Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

(Book cover credits to @/1Coc0Nut on DeviantArt)

Sal rested on his bed, staring blankly at the dark roof of his un-lit room. It was all a surprisingly normal week, somehow. The Devourers of God had been awfully quiet, and it was all but suspicious, especially with their plans.

Still, as the sun set, Sal felt completely safe. There was always a long quiet before the unexpected, a calm before the storm. It was definitely an assurance that the red-eyed demon was trapped as of now, too. Yet somehow, he couldn't bring himself to go to sleep just yet. Something bugged him, keeping him awake at night.

No matter how tired he was, how far on the brink of absolute exhaustion, there was something absolutely wrong. He had never had insomnia before. Even with all of his nightmares in the past, and even the present, he never stayed awake past eleven at night.

Wishing he still had his walkie intact, he stood up from his bed with a sigh.

"Everyone's probably asleep..." He mumbled, wandering to the kitchen and grabbing a couple cookies from the pantry. He popped one in his mouth before walking back to his room.

"I guess I might as well, since there's nothing else to do..." He began, pulling out a sketch pad and art supplies, the gifts from Larry for his birthday. It was a nice gesture considering how much Larry himself loves art, though Sal hadn't really bothered to use it much with how busy he always was. That only meant to him that nights like these were the perfect ones to use them.

He thought for a moment, softly tapping the eraser of his sketching pencil against the thick paper. "What was it that Larry had said again? Draw what you feel? Or was it to let your mind carry you..." He muttered, as he began to draw.

It's no secret that he was an absolutely horrible artist at first, and yet somehow within a matter of weeks, Sal had drastically improved beyond recognition. He had settled on drawing a young woman, who seemed to remind him an awful lot of his mother in likeness when he was finally finished. Her eyes looked gentle and full of kindness, and she had a smile like spring. She was really quite beautiful, honestly.

He stared at the finished product for a minute, tucking it away with his other artworks and drawing someone else.

Soon enough, after another couple of hours doodling random people he saw at school (as well as his friends,) it was morning.

¤·¤·¤·¤·¤·¤

Something was different today. Ash was generally more distraught and less talkative, Larry seemed to be zoned out more often than usual, and Todd daydreamed in class. By lunch, most of the students had called home and gotten their parents to agree to pick them up, including Ashley, who would be picked up during the lunch hour.

"Larry, do you know anything about all the missing kids? I swear man, it's like everyone caught some sort of stomach bug or something. What's going on?" Sal asked, curiously poking at his french fries as if he was testing them for radioactivity.

"Dude, it's that weird vibe from Packerton. She's been offbeat ever since they stopped bologna sandwich day. You should remember like it was yesterday, since y’know, BS day was cancelled like, right after you moved here. They said that too many complaints were filed, kinda like when they ended meatloaf day... Anyway, her vibe's just been more in-the-dumps deadbeat sicko this past week. It's almost unbearable at this point… I've just been doodling in my books to keep me distracted," he sighed, as he proceeded to draw Sal out of sheer boredom.

"You gonna eat those?" Chug interjected, pointing to the - now mashed - fries Sal was messing with.

Sal shook his head in a no, and pushed his tray away. "Nah, I think I lost my apetite this morning. I couldn't sleep, and I had a few too many cookies..."

Larry chuckled, looking at Sal. "Dude, you realize that sugar just keeps you up for longer? Don't do that next time. Take some Melatonin."

"The only sleep medication we have in my house are my dad's pills. And I don't wanna steal them, Larry." Sal sighed, and Larry nodded in understanding.

"Yeah man, I get that. I wouldn't wanna take my mom's medications either, especially since she gets sick a lot... And I wouldn't want her to run out and then feel worse..." Larry trailed on, turning his eyes back to the little doodle of Sal that he was making. "Anyway, there's been a bunch of rumors of another new kid. Remember the house that old man, I think his name was Harry, died in?"

Sal nodded. "Yeah. You mean that victorian-fashioned one by the forest, right? It's more like a mansion than a house."

"Yeah, the house that's big as fuck. They're sellin' it, and they said a big family's gonna move in. A rich couple with three kids is gonna live there. That's what the rumors are, at least," Larry said, as he finally finished his drawing and began to sketch out a new one of what he thought the newcomers would look like.

"Larry,  stop doodling in your math notebook! Miss Packerton's gonna yell at you again. She already told you to stop doing that in class today!" Ashley whined at Larry, causing him to lose focus and mess up some of his pencil strokes.

"Jeez, Ash. It'll be fine. She doesn't scare me anyway, so I can handle it…" Larry mumbled, and Sal had gotten bored and resorted to playing some games on his Super Gear Boy.

Ashley had retorted something back, before finally leaving the table and heading out so her parents could pick her up.

The rest of the day proved to be just as uneventful, the events if the day being nothing but more boring classes. Some of which had even entailed a few menial, and sometimes even tedious, projects. But then again, the routine he had built up over the week was very welcoming for Sal. He had taken to it similarly to how a full-timer would take to a free vacation with full pay.

And he found that lying in bed afted a long and exhausting day was always rewarding, no matter how stale or bland the tasks and events of the day were. And so just relaxing at home became somewhat of a pastime, the warmth of his room was so inviting now that he was back. And maybe, hopefully, he would be able to finally get some sleep tonight… But of course, this was all just some wishful thinking.

~°·{end chapter one}·°~

Chapter Text

Colors. One after another, a series of pinks and greens and violets flashed by in her mind before her mind finally went into a rest.

12:00 A.M.

Of course she couldn’t tell for certain, but that was what she thought the clock read. Which only made things far more painful when she woke up at 3 to the sound of her oh so beloved sister, Makayla, banging on her door like the fiery pits of hell opened up to devour the world and they had to flee.

“Great… Absolutely wonderful. It’s always lovely to be woken up at the fucking crack ass of dawn…” she groaned, pulling a pillow over her head, to absolutely no avail.

“Vanessa! You need to get up right now, or you’re not getting breakfast!!!” Makayla shouted through the door, eliciting a  groan from the girl desperately trying to stay asleep in bed. Of course, all this helped her in no matters whatsoever as she finally got out of bed, tying her hair up messily before leaving her ‘sanctuary’ of sorts and wandering downstairs.

“Oh look who decided to-“

“Not a single fucking word from either of you. It’s way too early for this shit…” she growled, cutting off Vespera and glaring at her. This little interaction worked just as intended, disheartening Vespera and Makayla from trying to talk to her the rest of the morning… which, luckily, is exactly what she wanted. What an absolutely wonderful way to start off your goddamn day.

School was… always a bit of a chore, even more so when you were new . And dealing with it all would torment her very existence, so long as she was actually enrolled in anything. Whether by a stroke of luck or just twisted fate, though, her class schedule was completely empty. Every single course slot had been allotted as a free period from a glitch in the system that decided to present itself only when they had made her sheet. And for whatever reason, they just left it that way for the entire first semester and set her up so that the second semester was worth all her yearly credits. The only stipulation was that she had to be on-grounds during school hours.

…What morons.

She was given far too much freedom, and it was too late to take it back. She just knew she could make them regret it all.

Slipping a rolled joint she had made last night and her steel lighter out of her back pocket, she slid the joint between her lips and flicked the lighter open. She lit it, putting her lighter away and taking a hit. As she felt the stiffness of her body melt away, she sighed and began walking around…

After all, if she was stuck here she may as well explore a bit, maybe meet a few new people too.

With each step, the soles of her converse hit the faded linoleum floors with a dull tap, but it still irritated her somehow. She walked for what felt like hours, just wandering the desolate halls and occasionally peering in classrooms out of sheer boredom or curiosity. She hadn’t particularly discovered anything worth note, but…

“Who…” She peeked into a window, her interest suddenly rising when somebody caught her eye. “Who is he…?”

~°·{end chapter two}·°~