Dig Your Fingernails Into My Chest and Pull Out My Heart

And Slowly Press Down

August 17th, 1981

"You said you had something you wanted to talk about? Or ask us about?" Andy asked Johnny, who sat next to Angie on the other side of the booth in the stuffy diner a couple minutes away from Johnny's new house.

He grimaced, pulling Angie closer to him, before curtly nodding. After he and his mother got home last night, he noticed how upset she seemed. She went to bed early and was gone when he woke up. Johnny felt as though something happened and knowing little about this town, he had called up Mike, Andy, and Angie in desperation, asking them to meet him at the diner where he first told them he'd be moving closer to the three of them

"Yeah, it's about my mum," He took a sip of water and watched a grin spread across Mike's face.

"Is your mommy finally single, John? " He leaned forward, placing his hands under his chin, "Does she need a new, real man to take care of her?"

He flexes and Angie delivers a swift kick to his leg. Mike yelps a curse, grabbing his leg from under the table. She looks to the boy next to him, holding his hand in a sort of 'go on' gesture.

"When we got home last night from having dinner with my new neighbors, she was actin' all weird. She was shaking and she kept whispering to herself, before telling me that I was forbid from going back over there. Then she went to bed and when I woke up this morning, she was gone."

Andy frowns, putting the glass of water to his lips. Angie does similarly, and Mike only does it when he looks up from his leg. It's a little thing they do; they drink water simultaneously while waiting to hear the rest.

"And, like, I walked past the house we were at on my way here and the window on the left, near the top, was broken through. Like fully open. There was glass all over the shrubs, so it was broken from the inside, but I don't—"

He sighs, tapping the table with the arm of his glasses.

"I don't know what shook my mum up so bad."

Mike set his glass down, practically staring Johnny down.

"Sounds like you're living near a vampire. Was your mum pale and was her neck bloody when she came out of the house last night?"

Angie delivers another swift kick to Mike's shin, and he yells again, bumping his knee against the table.

"Stop joking, you oaf!" She hisses at him, before turning her attention back towards Johnny, asking "Do you know who your mom visited?"

"She didn't say much. She just said that there were three of 'em. Betty was the mom, I think, Jackie is her daughter, and then she said there was a son..."

He snaps his fingers trying to recall his name, biting his lower lip. When it comes to mind and he points to the table.

"Steven. The son was named Steven. He walked her out last night and they talked for a bit, and then we left."

Andy glances to Mike and Angie, before back to Johnny.

"Where did you say that you lived again? What neighborhood?"

Confusion rushes through Johnny's body and he tells them, framing it as a question as to why it was important.

It's not until Andy and Mike's faces drop that he realizes it might be serious. They turn towards each other, whispering. Johnny coughs into fist once, frowning at their lack of attention. He does it again, louder this time, and it catches them. He gestures to himself and Angie, who was also confused, smiling at the two across the booth.

"Hey, maybe explain? Me and Ange are both confused and, like, I'm living near this dude, so I should probably know what you're talking about, y'know?"

"Right," Mike's joking attitude is gone, seriousness painted all over his face, "Andy had a mate that went to school with Steven."