Chapter Text
“This feels like a dream.”
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It was cold. It always was, but this time it was a different type of cold. When you think of cold, you probably think about the weather, snow, winter, ice, and drinks. But not this time. This coldness was coming from inside of him. Travis. It was like a thermostat that was permanently there in the pit of his stomach, radiating all throughout his body, a coldness that he was never able to shut off. Never once. Not after everything he had been through. Never again.
His ears were ringing, he was tired. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! It was 5:00 A.M. on a Sunday. Sundays meant church. Church meant waking up early. How fun. He reached over to his side, hitting the top of his alarm clock so it would-
“SHUT THE HELL UP!” he had nearly screamed.
It tore through his vocals and came to his ears before he could even process what he had just said. Travis never liked loud noises, he could stand them, he just didn’t like the feeling of his ears being torn out, or at least that’s how he would normally describe it. So waking up to an alarm every morning was never a pleasant experience. He took a moment to lay down for a bit before slowly and groggily getting up and out of bed.
He looked around and adjusted his vision to see more clearly. It was hard to see with a black eye, believe it or not. His sights were the same every morning. A plain white room with a wooden closet, a bed with saturated green sheets, a cross hung up on the wall, a nightstand with only a lamp, a bible, and an alarm clock, a mirror hanging on the wall, his mothers….his mothers rosary hanging on the lamp, and sometimes, a little girl sleeping on the bed, or the floor next to him.
It was Mary, his younger sister; who was only seven years old. She had these brown, or what used to be brown, now blonde curls, which she always wore in two french braids, big brown eyes, olive skin, as well as the cutest damn face anyone had ever seen. She must’ve had either a rough night or a bad dream. It wasn’t uncommon to find her sleeping next to Travis. Travis was one of the only people the poor girl had ever trusted. Travis mellowed and his eyes softened. Her and Madeleine were the only people he ever cared for. Everyone else he hated with a burning passion. Mary looked cold, sick, tired, hungry, stressed, and scared all at the same time. Well, no wonder if you looked at the situation they lived in.
Travis gently shook the young girl awake. Quietly whispering,
“Mary…Mary come on..you have to wake up.”
The girl stirred, her face scrunching up and forming an uncomfortable expression. Understandable. But she really had to wake up, consequences were often severe in the Phelps household. He shook her harder but she still wasn’t waking up. Weird. Mary was a light sleeper. Travis was shocked she had stayed asleep with the alarm clock going off and him yelling minutes ago in the first place. Now he was getting a bit concerned. Travis yelled out the girl's name,
“MARY!”
And with that, the young girl shot up, her eyes wide, but before Travis could say anything, the girl yelled out.
“Please don’t hit me!” She flinched back and looked like she was bracing for impact.
“What? No, I’m not Father. I ain’t gonna hit you.” Travis said. But he knew why she flinched. All three of the Phelps kids did when something came too close or too quick. Flinch, brace for impact, forget it ever happened, repeat. There was only one reason why they had become used to it. Their father, Kenneth. It happened so often it was practically routine.
“You gotta’ get up for church.” He said. “Dad’ll kill you.”
“I knowwwwww….” The little girl moaned in a tired manner before slowly starting to rise.
Next thing you know, the girl was out of bed. She turned to Travis and asked him,
“Can you braid my hair?”
Travis rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“Go ask Madeleine. She’s probably in her room.”
Madeleine was their older sister, she was 20 years old. Now, she should have been in college, that is of course if Kenneth would have actually, oh i don’t know…LET HER GO? But no. She was forced to stay behind. She had to stay. She probably would have anyway. She never liked the idea of leaving Travis and Mary alone with Kenneth.
Mary then left the room, leaving Travis alone. Travis walked over to his closet and got out a pair of dress pants, a white button down shirt, a brown leather belt, and a black, silk tie. Travis quickly changed out of his pajamas, which barely even qualified as pajama’s, it was just shorts and a loose t-shirt. However as he was buttoning up his shirt, he looked into his mirror. His neck, hell, his whole body was covered in bruises and scrapes and bandages.
He was sore all over, but all he had to do was shut up about it and make it through the day. Not too difficult. He had done this a million times over. Why does it only feel like an issue now? Maybe it was his leg, which felt more tight than it should have been. But that couldn’t be it, that had happened a month ago at a track meeting…Maybe his arm? Well no..his arm felt just fine, just a bit tingly. It had likely just fallen asleep. All Travis knew is that he had a weird feeling about today. Little did he know what that feeling would bring on for him.
Travis opened the door and left his room. As he was walking down the hallway towards the staircase leading downstairs, he caught a glimpse of his older sister Madeleine, braiding Mary’s hair into two, neat french braids. They got along so well. Travis was jealous. They got to talk with each other more than Travis ever talked to either of them. He loved them. He really did. However he was still jealous. Jealous of the bond those girls had. Jealous of them being able to go to each other when they had problems. Well atleast, Mary could go to Maddie. Maddie wouldn’t often open up to the other two.
All three of the siblings had their problems, but there was one they shared all together. They were starving. Not for food, even though that was true on some occasions, but for love. They had all been treated horribly since the day they were born. Who wouldn’t be? Travis couldn’t even remember the last time he actually hugged someone, or vented, or even cared about someone else besides those two. Mary was so young she didn’t know how to handle the complex spider web of different needs, wants, desires, and just pure emotion. Madeleine was always the blame of everything, being the oldest. Often having to carry a lot of weight on her shoulders that Kenneth should be handling, but nope. It was Maddie. And it was exhausting for all of them.
Nonetheless, Travis kept walking until he reached the stairs. Now, oftentimes he had to lean on the railing; because of his injuries and whatnot. However, he thought that he’d be fine today without the rail. Boy was he wrong. He stepped onto the first step of the stairs, his foot slipped, and he ended up falling down the stairs.
“AH! SHIT!” He yelled out. Mary and Madeleine must’ve heard the ruckus coming from the stairs because Madeleine immediately yelled out.
“OH MY GOODNESS! TRAVIS!?” and both of the girls immediately rushed over.
Travis was at the bottom of the stairs, and he honestly looked passed out. What a way to wake up, huh?
SAL’S POV:
It was 8:30 A.M. when Sal woke up. Why had he woken up? Well, his cat, Gizmo, was pawing at him like crazy, which normally meant he was hungry or wanted attention from Sal. Sal sat up and rubbed the soft cat's belly, something only Sal could do without getting bit at by Gizmo. Not Larry, Ash, Todd, hell, not even his own dad could pet the cat on the stomach! The cat was very playful and full of energy this morning. A high contrast to how he normally was. Gizmo slept ALL THE TIME and only ever wanted attention sometimes in the afternoon, never in the morning. Especially this early in the morning.
Sal gently picked up the cat, placing the orange tabby to his side and out of the way so could get up to feed Gizmo. The blue haired boy walked over to Gizmo’s food bowl, but to his shock it was almost completely full. Sal had fed him the other night. You’re telling me that this big ass cat didn’t even take a nibble out of his food? Maybe his dad had fed him earlier this morning. That is, unless he had left for work at five in the morning, like he always did. So there was no way it was his dad who had fed him…real suspicious.
Sally walked over to his bedside table and put his hair in pigtails before he put on his prosthetic. It was a cool plastic against his face, or at least, what was left of it. Before opening his bedroom door and walking into the living room, to where he found his best friend, Larry, lounging on their couch. That was the culprit. It was him. He was the one who fed Gizmo!
“AHA! Caught ya’!” Sal yelled out.
Larry flinched in response, not expecting Sal to be behind him.
“Woah there dude! Don’t scare me like that!” Larry relaxed a bit, seeing that it was Sal.
“What are you doing in my apartment?!” Sal yelled, but there was no real aggression in his voice.
“Just stopping by,”
“At eight thirty? In the morning?! If you’re gonna break into my apartment, at least make it believable.”
“Sorry, man.” Larry sighed.
“So did you feed Gizmo this morning?” Sal asked.
“Hm? Gizmo? No. I didn’t. The only reason why I'm here is because I didn't want to be alone at my place.”
“Then who fed Gizmo?” Sal questioned.
“I don’t know, dude.” Larry shrugged.
“Ugh….I shouldn’t strain myself about it…Maybe he just didn’t eat last night.”
“You’re telling me that fatass cat didn’t have a SINGLE bite of his food last night? Lies!”
“That’s what I was saying! But it’s the only logical explanation!”
“Maybe it was the ghosts……ooooooooo…..” Larry said in an ominous, yet joking voice.
“That’s not funny, Larry!” Sally called out.
“oh I’m just so sorry!” Larry said sarcastically.
“Ugh…forget it…” Sal plopped down next to Larry on the couch, which had many tears and rips from Gizmo clawing at it when he needed to climb up it. Sal and Henry (his dad) had gotten him a cat tree, but he never really used it. What a waste of money. Sally grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, surfing past all the channels to see if there was anything good streaming. The only thing he could find that he was mildly interested in was a hockey game.
The Fishers had always been a hockey family. They could get really invested in hockey games, to say the least. Like they would turn to their New Jersey roots, kind of invested. It’s like a southern family with football. Just with hockey. The reason why? Well, Diane and Henry had both shared an intrest in hocky and often went to games for dates, and it was always their favorite thing to do when they were stuck and bored at home. It was basically tradition to go every Thursday. After Diane died, Sal and Henry would still go to those games, just not as often.
The teams playing weren’t even his, but he turned it on anyway. Just some background noise was nice. He remembered how he used to want to play hockey when he was little. However, he couldn’t due to how fragile his face was. Sal sighed and leaned back onto the couch. Until he felt Larry tap him.
“Sally Face!” Larry yelled. Sally flinched from him yelling.
“Larry Face!” The blue haired boy yelled back.
“Why aren’t you responding?!”
“Huh? To what?”
“I was saying your name over and over again, dude! Are you sick or something?”
“No, I'm perfectly fine!…just daydreaming.”
“Well you nearly scared me!” Larry said, a joking pout coming across his face.
“Well… about what?” Larry asked. Seeming genuinely curious.
“Ah, just my mom.” Sal leaned back in his seat, shifting a bit in an uncomfortable manner.
Larry instantly recognized Sal’s emotion, even though the prosthetic made the boy look soulless and dull. Larry had learned how to do it after Sal moved into the apartment complex and they started hanging out. It was easy for him; Sal’s body language, eyes, and tone/pitch of voice gave it all away. He also knew that Sal’s mother was a sensitive subject.
In one quick sentence, Larry changed the topic.
“Any plans for today?”
“Nah. Just lounging.”
“Sweet. Maybe we could gather up Ash, Todd, and us to hang out. I don’t think they got anything today either.”
“Dope.”