east of eden 𑁋 salvis.

XIX

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this is a very short chapter, just a filler to get the ball rolling for the next major plot points in the story. sorry for it being so short.

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Sal wakes Travis up the next morning before the sun's even come up. He seems to be in a rush, with a backpack slung over his shoulders and his hair already in pigtails. Travis squints tiredly up at him, as Sal's hovering over him, eyes wide.

"Sal..? What-?" Travis asks groggily, turning to see what time it was. He groans as he turns to check the clock, groaning even louder at the numbers displayed on it.

"Sal, it's three A.M. What are you doing?" He asks tiredly, voice thick with sleep. Sal looks around frantically, adjusting the backpack on his back. And then he's silent for a moment, as though he's trying to think of what to say.

"We're getting the fuck out of this town, Travis." He whispers excitedly, looking around the messy room. It's clear this was an impulse decision, which is exactly why Travis' eyes go wide and he sits up, propping himself up on his elbows.

"Sal, what the hell do you mean getting the fuck out of this town?!" He asks hurriedly, now just as frantic as Sal, though for a different reason. While Sal was frantic to, what it seemed to be, run away, Travis was frantic to figure out what the hell was happening.

"We're running away, Travis. I've got money, clothes, food, I even raided my dad's alcohol stash. We've got all the essentials!" Sal announces, raising a hand in the air like a child. It's clear he's excited, even if he's-for the most part-monotone.

"No- Sal, if this is about my dad or something, like if you're worried about him coming to get me, don't be. He doesn't want to get involved with the police again." Sal shakes his head at Travis' statement, quickly dodging the hand Travis attempts to shoot out to grab Sal's arm.

"No, no. It's not about that-" Sal cuts himself off, leaving his spot beside the bed and going to pace around his bedroom.

"Travis, I'm dying. You know that, I know that. M'kay? I'm dying and it's gonna happen soon and I don't want to live my last moments in this shithole town. I want to explore the world! I wanna live! Please, Travis." Sal begins to beg, turning to face Travis with his hands clasped as though he was praying. Travis looks away, knowing he wouldn't be able to say no to Sal while he was looking at him.

Sal uses that to his advantage, practically sprinting back to stand next to the bed and taking Travis' face in his hands. He turns Travis' face to look at him, a small smile on his face. Sal's not yet wearing his prosthetic, but it's the only thing he's missing. He's already got clothes on, shoes on, and his fake eye in.

His grip on Travis' face is gentle, barely there. If Travis wanted to, he could pull away. But he doesn't. Instead, he even nuzzles into the touch, closing his eyes with a sigh.

"Please let me live, Travis. Once I'm gone-" Travis cuts him off this time, jerking his eyes open and going to say something. Sal rushes to shush him, moving a hand over Travis' mouth so Travis can't speak.

"Once I'm gone, you can come back here. Once I'm gone, you will come back here. You will live however you want here, whether it's with your dad or with a girlfriend or whatever. But please let me live. Let me enjoy my last moments."

With a sigh, Travis hesitantly nods. Sal releases his face, allowing Travis to get up from the bed.

"Fine, let's run away." Sal cheers, eyes going wide at the loud noise. He looks frantically over to his door to make sure his father didn't hear it, and upon realizing he didn't, goes back to cheering. Though now, of course, silently.

Travis slowly gets dressed, checking through the things Sal packed to make sure it was actually enough to help them live. And sure, it definitely wasn't much, but it was the bare necessities. It was enough to keep them going for about a week. So it was enough, for now.

Before Travis knows it, the two are heading to a bus station in the middle of the pouring rain. It's freezing outside, between it being midway through November and it being raining, but the two power through.

Somehow the bus station is open, with a bus leaving ten minutes after they arrived at the station. It was the first bus of the day, heading to Chicago, Illinois. So they buy two tickets and they wait.

As they board the bus, Sal tells Travis he really wants to go to Hollywood. And Travis smiles, saying that they can try their best to get there. That provokes a smile from Sal and an excited nod, causing his pigtails to swing.

Travis helps Sal get their backpack onto the railing above the seats once they're on the bus, though it hurts him to stretch like that. Sal was short so he was having trouble doing it on his own.

Almost as soon as they were seated, Travis was letting himself fall asleep. He was absolutely exhausted. Apparently, getting woken up at three A.M. and running through the freezing rain to get to a bus station is really fucking tiring.

So he allows himself to fall asleep, even though the bus was loud, and it was cold, and there were definitely people staring at him and Sal and judging them harshly. At the moment, Travis couldn't care less. All he wanted to do was sleep.

And that's exactly what he does. He pushes his wet hair out of his face, behind his ear as Sal had done previously that day, and then he leans his head on Sal's shoulder. He hopes Sal doesn't mind but also thinks that quite honestly if Sal does mind then Travis couldn't give a shit at the moment.

And he closes his eyes, and he sleeps.

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