east of eden 𑁋 salvis.

XVIII

♥̩̥̩♥̩̩̥͙♥̩͙ˊˎ

Once the two finished their crying, Sal shakily clipped his prosthetic on. The two sat in silence for a few moments, until Sal pitched the idea of inviting his friends over, just to distract them from.. Everything. Travis nodded, agreeing. So Sal disappeared from the room, probably to make the phone calls to invite the others over. Travis decided to stay in the bedroom, sitting on the bed and staring at the messy floor.

He felt numb. His eyes burned from crying as much as he has been and his head was pounding, probably also from the crying. But mentally, Travis was numb. He couldn't bring himself to feel anything anymore, it was like his brain and his emotions were clouded over.

By the time Sal's friends showed up, Travis was okay-ish again. His eyes weren't puffy from crying and he'd distracted himself enough from Sal's fate to be able to go without bursting into tears randomly.

Ashley was the first to arrive, not even knocking before she entered the apartment and, soon after, Sal's room. Travis jumped at the sudden new presence in the room, startled from Ashley's lack of knocking. It did piss him off a bit, but he didn't admit it and tried to hide it. Of course, Sal being Sal, he'd seen right through Travis trying to hide it, but he shot a smile at Travis when the blonde took no course of action to harm anyone-either physically or verbally.

Ashley had greeted him, which had also caught Travis by surprise. He hadn't expected for any of Sal's friends to even remotely like him, let alone greet him with a smile as Ashley had. Travis had anxiously smiled back, looking away immediately after. He wasn't too keen on eye contact, though Kenneth had drilled into his mind how important eye contact was to him. Travis just didn't like it all that much- it scared him.

Todd arrived next, actually knocking on the door. Sal had at first went to yell for him to come in, but Ashley had given him a look that made him slowly nod and exit the room to let Todd in.

That just made Travis anxious, him watching as Sal exited the room. He wanted to yell, to tell Sal not to leave. He was afraid of why Ashley may want to spend time alone with him. What if she was going to hurt him? Not like Travis didn't deserve it-he did-but he didn't want to be harmed. Please. He was starting to get better. At least he figured he was. Even if the pain and the marks were just the same as they were the day before, at least now they were getting worse, at the hands of none other than his own father.

Ashley sighs once Sal is gone, sitting in the same place Sal was previously- on the bed next to Travis. The blonde watches her anxiously, scooting about an inch away once she's sat down. She seems not to be fazed by this however, not even looking at Travis. She instead stares out the windows across from the bed, where the bright snow can be seen on the ground outside the building, with children playing in it while their parents watch.

Travis was quick to look away from the scene- it made his heart ache. He didn't get many experiences like that as a child. It upset him. He wished he could've gotten that. A normal childhood. Travis would kill for a normal childhood. It's all he's ever wanted. A normal childhood and a normal life.

After a moment of silence between the two, Ashley finally opens her mouth and speaks. She continues to stare out the window, her ring clad hands clasped on her lap as she speaks.

"Maybe the others don't like you too much, but I'd be happy to attempt a friendship with you, Travis." And that's all she says. It seems off, considering there was no context before that, but Travis knows it only seems out of place because it should've been said at a different moment in time. Perhaps an earlier one, perhaps a later one. But now was simply just not the right time to say it.