His Face

odd balls

as you left your apartment you noticed a blue haired girl start to unlock her door. her hair was in two loose pigtails and looked dead.

"hey!" you heart pounded. you've always had really bad social anxiety, you could barely tell the waiters at restaurants what you wanted, let alone make a friend.

the girl quickly turned to you, frightened probably. you got a clear glimpse of her face...or not face? it was a grayish mask with a purple bit taped on the right side, the mask seemed old and rugged. she seemed about 5'6 maybe, bright blue hair and extremely pale skin. her clothes were loose and her crimson colored pants looked to have band patches on them, most of them you hadn't known the name of. but the thing that stood out the most to you was her eye, it looked glossier than the other, almost fake. you stared at her eye in awe until you snapped out of your trance by the girls voice.

"uh..hey," her voice was lower than you expected, a lot lower. you felt bad for staring but it was too late, time to make conversation.

"hey i'm y/n, i moved in next door, 404," god you thought your voice was annoying, you worried she did too.

"oh, heh, i'm sal, my friends just call me sally,"

you felt yourself staring again

"i like your mask," you said this in a lower tone than before just in case it came out insensitive or sarcastic

"thanks, it's a prosthetic," now you were curious as to what happened but you didn't wanna pry so you kept your mouth shut.

"do you know any other kids around here? i was kinda left to my own boredom,"

"yeah, i was just going back to my friend larry, i can take you down there, just let me get my gear boy,"

sal unlocked the door and went inside her apartment, leaving you outside alone. staring at the dirty walls you felt a little bit of comfort being here, it was an odd feeling. sal came back out at looked at you, closer than before. you two stood there staring at each other for a good bit, the silence was awkward.

"let's go.." sal broke the silence as she passed

you followed her to the old rickety elevator, it had all kinds of symbols and drawings inside, dicks, crossed swastikas, smiley faces, etc. you presumed these were from other teenagers and the college students who had stayed here in the past. the elevator smelled like piss and death. your observation was cut short by sal speaking sternly

"oh by the way, i know a lot of people think this so that's why i'm telling you, i'm not a girl. very common misconception," sal stared at the ground, surprised at his own sternness

"oh alright, uh-" you were cut off by the elevator doors opening and a short chubby kid with green hair standing in the doorway,

"oh hey chug,"

"hey sally, who's this?"

"i'm y/n," you stared at the kids mouth in disgust, the melted chocolate mixed with spit made you wanna puke.

"we're gonna go see larry, see you around chug" you both stepped out of the elevator, you made sure to avoid "chug"

you made it to larry's room, a big "KEEP OUT" poster printed on the door

"he's either painting or high so, give him a second" sal spoke as he knocked

"COME IN!" a loud but deep and raspy voice yelled from the opposite side of the door

once sal opened the door you saw a tall, lanky long haired metal head, he was pale but a little more tan than sal. his nose poked out and his eye bags were bad. he gave you and sal a warm smile

"hey sal and..."

"y/n" you spoke, observing the room. it was nice..