Close Your Eyes | Sally Face Reimagined

Section 1 Chapter 1

"Sal, come here for a minute." A shout came from downstairs that sounded tired and scratchy. Nothing out of the ordinary. That was my dad's voice. I wonder if mom was finally back from the hospital. I cautiously stepped down the creaky floorboards of the beach house to the living room. My dad's back was turned from me, his head was in his hands, and a slow breath emitted from his figure.

"Dad, what's the matter? Are you alright?" I questioned as I sat next to him and waited for a response. He took a deep breath.

"Your mother. She.. she's.." His breath hitched as his head lifted to face me. His eyes were red and puffy. Something bad happened.

"What happened to mom?" I asked in a slow tone. Honestly, I was scared. My mom was everything to me. I don't know what I would ever do without her.

"Your mother went into shock at the hospital. They say it's because her organs weren't getting enough oxygen. They tried to save her, Sal." He squinted as the tears started to pour down his face again. I've never seen him like this. But I can't blame him, that was the woman he loved, and the mother to his only child, who he now had to raise alone.

See, around a month or two ago, I went out with my mom to the park for a picnic. My dad was supposed to meet us there since he had to work. So off we went to the park and set up for the day. Usually, the park had a couple of dogs walking around so when one came up to us it wasn't out of the ordinary. But the thing was, it wasn't a dog. A wolf. A wild fucking wolf. We must've angered it or something because the next thing we knew, I was on the floor surrounded by paramedics coated in blood and scratches and my mother was being carried away into an ambulance.

That event left me with a billion scars over my arms, legs, face, and torso. The largest two is a gash on the side of my face that's so deep you can see my teeth and mouth, and the second is one from my 7th rib on my left side and it trails down to my hip on my left side. The scars are just starting to heal so in the meantime I was given a prosthetic face mask to cover the mess.

"Sal, are you listening? Your mother is dead!" My dad's shout pulled me from my thoughts and I finally realized. She was gone. Fuck. This was all my fault. I was the one that wanted to go to that park. I knew full well something would happen. Now she's gone. Forever.

I nodded towards my dad to tell him that I understood, then got up and ran upstairs to my room. As soon as I closed the door the tears started to pour. I unbuckled my prosthetic to wipe my tears but could only feel the nasty torn skin on my face. I cried I screamed, and I threw shit across the room. Anything to relieve the mental pain I felt. I still didn't feel at ease.

My eyes trailed down to my sleeves, then my bedside table. I felt like I wasn't even in my own body as I grabbed a razor blade from the drawer and locked myself in my bathroom. After I rolled up my sleeves, I pinched the razor blade at the top and swiftly it glided into my wrist. And over. And over. And over. And over again. The blood was leaking slowly from the cuts down to my hand and into the sink with a mixture of sink water and my tears.

I cut an equal amount on the other wrist and then cleaned up to the best of my ability. The blood still hadn't dried on my wrist, so I cleaned it up and put bandages on it. First I put a layer of gauze. Then I wrapped up my wrist with a bandage wrap. I repeated this on the other wrist. I don't know why I bandaged it up. I guess just the habit of my mom finding out it was self-inflicted. Not like she could find out any more.

I lay on my bed and just watched the ceiling as if it were to move. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in Dad," I shouted but it wasn't super loud. My head tilted to face the door.

"Sal, we need to get out of here by Saturday. People are gonna come to take the house now that your mom isn't paying the bill. I'm so sorry." he stated. Fuck. Everything just had to go wrong.