| "Hate is such a strong word" | - a salvis fanfic

13. Safe

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Travis POV:

I froze, I squeezed my hand into a fist. "N-Nowhere father,." I replied, Great now he definitely knows I'm lying.

He stared at me for a moment before chucking his bowl at me, I ducked before it took me out. As it continued to fly behind me it hit the refrigerator and shattered.

He stood up and stomped over to me, "Oh really If you were home then why weren't you in your room? If you're going to sneak out do it right, the goddamn window was open for fucks sake!" He yelled as he gripped my shirt collar. he threw me against the kitchen island.

I tumbled to the floor, he kicked me over and over again to the point where I could barely breathe. I was gasping for air when I heard his belt unbuckling, I closed my eyes tightly preparing for intense stinging but nothing happened, no pain, no screaming, just silence.

I opened my eyes to be met with my father peering down at me. he slapped me across the face and proceeded to hit me more times than I could even count with his belt. The pain was unbearable, I cried and wept for him to stop.

To my surprise the lashes stopped, He grabbed me by my hair and dragged me over to the basement door, I knew where this was going. He opened the door with such force I'm surprised it was still there, he pulled my hair up until I was at my feet. "I'm late for work because of you!" He spat.

I whimpered in pain, "Pathetic." he growled. He let go of my hair and shoved me into the basement, I tumbled down the stairs roughly. Once I reached the bottom he slammed the door, I heard a small clicking sound. Guess I'm not going to school today.

I lay there in agony for a while thinking about everything that just happened, Until everything. Went. Black.

Sal POV:

I didn't wait for the bus with Larry this morning, I figured he was still mad about our argument. I hopped on the bus and went over to our spot at the back of the bus, Larry was already there so I just sat next to him.

Larry's head was rested against the window as he gazed out the window. He lifted his hand as a sort of wave, It was the sort of motion that gave off "Hi, I'm still mad at you but I don't wanna be mean." vibes.

I smiled softly. It was a while after the bus left the apartments, I noticed Travis wasn't there. Maybe he walked? No that doesn't make sense, he lives relatively far away and it's quite cold outside. If he's not at school today I'm definitely going to investigate.

[Timeskip]

It's now lunchtime and Travis hasn't even come in late yet, something is definitely wrong. I walked over to my group's lunch table, I sat in between Ashley and Todd, everyone was already in a conversation except for Larry. "Oh hi, Sal!" Ash greeted.

I smiled back at her and gave her a gentle wave. Larry was completely silent, he looked to be lost in thought and he hadn't even touched his lunch.

The day went on after that, it was.. alright? Travis wasn't there which worried me and Larry hasn't said a word to me at all.

[Another Timeskip .-.]

The bell rang signaling it was the end of the day, Travis didn't show up, maybe he was sick? I'll go ask Mrs. Packerton if she got a message from Travis's father as to why he wasn't here.

I waited for everyone to leave the classroom including Larry. I walked up to Mrs. Packerton's desk Slowly, "Hey uhm sorry to bother but did you by any chance get a message explaining why Travis wouldn't be here today?" I asked. She stared at me with a confused expression on her face, "No dear I'm sorry, and since when did you care for Travis? Doesn't he bully you?" she questioned.

I ignored her question, I was not about to explain things with Travis to her. "Oh okay, thanks." was all I managed to say before sprinting out of the room.

What happened? Is he okay? Is he hurt? all these thoughts raced through my head as I ran down the hallway. wait.. his dad. "shit, shit, shit." I whispered to myself. I successfully made it out of the school, although I didn't stop to get on the bus I just kept running.

I ran and ran as fast as I could. I wasn't even paying attention to where I was going before I ran full force into Todd, he tumbled to the ground harshly. "Oh shit I am so sorry! Are you okay!?" I exclaimed. I knew Todd stayed back sometimes after school to help out in the library which explains why he wasn't on the bus.

I held out my hand to help him up, He grabbed my hand gently and pushed himself to his feet. his hands were scratched but there were no major injuries I would need to treat. "Woah okay calm down-" He said most likely because I was breathing so heavily.

"I'm okay, just a few scratches." He smiled. "Are you okay though-? Why were you running in the first place, don't you need to catch the bus??" Todd asked, he seemed to be very confused. "I need to get to his house. Oh shit, I-I need to make sure he's okay!" I yelled. "What? Who? Who's hur-" Todd asked. "Please don't ask questions, oh! Take my stuff back to the apartments once you're done in the library. I gave you a spare key to my apartment so just let yourself in and place it in my room." I shoved my things into his hands and began to run again. "Wait Sal-" Todd called out. "I'll pay you back!" I yelled out as I continued to run.

I ran, I ran for him. I didn't care how long it took as long as he was safe.

I approached the apartments, yet I didn't stop, I kept running. I needed to make it to Travis's place.

_________________________________________

Helloooo, I know I haven't posted for like forever but I've lost like all my motivation. I've been going through a cycle where I sleep, watch something random, play video games, eat, write for like 5 minutes, and repeat. Which is not very healthy but you know. But I've finally built up enough motivation to finish this chapter and it feels so fucking good to have finished it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!

-author <3

Word count: 1116