||What Lies Under|| - Salvis

Chapter X

      Travis watches his phone as the communication dies out, immediately standing from the chair he was sitting in. his hands hold himself up on the dining table, and he brushes his hand through his hair anxiously as he plots what to do next. "Do you want us to go get him...?" a small voice squeaks, and Travis barely gives Sal a glance before looking back ahead.
He needs to think. Sal stares at the blonde in concern, unsure of what to do. Papers from notes and files lay messily across the table, some piling onto the floor in a heap. Most of them were barely organized, the only neat ones being on the island on a separate table, due to those ones being figured out and in their own notebooks. They need to figure out more. The notes they have written themselves at the moment are barely comprehensible, though always in the end it ends up being deciphered. We are running out of time. Travis looks away from the notes, the only thing running through his head is the time they do have and how to manage it. "I don't know if we should, it will most likely be fine, he prolly just lost signal in the woods.-" Sal continues.
"Fisher. Give me a minute to think about what to do next." Travis says, a hint of annoyance clear in his voice as he glares at the bluenette, who was actively trying to make himself smaller in his own seat.
"Yes, sorry." sal says, breaking the current eye contact they had.
Sal starts to pick up the papers they had just figured out before Phillip had called, staying silent as that was the underlying point of traviss words. To shut up. He stands and walks past Travis to go put the newfound information on the island, staring at a photograph on the fridge as he does so. Himself, Travis, Larry, and Phillip were all posing for the picture at the time. They were at a carnival in the summertime, sometimes splitting up in twos, either it being Sal with Travis and Phillip with Larry or Sal with Larry and Phillip with Travis. All of them knew that Larry and Travis would get them kicked out if they were put together by themselves. In the picture, Larry's brunette hair is half put up in a bun, with the rest of his hair down his back. His bangs just barely show, and his tongue is stuck out for the picture, revealing a tongue piercing he got barely a year ago. Philip is barely in the picture, cramming between sal and larry with his arm around larry's shoulder, his smile wide and his eyes closed. Travis is being pushed into the picture by sal, who was holding him by his waist, causing travis to be almost on top of him. His face is curved into a half smile, not even looking at the camera and more so to the rest of his group in shock. Sal has his eyes closed, though on purpose to match Phillip as the rest of his face is covered by his prosthetic, and little stickers cover both sal and phillips face from little kids. Sal smiles at the picture, remembering how oblivious they were back then, before he himself wanted to find more. To dig deeper. He was always the adventurous type, trying to find all sorts of trouble. That itself had led to their downfall. Almost just like Phillip in a way, Sal thinks, making himself slightly smile before he hears Travis turn to him. He moves to Travis after putting the papers down, waiting for him to say something. "Fisher, we will give him 30 minutes. If he doesn't message or anything till then we go get him. Understood?" Travis says, completely serious.
Sal slowly nods, considering that to be his cue to start cleaning up some of the stuff. "Would you like us to postpone this for now then?" he asks, just in case as he already starts to put away the finished papers.
Travis nods before waving him off in dismissal, and Sal rolls his eyes at the rude gesture before doing as he is told. He remembers back to the photograph, longing for it to go back to that. To before he had found out everything from Travis. He blocks out his surroundings, sinking himself into his thoughts as he cleans.

Sal giggles quietly as he pulls up his hood, running to the Phelps household with his small bag diagonally across his body. He spots the tree behind Travis's house, taking his bag off of him and stopping right at the trunk. Small fireflies go through the air, making him grin under his prosthetic. He aims before throwing his bag up onto a branch right outside Travis's window, cringing at the loud sound of the contact. He glances to the house to make sure it wasn't heard, knowing he would be chased off the lawn by Kenneth if he were to spot him. Wouldn't be the first time. Sal sighs at the thought before climbing the tree, getting onto the branch where his bag was and picking it back up to sling around his body. He moves to the edge of the branch, being careful not to fall, barely touching the window sill when he hears a shout come from the window. He glances up at the window, putting his hand back on the branch and seeing the door slam before Travis paces around his room. Sal ducks when Travis looks at the window, now worried to be caught. "I need this to just be over with. I shouldn't be here for God's sake. I should be away, like I planned. Fuck!" Travis mutters to himself, hands on the back of his head, seeming to try to figure out his next move.
Sal doesnt look up in fear of Travis finding him, bewildered at what he is talking about. What needs to be over with? Travis finally stops pacing, grabbing something hanging from a hook in his closet and putting it on, revealing it to be a cloak of some sort with a hood. "Let's just finish this. I don't think I can figure this out by myself. No worth fighting it..."Travis mutters, just barely audible to Sal, and Travis leaves the room himself.
Sal stays clinging onto the tree, now scooting back to hide in the leaves, seeing Travis leave the house and waiting for him to get a considerable amount down the sidewalk before jumping down from the tree. He keeps his hood up, his curiousness getting the best of him as he silently runs behind, making sure he isn't seen. He follows Travis to his own apartments, and he considers walking up to him, unsure if Travis just wanted to visit. He doesn't dare, however, having a sense of suspicion of what is going on. Travis pauses on the side of Addison apartments, turning around just as Sal hides behind the wall, thanking his fast reflexes. After a couple minutes, he finally turns back around to see Travis walking to the back of Addison apartments. He scrambles to catch up, once he is behind the building seeing what seems to be a walkout basement. He stays behind a few paces, waiting for Travis to do something, and Travis pulls out his cross necklace. Sal tries to peer over, barely able to see anything in the darkness as Travis uses the bottom of the cross to open up the doors. Travis disappears into the basement, sal quickly running over to the door and grabbing it before it can completely shut. He slips through the door unnoticed, thanking himself that he had brought the dark hoodie to hide himself. He looks ahead, Travis continuing to walk down stairs and close to a wall. Sal follows quietly behind, staying in step with the other boy so it isn't heard. When Travis finally stops, Sal looks ahead, finding multiple other people in cloaks and hoods over their heads. One seems to be the leader, Travis right beside him, and he has a mask on. A mask that looks almost beast-like, chilling Sal when he looks at him. He recognizes that mask. He quickly panics, turning around and running, not caring about his footsteps or the multiple yells to go get him once they've realized he is there. He sprints out of the door, hearing one person quickly come out and follow behind, it seems to be the only person coming after him. Sal turns the corner to get into the apartments, before he is able to get to the front he is grabbed by his hood from behind and yanked backwards. He gasps, screaming before he is spun around to face Travis. A very angry travis. "What the fuck are you doing here?! This is dangerous, you should not have come here!" Travis whisper-shouts, holding him by his shoulders and hearing voices from the door of the basement.
Travis unhands him, sal looking away and not understanding. Why was Travis at.. What, a cult meeting? Sal shakes his head to rid him of the thoughts, looking down before Travis makes him look up at him. "You need to go now. It isn't safe." he whispers, squeezing his shoulder quickly before taking a single step back.
"What about you? And what is going on? You can't just leave me here with so many questions. Why did that one person.. He had a mask. He looks... familiar." sal stammers, pausing.
Travis shakes his head no, listening carefully for anyone else that could be coming. "I'll explain everything after. Go to your apartment, don't let anyone else see you. Understand me?" he whispers, turning sal around and giving him a push towards the apartments.
"Fine. but I need the truth, the whole truth." he mumbles, going off into the apartments and looking behind him.
Travis nods slowly, taking a step back towards where the door is. "Dont tell anyone about this." he says before running off to the door.
Sal looks away, going back into the apartments quickly.

Word count: 1698 words