Better Than I'd Thought | Sally Face x Travis Phelps

fifteen

"Do you wanna know?" Sal asked, looking up at Travis. He was smiling while nestled against his neck.

"Hm?" Travis hummed, falling asleep.

"Do you wanna know?" He asked again. "What happened to my face."

"Huh?" Travis's eyes widened, and he straightened his back on the couch, causing Sal's head to slip off of his shoulder. "I mean, sure, but only if you want to tell me. I don't want to pressure-"

"No, no, " Sal held his hands up, "I don't feel pressured. I think that it's the right time to tell you."

Travis hesitated, staring into the dark eyeholes of Sal's prosthetic. He nodded wordlessly.

"Okay, " he sighed, "I don't really like talking about it so... I'm sorry if I get all weird." Sal laughed nervously. "Basically, my face was normal up until like, the end of second grade. I was eight."

Travis nodded stiffly.

"One day, we went on a picnic," Sal's voice became slightly quieter, "Uh, I was sitting on the blanket with my mom in a field, when I heard this dog start barking." He grimaced.

Even though he thought about that day frequently, it was strange to talk about it out loud. "So, like the little idiot I was, I asked my mom if I could go over and pet the dog. She said yes, but when I actually... Got over to where I thought the dog was, there was no dog at all."

Travis drew his eyebrows close together.

"Instead," Sal continued, "There uh, there was this guy in the bushes, wearing a- like, a dog mask... thing."

"Dog mask?" Travis's eyes widened.

"Yeah, and..." He looked away, "He had a shotgun. My mom tried to protect me by standing in front of me but..." He swallowed, "That didn't work out too well."

"I'm sorry," Travis mumbled, still caught up on the dog mask part.

"It's alright," Sal insisted quietly, "Basically, the bullet went through my mom and... ended up in my face."

"And your mom," he said, "she-?"

"Yeah." Sal nodded.

"I'm sorry, Fisher," Travis put a hand on his shoulder, "that's terrible."

Sal swallowed and looked away. "Don't worry about it. That was a long time ago. Besides, it's not your fault."

"Did they ever catch the guy?"

"No..."

Travis winced. "You... Said that he was wearing a dog mask?"

"Yeah," Sal rolled his eyes, "It all got covered up somehow. Everyone says it was just a dog, but they weren't even there. I was, and I swear, we weren't attacked by an animal. It was a man."

"The mask," Travis went on, "was it silver?"

"Huh?" Sal's eyes widened, "Yeah it was like, metal I think. Or maybe plastic painted grey? Anyway, that's when I got my first prosthetic. The pink one."

"And- the dog mask," Travis stiffened, holding his pointer fingers above his head, "did it have ears like this?"

"Yeah," Sal furrowed his brows. "why are you so hung up on this dog mask thing?"

"Oh, god," Travis dropped his face in his hands, "Shit."

"What?" He reached out to grab his wrist.