I Believe You

Chapter Eight

Sal picks up another box labeled college and sets it beside the door of his bedroom. His father walks in with a cup of Joe in one hand. He leans against the door frame. “You excited?” Sal’s never seen the flash of hope before. It was in his father’s matching brown eyes. “Yeah, sorta nervous actually.” Sal runs his hand through his blue hair, only to make it fall in front of his mask again. His dad chuckles, “Well, yeah. You’re moving away from home.”

“Yeah, that is true, but there’s something else that’s bothering me and I don’t know what…” Henry sighs and eases his way over to his son. He wraps and arm around him and squeezes him tight. “I’ll miss you Sal.” A warmth grows between the two, internally. They both were genuinely going to miss each other. “Hey, I’m going to go get showered and ready to go. Alright?”

“Sure thing Dad,” Sal smiles under his mask and watches his father exit the room.

Sal plops back onto his bed and looks up at the ceiling. He raspberries and creates warmth on the inside of his mask. He didn’t know what to do to keep him busy until his father was finished in the shower. Like an answer from hell instead of heaven, a black form catches Sal’s eye. He sits up and is surprised that the form is still in front of him. Looking into this thing’s… red eyes, Sal felt déjà vu. He’s seen this son of a bitch before. Nothing good came from this “demon” of his. He’s only seen it once or twice in the apartment building. The masked adult could feel the warning in his stomach, but like the dangerous man he became, he approaches the demon.

His pale hand reaches out to the creature. Suddenly the monster whirls around and attacks Sal. No. He doesn’t attack Sal. He becomes Sal. Sal can still see everything that’s happening, but he has no control over his body whatsoever. He can’t scream or shout. The demon walks Sal to the kitchen and pulls a knife off the counter. The demon takes quiet steps toward the bathroom door. Steam crawls out of the cracks and Dad’s humming is heard. He combs his hair in the mirror. The comb falls to the floor as the door swings open. “Sal? You don’t look too well. Are you- is that a knife?!” The knife quickly skins across Henry’s neck. He falls to the ground holding his neck. The demon has so much control that Sal can’t even scream. It’s like he’s wearing armor he’ll never be able to take off. All he can do is watch his father fight for life.

Sal watches himself kill several people in under one hour. All these innocent people being murdered for absolutely no reason. Who is this demon? Who was this demon?

At the entrance of the apartment building Sal falls to the ground and finally has control of his body again. Blood of fellow neighbors stains his white mask.

Instead of being driven to college that day, he was driven to jail. Instead of a proud, smiling face dropping him off, it was serious, disappointed ones.

“Wait, so you didn’t murder those people?” Ashley leans into the table, closer to Sal. He nods, “Yeah, and no one believed me. I couldn’t control it. I had no choice.”

“So, why were you thrown in here rather than the death penalty?” Larry questions as he leans his face onto his forearm. Sal shrugs, “I have no idea. Seriously. I don’t even know what illness I have to be in here anyway… There’s another thing though, and I trust you guys with this, but I’ve been talking to ex-patients in here.”

“How? No one escapes,” Ashley pushes, but Sal corrects her. “They’re dead. They died here. Some of them are mean. I’ve only met two. One good and one real bad,” Sal pauses and turns to Larry, “that’s why I was groaning in the middle of the night. There was this terrible ghost who wanted to kill me because I was gay. Which I don’t think I am, but from his time period he didn’t really see men with long, blue hair in pigtails. So, that might be what led him to thinking that.”

“Hm, too bad we don’t have a way to the files,” Larry states in a daring voice. Todd groans and Ashley smiles mischievously. None of them know that Sal has someone already looking for files. He hadn’t seen Tiffany in a while, maybe she found something. He needs to figure out how to summon her.

Breakfast ends and everyone moves to the game room.

Sal tags along with Larry, a small anxiety building up in his gut, “Larry?”

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“Did you… do you…” Sal clears his throat and stops at the window that he looked out of yesterday. It gives him a little assurance that Larry will be there for him. Hopefully. “Do I what? What’s wrong Sally Face?” Sal’s hands find their way to one pigtail. He plays with it like a teenage girl. “Did you believe my explanation earlier?”

“Of course, why is that even a question?”

“Because, everyone else’s story seemed to be their mentality and it seemed real, but no one believes in ghosts and demons and bull shit like that…”

Before Larry can speak up, Sal turns to the window. The morning sun falling into his blue eyes. Looking at him, Larry could tell which eye was real. The sunshine made the real one look like one of those really light blue waters you can see the bottom of in those fancy National Geographic magazines. Larry smirks at his thought, but moves to the window with Sal.

“I know I’m not insane Larry. I shouldn’t be here, I shouldn’t be dead either. We need to go back to the apartments and destroy whatever has that demon existing,” Sal’s voice fills with anger and his face is almost… confused. Larry tries to soothe him by stepping closer and putting a hand on his shoulder.

“So, I’m insane to you? That’s what you’re saying.”

“No, Larry, of course not. You guys just have more of a mental thing than I do. My thing… it’s physical. It’s real. It’s true. I’m not insane, but this real demon might be driving me insane. Larry… No one believes me. I can’t control myself. I didn’t kill those people. The demon did. It took over my body… Why would I…?” Sal’s father pops into his head and his heart shatters. Unknowingly, Larry wraps his arms around Sal and rubs his hands over his soft blue hair. “Hey, Sal, it’s okay. I believe you.” Sal takes in Larry’s smell as he tries not to cry on his friend’s chest. As they stand, wrapped up in each other, a warm, confusing feeling comes over Sal. Sal mumbles into Larry’s chest, “You seem to be one of the only ones that believe me. But why?” Larry pulls away and looks down at Sally. “Why shouldn’t I believe you?” Larry hums and tilts his head to the side. His messy bun bounces with him. Sal shrugs, “I don’t know. Because I’m a killer?”

“Sal! No you are not.” Both boys look around and lower their voices. The guards looked a little cautiously. Sal gets real close to Larry, “How do you know Larry?” Larry grabs Sal by both shoulders and stares into his eyes. “Because, a killer wouldn’t share his story. A killer wouldn’t listen to others’ stories. A killer wouldn’t immediately click with someone when they were thrown into an asylum. Especially someone as clingy and annoying as me!” Larry finishes with a soft smile. Sal admired his teeth. They were unique.

Larry took in Sally’s eyes. The uniqueness of his fake one, he wonders what happened to him.

Sal would love to see Larry’s hair down… to see how long it is.

Larry wants to see Sal’s hair in different styles.

What’s happening? The thought crosses both their confused minds. Both of them trying to grasp this feeling they suddenly had for each other. What was it? Why did they have it?

How can this good of a feeling appear in an asylum?