"Sal, wake up." Larry groaned and hit his best friend, Sal, with a pillow.
"What?" Sal shot up and looked around, not giving his eyes enough time to adjust to the light of Larry's lamp.
"You were having a nightmare, weren't you?" Larry looked at his friend with concern.
"I.. Yeah. Sorry." Sal sat up.
"Don't be sorry Sal, you can't help the nightmares." Ever since Sal's mom died in a "dog attack" Sal always had nightmares. Sometimes the nightmares didn't make much sense, sometimes they were of his past.
Sal couldn't exactly help all of this. No one ever believed when he said it wasn't a dog and it stood up like a human. They all thought he was seeing things since his whole face was "mauled". The only person who fully believed Sal of his past and nightmares was Larry.
"How are you feeling now?" Larry walked back in the room with a glass of water.
"A bit better, but I'm never okay after the nightmares." Sal slightly laughed but it sounded like a weak sob.
"I know. Sorry. Do you want to talk about what you saw?" Larry handed him the water and sat back down on his bed.
"Uhm.. I don't really remember it." Sal was clearly lying but Larry didn't want to push it. He nodded and Sal handed him back the water. Larry put it down on the nightstand and turned the lamp off.
"Night Sally face." Larry yawned and shifted around.
"Night Larry face." Sal slightly smiled and closed his eyes.
"You're a fucking freak!" Glass shattered and Sal flinched.
"You're the reason she's dead Sal!" His father shouted in his face. Tears streamed down Sal's face.
"I fucking hate you!!" His father shoved Sal back and he slipped on the glass. Sal hit his head on the counter and everything went black.
Sal opened his eyes again. He knew there was no way he would go back to sleep since his brain kept replaying the nightmare. He always wanted to believe none of that happened but he knew too clearly that that memory happened and it's just coming back to haunt him.
He always wanted to believe that his father said that because he was just drunk but people always say, 'A drunk man's words, are a sober man's thoughts.' Sal hated when he heard that. It always reminded him of his father. His father's only way to cope over Diane's death is to drink again. And he drinks a lot.
Half the time when he's drunk Sal tries to stay away from him. But that's only half. Sometimes if Sal's lucky, all he does is throw a beer bottle at Sal. If not, he's shouting at him telling him he's a screw up. Sal has never told his best friends about it because they already worry about him enough.
Sal yawned, staring up at nothing. Larry's apartment was in the basement so it was always dark somewhere. Sal listened to the peaceful crickets chirping away at each other in the walls. Larry was sleeping soundly, and Sal knew that since he was sort of snoring. Sal played with the rings on his fingers for what seemed like forever.
....
Started on: September 27th
Words:543