Denial (Salvis)

Judging a Book by it's Cover {3}

A/N

Just thought I would clarify before this chapter that this story will be told in 3rd person, and can therefore follow Travis, Sal, or both. This one will be centered around Sal's POV. :)

"What were you doing talking to him anyways?" Larry asked, adjusting his posture in the orange beanbag chair. 

"Todd said we needed more information about the church, right? Travis had a bunch of papers about it so I grabbed one. Besides, if anyone knows about this situation, it's Travis."

"I guess so, but if you're going to do that again bring me. You know I'll beat the shit out of him at the next chance I get." Something about his tone of voice aggravated Sal. 

"I know he hasn't been kind to any of us, but he has a lot to deal with at home."

"And how would you know that?"

"Just think about it, man. If Todd's suspicions about the church are right, that means that Travis's father is a part of it, no good person could be involved in this. Travis has to learn his behavior from somewhere other than school, there has to be a reason why he's so mad all the time."

"Sal, we don't even know what's going on with the church yet, it might not be connected to anything! Why are you trying to defend him so much? He's been nothing but a dick to you."

"I'm not defending him, I'm just saying you can't judge a book by it's cover!"

"You and I have both seen the how he acts, that's not a cover! That's just Travis being a shit head!" Larry had a point with that one.

"Whatever, let's just give this to Todd, he should be back by now." Sal lifted himself off of Larry's bed, holding the religious pamphlet in between his thumb and index finger. Larry stood as well, following Sal into the rest of his apartment. His apartment was always warmer than the rest of the building due to the furnace being just outside the hallway door.  They approached the elevator door, passing the empty vending machine. A plastic chair sat vacant, it's usual occupant, Chug, was no where to be seen.  The two boys entered the sliding metal doors, pushing the button labelled "2". Larry ran his hair through his long, brown, greasy hair. 

"Sal, I didn't mean to make you upset. You can do whatever you want, I just don't want you to make a mistake and get hurt. You always try to see the best in people, even when it's not there. I'm just telling you to be careful, okay?" Sal looked up to Larry. Maybe he was right, what if Travis didn't have any good in him? 

"Thanks, and I will be cautious." Sal replied, now unsure of the situation he had gotten himself into. Those thoughts whirled around his head until the elevator chimed and the door methodically slid open. 

The door to apartment 202 lazily swung open, revealing Todd Morrison. His ginger hair was slightly parted to the right, his glasses slowly falling down his nose, one of his hands stuffed into the pocket of his vertically striped green pants. 

"You guys know you can let yourselves in." Todd's voice was slightly nasally, matching his cerebral appearance. 

"It feels rude to barge into someone else's home." Sal said, stepping past the threshold of the door frame. 

"I don't live in a house, and it's not barging in if you're invited." Todd corrected pragmatically. 

"Ooooooooh! Hi boys, hi Sally!" She giddily giggled after calling out to us. Her name was Janis Morrison, Todd's mother. She had waist length light brown hair, her eyes were blood shot, which Sal assumed was due to her marijuana addiction. 

"Hello, Mrs.Morrison." Sal replied smiling, with a brief wave of his free hand.

"Off to another adveeenture again?" She tended to draw out words extensively, almost to an alarming degree. 

"Not quite yet, today we're researching for our next escapade." Todd jumped in, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. 

"Well, you boys go have fuuuuuuun!" Janis returned her focus to the empty space on the coffee table pushed against the wall, Sal believed that she genuinely thought there was a T.V there. 

Larry and Sal followed Todd to his room, Larry closing the door behind him as he entered. Todd returned to his accustomed chair by his desk, cracking his knuckles. 

"Here, I got this from Travis. I thought it might be able to help us somehow." Sal passed the brochure to Todd. His eyes scanned the paper,  analyzing the words for any clues to their investigation. 

"This definitely won't have any information about the church's baleful intentions, but it does tell us some of the basic details about its primeval history. This building dates back to 1703, which is much younger than the structure we found under the apartments. However, due to the size of the cultlike edifice underneath the apartments, it must stretch out beneath the Phelps Ministry as well. If you could obtain the blueprints from the church I'd be to able successfully pinpoint if the church has any relations to our spirits, unusual events and or cult."

Todd's long winded explanation took the other two boys a moment to process, Todd tended to use larger words, many of which Larry never heard of.  Slowly, Sal nodded his head. 

"I'll see what I can do, I'm not too sure about how I'd be able to get that."

"Sal, you always seem to sneak your way in and out of every predicament, I believe that you can do it." Todd was never the best at consoling anyone, but Sal appreciated the effort. 

"Sounds good to me, as long as I'm not the one who has to get it." Larry laughed, walking to the door, "You coming, Sally Face?"

"Yeah, just a minute. I have to ask Todd a question, I'll meet you down there." Sal responded over his shoulder. Larry shrugged and left, leaving Todd and Sal alone.

"Something pestering you?" Todd asked.

"Yeah, I need some advice, and you're the smartest person I know."

"Fire away, Sal." Sal glanced up to Todd, making eye contact as he began speaking. 

"It's about Travis, I'm kinda concerned for him, I guess. I always assumed that he might have issues at home, but I think it might be getting worse. When I got the pamphlet from him, his hand were bruised and bloodied. I want to help him, but he won't let me get close enough to properly understand, and Larry says I'm being too nice again. What should I do?"

Todd hummed in response, nodding his head sympathetically. "I'd be lying if I said his homelife is stable, it's quite obvious if you pay enough attention. You've always looked out for the underdog, that's just who you are, so if you believe that's the right decision, I'll support you. Larry's never been a fan of him, even before you arrived in Nockfell, it will take a lot of convincing to get him to be open minded, and it's not something you can do by yourself. In order for Travis to earn Larry's support, he must prove himself first, and by the sounds of it, he's not interested in doing so. I've known Travis for a while too, he's always been distrustful of everyone, with the exception of Philip, of course. I'm not sure I can advise you on that front, charisma has never been my strong suit, but if anyone has the skills to get to Travis, it's you. What I'm trying to say, is trust your instincts, you have a tendency to be right about this kind of stuff. Just make sure you're vigilant, Travis is a loose cannon. Do you have anymore information you might be able to give me?" Sal was silent for a minute, absorbing Todd's words of advice before responding. 

"I wish I did." He promised he wouldn't expose his intervention with Travis on bologna day, and he wasn't going to break it. "Thank you, Todd, I needed that." He smiled standing up and opening the door, "And I'll look into those blueprints for you."

Sal had just sat down on the couch of his apartment, when he heard his phone alert. He flipped it open seeing a text from an unknown number. 

"Hello, is this Sally Face? You said I should text you."

Wordcount: 1417

A/N

I don't know how to write dialogue lmao, I also like the idea of Todd using really confusing words so I apologize for that.