[DISCONTINUED] ❝Ante Mortem❞ 【Sally Face】

【xiii ; the ghost】

You spend the rest of the afternoon chatting with Selene-- well, Gab chatting with Selene as you, Larry, and Gab just listen to them catch up on all the things they missed up on each other. Gab decided he wanted to go home since he knew his dad was going to be home, so the four of you decided to head on back to Addison apartments and see Selene again another day.

"Hey, Y/N." You turn back, seeing Sal wave you over. Taking a few steps back, you fall into step with him as you follow after Gab and Larry. You raise an eyebrow at him, and he merely pushes his hands deep into his pockets.

"What's up?" You ask, now looking ahead of you. You chuckle, seeing Gab smack Larry upside the head. They're going to be good friends, you already knew since Larry had entered Gab's apartment.

"Remember the thing I said about ghosts?" He says, his voice sounding a bit cautious. You hum a little, paying attention to his voice. It's just as ambiguous as Gab's, but his is.. deeper. You shake your head from the thought, listening to him properly, "Well, that part's true. Want to come to my apartment later? I'll just grab something and I'll let you meet a ghost."

"I-Isn't that too sudden?" You ask, stammering a little.

"Well, I mean, we're close friends, also I want to talk to you about a few things, now that you're our friend." He tells you, shrugging slightly. You give him a look, and he seems to ponder more about his decision, "Yup, it's too sudden, I hear you, we can do this next time if you want to--"

"Noo! No, noppe, shut up, I was exaggerating that, haha, I- I um, I guess I don't mind? Just don't, you know, show me something that's too scary" You nudge him, laughing. He gives you a look, nodding off your words; but you knew that you sounded way too awkward. 

Nice going trying to sound normal, Y/N.

Soon you get back to Addison Apartments, Larry getting down to his apartment first before you, Gab, and Sal head on up the elevator.

"Welp, I'm pretty tired for the day, I'm going to crash at my apartment." Gab heads on out. He turns back upon seeing you stay in place, asking, "Wait, you're not getting off here?"

"I'm hanging out with Sal." You wave at him, smiling apologetically. He nods thoughtfully, waving at you as the door closes. You get to the fourth floor, suddenly realising that it'll be your first time hanging out at Sal's room. Usually you'd be at Larry's, but that's not the case right now. Getting out of the elevator, you follow him to his apartment, room 402. You decide to take note of that in case you ever wanted to go to him one day.

"Welcome to my apartment." He tells you, opening the door for you to enter. You smile, before entering and seeing the television open. He closes the door behind him, pointing at the cat on the couch; you blink, you just noticed it there, "That's Gizmo, my.. strange human-like cat."

"Huh, cute, hello Gizmo." You wave at the cat, which raises a paw in acknowledgement of your presence.

"Wait here, let me get something from my room." He gets to a door, entering and disappearing for a moment. He gets back out the door, holding a console. You stare at it, realising it as the exact same one he had when you first met him. He waves it around, "I'll tell you about this later. Let's go to the fifth floor."

"Right, you did mention that earlier." You nod, petting Gizmo on the head before following him out the door. He presses the button on the elevator, seeing it open up immediately. You both get in, him pressing the button for the fifth floor. You cross your arms, suddenly growing nervous. You've haven't been on any floor after yours, and you don't know what to expect. You feel an hand on your shoulder, slowly sliding to your hand. You squeeze it, chuckling as you let your hands loose at your sides, one of them holding Sal's, "Yeah, thanks, Sal."

"No problem. Anyway, here's our stop." He pulls you out the elevator, leading you to an apartment: room 504. You get even more nervous, getting close to him as he opens the door. He goes to the bathroom, opening it and shutting it after you had gotten inside.

"Megan?" He speaks, now pressing a button on the console he brought.

"Megan?" You repeat, about to ask more but then you see green static shoot out of the console, and an entity bursts into life from the floor in front of you. Out of fear, you clutch his arm, nearly pressing yourself against him. From the entity forms a young girl, translucent to your eyes. You turn to Sal, "I-Is she a ghost?"

"She's a ghost, yes." He deadpans. If you could see his face, you probably guess he has his eyebrows raised at you. He turns back to the child, greeting, "Hey, Megan."

"Hello, Sally Face!" The purple-haired ghost girl greets with a wave. She turns to you, "Hello! I'm Megan, are you Sally's friend?"

"Hi, I'm.. Y/N." You introduce, slowly letting go of Sal. You try to smile, still a bit shaken up about the all 'ghosts exist' concept, "Nice to meet you, Megan."

"Nice to meet you too, Y/N! Are you Sally's lover?" She asks with the same child-like smile on her lips

"Ah, no, we're friends." You say, laughing nervously.

"Why are you hugging him like that?" Megan asks again, tilting her head.

"They're scared of the fifth floor, I told them it's okay because I'm here." He explains, patting your head. You glare at him, now letting go of his arm as you have calmed down.

"How did she die?" You ask him in a quiet voice, just so it wouldn't be rude to Megan. He shrugs.

"Is Y/N new here?" Megan asks, still looking up at you. "You're so pretty, I like your hair!"

"I like your hair too." You say. "Yes, I'm new here, just moved here three months ago."

"Oh, welcome to the apartments!" She says with a smile. She suddenly turns, frowning when she looks back at the two of you. "I need to go. Bye bye, Sally Face!"

"Megan, wait, I need you to-"

She breaks into entities, and is seemingly swallowed up by the floor. This causes you to clutch Sal's arm again, not expecting that to happen again.

".. Y/N, you can let go now-"

"Right, right, sorry." You let go of Sal, smiling sheepishly as you scratch your cheek, "Not used to the whole, 'ghosts exist!' concept."

"You better get used to it."

"..Why?"

"Nockfell is more that what I knew it was, so there." He tells you, his eyes seeming to dig deep into your soul. You swallow back your reluctance hard.

"Please elaborate??"