IDFC- Chapter 8- Travis is a Badass
Warning, this chapter will contain: Gore, choking, self-deprecating thoughts, panic attacks, vomiting, mentions of alcohol, and physical fighting
I held my breath as I silently crept behind my father, slowly raising Larry's bat higher, trying to ignore the dried blood on the end. I was shaking slightly, both from fear and anger. This sick bastard found me, as of he didn't do enough damage already. I'm honestly surprised he even gave a shit I left. Ah, guess he thought I knew too much. I held my breath, gritting my teeth, as I inched closer behind my father. I was fucking infuriated.
Ashley opened one of her eyes, whimpering in pain when her hair got yanked again, and went slack-jawed when she saw me. She nodded slightly and shut her eye again. I glanced back towards Larry and Sal. Larry's eyes seemed far off, but not to the point of passing out.
The sweater around his bleeding wound had went from a light violet to a dark brown from the blood, making numbing fear run through my body. Sal's chest was still rising and falling gently, the blood starting to dry on his mask and head. They have done so much for me, all of them, I need to protect them. Larry's going to die of blood loss if I don't hurry.
Tears ran down my cheeks as I took another step closer to my father, leaving about a foot between us. I need to do this. Just as he lifted Ashley higher in the air by her hair, I leaped forward and slammed my bat on his head, landing on my ass afterwards. He shrieked and dropped Ashley to the ground, loosing his footing and falling to his knees. His gun went cascading across the floor, landing in the corner.
She stood up and ran to bathroom, returning moments later with med kit. Ashley started to disinfect Larry and Sal's wounds. I warily stood up. Larry managed to lock eyes with me and gave a wary smile. More tears fell down my cheeks as I smiled back. I can do this, for him, for them. Fuck, for me.
I turned my attention back to the grown man crying on the floor, trying desperately to stand up. Blood was steadily dripping from the gash in his head, turning his blonde locks into an angry scarlet. The man that made my life a living hell is sobbing in front of me. The man who shot the boy I love, and beat my new and only friends. My knuckles went white as I gripped the bat tighter. I lost all composure and control.
A scream ripped its way out of my throat as I jerked him straight up by the back of his collar and held my bat to his neck, immediately applying pressure. I held the bat between my forearms and my hands were against the back of his head. My father gasped for air as I choked him, yanking the bat harder against his throat and pushing his head forward. My sight blurred as he desperately clawed at my arms. The more he struggled, the worse my arms hurt, but the more determined I became.
"Let..go..yo-you pi-piece of shit!" My father managed to choke out. At this point all his movements were jerky and he was gasping for air, occasionally letting out a pitiful sob. He was shaking uncontrollably. His eyelids were red and puffy and there were red splotches on the whites in his eyes, probably from popped blood vessels. My fathers face had tinted purple and his veins were now visible.
He went fucking ape-shit, now flailing his limbs frantically. His elbow managed to ram into my chest, sending me stumbling backward as the pain spread through my body. Fucking ow. He took a deep breath and started hacking, clutching his throat desperately. I got a good look at his face. The red splotches in his eyes were still quite visible and his eye lids were still puffy. Tears were running down his cheeks and saliva was trailing down his chin. Blood was still running down the back of his head, parts dried and staining his hair.
After a few more seconds of violent coughing, my father gasped and puked bile onto the floor. A look of disgust spread across my face as the foul smell lingered in my nose. Fucking ew. My father panted a few more seconds and passed out with a loud thud, head landing in the grotesque pile of bile in front of him. I looked down at my shaking hands. Drying blood coated my fingertips and palm from the gash in his head. I took a deep breath and combed fingers through my hair, wet with sweat.
"Uh, Travis? Are you, uh, are you okay?" Ashley shakily called from behind me. Fuck, I almost forgot that literally everything went horribly wrong at the same fucking time. I looked over at her. Larry was laying on the couch, his shirt off and wound now properly bandaged. He was now asleep, his chest rising and falling slowly. I swallowed thickly, holding back tears. I looked at Sal, worry now heavy on my chest. Please be okay, please be okay. Ashley had taken off his mask and started to bandage the gash on the side of his head carefully. His electric blue pigtails had been pulled out, the hair bands now laying on the ground next to him, and I realized that this is the first time I've ever seen him without his mask on.
There were scars going from the top left of his forehead down to the right corner of his chin. His nose structure is gone, leaving just his exposed nostrils, and a small chunk of his mouth is missing, showing his teeth. Now that his mask was removed it was easier to see his eyes. The right one seemed to be a shade of blue lighter than the left, tilting to right slightly. Huh, guess he has a fake eye. That's actually kinda cool. It looks like a chunk of his jawbone is gone, leaving his head slightly misshaped. He honestly doesn't look that bad, but whatever did this to him must be terrifying. Sal looked up at me and smiled lazily.
"Hey, Travis!" He slurred happily, holding the a out. Ah fuck. I smiled back nervously and looked at Ashley. "Ash, what's wrong with him?" She sighed and shook her head, visibly annoyed. "Well, I didn't wanna hurt him with the rubbing alcohol, and he needed to calm down, so I gave him some vodka. Sal was hysterical when he woke up, especially when he saw you. He drank fucking half of it while I was taking care of Larry, and i'm also like sixty percent sure he has a concussion." She explained, ignoring Sal as he braided parts of her hair, mumbling to himself. I nodded in response. Makes perfect fucking sense, which is almost as scary as the rest of this shit.
I looked at back at Larry. He was shifting slightly, mumbling incoherently. I walked closer and sat down in front of the couch, facing Ashley. I looked back at him. His face was twisted in what looked like discomfort and fear, his mumbling getting louder. My chest tightened at the sight. It kills me to see him like this. I reached out and and grabbed his hand gently, rubbing circles into his skin with my thumb.
"Is..is he gonna be okay?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly. She planted her hand on my shoulder and and gave me a reassuring grin. "Definitely. I disinfected the wound immediately, and bandaged it. It does need stitches, though. We'll do that bull shit tomorrow." I smiled warily and nodded. Her expression became serious. "Alright, now what the fuck do we do with him?" Ashley asked, gesturing towards the man laying unconscious on the floor behind us. Huh, almost forgot about him.
Just as she said that, the door swung open. Todd Morrison walked through, his bright orange curls bouncing slightly, fiddling with what looked like and old Gear Boy but with some major advances. "Alright Sally, it should be working fine now, you have to be careful with it though. I also added some minor adjustments." He rambled, gesturing to parts of the Gear Boy. Then Todd finally looked up. His eyes widened and went slack-jawed immediately, eyes flickering between Larry, Ashley, me, and my unconscious father, and back to Ashley. He dropped the Gear Boy to the ground, it now long forgotten.
With a shaky hand, he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, mouth still agape and wide-eyed. "Alright guys, what in the fresh fuck happened?" Todd asked, edge to his voice. Sal sat up and gasped, "Todd! Oh my god hey!" He shouted, waving frantically before falling onto Ashley. Todd pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking slightly. I don't know whether he's shaking out of fear or anger, but either way I'm scared.
Larry's eyes snapped open and he sat up, a look of pure panic on his face. Dear lord. "Todd, we can explain!" Larry nearly shouted, attempting to stand up. He immediately fell over, falling into my lap. I quickly stopped his head from hitting the floor, gasping loudly. My cheeks dusted over pink as Larry mumbled more before drifting asleep, snoring quietly. I looked up at Ashley, confusion written in my features. What the fuck is wrong with him?
She crossed her arms defiantly. "I had to give him vodka, too. I didn't know what to do, okay?! We didn't have any pain relievers. I'm not a fucking doctor." Todd waved his arms around, clearing his throat loudly. "Hey guys, Todd's still here! I get Travis and Larry are having a bonding moment or whatever, but what the actual fuck happened?! Why the fuck is there an unconscious man laying on the ground? What the fuck happened to Sally and Larry? Did Larry get fucking shot or some shit?" Before anyone could respond, he continued to ramble on, pulling at his orange curls nervously.
"Also, why is Travis here? I guess I'm fine with it, but what's that about? Is Sal fucking drunk? I have to go back to the unconscious man on the floor, because what the fuck! You guys do realize that we aren't the only people who live here, right?" He whisper-shouted, gesturing wildly around the room. He looked back at Ashley, panting from barely taking a breath during his questions, and crossed his arms. She stood up, having to gently push a now sleeping Sal off of her, and walked towards Todd, resting both her hands on his shoulders.
"Todd, calm the hell down! Okay, so long story short, the man on the floor is Kenneth, and Travis is cool now. Yes, Sal is drunk, and yes, Larry got shot by Kenneth." Because that's helpful. He backed away from her, looking even more frantic than before. I stroked Larrys hair gently as Todd and Ashley bickered back and forth, admiring his features. Honestly, I need a minute to comprehend what's happening, so I tried to focus on him. That became difficult when Todd and Ashley started fucking screaming.
"Listen, Ash, I get that we have Kenneth now, but that doesn't change how risky this was, or how stupid. We are in an apartment, people live above us, and probably heard your dumb asses! I wouldn't doubt if the police are on their way." Todd shouted, pinching the bridge of his nose once again. "Well, what the fuck were we supposed to do?! He just barged in and tried to kidnap Travis!" Ashley screamed. That's when it hits me. This whole thing is my fault. If I hadn't come over, if I had warned them, if I had done fucking anything, this wouldn't have happened.
My breathing quickly became ragged and uneven as they continued to argue, tears pricking my eyes. The world blurred as warm tears ran down my cheeks, my thoughts becoming more and more harsh. This is my fault. All of this. I yanked my hair, my body shaking uncontrollably. I was gasping for air yet still couldn't breath. I scattered backward till I hit the couch, bringing my knees to my chest and sobbing into them. Everything is so loud, both my thoughts and screaming rang through my ears.
I thought I was dying. So what if I did? Larry deserves better. Dad definitely doesn't give a fuck. Ashley and Sal probably hate me, and I've made an awful impression on Todd. No one would care. I let out a particularly loud sob and the screaming stopped momentarily, before more screaming. "Way to fucking go, Todd, you're making him freak out!" Ashley shrieked, venom dripping off her words. As more screaming followed, I continued to gasp and sob. I'm gonna die, this is it. My thoughts swallowed me, getting louder and louder. I'm a monster. 'This is your fault, all your fucking fault.' The voice shouted.
"Shut the fuck up!" I screamed, trying to quite all the noises in my head and out loud. The room went dead quite, as did my thoughts for a short amount of time before they started again, louder. At least Ash and Todd stopped yelling. I heard a small gasp and a few footsteps towards me. "Travis? Travis, look up." I faintly heard Todd whisper calmly.
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