Anyone paying attention to the odd man in black sipping away at his coffee could clearly see that even after John broke eye contact with him he seemed to have no intention of returning the favor. In fact he stared well up to the point he had finished his whole cup of coffee, paid, and walked his way out the door. Suddenly it was just another normal night at Kate's.
After a few more minutes of normalcy Allison could be seen making a beeline for Lillith and John, her hands filled with the hot plates that held their prospective homecooked dinners. Even from across the room the smell was divine despite it being simple diner food.
Reaching their table in no time and completely unaware of the strangeness that had just occurred Allison went about placing the plates in front of both John and Lillith, her crisp smile dissapearing as she spoke “Cheese fries for the lady and...” She trailed off, her attention having suddenly been caught by something on the otherside of the large store windows. Placing Johns food down rather unceremoniously she squinted while leaning over the table in what could be assumed was an attempt to get a better view at...whatever it was she was staring at. Not keeping John and Lillith in suspense for long she quickly spoke up, her usual tone now rather inquisitive before turning frantic “Isn't...Isn't that your car out there John? John, that salt guy is doin somethin to your car!”
“He's still staring.” Lilith muttered to John, having glanced over at the possible alien only to see him still sipping his salt-infested coffee as he stared at her older brother. A part of her wanted to walk over there and give him a piece of her mind. And she was about to when John's hand went over hers, the siblings meeting eyes. John seemed a bit disgruntled but he seemed to be doing his best to ignore the alien.
“Fuck it, let 'em stare. Hopefully he'll hop back onto his spaceship and leave.” The last part was muttered but Lilith heard it well enough, crossing her legs and taking another sip of her water as she stared at John intently, him doing his best to ignore her silent questions.
Besides, maybe it was a good thing Lilith didn't leave to go confront him as, having finished his 'coffee', he'd paid and left.
“See?” John said, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the door. “He's gone and we can just move on with our day, huh?”
Lilith narrowed her eyes a little at him.
“Okay, the staring was weird and creepy but he's gone! Let's just take the win and run with it, yeah?”
Lilith hummed in response, eyes flickering back to the seat where the 'alien' had been sitting. Her stomach felt a bit weird and she really didn't like the way he was staring at her brother.
Both siblings were lost in their own thoughts, not paying much attention to their surroundings. John was thinking about his dreams, still trying to remember what it even was that he saw in them. Lilith was thinking about the stranger and the uncomfortable feeling she got. Sure, it could be her sibling senses trembling but something still felt off. But, the siblings were brought from their separate musings by Allison appearing with their food.
The siblings both stared at the food hungrily, John muttering his thanks for the both of them as the plates were placed down, somewhat roughly on John's part though he barely noticed. Before they could even attempt to touch the plates to eat, Allison's behavior was drawing their attention to her.
But, as soon as John's car was mentioned, he straightened up, a genuinely panicked expression on his face. “Baby?” He asked Allison, clearly talking about his car that he'd affectionately named 'Baby' over the years. Lilith's eyes were a bit wider as she stared at her brother and he looked at her. And as soon as the 'salt guy' was mentioned, both siblings were out of their seats, quickly running outside. Well, John was jogging/running while Lilith was quickly walking just a few steps behind.
Outside, however, the siblings were greeted by... nothing. John's car, Baby, was still there and the 'Salt Guy' was nowhere to be found. Regardless, the siblings moved over to the car carefully, a bit anxious due to the fact that 'Salt Guy' had been apparently messing with John's car. Trading glances, John went to go check under the hood while Lilith kneeled beside the car to check under it for anything that shouldn't be there.
However, when John got to the front of his Baby, he saw something underneath the windshield wiper. Head tilting a little, a clear copy of his sister, he reached over and snatched the napkin, staring at it in puzzlement. But, his face grew ashen as he stared at it, barely blinking. Lilith, having not found anything, had stood up and wandered over to John, worried by his expression. But, following his gaze, even she was surprised by what was on it. A circular coffee stain that tainted and darkened the napkin but messily scrawled inside of the dried stains were a bunch of eyes and mouths. Lilith's head tilted and she turned her gaze to her shocked brother.
“Your dream...?”
John took in a somewhat shaky breath before nodding, speechless. Lilith pushed her brother lightly so that he was leaning against the hood of his car. She held up her hands, clearly telling him to 'stay'. She then quickly jogged inside of the diner to tell Allison that they would take their food to go whilst John stared at the napkin, unable to take his eyes off of it.
“Oh, Sure thing hon.” Allison answered, her gaze going past Lillith and out the door to where John was. A worried look could be seen seeping through her work smile as she went about boxing and bagging the food impressively fast. In what felt like the blink of an eye Allison was handing off the now full large grocery sized paper bag she had folded and stapled shut. Biting her bottom lip she spoke rather quietly so only Lillith could hear. “You take care now, ok? You know where to find me if you need anything.” The look in her eyes and the tone of her voice made it clear this was coming from Allison's rather famous motherly nature.
–
Scotty, having never so much as taken a punch in his life, couldn't help but still let out the occasional whimper from the new sensations of real pain. Luckily for Scotty he had real friends-friends like Molly and Abigail. Like usual Scotty took the rather rough verbal treatment from the two girls as more of a pep talk-he also stupidly thought the cigarette Molly had given him was a reward and not just an attempt to shut him up. The act of puffing on some nicotine was already making him feel better though; he found himself particularly glad Molly had ripped his mask off and he no longer was choking on the weird smell of what was virtually a plastic bag made in some third world country. Suddenly he found himself thinking he could take just a quick nap and then he'd be good as new-that was until Molly actually asked him to stay awake and he begrudgingly accepted without his usual bickering.
Ears ringing in a way that made him feel as though he were half in and out of reality Scotty listened dazed to Abigails urgent tone as she spoke directly to Molly. Hearing only bits and pieces he quickly formed a false reality to match what he thought he heard. Interrupting before Molly could answer Scotty was in the middle of dragging himself up the wall, shooing away any help with his good hand, clearly having been impressed with what he now believed had been Molly and Abigails own set of pranks. “Woah, Frighten the Frightener-I dig it guys, totally. Zen way to end my year at school” He went to make his signature triangle hippy hand sign for “zen” but cried out in pain at what he fast realized was a totally stupid move to make with a shattered bone. Quickly forcing his cry of agony silent he tried to recover some of his lost dignity by pulling the car keys out of his pocket; with a jingle of keys at Abigail he exclaimed “I can take you home!” while wincing through the pain.
Apparently Scotty being Scotty combined with head trauma and a wickedly broken arm made his usual “Im only half listening” problem rather worse; luckily for the girls though this meant Scotty wouldn't need much convincing when it came to Abigails newly fabricated story.
After about five minutes of Scotty arguing how he could totally drive just as good with just one arm Abigail and Molly finally conceded and allowed him to drive the three of them home. Two run over mailboxes later and Molly found herself behind the wheel of Scotty's rusted old Ford, Scotty laughing while smoking what looked like a hand rolled cigarette he swore up and down was “herbal medicine.” He was in the midst of thoroughly praising both girls for their epic Fright Night that he kept claiming was the best in history. Taking a deep drag of medicine he held it in and spoke, his voice sounding slightly more high pitched in the process. “I thought my fish string on the door was good, you somehow rigging me up with stage wires without me knowin was just genius! To bad the whole arm thing happened but...totally worth it.” He let out a cough. “Oh, and you guys know I wasn't like, really crying right? Just all that dust and my alergies....You know?”