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It was dark, and Travis was alone.
He looked up from his place on the sidewalk. The light was on in the nearby treehouse. It shined brightly through the window and entrance. He had been wandering around town for a while now, but, for whatever reason, he had stopped when he saw it. Because the window was facing the next-door apartment building rather than the road, he couldn’t really see inside, but he was sure that Sally Face and his friends were in there. He wondered what they might be doing, but quickly dismissed it. It shouldn’t really matter to him. He wasn’t even sure what he was even doing still standing here.
A breeze passed, causing him to shiver. It was nearing the end of fall, and here he was without a jacket. He took hold of his upper arms, hoping to keep in some heat, but it wasn’t really working.
Travis sighed and looked down at his feet. He was tired of walking, but he wasn’t sure what to do with himself otherwise. He most definitely couldn’t go home, not anymore, so…what?
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the tree creaking loudly. He could see the semi-lit figure of someone partway down the treehouse’s ladder. A second person was starting to descend as well. Travis immediately booked it; the last thing he needed was to draw the attention of one of them.
Travis slowed back down to a walk once the treehouse was no longer in sight. He started considering his options again. He didn’t have anyone he felt he could stay the night with, so his only real option was his father’s church. There was a secret hidden key that he knew the whereabouts of, and he could probably stay at least tonight there, but the thought of accidentally staying to long and coming face to face with his father again just…
He didn’t want to think about that.
And so, he kept walking. Soon he found himself walking past a small park. Judging by the small slide and monkey bars, it must have been a place for children much younger than him. Not that he was really a child anymore; he had turned eighteen about a month back. Damn, he was supposed to finish high school this year, wasn’t he?
His exhaustion started becoming apparent, as well as his pain. He hurt all over, but the powerful sting encompassing his back hurt the most, not to mention the pulsing pain in his left cheek. He was sure it would bruise if it hadn’t already. He tongued at the left side of his mouth, wondering if all his teeth were still there and, sure enough, there was an empty spot along the upper row. Great.
He decided to rest a moment and made his way to a set of swings. Some of the swings were definitely meant for people much smaller and younger than him, but there was a couple at the end of the row large enough for him to fit comfortably, and he chose one to sit in.
Travis sighed again, placing his forearms on his thighs. Ugh, he was even wearing shorts. He looked toward the ground, studying the vague shapes that had formed in the dirt below.
It was getting dark fast. There weren’t really many streetlights in this shitty, rural town so, soon, he wouldn’t be able to see. The thought should have pushed him to keep moving, to find somewhere to go, but he didn’t have the will or the energy.
Travis looked behind him, inspecting the forest that was a short distance away. The only thing in between him and it was a very beat up fence meant to keep the little ones from wandering too far. Looking at it, weird thoughts began to flood his mind. He had thought of similar ones in the past, but he always tried pushing them away. This time, though, they just seemed too inviting to really ignore.
What if he just…went there?
A forest with no apparent end at night in the cold. To anyone else, it would seem like a horrible idea to venture there, but to Travis it seemed almost soothing. He would be alone and, maybe if he was lucky, he would never be found again.
Travis stood and faced the expanse of trees. He gulped. He was frightened of the idea, of course, but as he realized before, there was nowhere else for him to go.
He had fucked up. He had fucked up hard. There was no coming back from it; no amount of groveling or begging would fix it. He was a disgrace, and he had to accept that.
Going into that forest and never coming back. It was truly, truly what he deserved.
“Hey!”
Shit.
He started to run but was quickly stopped by someone grabbing his arm. Still, he refused to turn around. He recognized that voice.
It was Larry.
“Hey! Where are you going? You don’t gotta run, man. We want to help. Are you okay? You look like you need help, dude,” said Larry. He was panting a bit.
We? Travis soon heard the sound of multiple footfalls coming closer. Fuck, they were all here, weren’t they?
“Wow, Larry,” said Ash, in between pants, “You’re faster than I expected. I’m glad you caught the guy!”
“Dude,” it was Sal’s voice, “Who is it? Did you find out what happened?”
Larry, wanting an answer to Sal’s question, tried to turn Travis around, but Travis did it for him, ripping his arm away in the process, “Argh! Don’t touch me, Johnson!”
“Wha-? Travis!? What the hell?” said Larry, his initial surprise at the revelation soon changing to disgust.
Surprise was also imminent on the rest of the group’s features. Todd spoke up, “Travis, what are you doing here?”
Travis barked, “None of your fucking business, faggot!”
“Hey!” spat Ash, “Don’t you start! We were just trying to help, asshole!”
“Yeah? Well, I don’t want your help, bitch! Leave me alone!”
“Ugh, you ungrateful piece of…,” growled Larry, his hands balling into fists.
It had been less than a minute and Travis was already sick of this. He really didn’t feel like dealing with these people right now. He could tell by Larry’s hands (and the fact that there were currently no school rules to abide to) that a fight was going to result if he stayed, so he decided to ignore them, and turned around and continued toward the forest.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going!?” Larry yelled after him.
Travis turned his head, “I don’t have time to deal with flamers like you, so just fuck off. Just go do whatever you degenerates do and leave me be, got it?”
“You-!”
Travis turned again and headed toward his destination but stopped when he heard rapid footsteps coming toward him. He braced for impact…but it never came. He slowly turned around and saw Larry right behind him, ready to smash his fist into Travis’s temple, but that was what he expected to see. What he didn’t expect, however, was Sally, grabbing onto Larry’s arm.
It had been a long time since then, but Travis still remembered he and Sal’s talk in the bathroom like it had been yesterday. Travis had apologized to Sal that day and, since then, had decided to leave him and his friends alone as a form of atonement. Of course, that didn’t stop the others from hating his guts, and, honestly, he didn’t blame them. It wasn’t like he apologized to all of them anyway. They probably just took his sudden absence from their lives as a blessing and left it at that.
Just now, he had regressed back to throwing insults to get them to leave him alone, but, locking eyes with Sally, his anger melted away and was quickly replaced with fear. Although Travis had been vague about it at the time, Sally knew more about his home life than Travis was comfortable with. And that stupid note. He had only realized after their conversation that he had missed the garbage can when tossing it and had prayed hard that Sal never noticed it. He had no idea if he did, but either way, he definitely didn’t want to say anything to Sal now. He was ashamed; ashamed of his entire life and talking to Sal would only make it grow further. He especially didn’t want to do it with all these other people around.
They would surely laugh.
“Travis,” started Sal. His voice was calm, but serious, “What’s going on? Why are you hurt? You need to tell us.”
Travis crossed his arms, trying to look anywhere but at Sal, “I-I don’t have to tell you anything…,” he had tried to put some force in his voice in a pathetic attempt at intimidation, but had failed completely. His nerves were going crazy. He can’t do this. He can’t.
“You’re right, you don’t,” responded Sal, dropping Larry’s arm. Larry’s anger was tainted by confusion, and he simply stood silent, looking back and forth between the two boys. Sal continued, “But I think it would be better if you did, Travis. We can help you, you know? You just need to tell us what happened.”
“I-I…,” Travis started, but he had no idea how to respond. He took a step back, eyes pointed at the ground.
“Travis.”
Travis looked up, and his eyes suddenly locked with Sal’s. The mask’s blank expression was a constant, but he could see genuine worry in Sal’s eyes. No! Don’t look at him like that! He can’t-
“Travis, did he-?”
Travis didn’t stick around to hear the end of the question. He turned and ran as fast as he could. Lucky for him, the decrepit fence had a large enough hole in it for him to slip through. He barreled through it and ran straight into the forest ahead. He had heard Sal call after him, telling him to stop, but he ignored it. He ran and ran, and soon, all he could see in all directions were the shadowy figures of trees.
oOo
“Ugh, geez,” said Larry, after Travis’s figure completely disappeared into the trees, “I thought we had been done dealing with this guy.”
Ash sighed, frustration in her voice, “Can…can we go back now? I really wanted to play that game you guys were talking about. Also, its freezing.”
“Gladly,” responded Larry, heading back towards Ash and Todd.
Sally watched Larry head back, but then looked back toward the forest. Larry, noticing that Sal hadn’t followed him, turned and asked, “Sally Face?”
“We need to follow him,” stated Sal.
Ash started, “But, Sally-,”
“It’s getting really dark. He could get lost. We need to go get him.”
“But he did it to himself! He knew where he was going,” said Larry, pushing his hair out of his face.
Todd thought for a moment before saying, “I…I agree with Sal. We can’t leave him in there.”
“You too, Todd?” responded Ash, “B-but he…”
“I know,” said Todd, squeezing the bridge of his nose, “I don’t like him either, but I’d rather prevent a future in which I feel guilty for not stopping a death.”
Larry and Ash glanced at one another. Todd’s words were quite convincing. Reluctantly, they agreed to go.
“We’re going to need flashlights,” said Todd, “Lets head back. I’m pretty sure I saw some in the treehouse.”
Sally nodded and headed back towards the others.
oOo
Motherfucker it was cold.
Travis sat huddled against the side of a tree. It was pitch black now, so, rather than wander headfirst off any possible ledges and add to his injuries, he instead chose to stay put. It was also extremely quiet, save for the scampering of unseen animals. He could hear his own heart beating in his chest. It was…unsettling, to say the least. At least it was too cold for any bugs.
Travis picked at a cut he found on his upper arm anxiously. It hadn’t been there before, so he assumed he had gotten it running through that crappy fence. He groaned and fell over onto his side. He wished dying didn’t take this long.
His mind wandered. He wondered what his father was doing right now. Going to bed, maybe? He wasn’t sure how late it was anymore. He really didn’t know why he still thought stuff like this after all this time but…maybe his father was having second thoughts? Maybe he was looking for him? He was his only son after all; shouldn’t he give a damn at least a little? That’s what you’d think though, huh? Travis mentally kicked himself for giving himself any sort of hope about this but…
He was still his dad, you know?
He always knew that writing down your feelings was dangerous, but he felt it was the only way he could really organize his thoughts sometimes. He should have learned how risky it was after the incident with Sal in the bathroom, but he had gone and done it again. He remembered actually feeling good after writing it, but it had been a fleeting moment. His father had ripped it from his hands, asking him why he wasn’t studying and, to Travis’s dismay, read it. And that’s…all it took, really.
Ugh, why was he like this? Why couldn’t he bury his feelings deeper? Why couldn’t he have changed? Hell, why was he like this in the first place? Why had he even been born?
Travis closed his eyes. All he wanted to do now was sleep. Sleep and forget. But apparently, God had other plans for him.
He heard voices. Travis immediately shot up and tried pressing himself against the tree as best he could. He saw lights starting to appear from his left, and so he sidled around to the opposite side of the tree, hoping not to be seen. Whoever it was, he hoped that they would just miss him and move on-
“Travis!?”
Holy shit, these guys again!? What the hell were they doing all the way out here? They were starting to move in slightly different directions. He could see their flashlights moving past him. One of them almost caught his foot. He needed to get out of there, fast. He tried standing as silently as he could. He tiptoed forward. Maybe he could-?
“There he is!”
Fuck.
Travis’s face instantly met with the ground beneath him, a heavy weight knocking him down. It was on his back now, which hurt like a bitch, and was gripping his arms. Fucking Larry Johnson had tackled him.
“Get the fuck off me!” Travis growled.
“Hell no! I’m not dealing with you running off again, Phelps! Its already late enough as it is!” responded Larry.
“Fuck, argh!” said a struggling Travis. Larry wasn’t budging. “F-fine!” he groaned, “You win, alright!? Could you just get off me!? I…I won’t run again, okay? T-there, you happy?”
Larry thinned his eyes, but eventually decided Travis was telling the truth. He stood. Travis stood as well and grumbled as he brushed dirt off his arms.
“Come on,” started Sal, “Let’s all go back to my apartment. My dad’s working late, and we recently got this awesome hot chocolate you guys should try.”
Larry perked up at the thought. He grinned, “Heck yeah, little bud!”
“Hmph,” huffed Travis. He wasn’t having this, “I-I said I wouldn’t run, but that doesn’t mean I’m coming back with you…”
Ashley sighed, “Travis…”
“No, you’re coming back with us,” demanded Larry, grabbing Travis’s arm again, “I didn’t come all the way out here for nothing.”
Travis scoffed, “I didn’t ask you to come get me, Johnson! That was your own stupid idea.” He tried to get his arm back, but Larry foresaw this, and only held on tighter.
“Why do you want to stay out here so badly anyway!? That’s your stupid idea!” asked Larry, who was growing more annoyed by the second.
Travis opened his mouth, planning on giving an angry retort, but closed it again. He looked away instead.
“No good answer? Then you’re coming with us!” Larry began to attempt pulling Travis in the direction he wanted to go, but Travis tried pulling in the opposite direction in protest. Ash and Todd joined in, trying to push Travis forward, but his struggling made it a difficult task.
Sal watched this weird back and forth for a short while before chiming in, “I…have an idea.”
All four of them froze and looked at Sal. Sal mentally prepared himself for a moment. He felt that his idea he was about to employ was a little mean-spirited, but he didn’t think he had any other choice. He refused to let Travis stay out here, and obviously, forcing him back wasn’t going to work.
“Travis,” he began, “I need you to answer some questions I have and, if I think your answers are true, then we’ll let you stay out here, okay?”
The others were shocked at this. Larry opened his mouth in protest, but a glance from Sal made him close it again.
Travis considered Sal a moment before agreeing to this compromise. He just had to answer some questions, right? Of course, Travis felt a deep anxiousness about what Sal planned to ask him, but he just had to keep a straight face about it. As long as Sal thought he was telling the truth, then it would be fine. He just had to stay calm.
“Okay, first question,” said Sal, “Why are you injured?”
Travis told his first lie, “You mean this?” he pointed to his face, which was surely bruising, “T-there was this other guy. We got into a fight, and he punched me, alright? That’s all. Heh, you should have seen what I did to hi-,”
“Then your back?”
“M-my back?”
“You got blood all over your shirt, dude.”
Travis looked behind him and pulled at his shirt in order to get a better look. He knew about the injuries to his back but hadn’t realized he had bled through his clothing. He pulled at his shirt until he could see something. He eventually saw a dark stain in the shape of a line, and the movement of the flashlights made it shine red at times. He could only see one, but he assumed there were more of them.
The unforeseen circumstance made Travis internally panic. He tried to think up another lie as quickly as possible, “I, um, I…Oh! W-when I was fighting that guy, you see, I…fell into a thorn bush, heh heh. It…must have got me good…”
“Can I see it then? Your back, I mean.”
“W-what?”
Sal crossed his arms and averted his eyes. He was still uncomfortable with how mean this was, but he had to do it, “If you fell into a bush, then you’d have a bunch of puncture wounds, right? I want to see them.”
Travis’s eyes widened. That was it, he was caught. Still, he tried to come up with an excuse not to show him, but it just came out as incoherent babbling. He looked at Sal, who was looking back at him again. There was a serious look in his eyes. He looked at the others. All had various looks of confusion to them, and all of them were staring at him, awaiting his answer. His first instinct was to run again, but Larry was still holding onto his arm with a vice grip. As a result, all he did was shake like a leaf.
This was pathetic. He was pathetic. Travis used his free arm and brought his hand up to his face. It hurt like hell to touch it. He was suddenly acutely aware of how much everything hurt, inside and out. Larry, Ash, and Todd all jumped a little in absolute shock when a loud sob escaped their former bully and backed away slightly when that sob turned into full blown crying. Larry let go of Travis’s arm, and Travis brought that hand to his face as well.
“Travis?”
Travis moved his hands away from his eyes slightly. Sal had moved to be right in front of him and was holding out his hand, “Come on, Travis,” he said, “Let’s go back.”
Of course, Travis couldn’t see Sal’s full expression, but in his eyes, he could see a level of caring and sympathy that he had never seen directed at him before. Travis sniffed, wiped his eyes with his hand, and placed his other hand in Sal’s.
oOo
Sal, Larry and Travis were all piled into Sal’s bathroom. Travis was sitting on the toilet while Larry sat on the edge of the tub. Sal was currently digging in the cabinet above the sink. Soon after he pulled out some bandages and disinfectant and turned toward the other two boys, “Travis, I’m going to need you to take off your shirt. Lar, could you help me with this?”
Larry stood and took the disinfectant from Sal while Travis silently removed his shirt. In the doorway appeared Ash and Todd with the latter holding some rags and a bag of frozen vegetables.
“We didn’t see any ice packs,” said Ash “So I hope this is okay.”
“Yeah, that’s fine,” said Sal, “I actually have no idea how long those have been in there anyway.”
Todd handed the rags to Ashley before walking up to Travis and placing the bag of vegetables, albeit a little strongly, against Travis’s cheek.
Travis hissed at the contact, “Argh, could you be any rougher?” he said as he replaced Todd’s hand with his.
“Don’t complain,” Todd said flatly. Travis grumbled a bit before dropping it.
Ash also walked in and joined Sal and Larry in looking at Travis’s back. It was littered in crisscrossing, line shaped wounds. They varied from being only red scrapes to deep cuts that had bled a good amount, hence Travis’s shirt. None of them were bleeding anymore, but some still held stagnant pools of fresh blood within them. They were probably having trouble healing due to Travis moving around so much.
Ash put her hand to her mouth in sick bewilderment while Larry stared in wonder. Todd moved to observe as well, and his eyes widened. Travis was looking down and shifted uncomfortably in his seat from all the attention.
Sally didn’t seem to react and simply got to work by taking one of the rags and wetting it in the sink. He then used it to wipe the dried blood from Travis’s back. Larry sighed, took the other rag, and dumped some of the disinfectant on it. Larry then snickered to himself a moment before slapping the wet rag onto Travis’s wounds.
“Eeep!” screeched out Travis in surprise and from the sudden burning sensation. Travis’s rather effeminate scream caused Larry to double over in laughter and Ash and Todd couldn’t help but snicker as well. Travis blushed furiously, and only manage to mutter out, “A-asshole…,” before covering his face with one of his hands.
Eventually, the group managed to clean and bandage all the wounds on Travis’s back. Travis went to put his shirt back on before Sal stopped him and left the room. He soon came back with one of his own shirts.
“I, uh…it’s okay. I-,” started Travis.
Sal interrupted, “It’s fine, dude. Your shirt has blood on it. Here.”
Rather than trying to protest, Travis nervously took the shirt while muttering a small thanks. He put it on. Sal’s shirts were always baggy on him, so on Travis it fit decently. Travis tried his best not to think about his current shirt situation, but he could still feel his face grow warm. He looked down, hoping no one would notice.
“Hey, you guys?” said Sal, turning toward the others in the room, “I want to talk to Travis, alone. Could you guys hang out in the living room? Feel free to make yourselves at home.”
The three of them looked at each other and then at Travis, who was still looking down. They each let out small words of agreement and left the room. Sal closed the door behind them.
Sal turned back and leaned against the wall in front of Travis, who was still sitting on the toilet. Travis didn’t look up.
“Travis, I need to ask you something. Please answer truthfully this time.”
“Um, yeah?” responded Travis quietly.
“You’ve always been coming to school with bruises. I know you get into fights sometimes but, it always seemed like…I don’t know, suspicious? since I spoke to you that one time, though, I was thinking…”
“…”
“Travis,” said Sal, “Does your dad do this to you?”
Travis sighed, “…Yeah,” he answered. There was no point in hiding it anymore.
“And this time?”
“Yeah, this time too…”
“That’s illegal, Travis. You know that, right?”
“…It doesn’t matter anymore…”
“What do you mean?”
Travis brought his hand up to his face again, “He…he kicked me out. Told me not to come back.”
“I…shit, dude,” responded Sal, eyes widening, “What happened?”
“I…I messed up. He got mad. My back he…hit me with his belt. I can’t go back anymore.”
Sal wanted to ask how he messed up but was unsure about pressing him more. Sal decided not to and simply responded with, “I…I’m sorry, man.”
“It…it’s fine. D-don’t be sorry. I don’t need pity,” said Travis. Sal heard his voice wobble a bit.
“It’s not fine…,” whispered Sal, but then continued, “Um, well, hey. Let’s get out of the bathroom. You can stay here tonight, okay? I’m sure my dad won’t mind.”
“B-but-,” began Travis. A quick look at Sal, though, who was staring at him intently, quieted him. He didn’t have a choice, did he?
Sal beckoned Travis to follow him, and Travis stood and did so. As they approached the door, both parties could hear something bumping a few times against the door along with furious whispering. Sal sighed, they had been listening all along, hadn’t they? Sal looked back at Travis in apology, and the defeated Travis responded with just a shrug.
The two of them left to find the others sitting in a line on the couch, all of whom were fidgeting suspiciously, pretending not to notice that Sal and Travis had left the bathroom.
“Hey...,” called Sal, getting their attention.
“Oh! Um, hey,” responded Ash, looking over and raising her hand in a small wave, “Are you guys done?”
“Yeah, we’re good,” said Sal. He knew they were already aware, but he continued with, “Travis is staying the night here, okay?”
“Yeah…okay,” answered Larry, scratching at the back of his head. There was a short silence before he continued, “Err, hey, man, I’m going to get going, okay? It’s getting late, and I’m beat.”
“Yeah, me too,” said Todd, pushing up his glasses, “I’m also tired, and I have stuff I have to get done for school.”
“Yeah, I’m tired too,” said Ash, “Hey, Todd? Can I stay over tonight? I’d rather not walk home in the dark.”
“Of course.”
“Ah, okay then,” said Sal and the others all got up from their seats and headed for the door, “See you later…”
Travis moved to stand next to Sal and looked down at him. He could tell from his tone that he wasn’t happy with them leaving and watching him move to go into the kitchen silently solidified that fact for him. They were probably all planning on having a fun Saturday night before he came along. Damn, he really does ruin everything, doesn’t he?
Travis looked back toward the door. They were almost gone. He knew they were going because of him. He felt guilty, and so tried to speak up, “Hey, uh, wait,” he said reaching a hand forward.
They ignored him, or maybe they didn’t hear. Travis tried again, this time, a little louder, “W-Wait!” They still didn’t answer, the chatting between themselves potentially drowning it out. The only one he managed to draw the attention of was Sal, who looked at him inquisitively.
Really now? Annoyed, Travis bellowed out, “Argh! Fucking wait, dammit!” Luckily for him, he managed to get the attention of all of Sally Face’s friends. Unluckily for him, he also got faces of varying levels of confusion mixed with disgust.
“Ah! Um,” stuttered Travis. Shit, he already fucked up. He needed to fix this, “Uh, s-sorry, I didn’t mean…Sorry, uh, listen…”
Travis sighed and scratched the back of his neck nervously. The others had all turned toward him and were giving him their attention, which made him even more nervous. Well, here goes nothing.
“I-I know I’ve been a huge asshole to you guys um…ever since I met you, but, uh, I just wanted to say…I’m sorry. I ruined your night, and I’m sorry for that too. It probably means nothing, just saying this, but…I still felt like I should. Also, uh, I don’t think I said it before but, t-thanks… for tonight. For helping me. Sorry I was such a little bitch about it…,” Travis wondered if he should say more, but he couldn’t think of much else to say. It might not have even mattered anyway. Like he said, it probably meant nothing.
“Hey.”
Travis looked up and made eye contact with Larry. The others all looked at him too. He still stood there with arms crossed, but Travis noticed that his original face of hatred had softened significantly.
Larry continued, “I appreciate the sentiment, but I think you should be apologizing to Sal most of all.”
“He did,” said Sal, walking forward to stand next to Travis, “He apologized to me a while ago, and I accepted it.”
“S-sorry for tonight too…,” responded Travis, looking towards Sal.
“Don’t worry about it, man,” answered Sal.
Larry’s eyes widened, “Really?” he let out a small chuckle and pushed his hair out of his face, “Ah, that makes sense…,” He looked back at Travis, “Well, you’re right. You have always been a huge asshole and this whole adventure did suck ass, but…ah hell, whatever, man. I’m tired. I don’t accept your apology, but…I guess that doesn’t mean I can’t in the future. I get the feeling I’m going to be seeing you around now more than I’d like, so let’s just drop it for now,” Larry looked at Sal for approval. Sal answered with a nod.
Larry looked over at Todd and Ash, “Yo, you guys wanna stay longer? It’s Saturday, s’not like we have school tomorrow.”
Ash and Todd glanced at each other for a second before turning back to Larry.
“Yeah, that’d be great,” said Todd.
“Yup! I do still wanna play that game,” responded Ash.
“Hey, Sal!” Larry called, looking back at said boy, “Is that okay with you?”
Travis could see the smile in the small boy’s eyes, “Yeah!” Sally exclaimed, “Come on, let’s go!”
The four friends all headed toward the living room couch and television to get ready to start the game. As he moved forward, Sal had grabbed Travis’s arm, pulling him along as well.
oOo
‘So, um, how does this work?” asked Travis, eyeing the controller in his hands.
“You say that like you haven’t played a video game before, man,” responded Larry, who was sitting beside him on the couch. Larry was holding the other controller.
“Um, well,” responded Travis looking at the television in front of him. On the screen was huge blood covered letters that said, ‘NAZI ZOMBIE MASSACRE’. He couldn’t imagine bringing something like this into his father’s home. “Err, No. I haven’t”
“It’s easy, you’ll get used to it quick,” said Sal, who sat on the opposite side of Travis, “Here, this is what you do-,” he began, leaning towards Travis and pointing at each button as he explained. This gesture made Travis stiffen up significantly, and, despite his best efforts to pay attention, found it difficult to do so.
“You got it?” asked Sal, leaning back into his original position.
“Y-yeah! Sure…”
“…You don’t get it at all, do you?”
“Not a clue.”
“Either way,” said Larry, grinning at Travis, “I’m gonna have fun beating your sorry ass.”
Travis couldn’t help but smile back at his opponent, “Bring it on, Johnson.”
“Loser gives up the controller!” shouted Ash from her spot on the floor as the match began and the two boys began mashing buttons as hard as they could. Todd, who sat next to Ash, sipped contently at the hot chocolate Sal had made.
Matches ran long into the night. Eventually, a tired Henry came home from work. As he passed the living room, he smiled at the sight of Sal and his friends scattered around the floor and couch, covered in random blankets, all sleeping soundly.
THE END