The Freaks | Sally Face

Chapter 88: Vanish

River's POV:-

Sal stayed with me for the rest of the day, both of us anxiously waiting for my Dad to walk back through the door. I tried everything to just relax, tell myself that my Dad was a grown man and didn't need to come home by a specific time but I couldn't help but shake the feeling something had happened. Dad and I had never fought before, we always talked things through and worked it out so this whole feeling was completely foreign to me. I knew it was my fault that he left, I knew how disappointed he was in me because of the outburst and hiding all this shit from him but I was only trying to keep him safe and out of harms way. I had already lost my Mom beyond my control, this time I had to keep him safe. It was my mess and I wasn't going to allow him to get hurt in the process.

Sal and I had discussed the possibility of telling our parents about what was going on. Everything. The cult, the demons, the spirits, the ghosts, everything you could think of that has happened to us over the past few months. We knew they would listen, we know they would comfort us but would they believe everything that we told them? Dad mentioned that 'you think we wouldn't notice something was going on with our kids' but what did he mean by this? Did they already know the extent of what we had got ourselves into? Did they think it was teenage drama and we were just super stressed and all of this was a coincident? No, not our parents, they're far more switched on than that. With everything that's happened, it's far beyond the norm of 'Teenage Stress'. The thing was, how did we sit down and tell them? Who had to be involved? Did we ask Larry to come and side with us? Ash? Todd? No we couldn't put them through that, especially not Todd and Ash as I don't know how much they really even know about this. I'm aware they both know about Sal's past, about how the cult had really been hunting him down all these years, but what happened before I arrived? If anything. I could hear my thoughts racing around my brain so intensely that it started giving me a major headache. I groaned as I walked towards the kitchen, grabbing some pills to try and distract me from the pain when Sal called to me from the living room.

"You alright?"

"Yeah. Head's killing me, I'm worried about my Dad. He's never left like this before and he's been gone nearly 24 hours. He hasn't text me or called me, which is so unlike him. Where do you think he's gone?" I came around the corner, taking a big gulp of water and necking the pills back.

"Maybe he stayed at a motel to clear his head... Then probably got up and went to work to distract him from your argument? I'm sure he'll be home soon Riv..."

"But something's not right Sal, I can feel it. Like in the pit of my stomach, I know something isn't right. We don't argue, ever. Knowing he's been gone for this length of time without a single message isn't like my Dad..." I sat back on the couch, a slight shake in my hand as I placed the glass on the end table.

"Maybe he doesn't know how to react to it? Like you said, you two don't argue... maybe he feels uncomfortable and just wants to come home and talk about it with a clear head. If you're anything like your dad, which you are..." a small, encouraging nudge came which distracted me for a split second. "then you sometimes just need time to make yourself feel comfortable before you talk. You said he was super emotional and hurt, maybe he needs to figure how to speak to you properly without getting in that headspace again?"

"Maybe you're right. To be honest, I haven't messaged him either as I don't know what to say. Maybe we are more alike than you think. I just don't know what to say without it being awkward..." I tried to speak calmly, even though it still wasn't sitting well with me that he was gone.

"It won't be awkward, just try giving him a call now and see where he is. Can't hurt can it?" a small smile appeared on Sal's face, his fragmented lips creasing and making my heart flutter.