***
Mum’s rule about the band, In Bloom, was that they didn’t play beyond 7pm and they did their best to keep it down, but this hadn’t stopped Mrs Hitchcock’s growing frustration at the noise.
“Boy,” she called over the fence. “That, noise…”
“Not noise, Mrs Hitchcock,” interrupted Johnny, his Fender copy in a tight grip, “music... ”
“I know music and I know noise,” the pale woman spoke sternly in an accent which sounded odd to Kim’s young ears, foreign, and which his mother described as Russian-sounding, Eastern European, “and this is closer to noise than music. Very loud noise. Please could you keep it quiet.”
“I’ll try my best,” responded Johnny with an attempt at his most charming smile before turning around.
As he turned away from her Kim saw Mrs Hitchcock’s upper lip pull up into a snarl and caught a momentary glimpse of a single sharp middle tooth, a fang, which quickly retracted as she heard the smaller boy cry out in startlement.
She hadn’t seen him there before, but now he had her attention.
“You, boy,” she called to him, “come over here, boy.”
Kim took a step back towards the house, away from her, and the tightly wound woman smiled, the sharp needle tooth no longer visible.
“Are you okay,” she asked him in a softer voice than he remembered hearing from her before.
Kim remained silent as they stared at one another, and he wondering if she knew he’d found out her secret, before his brother’s voice shook them both from their reverie as he was summoned for dinner.
Later, whilst his Mum did the washing up, he sat with his brother on the pale blue sofa and told him he had something to explain.
Johnny sighed deeply.
"Seriously Kim, I love you dearly bruv, but you need to stop this. She's not a monster and she certainly hasn't done something to your Dad... "
"Our Dad," Kim interrupted.
"I didn't even know my Dad Kim,” Johnny sounded exasperated and amused, “I wish I had, but, I just didn't."
Kim had an idea.
"Mum always says we've got the same dad, right?"
"Yeah?"
"So why can't you remember him. He'd have been there when I was little, right up to before Alice was born. Why don't you remember him then? How old were you when Alice was born? "
Johnny looked confused.
"Well, 9 or 10 I suppose, but..."
Kim interrupted him again, "and even if you don't remember your Dad, why don't you remember my dad?"
Johnny considered this for a long time, but could not find a decent response.
"So, this Dad you say that you remember," Johnny asked, and Kim nodded, "he was, like, my Dad too right, in your memory, and just saying he had, or did exist, what was he like?"
There was a look of longing in the older boys green eyes, a desire for something lost, or never known, and Kim felt terrified by the absence in his face, still the same older brother; not knowing how that longing had got there.
"He was, just Dad, you know. We used to watch Tottenham with him, and he'd keep telling us how we couldn't support anyone else if we wanted to go with him to the Lane to watch them, like that would be so bad,” Kim recalled numerous depressed walks away from the ground towards Northumberland Park Train Station. “And he read us stories, and shouted at us sometimes, especially you, to turn your music down. He read you all the Harry Potter’s and, he’s read me the first two…"
"I've never been to the Lane," Johnny told his younger brother, "I'd love to..."
"You've been there loads, Johnny, any time he could get spare tickets, he'd take us. You were there when we beat Arsenal 2-1, I was so jealous…"
"I wish he was real."
"He was real, John," Kim’s face drenched with tears now, "can't you see it's all wrong now!?"
And as Johnny stared at Kim, he thought that maybe he was right, maybe it was all wrong. The more he thought about it, the more everything all seemed off slightly.
"Look, say you're right and people are disappearing," he said, still looking sceptical, but accepting of the possibility he was onto something, "why do you think next door has anything to do with it?"
Kim explained about Old Man Rab, the nice man with the sweeties, and how she'd immediately taken his place, and how people, especially those who had annoyed Mrs Hitchcock had gone too. Including Dad. As well as others who couldn't possibly have done her harm, like the baby opposite."
Then he described the tooth, like a single vampire fang concealed behind her scowl.
Johnny spoke, “what difference does it make though, even if it were true? What can we do?"
Kim, still smarting from the loss of his dad looked deadly serious.
"Well, first off, you could stop annoying her with the band. I've warned Alice to keep well away from her as well."
His brother nodded in forced agreement. His younger brother sometimes possessed a persuasiveness which belied his tender years.
"I could turn the music down I suppose, but I'm not convinced. Still, there’s no harm in being careful. This better not be some weird joke though."