The Freaks | Sally Face

Chapter 98: Time for The Truth

Travis' POV:-

I was stunned. I couldn't believe what I was seeing before me and over the last few days, I had seen some absolute shit. I was staring right at Sal... without his mask. I didn't know what to say, I couldn't speak. My eyes didn't leave his once, I couldn't look away from his face. All this time of wondering what was underneath his prosthetic... and it was now right in front of me. I had been dreaming of this day, one way or another to see what he was hiding from the world.. and now it was finally in front of me. I felt my cheeks relax and my eyes began to scan him, from his forehead down to his chin. The orange glow of the sunset resting perfectly on his face, highlighting how blue his eyes were and reflecting the shine from his thick, deeply cut scars. I ran across his cheeks, one side being visibly worse than the other... small speckled scars and obviously some sort of graft created his new cheek. I moved down, towards his jawline that was sharp and misshapen. Pieces were missing and it wasn't smooth... but it was him. I couldn't believe that he was sitting there, allowing me to see him for who he truly was. My heart began to race inside my painfully sore chest. The thumping of my heart was deafening and I'm surprised Sal couldn't hear it, considering he was not even an arms distance from me.

"Y-you... your.." I began to speak which shook Sal's eye sight away from mine.

"Here's the train wreck you always wanted to see. Happy?" he frowned and looked down to his hands on his lap, becoming defensive as he was anticipating what I was going to say to him.

"Sal.. I'm s-sorry.." I spoke quickly which made his eyes return to mine.

"W-what?" his forehead wrinkled.

"I'm so s-sorry... I never meant..."

"Yeah well... it's done now" he reached for his bag and put the creams onto the bed, trying to avoid the conversation. "These should help with the swelling and the soreness.. You want to put some on now?..."

Clearly Sal was beginning to feel uncomfortable. It didn't help that I couldn't take my eyes away from his face. It wasn't because it made me feel awkward, it wasn't because I thought he was hideous... it's because I was so shocked to see how beautiful he was. All this time I made him feel disgusting, I made him feel like he could never show his face in school... my words hurt him for such a long time and I was disgusted with myself that I was so cruel to him. My body was in such tremendous pain, my eye socket feeling like it was going to bust out of my skin but my heart hurt more. Sal was genuinely one of the nicest people in the world, no matter how much I hurt him, he never hurt me back. When he found me crying in the restroom one day at school and asked if I was ok... I was so cruel to him and called him every name under the sun. He didn't have to look out for me, but he did. I looked down to the creams, all these prescription stickers on them and it made me realise how much trouble he had to go through daily to keep his skin the way it was. He was willing to share these with me, despite me being an absolute dickhead to him.

"Sal..." I paused and looked back up to him. "Y-you don't have to give me these.."

"What? Why not?" his expression tightened and he met my gaze again.

"I don't deserve them. Not after everything I've done to you. It wouldn't be right to use these when you need them more.."

"Well, we want to make sure you heal and these are the best things to get you there.."

"But I don't deserve them. I don't deserve your guys' kindness. I deserve what happened to me and I know it's because of all the nasty things I did to you all..." I moved myself up on the pillows more, my body snapping and cracking which made me wince.

"Hey, hey!" Sal stood and cupped his hands under my armpits. "You can't move too quick, you'll make yourself worse..."

I looked to him for a moment, my vision still hazy and my body close to giving out. I was so close to him, so close that I could smell his scent. It was such a soothing smell, so clean but so masculine. Considering Sal wasn't a muscle man, he smelled just like one. I felt my heart in my throat, my feelings wanting to take over and just tell him everything I thought of him. I wanted so desperately to make him understand that I had to do what I did because if I didn't, my Dad would've killed him much sooner. I couldn't blame it all on that though, the internal struggle of realising that I liked Sal was something I wasn't prepared to face. I hated the way he made me feel sometimes but it was what my heart wanted and I couldn't deny that any longer.