Untitled Part 1

Chapter VII

       Sal and Phillip sit at the table, just having gotten back from school a couple minutes prior, and Mrs. Volker makes a snack for the two in the kitchen with a happy hum. Phillip sighs as he leans back in his chair, relieved for his punishment to finally be over and that the three days went by so quickly. Sal smiles politely from under his prosthetic, his backpack next to the chair on the floor, and he glances at Phillip for him to say something. "Hey ma, I'll prolly be heading out with Sal to explore around, just to show him some stuff I've found. That's alright with you?" Phillip asks, tapping his hands against the table, a nervous habit he had picked up recently.
Mrs. Volker nods, Sal smiling at the gesture and watching as she finally whirls around to face the two boys, two plates in her hands. She walks over, setting the plates down, and the color instantly drains from sals face when he sees what he was given. Bologna sandwiches. He looks up at Phillip in horror, a matching expression of terror on his face. They had both had the conversation of how the bologna sandwiches in school were made of human meat only a couple days ago, and Phillip hadn't taken it too well considering both him and Travis loved the sandwiches. They were a treat for them both, and they had them often at the Volker household before when they were young. Now, it's more like a terrifying reminder of before. Who knows what's in them this time. Sal swallows dryly before nodding softly in thanks to Mrs. Volker, words unable to be formed or let out of his mouth to speak. "I... Thank you, ma. I love you." Phillip stammers, still staring at the food on their plate.
"I love you too, Phil. Now eat up boys, so you have energy to go exploring later!" She says happily, walking off upstairs.
Sal and Phillip share a look to each other, both thinking the same thing. Do we toss the... meat, or do we bury it in case it's human? There was no way they were eating it, especially since of their past experiences. Sal slowly stands, watching the stairs and fixing his pigtails as he grabs the plate. Phillip follows suit, standing and holding his plate. Sal silently walks to their trash can, opening it and dumping the sandwich in, letting Phillip do the same before grabbing a bunch of paper towels and shoving it into the garbage can. That way Mrs. Volker doesn't ask questions if she were to find it. "Cmon, let's go. We can go out now, I'll show you a place." Phillip whispers, and Sal agrees as he goes back to the table, grabbing his bag.
Phillip watches the staircase as Sal slips out of the house, going out of the garage door and waving over Phillip. "Cmon, let's be quick, before they notice!" Sal whisper-shouts, holding back a laugh as he gets to the driveway.
Phillip smiles, running off to him and slinging his backpack over his shoulder. Sal follows as Phillip leads the way, quickly getting out of the neighborhood, in the process of passing Ashley's house. Sal waves to Ashley, who was letting her dog out while her little brother ran around the yard, and Ashley waves back with a grin. "Sal, don't make me leave you behind!" Phillip shouts a warning, though playfulness is clear.
Sal rolls his eyes, bringing his attention back to where they are going and finding them going closer to nearby train tracks. He fixes his hair, which was getting messed up by the wind and running, and his breathing picks up as he sprints. "Slow down Philly, where are we even going!?" Sal calls, a couple paces behind him.
"You'll see!" is all Phillip responds with, racing onto the train tracks and running along them.
Sal stumbles as he gets onto the train tracks, catching himself and keeping his backpack against his shoulders, cursing Phillip under his breath for completely ignoring his comment. He sees Phillip finally slow down, exhaling in relief and catching up to him, and he finally brings his pace down. "Where are we-" Sal starts, before he spots where they are.
They stop walking, sal staring up in awe and finding that they are under a bridge, covered in overgrowth and various vines and flowers. Phillip turns around to face him, a big grin on his face and his almost identical eyes to sal piercing. "Cool right?" he smiles, gesturing to the scene, and sal nods eagerly.
He slowly passes Phillip, going under the bridge and hearing his friends footsteps from behind him, looking around as he had never seen such thing before. "I never thought of going onto the train tracks." Sal says aloud, his hands slowly grazing against the vines.
"Careful. I don't know if some have thorns or poison ivy." he hears from behind him, and he dismisses it quickly with barely a thought.
He plucks a rose from one of the vines, a smile growing on his face underneath his prosthetic, taking a step back and finally glancing at his friend. Phillip shares a matching smile, walking over to the vines. "I've always loved roses." he states, staring at the sight, sitting down on the ledge and glancing to the left.
"Me too.'' Sal agrees, and he follows Phillip's eyes to where a small pool of water sits, lily pads and lotus flowers coating the surface.
Sal sits next to Philip, their matching blue hair moving with the wind and watching a frog hop from lilypad to lilypad. Phillip suddenly leans back uncomfortably, as if trying to find a good spot to hide a feeling, and Sal nudges him humorly. "What's up with you?" he asks with a giggle, and when Phillip glances back his smile drops.
Phillip doesn't look as calm anymore, pale and eyes wide as if he has seen a ghost. "We should go soon." he says in a quiet whisper, voice down as if someone is listening.
Sal wordlessly nods, going along with what he is saying and deciding not to question it. What has changed? Everything was okay, up until now. Sal glances around, finally feeling what Phillip was feeling. Someone is watching them.

Word count: 1062 words