Overview
Chapter 1: Inverted Things
Word Count: 2, 709
Everything felt loud. All Sal could hear was a sound of all kinds. Chatter, things dropping, the scraping of rubber soles, everything.
It was the last day of the year. Well, at least for Sal and Ash. Larry had graduated a year ago, and Todd was a year behind them. Everybody else in their year was excited, yelling, talking to one another. Sal wished that he felt happy for them all. He wished he was just as excited as them. Instead, he had backed himself into a corner with his hands pressing hard against his ears. Instead, he was shaking as every tiny noise overwhelmed him. It made him feel nauseated. He couldn't stand it.
Every time Sal thought he might be able to try and relax, he tried to pull his hands down. The noise only got louder when he did. It got louder and louder, and louder, and he could not handle it anymore. Tears pricked in his eyes and his legs started to feel weak.
"S..."
There was finally something distinct in the noise that had practically static. Sal couldn't quite figure out what it was saying, though. It blurred into all the background noise.
"Sa..."
The voice spoke again, and now it sounded warped. It sounded like when you flick through radio stations and hear small snippets of each one.
"Sally."
Everything fell silent. There was no more noise, and now all Sal could hear was the overbearing silence and the strange voice. It called out to him, and he cracked open his eyes. In front of him was a man, and he lit up the darkness that now surrounded him. He was illuminated with a dull pink light, and there were large pipes that came from his hunched-over body. They were bright, so bright that it hurt Sally's eyes to look at. A bright blue was now burned into his retinas, and he could see it even when he closed his eyes again.
"Sal, there's something you need to do."
The deep voice rang out into the void surrounding him and Sal, but it hurt Sal's head to listen to. He had to cover his ears again and try to silence it out. Nothing helped, though. The voice was loud as ever, reverberating through Sal's ears. It hurt. His whole body hurt.
The man craned his neck up and looked at Sal dead in the eye, and his mouth started to move again.
"Sal, I need you to listen to me."
Then it all ended. The static was back, and Sal's head pounded. His eyes shut again, and he held his head tightly in his hands in a desperate attempt to ease his pain, but to no avail. He felt so sick because of it, and he swore that the pain threatened to spread over his whole body. He started to ache, but as quickly as it started it had stopped.
The noise had passed again, and this time when Sal opened his eyes he was greeted with the sight of the nurse's office. He wasn't quite sure how he got there, but at least he knew that he was safe during whatever that episode was.
Sal looked around the room groggily, still feeling like his skull was about to split in half. He sat very still, other than trying to take in his surroundings, and he noticed there was a figure in the room with him.
Travis sat opposite him, but he didn't move. He didn't speak. It was freaky.
"Travis?" Sal spoke up, his voice quiet and barely piercing the silence that hung between them. He got no reply.
"Trav?" Sal tried again, and now he was trying to see if he had any reason to be in the nurse's office. Usually, he would have been in a fight of sorts, but there was no evidence of one anywhere visible.
There was still no reply, so Sal began to stand up. Only then did Travis seem to notice him.
"What are you doing?" Travis asked, and he spoke as if he hadn't just been staring blankly at nothing in particular. He stayed freakishly still like some kind of cryptid.
"Uhm, I was leaving?" Sal answered a tad nervously. He wasn't sure what exactly was going on, and honestly, he wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to.
"Are you okay, you were just staring... blankly. At nothing."
Travis looked at him as if he was stupid. As if he was making stuff up.
"What're you talking about, Sally Face?" Travis asked, clearly unimpressed by Sal.
"Nothing,," Sal mumbled, uncomfortably shifting his weight on his feet. He edged his way towards the door, then lifted his calloused hand to the handle.
"Cya, Travis."
Sal didn't wait for a reply before he left, because he didn't know if he wanted one. When he got out into the linoleum-lined halls he felt far more uneasy that he did before. Travis's weird behaviour was one thing, but the pure silence everywhere else was worse. It wasn't a normal kind of quiet where you could still hear the buzzing of the electricity, though. There was <i>nothing</i>. Absolutely nothing.
Sal walked through the halls, and he swore the layout had changed mildly. He walked down the math hall but instead saw science classes. He walked to where he remembered the main exit being, and found himself in the courtyard. It was weird, but he tried to ignore it and shake off the funny feeling he felt in his stomach.
Each step he took after finding the courtyard seemed to grow louder and louder. Sal swore to whatever Gods there were, if any, that sometimes he would hear a second set too. Anytime he looked around, though, he saw nothing. Nobody.
Finally, he found the exit, and he hadn't ever left a building quicker. He shoved the heavy door open with whatever strength he had and stepped out into the cold air outside. It was raining, but there was no smell of rain. There was barely any noise of it either. And here Sal thought he would be able to feel a bit more normal again if he got out to go home. He didn't even know if school had ended, but he could only assume it must have because of how empty the building was. Other than Travis... Alone, in the nurse's office.
Sal continued his walk, making his way down a long road. He looked around and saw nothing out of place. He must have just gotten lost in the school. He must of, somehow. Maybe he was disoriented from the migraines he had earlier. That was the only explanation he could think of. Maybe that's what was making him feel so strange right now. Maybe he was just out of it.
Praying that the only reason everything felt off was because of the strange episode he had earlier, Sal continued his way home. The road was empty, but that was nothing strange. Nockfell was a small place with very few people. Most of the students came in from the other towns around the place.
Sal's unease didn't go away at all as he walked home, but he tried so desperately to ignore it. It was probably his anxiety playing up. He hadn't taken his meds, probably. He probably forgot them this morning, as well as the other meds he had to take. That must be why he felt so off. Maybe. He wasn't sure, in all honesty. How long had he been off them?
Finally, though, he approached the apartments. They were the only thing so far that everything seemed normal about. It stood where it always did. There were a few windows with the lights on, and the paint on the walls outside was spray painted over or chipping. It looked like a horrid place to live, just like it always had. Just like it should.
Sal pulled out a key that he needed to get into the front door of the complex, stuck it into the keyhole and twisted. He stepped inside, the small water build up on his soles leaving footprints as he walked along the hall. He walked through the hall, and then stopped at 102. Perhaps speaking to Terrence could make him feel a bit better. He was always sweet enough.
Knock knock knock.
The letterbox opened, and Sal could see two little eyes peering through the gap.
"Good evening, Sal," Terrence greeted cheerfully as ever. It relieved him to hear that voice. He would usually greet Terrence on his way to or back from school. Or just whenever he felt like saying hi before or after going somewhere. The two had become rather acquainted.
"Good heavens, isn't it a bit late for you to coming home from school?" The tone that Terrence spoke in changed instantly when he realised the time, and that only made Sal wonder just how late it was morekm. The sky was no good tell, it was mid summer.
"Oh,,," Sal mumbled, fiddling with his hands as he tried to think up some kind of excuse, "I had detention."
That was the best thing that he could think of. It seemed to work, though, because Terrence let out a small understanding hum.
"Oh dear," Terrence said softly, and Sal could see him shaking his head through the letterbox. "That's the first you've ever had, isn't it?"
Thankfully for Sal, Terrence didn't sound annoyed or disappointed at all. Despite never having seen him properly, he felt close to Terrence. He honestly spoke to him more than he spoke to his own father at this point.
"Well, it was bound to happen some day. I trust it was the fault of somebody else, and you were just dragged into their trouble?"
Sal just nodded, and hummed out a soft 'mhmm'.
"Did Larry come and see you when he came home?" Sal asked curiously. He assumed that he would have just gone down to the basement, but maybe he spoke to Terrence too. The two of them usually did that. They felt quite bad for the man, really. Always feeling like he should hole himself away in his apartment. Sal understood how he felt, given it was something he did because of insecurities.
"Larry?" Terrence hadn't ever sounded so perplexed before. Had he somehow forgotten who Larry was, or was he just playing some kind of joke on him?
"Yeah, Larry. Johnson? He's Lisa's son?"
Terrence started muttering to himself, but none of it sounded very sure of anything. Sal hadn't ever been more confused in his life.
"They live... Down in the basement?"
Sal tried desperately to give more of an explanation, but nothing seemed to help at all. Sal didn't understand why Terrence couldn't remember Larry or Lisa.
"Don't worry about it, Terrence," Sal finally said, putting a pause in the mans thoughts. "I should be getting home, Gizmo will be needing fed."
"Of course," Terrence said gently, "Fare well, Sal."
Then he closed his little letterbox and disappeared back into his bedroom. Sal took a few slow steps away from the door, and then he made his way to the elevator at the end of the hall. With unsteady hands, which was nothing unusual, he pressed the button to call the elevator to him.
The doors opened to beckon Sal into the small space, and he stepped in. Raising his hand to the number pad, he realised that something was wrong about it. All the buttons were there for each floor, but there was no card slot for the basement. It just,,, didn't exist. He stared for a few seconds, then slowly pressed the button for the fourth floor. The pad beeped as he did.
The doors closed behind him, locking him into the elevator until it reached where it wanted to go. It beeped as it passed each floor, and then gave a louder beep as it got to the fourth floor. The doors opened, and Sal stepped out. The paint on the walls was still chipping, especially near the top where moisture from the upstairs came through.
He walked towards door 402, and then pulled his keys out of his pocket again so he could unlock the door. He stepped inside, and locked the door behind him.
"Gizmo!" Sal called out, expecting to hear a soft 'murr' and a thud from him jumping down off something. He didn't hear that, though.
"Dad?" This time he spoke more confused sounding. He wasn't particularly calling out for the man, but more wondering if he was there. Seeing another person could help ground him back to reality, and whatever was going on now would stop. Henry of all people would make sure that he knows that he's acting crazy.
He got no reply, though. The silence rung out around him as he walked further into the livingroom.
"Daaddd?" Sal called out again, hoping that maybe the man wasn't listening. Or maybe he was at work? Sal prayed that was the case. When he still got no reply, he made his way through the house to his room. Gizmo was nowhere to be seen.
Sal kicked off his shoes as he entered his room, and it was only now that he realised he wasn't carrying a bag or anything. He hadn't taken anything home from school.
"Shit,,," He muttered quietly to himself, and then walked over to his bed. On his bedside was his walkie talkie, which he stared at for a couple minutes before deciding to pick it up.
He pressed the button, "Larry?" And let go. Static buzzed out. There was no reply. "Larry, this isn't funny."
Sal had no clue what was going on, or how Larry might have managed to pull off some kind of joke like this. He was certain, though, that <i>had</i> to be what was going on. Larry has to have coordinated all this, because who else would? Who else would put this much effort into something just to fuck about with him?
Sal put his walkie talkie down, hoping that Larry was finding whatever kind of joke this was funny, and he sat on his bed silently. A couple of minutes passed, and the talkie started to make weird sputtering noises, which Sal swore made him jump out of his skin.
"S.... S.... S," The talkie hissed out sounds that Sal couldn't understand, but he picked it up anyways to try and listen better.
"Sal," He finally understood something, but it wasn't Larry talking to him. No, it was the same voice from earlier. The one attached to the strange man hooked up to the oversized life support.
"I need you to listen to me." That was the first coherant sentence Sal could understand. His hands shook a bit, but he didn't quite know why. He wasn't scared. He didn't feel scared. He felt almost like he had experienced this before.
His head started to ache again as the voice spoke to him, but nothing made sense. All the sentenced were jumbled or static-y. None of it made any sense, and at this point it was just stressing Sal out that he couldn't understand the man that was desperately trying to reach him.
Nothing eligible came out of the man again. The attempt at speaking came to an end, and Sal could feel his head pounding. Despite the silence, Sal swore that he could still hear the sounds of the gargled voice. It echoed throughout his walls and infected his brain. He couldn't stop hearing it.
Sal felt strange, but he put his walkie talkie back down on his bedside and stared at it for a few more minutes, waiting in case anything else happened. It stayed silent.
With the day that Sal had, he decided that he just wanted to sleep. He didn't care what the time was, whether it was strangely late or strangely early, he just wanted it all to be over with. His head hurt, and his eyes felt heavy, and his legs felt weak. He began to strip himself of his clothes until he only wore his boxers, then placed his prosthetic onto the bedside too.
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