I recognised. It wasn’t anywhere near my old house, or near a friend's house, or near one of my old schools, or near an old job that I had.

So I tried to rack my brain, taking note of everything and trying to figure out how I recognised this place, but I could not think of any reasons as to why it was familiar as we kept passing houses, parks, and small shops. Karl was glancing at each and every street sign we passed anxiously, as if he was looking for the right way to go.

“Karl? Are you lost?” I questioned, just thinking it could be likely based on the confused way he was acting. He looked over at me and shook his head.
“No.” He replied, although he didn’t sound entirely confident. “I was just told to come this way and I haven’t been here before, just looking for street signs.”

“Oh, okay then.” I responded, finding myself turning to look up at all the passing street signs coming my way after he had mentioned them. “What street are you looking for? I could help you find it.”
“No need.” Karl answered, “it’s here.”

The car turned right, down a street that was even quieter than the one we were currently on. I still knew this place from somewhere, but still couldn’t think where it was from. I felt like I’ve driven up and down these roads dozens of times. And it didn’t feel like coincidence that Karl knew that.

“We’re here.” Karl suddenly announced, causing my eyes to widen as I realised that I had lost myself in thought.
I blinked a couple of times as I stepped out of the car before taking a look around before feeling my breath catching itself in my throat, making me unable to breathe for a moment.

We were at a park. But not just any park. It was the park that Clay always used to take me to, back when we were dating in high school. That’s where I recognised the area from, Clay driving us to this park for picnic dates. I could see Karl smiling from the corner of my eyes as I walked around, smiling brightly at the familiarity of this place.

This was the main car park for the park. Trees surrounded us from three sides, with the only exposed side being the road that we had come from. Between two particularly tall trees was a dirt path, which I had walked down hundreds of times. Without waiting for me Karl hurried off down the path, and I followed after him.

On either side of the path were more plants and trees. It was warm, despite the fact it was near the end of November, and birds were still flying around. I took in the sights, smells, and sounds as we walked, feeling floods of memories coming back to me of every time that me, Clay, and the rest of our friend group came here over our high school years.

But despite all the familiarity there was one thing I was eager to see. In a clearing near the centre of the park was a hill, with a giant silverleaf maple growing on top. Clay had brought me here after our first date. It was where we had our first kiss, on a sunny night just like it was tonight. It was almost as if the world wanted to replicate that evening… although without Clay.

The two of us reached the clearing, before my eyes widened as I saw what had been set up. A table was at the bottom of the hill, still managing to catch the shade from the leaves of the tree overtop. On the table was food of all different types; bowls of candy, bags of chips, boxes of pizza, along with others.

In the very centre of the table, elevated slightly above the rest was a cake with six tiers on it and smothered with chocolate and vanilla icing and whipped cream. At the very top was a cake topper reading ‘Happy Birthday!’ in blue and silver letters, and candles of the same colours.

Karl took my hand and led me closer, so I was standing directly in front of the cake with the lit candles before loudly beginning to sing happy birthday. My face flushed slightly as he did, after all it was always awkward when people sang happy birthday. Some other people joined in with the singing though, and that creeped me out.

Above the two of us, standing on the hill were several members of the mafia, including Bad, Sapnap, and most surprisingly Dream. Standing alongside the three of them was Alex, who was beaming brightly. The other people might have been smiling too, but their masks covered all of their mouths so I couldn’t see.

When they finished the song and I blew out the candles they cheered, as though they were celebrating a friend's birthday instead of the birthday of someone that they kidnapped. I was wondering why they were even doing anything special but decided not to question it.

All of them walked down the hill to where we were standing, Karl wrapped his arms around me in a hug, and Alex and Bad both did the same when they reached us. Sapnap and Dream hung back as the other three wished me happy birthday, and then the blond eventually cleared his throat.

“You guys can talk later,” he stated, glancing at all four of us from under the mask. “But first we should grab some food. I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”
Those of us who were all hugging agreed with him, turning and grabbing from the stack of paper plates before beginning to pile food up for themselves.

There was enough food here for at least twenty people, possibly even more than that and I wondered why they spent so much money on me. But those questions and wonder-ings could wait, after all, the pizza would go cold soon, and there was a lot of it.

So I hid all my thoughts and feelings and worries as I joined Karl, Alex, Bad, and Sapnap as we all grabbed ourselves some food, all the while with Dream watching us without saying anything.
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