CHAPTER THIRTEEN
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i. sanity !

— ANDIE HAD ALWAYS BEEN A CURIOUS CHARACTER, for whatever reason. This fact didn't change when she pressed Johnny for information on what was happening during his psychosis.

Surprisingly, after he had hesitantly explained what was going on, Andie didn't flinch.

"So we have to find their bodies?" Andie asked, tilting her head so her short, choppy hair fell to the side slightly.

Johnny laughed dryly, next to no humour found in the forced burst of air.

"There's no 'we'."

Andie scoffed, "Like hell you're going alone."

"Your foster parents would kill me if they found out I took you on a field trip." Johnny stated, his still trembling hands deciding to finally sip at his water.

"They can't keep me here, you know that. They just don't want me at home." Andie tried to convince.

DJ spoke up again, "Andie is pretty damn smart- she could probably figure out where we are."

Johnny tipped back the glass and downed most of its contents in less than a second before pulling away and using the floral printed dish to point at DJ, "You called me a dipshit, I'm no longer listening to your opinions."

"You were having a psychotic break." DJ deadpanned, "And we need you to, y'know, not be doing that."

"Don't be an ass." Ethan muttered, thumping DJ on the shoulder before wincing at the pain his wrist felt.

"Oh, so I'm the crazy one for not wanting to do this?" Johnny sighed, setting the glass back on the bedside table.

"What part of psychotic break didn't you understand?" DJ stated as he scratched at his neck.

Johnny just rolled his eyes, "Break downs do not make people crazy- they make them human- so take that bullshit elsewhere."

"I can't, I'm literally tethered to you- so now we're back at square one."

Johnny sighed heavily yet again, sitting down on his bed and glancing at Andie, who continued to stare at him expectantly.

"I'm coming with you." She stated firmly.

"Yeah, okay." Johnny allowed the tiniest hint of a smile to tug at his face. "We still don't know where they are. Riverdale may be small but there's no way we can cover that much ground."

Andie looked determined, "Well- we'll figure that out too!"

"Sorry to ruin whatever kind of moment we're all having right now- but something is eating my fucking leg." Ethan groaned, now limping awkwardly to move closer to the bed next to Johnny.

"Any idea what it is?" Johnny peered over to where Ethan's pant leg was now staining a dark crimson, a few drops of blood hitting the floor quietly before disappearing as if they'd never been.

"I don't know but this asshole is hungry."

Andie threw her gaze momentarily over to where Ethan sat, "What's going on?" She asked.

"Ethan's getting chomped on by some animal." Johnny muttered, only to receive a glare from said boy.

"What do the bites look like?" Andie asked, facing Johnny with an inquiring glance.

Johnny looked pointedly down at Ethan's pant leg, to which the boy sighed and stood, rolling up the now sticky red material.

What was beneath was a disgustingly violent sight to behold, and made the boys in the room groan and turn away.

Ethan looked nonchalant and scoffed, "It's not that bad is i- oh, holy shit."

Many parts of the leg itself was gone, torn away by some rabid beast. It was messy and absolutely revolting.

"How high is your pain tolerance?" DJ asked in disbelief.

"I never said it didn't hurt!" Ethan snapped, stumbling to sit on the bed again and relieve the pressure on his leg. "Goddamn it!" He exclaimed as the creature bit down on a fresher piece of skin.

Johnny urged him to elevate his leg so the bite could be seen clearer.

"It has two really big holes, and two smaller holes." Johnny tried to explain.

Andie grabbed a drawing pad from his bedside table that was really hers but she'd left it sitting there a few days prior, and handed it to him along with a pen.

Johnny, ever the artistic genius, scribbled on a blank page the best he could, what the bite looked like. It was wonky, but it apparently got the point across.

"That's a fox bite." Andie stated, after a moment of staring at it.

"Woah, really?" Ethan asked, leaning forward to look at his leg, before nearly getting sick at the sight and turning away.

"How do you know that?" Johnny asked, a small quirk of his lips giving away how impressed he was.

"I don't." She said with a small smile. "Meredith does." Andie muttered shyly, tapping her cheek with the tip of her index finger.

"Thank you, Meredith." Johnny sang with a smile.

"So a f-fox is- is eating his l-eg?" Chris shivered violently, trying to keep his teeth from chattering together as he spoke.

"What the fuck!" Ethan exclaimed before Chris could get an answer, his hand shooting to his arm where another, smaller but similar bite had appeared. "There's two of them?"

DJ snickered, "You make a grand date night." He assured, scratching at his hair.

"Yeah, and I'm sure that possible spider crawling up your ass now has a lovely new apartment." Ethan glared.

"Guys- we aren't getting anywhere." Johnny interrupted before a fight between the two could break out. "Where could we find foxes in Riverdale..." He trailed off, staring at the floor for fear that if he looked at anything else he'd get distracted and lose his train of thought.

"Foxes sometimes like eating fruits and berries, there's a raspberry patch on the edge of town. Ethan's body may be nearby there, and they just happened upon it." A slightly accented voice stated smoothly, sounding mature and good natured.

Johnny turned and smiled widely, "Hello Meredith, I don't believe we've officially met." He said, offering his hand to her, which she took.

"Yes, I've been anxious to speak with you." Meredith said carefully, a small smile taking over her face. "But I thought my knowledge on creatures would be appreciated at this moment."

"They are." Johnny assured, glancing at the other boys, expecting them to nod and reaffirm his assurance. It took too long of a second for him to realize she couldn't see them anyway.

"So- first stop- edge of town?" Ethan asked, breaking the silence as Meredith began to dissociate and allow Andie to front again.

"How come he gets to go first!" DJ complained.

"Second stop- edge of town." Johnny confirmed sternly. "One of you has to go first and all we possibly have right now is Ethan. We'll figure out others on the way."

"Second stop?" Andie asked.

Johnny glanced at the window again,
the light outside was a comfortable warm colour, despite being late in the night.

"There's someone I wanna see first."

author's note

almost there 🙏🏻
hope this was okay, im trying my best here guys 😂