Better Than I'd Thought | Sally Face x Travis Phelps

twenty one

Seven days. Seven days of worry. Seven days of boredom. Seven days of frustration. Seven days of grief. Seven days since Sal went unconscious.

Travis could sense that everyone was starting to become distraught. He prayed that they wouldn't lose hope, literally.

While Christianity had been bringing him negative feelings of self-loathing recently, a part of him still believed that praying could accomplish things.

Travis sat down, leaning over Sal's desk.

    Originally, holding hands or kissing or laying close together used to make Travis unbearably nervous and embarrassed, and of course, those things still made him embarrassed, but he would do anything to have Sal back, so they could hold hands again.

   He opened the small drawer compartment in Sal's desk, hoping to find a notepad so that he could write a message and leave it for Sal when he woke up.

   Instead, there was something else. a piece of paper from Sal's sketchbook, folded twice.

   Out of curiosity, Travis opened it up and stared at the page.

   A drawing of him, an accurate one at that. Sal wasn't often confident in his drawing skills, so he didn't always allow Travis to see what he was drawing.

   He smiled at the page and then swallowed, letting his eyes trail down. At the bottom of the page, written in messy script, Sal had written "I love you." with an inked heart.

   Before Travis knew it, his hands were shaking and he set the paper down on the desk, wiping tears off of his cheeks, realizing the grim reality of his current situation.

   Please, wake up.

__

   Every day was beyond boring without him. He'd often stare at Sal's guitar, which leaned against the wall in the corner of the doom. Tracks would try to imagine what it would sound like if the blue-haired boy was playing it.

He readjusted his bag on his shoulders, making his way to school by himself. As long as Sal woke up by Christmas, things would be okay.

Travis couldn't imagine spending the holidays alone with Henry.

It was freezing and Travis didn't have a winter coat. He knew that Sal had one or two in his closet, but they were too small. After all, Sal was several inches shorter than him.

Listening to the freshly fallen snow crunch under his sneakers, Travis kept his eyes on the road ahead of him.

Larry was right. There was no point in constantly thinking of should-haves and would-haves.

In reality, all he really could do was hope that Sal would get better.

Travis flinched hearing footsteps behind him. He turned around swiftly, eyes wide.

The cold air blew through his shirt and his heart nearly stopped.

"Travis, " The man smiled, "It's been quite a while."

Travis backed up instinctively, stiffening. "Father, " He mumbled, voice coming out as a shallow whisper.

"How are you doing, son?" Kenneth approached him, a sinister look forming in his eyes.