TWs
implied child abuse
panic attack
heavily cult talk
referenced forced demonic ritual
Sals POV
"So why did we have to cut the arcade and go back to the apartments?" Larry asked as the two walked back home. The church was pretty close to the apartments, however, would be faster with a car. It's not like they couldn't get a car. Larry was 18 now even, but being in a small town did cause some perks, a lot of things were within walking distance. Besides. There were more important things than driver's licenses. Maybe soon they would get one, but not right now.
The moment he met up with Sal at the Church, the teen was in a panic. Telling him something came up and they had to talk to Megan apparently.
"Travis knows Megan Larry," Sal spoke, his eye haunted under his prosthetic. "We were talking about ghosts and she got brought up."
"What do you mean he knows Megan?" Larry frowned. "Like. Ghost Megan?"
"Yeah!"
Larry scoffed, shaking his head. "He probably- overheard you talking about her or something."
"I'm telling you! He knew her name!" Sal frowned. "I'm scared Travis is in some deeper shit than he knows." Travis must have seen her alive. Sal knew that Megan's father, Luke. Was a part of the cult. A bit of him worried Kenneth might be as well.
Soon the two made it back to the apartments, quickly entering the elevator, and went up to Sal's apartment so he could grab the GameBoy. Henry wasn't home yet, and Gizmo was fast asleep on the couch. Sal quickly grabbed it from his room and left, looking at Larry. "Let's go."
The two went back up the elevator as it hit the fifth floor, stepping out.
"So what. Is Travis in the cult or something?" Larry asked as they opened the door and walked to room 504. "Isn't he super religious? Why would he be in a demonic cult?"
"I don't know Larry." He grumbled. "I'm just worried. Megan died 7 years ago. Travis had to of met her when she was alive. Especially to remember how she looked." He explained as the two walked to the bathroom inside the room
Sal carefully pressed a button as the game glowed green before a girl morphed into the bathroom, blood, and flesh wrapping around her to form bones, muscles, and skin.
"Can never get used to that," Larry mumbled under his breath and shuddered.
The ghost looked at the two and gasped. "Sallyface! Larryface!" She giggled.
"Meganface!" Sal chuckled back. "I'm so sorry it's been a while" He hummed. "How have you been?"
"I've missed you! I've been good! Mommy has been happier than she's ever been! Why haven't you come to visit?" She frowned.
Sal sighed. "A lot of school work, as well as well as life itself is horrible."
Megan giggled. "Todd showed me a few questions he was working on a few weeks ago. They seem really confusing. I don't know how you can solve them." She smiled.
Sal only nodded. "Yeah. It is." He chuckled. "But can we ask you a question?"
"Mhm!" She nodded. "I can try to answer it! I don't need anything in return!"
Sal looked over Larry before back to Megan. "Do...you know a Travis Phelps?" Sal asked. "When you were alive. Tall kid, Blonde hair- well dyed, so it could have been brown?"
"It was always blonde" Larry mumbled out.
"Right. Okay. Did you know him?" Sal asked, ignoring Larry
Megan giggled, and her face began to brighten. "I know Travis!" She smiled. "He's my cousin!" She smiled. "Why did you want to know?"
"He's your what!?" Larry yelled out. "You're family with him? How-?"
Megan winced back at the yelling and nodded. "Mhm! His mommy was my mommy's sister..." She said softly.
"Did you know her name? Travis's mother." Sal asked again. Cousins. They were family. That's how Travis knew her.
"Mhm! Her name was Tyra!" Megan smiled.
Tyra. That was a start. Tyra Phelps. Who knows what her maiden name would be? And asking Megan would be too confusing. But it was a start...Maybe Todd could run a search for that name.
"Were you two close?" Sal asked softly, "You and Travis?"
She thought for a moment. "I always went over to his house! Mommy liked it there better anyways than here. Her sister was there! However, she didn't like Travis's daddy." She frowned, wrapping a hand around her necklace. "I didn't like him either..."
"Why not?" Sal pressed on worriedly.
The girl frowned, looking down. "He was just mean to Travis and his mommy." She frowned. "I saw it sometimes when I wasn't supposed to..."
This felt like an invasion of Travis's privacy. Sal shouldn't be hearing someone else talk about his home life. It made him worry more for the teen, but felt wrong.
"What else did your mom say? Specifically about Travis's dad?" Sal asked, trying to re-word his question.
"He was the reason daddy was always so mean to us." She frowned. "She said that Travis's daddy was a bad man. And um...doing bad things...."
"What bad things?" Larry asked.
Megan shrunk in on herself, pulling at her shirt. "I don't...um.."
"It's okay Meg," Sal said quietly, moving to kneel in front of the girl. "You can take your time...but we really need to know what he did. If, Kenneth is a bad man. We want to stop him." Sal frowned. "We're worried he could hurt more people."
"I always got in trouble telling people this...promise you won't tell anyone?" Megan asked. "A lot of mean people here don't like when I tell people..." She whispered.
"I promise." Sal smiled. "No one besides me and Larry will know. I won't tell anyone. Pinky swear." He hummed, moving to hold his pinky up.
Megan giggled, holding her pinky out as well. Since she couldn't physically touch Sal, this was the best option.
"Okay!" She smiled, more confident "Um...I followed my daddy one night...He left to go to the basement, and he was in this weird building...It was um...very deep. Right under the apartments. I overheard them talking about a plan to...bring shadows...to the world?" Megan frowned. "It was a really scary place."
Sal and Larry looked at each other horrified. The temple.
"Was Travis there?" Sal asked terrified. This was bad. Very bad. It still felt wrong. Like an invasion of privacy, but he cared for Travis. He wanted to know if the teen was safe.
"Travis was sleeping on a table!" She giggled. "That part was funny. He walked in like he was sleepwalking and his daddy helped him onto a table made of stone! Then he put a funny mask on! Then he, my daddy, and other people said some funny words before Travis-" Megan frowned. "I don't wanna talk about the next part... It was scary."
"What happened to Travis after the scary part?" Larry asked a bit worried himself. That wasn't good as well. The cult did something to Travis. Some ritual. His father did something. Despite their differences, Larry used to be close to Travis. And something deep inside worried for him as well.
"Um..." Megan frowned. "He was sleeping after it...So his daddy carried him somewhere...I think back home? It was weird. I asked him about it the next day and he had no clue what I meant!" She frowned. "He thought I had a nightmare and didn't believe me. But I know what I saw!"
Okay. so. Travis was involved in the cult. Involuntary. Shit. He wanted to keep Travis far away from it. But in reality, he was already in it. And to make things worse he had no idea about it. Megan said he was acting all weird at first...oh fuck did Kenneth drug him? He would have only been a kid back then...
"Wait. Wait slow down. A mask...?" Sal asked. "You said something about a mask?" He asked, everything processing for him.
Megan nodded. "Travis's daddy wore a silver dog mask. It was scary."
Wait.
Wait what the fuck.
"A silver dog mask?" Sal swallowed.
The image that haunted him his whole life. The man in the mask. The man in the wolf mask. The man in a wolf mask with a gun pointed right at him-
"Yeah!"
"I'm gonna be sick-" Sal stepped back, dropping the Super-GearBoy on the ground, and grabbed onto his hair as he backed up to a wall.
"Sal? Hey, dude what's wrong?" Larry frowned, looking at his friend who was backing up against the wall.
"Sallyface?" He heard Megan's voice ring out. "Are you alright? Is everything okay?" She said.
"You know how get mad memories and leave?" Larry asked nervously.
Megan only nodded worriedly.
"I think that happened to Sal."
Her face dropped. "Oh, I'm so sorry Sally!" She frowned. "I didn't mean to!"
"It's okay Megan. I just- need to help Sal."
"I'll go. It's okay. I understand...I'm sorry for bringing it up" She said quietly before disappearing before Larry could say anything.
He frowned before looking back to his friend.
"Sal, hey, buddy look at me" Larry frowned. "Deep breaths. What happened?"
"The- the fucking dog Larry." Sal wheezed. "It wasn't a fucking dog I just said that because no one fucking believed me it was a man in a dog mask!"
"What are you talking about?" He frowned. "Man in a mask?"
"The fucking incident!" He hissed out.
"Holy fucking shit." Larry's eyes widened. Sal told him about it a bit after they met. How a dog attacked him and his mother, and his mother died. He always knew it was a dog. That's what Sal told him...But it was a man? A man this whole time?
"I can't-" Sal gasped for air as the world around him turned dizzy. "I can breath-"
"Okay. Okay, let's get your prosthetic off man." Larry said worriedly. "Is that okay?"
Sal shook his head, pulling harder on his hair. "I can't. I can't I can't-"
"I'm gonna unclip your prosthetic okay dude? Is that okay?" Larry asked gently once again.
Sal nodded, shutting his head as Larry moved to unclasp the two straps of Sal's prosthetic, moving it off and setting it on the ground.
Sal continued to take shaky breaths, moving to grab a hold of Larry's arm as he gasped for air.
Larry frowned, staying close to his friend as his panic attack continued on. Every so often he reminded Sal to take deep breaths, and slowly but surely Sal was able to breathe normally again.
"You okay little dude?" Larry asked after a moment of Sal just closing his eyes.
"No." Sal swallowed. "I don't think I am. This is worse than we thought Larry. We're in way over our heads." He whispered, looking down at his prosthetic laying on the ground. "Kenneth killed my mother Larry."
"Shit. Im- Im so sorry. I really don't know what else to say. Why would he do that?" He frowned. "What does he have against you?"
"I don't know Larry." He sniffed softly. "But he thinks he killed me-" Sal stopped his thoughts. A new thought crashed through him.
The cult. The dog mask. Travis being in a ritual. It all made sense.
"Kenneth is the leader of the Devours Of God." Sal gasped out. "He's the fucking cult leader Larry."
Larry's eyes widened and he shook his head. "No. No! He can't be. He's a preacher! How can he be a satanic cult leader?"
"A coverup?" Sal pulled on his hair, still exhausted from the panic attack. "I don't know. But I passed out a while ago, had a dream-"
"You passed out? When?" Larry frowned. "Why for that matter?"
"Like...a week ago? It was all fuzzy but...It was talking about Travis. He was in my dream. Or vision. Whatever." Sal said quietly as he picked at the skin on his thumbs. "The red eye demon stabbed him before he turned into ash," Sal mumbled. "Some fucking. Face thing I've been seeing since freshman year talked to me as well. I couldn't understand much but... He said Travis was in danger. That there was something greater at stake."
"Holy shit." Larry's eyes widened. "So what. What role does he have in all of this?"
"It gets weirder." Sal looked at Larry.
"How? You had a dream about a face talking to you. How much weirder can it get!"
"Travis had a weird dream as well about his mother. He didn't tell me exactly what happened but that it was weird as well. I guess he passed out the same time I did" Sal took a shakey breath before his eyes widened. "Oh my God-" He froze in horror.
"What. What is it?" Larry asked. "What happened?"
It all made sense. The same dream they had. Travis talking about seeing the red eye demon even. That he saw it. That his father was going to the temple more and more. Megan said Travis was in a ritual as a kid. Why didn't that click for Sal? Kenneth was his father and the cult leader. And if he was the man who tried to kill Sal. The same man who summoned the Red eye demon in the first place. The demon he and Larry helped banish years ago. It would make sense for a backup. A safe guard just in case things go wrong. It all started to make sense.
Sal swallowed. "I think Travis is gonna be a host for red eyes. To bring him back."