"Sally, please don't say anything about this. Not even to Larry." (Y/N) said as her and Sal walked through the abandoned apartment. She followed behind him as he swiftly moved through the door and to the elevator.
"It all makes sense now." Sal said, ignoring what (Y/N) had just said. "They crystal belongs to the one who sees. You're you the one sees. The Phantom is your dad!" He said, stopping abruptly, startling (Y/N). He spun around to look at her. "Your father is the one who I keep seeing in my dreams."
"The Phantom?" She questioned, crossing her arms. "Are you talking about the face in your dreams? The same one I've seen? Sal, that looks nothing like my dad."
"Yeah, I know, but maybe he's not a ghost. Maybe he's in-between and his spirit is being effected by something." He said, turning to press the call button on the elevator.
(Y/N) rubbed her temples, "Sal, I think you're over analysing this stuff. I think you just saw a ghost and they're just messing with you." She said, stepping into the elevator. "Not every spirit is nice like Megan."
"(Y/N), it has to be your dad!" He said once more, turning to the girl on his left. She started to seem aggravated, Sal felt bad for pushing the conversation.
"My dad's not dead." She frowned as the elevator came to a stop. "Don't say that around Larry. Don't bring any of this up around him, okay?"
Sal frowned to himself and nodded, "I'm sorry, (Y/N). I won't say anything to, Larry."
⟿
The first day of school came faster than the group of friends would have hoped. (Y/N) waited outside of the apartments for the three boys to join her. A few moments later, Sal, Larry, and Todd emerged from the building, chatting about something (Y/N) couldn't hear. As they combined, the group walked towards their first day.
About a block from school, (Y/N) heard a voice in the distance. She turned around to see her friend, Ashley, running towards them. "Wait up, you guys!" She exclaimed.
The group stopped, waiting for Ashley to catch up. Once she did, she placed an arm around (Y/N)'s shoulder. (Y/N) and Ashley have been friends since 4th grade. The brown haired girl quickly became friends with Larry and Todd, combining the two friend groups into one.
"Hey." (Y/N) said, leaning her head against Ashley's arm. "How was camp?" For the last half of the summer, Ashley attended an art camp. Ashley, as well as Larry, was an amazing artist. She was the person who taught Larry how to paint.
"It was great, as always." She chuckled. She looked over at the new person in the group. Sal had walked along silently since Ashley appeared, mostly because he's always afraid of what new people would think of him, and also because Ashley was a very pretty girl.
She smiled at him, removing her arm from around her best friend. "Hi, I'm Ashley, but everyone calls me Ash. You must be Sally, right?" She asked, remembering (Y/N) talking about him. It was very rare for someone to move to the small, gray town, so Sal was already the talk of the town.
Sal nodded, his eyes wide with nervousness. "Yeah, I'm Sal."
She smiled and continued her conversation with (Y/N) as the school became visible in the distance. The large brick building intimidated Sal. He had never been the new kid, and now he was going to be the new kid with the mask.
The group gathered around a tree in the back, waiting for the starting bell. Everyone chatted amongst themselves until the shrill of the bell interrupted.
"Hey, Sal, what class do you have?" Ashley asked as she stopped at her locker, directly next to Sal's.
"M-math, I think." He stammered. Sal had never felt this way about a girl before, so he didn't know how to act around her. He could feel his face turning red the more she smiled at him, thankfully his mask covered that.
"I have math next, too." She smiled. "I can show you the way?"
Since Nockfell was such a small town, Nockfell High consisted of 7-12 grade students, not splitting into a junior high and a senior high. Since the student count was low, they had a few amount of teachers. One math teacher, Mrs. Packerton, taught for all grades.
Sal, Ash, and (Y/N) we're all scheduled for math first period. (Y/N) got there first, finding her seat quickly. She was at the third table back, right next to the window. She loved window seats. She normally spent most of her class time watching the birds and the clouds.
"Oh, good morning Miss Johnson!" Mrs. Packerton smiled at the young girl walking through the door. Mrs. Packerton was also a resident of the Addison Apartments, so she knew (Y/N) and Larry quite well.
"Morning, Mrs. Packerton." (Y/N) replied, setting her bag down on the table. She reached in and grabbed out her notebook and a pencil, waiting to start class.
Ash and Sal walked in next, they glaced at the sheet that outlined the seating arrangements before moving to their designated spots.
(Y/N) stared out the window as the chair beside her scraped against the linoleum floor, causing her to turn her head. Sal gave her a small wave as he sat his notebook down.
"Looks like we're table mates." He said, looking over at his friend. He watched as she smiled at him, twiddling her necklace between her fingers. Ever since their last talk about the crystal, (Y/N) had worn it every day.
(Y/N) was conflicted about the necklace. Was Sal right? Was her father the mysterious figure that talked to the both of them in their dreams? Or was this some game her father was going to play before he disappeared.
Math went by slowly. The whole class seemed to doze off around half way through. Once the bell rang, the class gathered their things and left to find their next class.
⟿
"I really fucking hate this class." Larry said breathlessly, as he leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees. He looked over at his sister and friend, who stopped just short of him, panting as he was.
The three stood on the running track after doing their warm up runs. Their PE teacher, Mr. Miller, stood in the center, yelling at kids to run faster and to finish their laps.
"You got that right." Sal said, standing up straight. He wished he could be exempt from gym class. His mask seemed to hinder him from getting a good, steady breath while he was running, but it was required, and his mask wasn't a qualification for exemption.
Sal frowned as he looked down at his gym clothes. The blue shirt clashed with his darker hued hair, and the gray shorts weren't something he was used to wearing.
He looked at his arms, a few scars peppered it, which is why he usually wore his signature black long sleeve. Sure, his arms weren't as scarred up as his face was, but it still made him uncomfortable.
"At least it's only a quarter class. We'll be out of here in 9 weeks." (Y/N) said as they walked to the center grass area to start stretches. The three stood in the back, away from as many wondering eyes as they could.
Kids did stare at Sal as he walked through the hallways. Some would whisper, some would look at him as of he was crazy. On the outside, it didn't bother him, but on the inside he was screaming, hoping to head home as soon as he could. So, when the final bell rang the stress seemed to melt away.
He met up with his friends out by the flag post. It was just the twins, laughing about something. If took them a moment to notice Sal, but once they did, they waved him over.
"How was the rest of your classes?" (Y/N) asked as the three started their journey back home.
Sal shrugged, "They were alright, I guess." He looked behind him, wondering where the rest of the group was. "Where is Todd and Ashley?"
"Todd tutors Ashley in science, so they got a ride back to her house." Larry said, looking over at the smaller boy. "Do you want to hang out and play some video games when we get back?" He asked.
"Sure." Sal replied. The three walked quietly back to the apartments.
⟿
Sal walked through the basement apartment finding his way to the bathroom. He rarely used the bathroom in the Johnson household, so he often forgot which door it was.
He opened the door and on the other side was a bedroom. A single bed sat in the middle of the wall. A gray comforter on top with a white pattern. White night stands sat on either side, with a bookshelf to match on the opposite wall.
Photos scattered the walls and Sal found himself looking through them. Photos of (Y/N) and Ashley, as well as with Larry and their mother. A few included their father. Sal smiled to himself as he saw a photo of the twins. They were younger, maybe around seven, sitting in front of a birthday cake with hats on their head. (Y/N) smiled wide with a missing tooth on the top, as well as a bandage around her nose. Larry smiled beside her, his arm around her shoulders, with a matching gap between his own teeth, just on the other side.
"That was our seventh birthday. A few days before I was hit in the face with a ball and broke my nose." (Y/N) said as she walked back in her room, noticing Sal looking through the photos.
He jumped, spinning on his heel. His heart was beating quickly and his breathing was fast. "I'm sorry, I-I got lost and thought this was the bathroom."
"It would be strange to have a bed in the bathroom." She said, walking over to her night stand. She unplugged her charging phone. She frowned slightly when Sal didn't laugh at her joke. "The other door is the bathroom." She said, sliding her phone in her back pocket.
"Right. Sorry." He said, shuffling out if the room and into the correct one. He shut the door behind him, feeling the wave of embarrassment flooding over him. He wondered why he was such a creep.
After washing his hands in the perfectly clean sink in front of him, he calmly walked over to Larry's bedroom. The soft sound of the TV brought him back to reality. He sat in the bean bag next to his friend, grabbing the controller placed in front of him.
Larry looked over at his masked friend, "What do you want to play?" He asked. He leaned forward off of his bean bag, reaching into the cabinet below his TV. He pulled out a stack of video games, placing them in front of Sally.
They always played the same video game, but today Sal picked a new one. Larry complimented his choice, placing the CD in the disc tray.
On the other side of the closed door was (Y/N). She noticed the Gear Boy sitting beside Sal's backpack. She glanced at the closed door before grabbing the Gear Boy, heading towards the back door. Hopefully she would be back before he noticed.
She walked through the grass and to the tree that held the treehouse. She hadn't been inside since that day they showed Sally around. She used to go there everyday, but it had a strange, heavy feeling around it.
She sat down on the floor letting her eyes scan the room. The sun was still shinning bright, casting soft shadows across the one wall. She held the crystal in her hand, feeling the smoothness of it's surface.
She wondered if Sal was right. If this "phantom" figure was her father. If all the times it visited her in her dreams really meant something. But, the way the figure talked to her made her think otherwise. It talked in a different language, gibberish almost.
She took a deep breath, grabbing the Gear Boy beside her. She didn't know how Sal used it to summon the ghosts that still wondered around. She turned it on, watching as the logo popped up, sitting there for quite some time, before changing to a loading screen.
She frowned slightly when a game's main menu popped up. She turned the small console off and set it beside her. She leaned back on her hands, wondering how she was the one to have this strange gift.
A head popped through the doorway of the treehouse, causing her to jump. She looked over to see Sal staring at her.
"Have you seen my Gear Boy?" He asked, looking down, noticing it on the ground.
She slid it over to him, "Sorry, I figured I'd be back before you noticed."
He nodded, "If you wanna play a game, you can just ask." He said. "You didn't have to sneak it up here."
She thought about telling him why she was really using it, but decided against it since he was already oblivious. "Thanks, I'll ask next time."
The sun had disappeared in the short amount of time and a low rumble of thunder rolled in the distance. (Y/N) stood up, brushing the dust off of her pants. "We should get inside before it starts storming."
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