Sal Fisher readjusted his prosthetic mask and brushed off the orange and white cat hair that was stuck to his custom printed hoodie of Sanity's Fall that was about a size too big for him. The sleeves hung down and the bottom of the hoodie reached his knees. With being so short, Sal usually wore clothing that was small or extra-small depending on the type, but Larry accidentally bought him a size medium, thinking he was slightly bigger than he thought he was.

He contemplated whether or not to tie a knot at the back of the hoodie, as it would wrap around his torso and hips to make himself not seem like a total trashfire, but he shrugged and hugged the hoodie closer. It was such a small, inane gift and yet, it made his cheeks burn beneath his mask and his heart skip a beat.

Sal was standing in front of the full body mirror of his bedroom closet, taking his time fixing every imperfection he found. His long, blue hair was tied into the usual pigtails, but they were just a little bit messier with little strands of hair sticking out or hanging down out of the hair-tie despite his best efforts. The messiness would add the aesthetic flare of being a rebellious teen, which he took pride in. The lava lamp on his bedside table was the only thing that provided light in his usually pitch black room, but as long as it allowed him to see, Sal, nicknamed Sally Face, was happy nonetheless.

He tried to go with the thrasher look since this was his first ever concert, especially one that was heavy metal. Adults and teens alike would be in a crowded venue while their favorite heavy metal band sung their lungs out and played their instruments beneath colored fluorescent floodlights until they couldn't feel their fingers. Larry would be having the time of his life, and Sally couldn't wait to see his face light up while watching his favorite band.

Larry was so dedicated that he bought himself a fake drivers license using some spare cash he found lying around solely for the ability to get into the venue without an adult, and to drink alcohol, much to Sal's dismay. But Larry knew his friend had addiction in his family, so he promised to moderate himself when he was around Sal, which Sal greatly appreciated. But in hindsight, he was both nervous and excited all at the same time. His stomach did flips and his heart kept beating erratically, so he couldn't tell what emotion he was feeling.

Sal could imagine it now, head-banging in a mosh pit with his best friend Larry Johnson with strangers beside him, not having a care in the world. The hoodie was gifted to him by Larry about a week ago when he announced they were going to the concert, but their tickets were going to be distributed by an outside seller. Sal found it a little sketchy to be buying tickets from a stranger the night of the concert, but he knew his friend would know better than to trust a scam artist, so he didn't think anything of it.

Slowly shutting the closet door, he hoped it wouldn't make any noise when it clicked. "Success." Sal whispered to himself, happy to know the universe was on his side. He had to be as quiet as possible since it was the middle of the night on a Saturday, but instead of sleeping like his father intended, Sal and his friend Larry Johnson were going to sneak out and go to the concert Sanity's Fall was hosting. Sal knew how much trouble he might be in, but he took the chance anyway.

He's always listened to his dad and never disobeyed that often, but sneaking out was definitely something he wouldn't have done before meeting Larry. A tiny part of Sal thought Larry was a good/bad influence on the young teen, but half the time they were hunting the paranormal, so if anything, Larry and his friends were the only good things he's got in this crazy life of his.

After prepping his outfit, he took one last look at himself in the mirror on the wall, pretending to be in third person to see his appearance for one last time before heading out. In retrospect, it seemed a little excessive to wear extra piercings, so he took them out and placed them back onto the dresser, now only wearing two black ones on his right ear. He was wearing his usual red pants with the slits at the knees and blue shoes since Larry told him to dress comfortably, so he was glad he didn't go all out when it came to fashion.

Sighing, he readjusted his hair one last time and got out his flip-phone, hearing his dad snoring in the bedroom next to him. "Hey Larry? You ready to go?" He typed, using one hand to turn off the lava lamp. He opened his bedroom door and stepped out, his blue eye trying to adjust to the sudden darkness.

The living room was still the same, with the couch in its usual spot and the table still littered about with the microwavable dinners no one bothered to throw away. The smell still lingered around the empty plastic container and Sal grimaced a little, remembering that the dinner itself wasn't good in the slightest either.

Using his flip phone as a light source, Sally pointed the screen towards the ground so he wouldn't trip on anything and wake his dad up. Gizmo was asleep on the couch, but as soon as he heard footsteps he perked his head up and trilled at seeing his owner. "Sh, Gizmo. Don't wake up dad." He whispered, giving his cat a pet on the head.

Purring, the cat went back to sleep, and Sal took the house key kept on the side table near the front door that led into the hallway. Taking one last look at his dark living room, Sal sighed and opened his front door. Looking down the poorly taken care of hallway, he made sure that all of his neighbors were asleep and no one was trailing the hallways with nothing better to do. Shutting and locking the door behind him, Sally leaned against the wall and checked the time.

His flip-phone read 10:20 PM at the top of the small screen, and not to his surprise, Sal grimaced. The concert was starting at 12:00 AM, and even then Larry still needed to get the tickets. Sal felt his heart pound in his chest nervously, almost as if it's a plea that he should just forgot all about it and head back inside. But he ignored this feeling of dread and texted his friend again, his fingers forming words on the screen. "Larry Face? I'm ready to go. Respond please."

Closing the phone in exasperation, he closed his eyes and propped his head against the wall. This concert was supposed to last until 3:00 AM, which meant Sal would be half-asleep by the time he got home, collapsing onto the bed and burying his face into the covers. Sal's head would still be throbbing from the noise, but he knew his future self would be too tired to even think. After a minute or two of waiting in the dimly lit hallway, Sal huffed and opened his eyes after feeling the cellular device vibrate in his hand.

Before he could answer the text, the light above him flickered, and on instinct his head craned to look up at it on the ceiling. His pigtails fell backwards and he sighed shakily through his mouth, wishing he brought along the Super Gear Boy in case the Red-Eyed Demon was around to scare him. But as quickly as it started, the flickering stopped and he brought his eyes back down to the floor.

Flipping the phone open, he read Larry's text and almost sighed in relief. "Sorry for the hold up dude! Phone was charging. Anyway, we should meet in front of my place and then head out the main door." Starting to walk down the hallway in the direction of the elevator, Sally texted back, "Cool Im heading there now. U outside?"

Using the keycard to head into the basement, he continued texting Larry with a small smile on his face. The elevator made a grinding noise, but with how old the apartments were, strange noises were common. That, or someone ended up falling down the elevator shaft at some point and became a ghost.

Sal could imagine a ghost version of a bellhop, just standing there next to the buttons and asking where Sal would want to go. Then they would have a nice little chat about how he died, and he would tip the spirit some money for his service. As soon as the elevator door opened, he looked up and felt a little disappointed that his wish didn't come true. Regardless, he went inside.

It didn't take but a minute to go down into the basement, and he felt his phone buzz again. "I'm waiting dude. this is gonna be awesome!" Larry texted back, making Sal laugh a little in agreement. Once the elevator door opened, Sally stepped out and closed his phone to conserve the battery life. He saw Larry waiting in front of the door, and the two waved to each other excitedly. Sal quickened his pace looked Larry up and down.

Larry decided to change into something "different" as he put it, but once Sal got a good look at his friend he was wearing the usual smelly beige colored t-shirt with SF printed on it, along with faded jeans and shoes. The only difference was the black jacket he wore since it was fairly chilly out. Once they were close enough, they wrapped each other into a tight hug and couldn't hold their excitement for much longer. Larry was the first to speak.

"The hoodie looks good on you, Sally Face! I'm pretty sure it can shrink in the wash if you try hard enough. Sorry about getting you the wrong size though, that's mostly my fault." Sal laughed in reply, tugging at the bottom of the hoodie nervously. "Don't worry about it, Larry Face." He avoided eye contact and pretended to be brushing off some left over cat hair. He was too embarrassed to admit he slept in the hoodie his best friend gave him despite the size.

The brown haired male put his hands into his pockets and started walking towards the elevator with Sal following close behind. "So, how are we going to do this? We don't have a car and the venue is pretty far away." He asked, staying as close to Larry as possible. The elevator made the same grinding noise while the two waited, but they had a conversation. "We're going to meet a guy near the venue at some convenience store. He'll give us the tickets in exchange," Larry took out an envelope of money and opened it in front of Sal, two $100 bills staring back, "for these bad boys."

"Where did you get that money? You didn't steal from your mom, did you?" Sally demanded, his voice rising a little. Larry made a shushing noise and put his palm against Sally's mask, which in retrospect wasn't helping anything, but once the door opened he dragged his friend inside and pressed the Floor 1 button.

The door closed and he let go of Sally's mask almost immediately. The blue haired boy readjusted it with a frown and stared up at his friend. "Would you keep your voice down? You'll get us caught! Listen, I had a little money saved up in the bank and I withdrew it. It was mostly from the allowances I got awhile back or jobs during the summer."

Folding the envelope back up into a square, Larry stuffed it back into his pocket and sighed. Sal awkwardly shuffled next to the taller male, and replied, "Sorry, man. I'm just a little excited. But, how did you get the money for a fake drivers license and concert tickets?" The door opened to the first floor and the two teens stepped out and turned towards the front door of the apartment building.

"I made the license, check it out." Larry handed Sal the expertly done license, and by the looks of it the license could fool anybody. Everything despite the appearances of Larry were different, down to the name, date of birth, address, etc. It was almost like Larry was an entirely different person. "Martin Kramer? What kind of name is Martin Kramer?" As soon as they went outside, they hit with a sudden gust of cold wind and Sal closed his eyes as the air hit them, but he was still laughing at the name.

Larry snatched back the license back and stuffed it into his pocket just like the envelope. "I happen to like the name Martin thank you very much, Sal." He joked, nudging his friend in the arm. "Dude, come on, Martin sounds like some old businessman guy who hates his job and you and I both know it."

Larry shrugged using his shoulders and the two teens continued laughing and joking around while walking in the night, their only source of light being street lights or the occasionally passing car. After about a fifteen minute walk, they made it to the city and Larry pulled out his phone, most likely to text the guy with the tickets and inform him that Sal and Larry were coming soon. Up ahead, Sally saw the venue housing the one and only Sanity's Fall.

Some young adults ran past, laughing and talking with one another and dressed head-to-toe in Sanity's Fall merchandise to show their devotion to their favorite band. Sal felt like an entirely new and different person being out this late with Larry beside him. He only wished Ashley and Todd were with them, but Todd didn't want to get in trouble and Ashley lived too far away.

"So, were you thinking of buying anymore merchandise?" Sal asked, walking closer beside Larry. If anyone were to see the two of them, they would think it's a boyfriend taking out his girlfriend for a midnight stroll to see a concert. When Larry looked down at his friend, his cheeks grew hot and noticed just how big the hoodie was on Sal. With Larry's size, anyone would think he gave Sal his hoodie to wear since it was so chilly.

He was so caught up in staring at Sal that he forgot to answer the question. His mind blanked as if he was lost in thought. Larry stopped first on the sidewalk, followed by Sal, but Larry was too busy staring off into space to notice. He noticed that Sal's hair was... messier than usual. The hoodie, though oversized, complimented Sally Face's petite figure as it hung down to his knees. "Uh, Larry? You good? It was just a simple question, why are you taking so long to answer?"

"Uh, oh shit, sorry Sal! I was trying to figure out where we were and got sidetracked. To answer your question, I don't know to be honest. Maybe a mug? A new CD?" The two started walking again as Larry kept talking, but as soon as they passed by a convenience store Larry checked his phone for the name. Texting the guy, he confirmed that he and Sal were waiting outside. He looked up at the name of the store, nodded and looked to Sal, then stuffed his phone back into his pocket and smiled. "Well, looks like this is the place we'll be getting our tickets."

Sally crossed his arms and looked around despite the cold, but mostly looked towards the venue holding the concert itself while they waited. As soon as Sal was about to ask a question about how long it was going to take until the guy arrived, a man with a shaved head wearing a grey sweatshirt stepped out of the store and stared Larry and Sally in the eyes with what seemed to be malice, or he had a frightening demeanor. His mouth was curled into frown as he approached the two teens.

Instinctively, Larry shielded Sally behind his back using his arm as the man got closer in case this wasn't the ticket seller. Sal couldn't help but feel safe around Larry, and his blue eyes stared up at the man who was easily a foot taller than Larry. Without even realizing it, Sal had started to nervously twitch his fingers.

"Are you Larry Johnson?" His deep voice was gravelly and smelled as if he smoked. "Yeah, that's me. This is Sal." His brown eyes caught sight of Sal, his mouth turning into a small smile as he got out the slightly crinkled beige colored tickets with the words Sanity's Fall - Show Starting at 12:00 AM. "Two tickets for Sanity's Fall, right? Always good to see young lovers going to see heavy metal. Why is she wearing a mask though?"

Larry and Sally's eyes both widened in surprise at his assumption of Sal being a girl, as well as being Larry's girlfriend, but with the pigtails and small body, it was of no surprise to Sal, but he didn't really mind. As for Larry, his mouth was agape. Despite the sketchy appearance, the man was laid-back.

"It's a prosthetic." Sal replied, his voice cracking despite his best efforts. The guy understood his mistake by letting out an apologetic chuckle, but to Larry it came off as ridicule for Sally's appearance, so he pulled out the envelope containing the two $100 bills. "Can we have what we came for now?" Handing Sal the tickets, the man exchanged the tickets for the money while staring off into space a little bit. "Sure kid, pleasure doing business with you. Have fun and don't get into too much trouble. Oh, and Sal?"

Patting the teen on the shoulder, he said, "Keep rocking that hairdo." Larry had his arms crossed and the man walked away while looking at the money Larry gave him to make sure they were real. Beneath the mask, Sal was grinning like an idiot knowing that as threatening as him was so cool. "Sal? You okay? Sorry about him, he's an... outside seller." Laughing it off, Sal grinned and handed Larry the tickets.

"Don't worry about it, Larry. The concert is starting soon, so we should probably get going." The brown haired teen smiled and looked towards the venue which Sal was already coaxing him to go towards. With their hearts pounding in their chests, the two teens started making a break to see their favorite band, unaware of just what kind of night they were going to have.