The Afterlife

“Excuse me... we asked for baked fries and these are definitely not baked fries.” Said a high-pitched stern sounding voice that seemed to be addressing me from behind. I had just barely gotten down the order from the table across from me when that voice made its way into my ears. I gave the couple in front of me a sweet but masked smile nodding my head as I concluded their order with a tap of my pen against the notebook paper.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes to top up your water” I said to the couple before I cued into the impatient huffs behind me. Slowly, I turned around to see the couple I had been serving earlier. Bright fiery locks were the first thing I had noticed when they walked in. The woman was a little on the tall side so, at first looking up at her from my 5-foot height there was only pretty ringlets curling down and around her slightly wrinkled flesh. But when her and, what looked to be her husband from the bands on both of their left hands, had sat down all that could be seen was the cheaply dyed mess on top of her head. The funny thing is from little things like how someone does their hair it’s easy to get a feel for what type of customer they are going to be. This instinctive nature wasn’t necessary because with hungry people it doesn’t take long for them to show their true colours. Especially when they throw around their five-dollar bills as if each bill was a bar of gold. My eyes scattered back-and-forth between the plump looking man with short sandy strands of overly greased hair, who was avoiding my gaze, and the shrill impatient woman who was tisking her tongue by this point.

“I’m sorry, there’s a problem with your meal?” I asked in the peppiest customer service voice I could possibly muster up. My eyes lingered on her dark tree bark coloured eyes watching the agitated internal ticking counting down.

“Yes.” She immediately snapped back. As if I had asked her an incredibly insulting question. The firm lines from years of frowning only grew more prominent across her jaw. “My husband asked for baked fries and these-” She shot a disgruntled look towards his plate, her boney fingers lifted to jab at the air surrounding the fries. “-are not baked.” She said once more, her voice going up an octave. My thick lashes fluttered for a few moments as I took in what she said.

Over the last six months of working at Rittos I realized that when I was to be in any type of altercation, my social awkwardness would shine through. This meant that some agitated

customers tended to believe that I was purposefully being in nice terms “unhelpful”, and that’s when Greg usually saved my ass. This time however, I ignored the urge to try to find him among the other staff members out on the floor. My eyes finally focused on the bullied fries as I inspected them, a crease curling in between my fair brows. They looked completely and utterly fine.

“Um… well, they are baked. In fact, the chef was careful to make them baked since we normally we just fry them. It wasn’t too busy today so, he made them specially for you two.” I said keeping my voice as cheerful as possible. I could feel my inner thoughts raging around inside my head. It had already been a long day and I knew this lady wasn’t going to give me a break. ‘Think dumb, Nova think dumb. Pretend all these thoughts of wanting to punch her in the face are a foreign language and I’m so dumb I can barely speak English. Just keep on smiling no matter what she says.’ I thought to myself as I watched the lady’s face grow a few shades closer to her hair colour. Obviously, she was not a fan of hearing about her special treatment or she just didn’t believe the fact that Jordan had done what he was asked to do. “If you want, I can ask him to remake them, but I can assure you they will come out the exact same way. Perhaps you would prefer something else in exchange?” I added quickly remembering what Greg usually offered when people didn’t like what they were given.

I waited for a response, secretly hoping her silent and cowering husband would chime in. Judging from her pursed lips and unimpressed raised brows my apparent incompetence was earning me a lecture. She took in a sharp breath and began her rant. “What do you think? Do you really think that we want to wait another 40 minutes for something else? Don’t you think we would have asked for something else if we wanted something else? Isn’t that just common sense? We ordered baked fries, and these are covered in oil! What baked fries have oil on them?

We got special treatment alright, the wrong order and a piss poor waitress.” She hissed out glaring complete daggers at me. “I bet you think because you’re pretty all you have to do is smile to get your tips. Or maybe customers see those eyes of yours and feel bad because you’re a freak? In the end it doesn’t matter that you fuck up orders or talk back to your customers does it? No, you’re just a spoiled intitled girl who can’t even get an order right.” Her voice only raised louder and higher, so it was drowning out the soft country music playing on the radio. Her face was nearly matching the colour of her hair by this point as she now jabbed her finger at me leaving the poor fries alone.

I don’t exactly know what I was expecting but the intensity of her venom caught me off guard. Hot stinging prickles started creeping up my spine and neck as I knew there were more eyes on me than just the venom spewing snake in front of me. Despite the makeup I was wearing, it wasn’t enough to hide my own deep crimson flush that came to my cheeks. There were so many facts she had incorrect and I couldn’t fight back. I went silent for a moment my mind buzzing with a boat load of cuss words that I kept inside which, I was able to keep to myself by pursing my own lips tightly. ‘You fucking dickhead. No, you’re worse than a dickhead. You’re a fucking dickhead cuntbag! Like what the actual fuck? I literally just brought you what you ordered and I’m sorry if you don’t like it but that’s not my fucking problem.’ I thought as my eyes narrowed knowing all too well something needed to change right then and right there. ‘She can’t talk to me like that… like there’s no way I can win with her so why? Why let her walk all over me?’ I finally parted my lips. My intentions were still to be determined as I wasn’t really thinking about what I was about to say but it wasn’t going to be family friendly.

“Listen here la-”

“And here are your baked fries. I’m so sorry about the mix up. I accidently took Nova’s side and mixed up my table’s order so, you know what? Since that mix up is entirely my fault we can give it to you on the house!” A quick rush of words interrupted my one-way ticket to being fired.

The voice was deep and rumbly with a touch of sweetness and charm, and it happened to be the voice of my constant life-saver Greg. I forced the corner of my lips down slightly as I bit down on my tongue hiding the rush of relief spreading throughout my body. My eyes moved from the disgruntled woman down to the freshly made still steaming fries. Funny, they looked identical to the ones I had just brought out minus the piping hot steam that was now encasing the fresh fries. If it weren’t for Greg’s almost contagious presence, I might have flipped the table.

My eyes just continued to focus on the new fries silently waiting for the woman’s reaction, not daring to take in a breath seeing as I was an apparent instigator.

The woman blinked in surprise her eyes darted to her still cowering husband and then to

Greg and then once more back to me with a little scowl. She then didn’t bother even looking at the fries as she kept her scowling face directed towards me. “That doesn’t excuse her behaviour, not in the slightest. However, Joel these look much better don’t they? Don’t they look nice and fresh and baked? There’s barely any oil at all.” She more told Joel rather than asking him any of what she just said. Joel, not having said a word thus far, quickly nodded his head in agreement. “See this is all I was asking for! Honestly, you really need to hire better waitresses because relying on looks is really unprofessional.” She said to Greg, her eyes not once leering away from me.

My eyes continued to stare at the fries, willing myself to believe that she was right in any way when it came to the plates in front of us but, the more tried to focus on them the more identical they looked. My eyes raised once more to meet the cold glare. ‘Jesus it’s not like I killed her baby, like she’s actually insane!’ I thought as I stared back. The hot prickles were back as I heard her repeat that last part. Silence fell between us as cruel stubbornness seemed to keep the air tense.

Finally, Greg cleared his throat. “Well, the problem seems to be solved so we’ll leave you two FINE people to your meal.” His honey sounding voice turned into an almost growl with the phrase ‘fine people’. The couple looked confused, obviously not sure why his tone was conflicting to his charming customer service grin. His large warm hand stretched out to gently grab at my wrist giving me a gentle tug. The moment I turned away from the devil lady I could feel the overwhelming emotions taking over strictly based on the sympathetic expressions of some of the tables. Luckily for me, I adopted the hide everything you’re feeling at an early age trait, so I was used to putting on a bubbly grin. I let Greg pull me over to the side of the kitchen hallway that lead to the bathrooms. Pressing my back into the hallway wall I looked down at our feet collecting myself.

“Are you ok?” Greg asked in a soft hushed voice. I could feel his amber speckled eyes on me now, the concern gaze was seeping into my skull.

“Am I ok?” I repeated his question softly my dark curly locks spilling into my eyes as I kept my head down. “Greg… Come on you should know me better than that. It’s not like I’m secretly wishing for her to burn her tongue off or anything on those piping hot ‘freshly baked’ fries.” I said finally lifting my own eyes. I had to tilt my head back to look up at his 6-foot self, my dark curls now bouncing around the back of my neck. “Do you really think I would let miss corner store hair dye bother me?” I crossed my arms over my chest, my fair brows raised a small planted smirk lingering against my lips mimicking the voice of the devil woman.

“Considering I could hear you internally telling them to fuck right off I would say yes.”

He answered. “I bet you came up with an endearing nickname too.” He said letting out a musical chuckle with a wiggle of his own brows.

I couldn’t help but truly grin in response. His laugh always made me laugh but that probably was because everything Greg did was contagious. He was probably one of the sweetest, kindest, funniest souls I had ever run into. No matter how difficult a person could be he had this weird way of calming them down, making them laugh, or even bringing on some deep self-reflection moments. I was so thankful when I had first moved to Haggers Ville, especially since the past was something I wanted to leave exactly there, in the past. A fresh start, a new beginnings, and I got to have that finally. Pretty soon after I moved to Haggers Ville I applied to Rittos and once I had been hired Greg trained me. We instantly clicked and six months later he was constantly saving my ass, gossiping all the latest drama and, giving me a reason to actually look forward to coming to work.

Letting out a little soft between my grinning lips I shook my head pretending I had no

idea what he was talking about. “Me? Never. I’ve never cussed a day in my life.” I said sarcastically, ignoring the fact I had previously played the alphabet cuss game with Greg during our break. By played I mean it was more me coming up with creative cuss words for every letter in the alphabet and Greg commenting on the imagery of the words. I paused for a second narrowing my eyes playfully. “How did you know about the baked fries?” I asked curiously.

“Is that right? I don’t know I must have met your twin earlier.” He said furrowing his brow as he gave me a contemplating look. The grin upon his lips never slipping. “Maybe because I recognized her. She’s not a regular but, when she does come in she’s always rough with female staff for some reason. I think she might be insecure; she terrifies her husband that’s for sure. The moment I saw your order ticket I had Jordan make an extra batch. You know I’m all about being a hero.” He chuckled.

“Oh yeah? Well I suppose a thank you is in order.” I replied fluttering my lashes as I continued to grin up at his ebony coloured face. I could feel a slight flush creeping back into my cheeks as we bantered back and forth, seemingly forgetting about the devil lady.

The thing about Greg was that although he had the personality of an angel, dear god was he attractive. He had these honey coloured eyes that could take anyone’s breath away. That was partly due to the contrast between his eyes and colour of his skin which, was just a shade lighter than the night sky. His smile was one of those dimpled boyish smiles that would follow him through life. His teeth were slightly crooked behind his full lips, but it only added to the sweetness that seemed to ooze freely through him. His jaw was strong, lined with a dark strap of hair which was well kept. His extremely curly black hair was short and fluffy, it looked so soft and fun to play with. That wasn’t the only thing that was well kept. He regularly worked out and that was shown through the toned nature of his physic. The Grey Rittos uniform shirt fit snuggly to his body barely hiding the six pack which, I only knew about from when he was rough housing with another co-worker in the parking lot. His arms however were on display constantly, they were toned but not overly beefy. In other words, he looked like the most wonderful eye candy that ever did exist. He even smelt good. It was like a constant waft of cinnamon coated his skin, following him wherever he went.

“Mhm, now you never told me about this twin of yours, but I will say she’s just as pretty. Maybe even prettier. She had this look of pissed off confusion and fuck let me tell you, it was hot. On a side note you’re welcome. You know I always have your back. Oh, and your eyes are not freakish. I swear that lady is on drugs.” He teased reaching forwards to gently brush one of my stray dark curly locks from my eyes. I could feel my face growing even warmer as I quickly gave his chest a firm slap. My heart pounding in my chest so hard I felt like it might jump up and out my throat.

“Ok! Great talk! I’m just going to freshen up before getting back to the big job-o and

Satan’s table.” I said clearing my voice as I quickly slid past him heading for the bathroom however, I felt his warm hand gently grabbing my wrist once more stopping me for a second. I turned my face slightly surprised by his hold on me. “Umm?”

He just stared at me for a moment that sweet grin falling slightly as he gently released my wrist once more. He looked down at his hand as if he was shocked by that random motion. “I just wanted to say I don’t think anything of what she said was true. Rittos is really lucky to have you onboard and I’m really lucky to have you around too. Saying that…” He trailed off taking in a deep breath. “Would you like to go to this festival thing with me after work? It’s a Day of the Dead thing and I’m going to meet some friends around seven. Since we close early anyway if you don’t have any plans already, I would really like it if you came.” He blurted out his hand coming around the back of his neck scratching the back of his head as his eyes slid away from mine.

If I didn’t know him any better, I might have thought Greg was nervous about asking me to hang out. In a way, it sounded like he was asking me out, but he didn’t see me like that. He also was already meeting some friends so it wasn’t like we would be alone so it couldn’t be a date. ‘Even if he did ask me out… It wouldn’t work out. I’m not cut out for relationships. Afterall, I’m 20 and I’ve never done anything past a first kiss.’ I thought to myself shaking the idea of a date from my mind.

“Day of the Dead? That sounds really fun Greg, it really does. You know how much I love a mix between celebrating and spooky things but, I just don’t think I can come. You know how I am with groups and I wouldn’t want to make things weird because I’m weird if that makes sense?” I said, a frown coming across my flushed face. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go out with him and hangout. It was more I wasn’t much of a risktaker anymore. I learned my lesson way back before Haggers Ville. I like to have a few days to think about things and then decide if I

want to participate. This was just way too soon, and groups really did stress me out so I would just be dead weight for Greg to drag around. I would ruin the night all because of my social awkwardness and I wasn’t going to do that to him.

Greg stared at me for a moment before raising his brows surprised that I had responded with a nope answer. “A-are you sure? They are really nice and don’t bite at all… well maybe not

Danelle, she’s into some kinky shit.” He joked giving me another small grin. His eyes looked pleadingly into mine.

“Yeah. I’m sorry! Thank you for the invite though, maybe I’ll go next time.” I said giving him an encouraging smile before quickly stepping into the bathroom. As soon as the door shut behind me, I looked under the two toilet stalls to make sure I was alone. “What the fuck was that?!” I said aloud talking to myself. “Nova what the fuck is wrong with you?! Why did you say no? Maybe because you’re a big antisocial baby! I mean I don’t really understand why he wants me to go so badly, probably because he’s just trying to make my day better because of devil lady. I don’t know just ugh! Why am I so awkward?!” I shook my head as I let the self-criticism eat away at my thoughts. That was another thing I was good at. Being completely awful to myself when it really wasn’t necessary. I made my way over to the sink, running the tap till it went a warm temperature.

Bringing my eyes up to the mirror once more I cringed seeing myself, my face was as red as a tomato. I really didn’t think I was ugly, but I also didn’t think I was that pretty. I was short with an average build. I had always wished to be thinner and taller like the models from those vogue magazines but, heels could only do so much for height and my bones alone were too big to ever be slender. I had fairly large breasts which balanced out with my full rounded hips and rear-end. In other words, I had birthing hips which had been commented on many times by multiple elderly ladies at my tables. My hair was probably one of my favourite things about myself. It was the colour of charcoal and it was set up like little curly loose springs. I kept the length of my curly locks at the nape of the neck, so it was easy to work with. I always loved how scruffy and wild it looked. Maybe I just liked being outside the norms. My skin on the other hand was the opposite of my hair. It was translucently pale, as if I had never seen the sun in my life.

Now this wasn’t from lack of trying to get some colour on my flesh. For some reason I biologically seemed to reject the aspect of tanned healthy-looking skin. On the bright side I never had to wear blush since, I was practically always some sort of rosy pink. My lips were a soft baby pink and slightly unproportionate. My upper lip was a bit fuller than my lower lip, but I tended to bite my lower lip a ton, so it usually looked a little swollen anyway. My nose wasn’t anything special, it was straight and average turning up just a tad at the tip. Eyes was another thing I loved about myself. Although my eyes had gotten me ridiculed quite a bit as a child, they were something that I couldn’t help but embrace. So many times, I had heard the phrase ‘strange eyes, odd eyes, or what’s up with her eyes’. Now however, I took it as a unique characteristic that made me, me. Behind a thick pair of long lashes, the colours of my irises were different. My left eye was a soft dark forest green colour with small speckles of a little bursts of emerald green.

My right eye was a light grey colour as if depleted of most of its pigment, leaving little darker stone-grey flakes around the iris. Luckily for me it was just dark enough to not have the milky blind appearance. I had strange eyes alright but most folk kept their thoughts tucked away, some thought it was exotic, while others thought it was freakish. Thankfully that was to the extent of my physical abnormalities.

I ran my hands under the tap cupping them until I had enough water to rinse my face. Taking a paper towel from the dispenser I dabbed my face drying it. I then balled it up and shot it across the room into the garbage can that was in the corner of the bathroom. Turning back to the mirror taking in a soft breath I gave myself a little smile. I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear staring at the short pale creature in the mirror. “Nothing is wrong with you. You just like to feel comfortable and there’s nothing wrong with that. Now get your cute butt out there, finish up, and then go home and binge on 1990’s horror movies with blankets and tea.” I said to myself. Just then as if the universe was backing me up the bathroom door swung open followed by two girls chirping about their double date. I quickly slipped by and made my way back to the floor.

A few hours had passed by as Rittos slowly filled up and then little by little became a deserted place, just like any other Saturday. The nice thing about Rittos is that the owner, Gabriel Rittos, believed in weekends being weekends which meant we closed at 6:00 P.M rather than the usual 9:00 P.M. Not all customers indulged in Gabriel’s free spirit thinking, this was shown through the occasional ‘I’ll take all the time I need’ attitude when customers were finishing their meals. Of course, I stayed away from the devil woman as much as possible to keep that specific attitude from happening. Most of my other customers had been cooing at my excellent work with a boat load of tips. It seemed they had felt a need to make up for how I had been treated earlier. In Haggers Ville everyone knew everyone so, the tips kept rolling in all night. To my dismay the devil lady table was the very last table in my section, and in the entire store. By this point it was dark outside, too dark to see through the glass windows and doors. Haggers Ville was weird like that. The weather was usually dark and dreary, even when the afternoon was just coming to an end. The wind had picked up tossing bits of broken sticks and dead leaves into the glass, along with rattling of the glass door. It wasn’t very noticeable though, not with devil lady tapping the dessert menu against the able rather aggressively.

“No. I don’t like anything here. Look at all this cheesecake. Who the hell even likes cheesecake? No. Honey you don’t want anything do you?” She said loud enough for me to pick up on the conversation. I knew the moment I went over and asked if they needed anything else, I was going to receive dirty looks and a not-so-nice comment. In the end, I knew right off the bat that they weren’t going to get anything. They were already aware that the kitchen was closed and the comments that were shooting out of her mouth weren’t so positive. After talking to some of the other staff earlier during my shift I found out this was just part of her routine so, I was prepared to stay late. I turned back around to the kitchen seeing Jordan tiding up the rest of the kitchen. Greg was helping him out with some of the last-minute dishes.

“What do you bet there’s a nice juicy tip at the end of their pleasant visit?” I said raising my brows. My arms tucked under each other in a pouty posture as I spoke to the boys.

“That’s what she said.” Jordan chimed in snickering as he scrubbed at the stove.

“Wow good one man.” Greg said in a sarcastic voice despite his own chuckle that escaped his lips.

I rolled my eyes giving them an unimpressed sigh followed by my own little smirk.

“Now, now boys we all know no one has said that to either of you so calm down.” I paused after my little joke just to look over my shoulder at the couple. “But seriously when do you think they will leave?” I asked turning back my gaze to see Jordan throwing the now dirty rag into the kitchen hamper.

“I don’t know, you could always just shut the lights off on them?” Jordan suggested. “Anyway, don’t forget to swap the open sign with the closed before you go. I got a date tonight and I’m gonna score big time this time, so I’ll see you guys tomorrow” He said grinning from ear to ear his blonde balding head shinning against the hallway’s lights.

Jordan was a middle age man, but he most certainly looked like a gleaming child at times, especially with his pink rose coloured skin and bulbus tummy that hung over his waist. As much of a wannabe womanizer he tried to be he seemed to have this loveable aura around him that made it hard to hate him.

“No one did it yet?” I asked slightly surprised, pressing my fingers into the insides of my elbows.

Jordan shook his head grabbing his duffle bag and jacket slinging it over his arm.

“Nope.” I nodded my head looking once more over my shoulder at the couple.

“Good luck man, hope this one sticks.” Said Greg fist bumping him as Jordan moved past us towards the exit. As soon as the door closed, I felt Greg’s forearm gently bump into my shoulder. “You think you can handle them by yourself?” He asked softly.

I stared at the couple willing them to place down the menu and pick up their jackets.

Strangely enough within seconds of Greg speaking the devil lady finally placed down her menu. I turned my head towards him raising my fair brows. “Actually yeah, I think I have this in the bag.” I said feeling a wave of excitement that I wouldn’t have to see these people again in a while.

“Okay. I should probably get going then. Unless you want to come with? I already texted them saying I’d be late.” Greg asked as I turned back to him. Gently I reached out to press my fingers to his chest. I didn’t let myself linger on the hard muscle beneath the Rittos shirt, instead I gave the spot a little tap. I barely parted my lips to respond before he beat me to it. “Okay, okay, fine. I’ll stop harassing you about it. But next time you have to come out with us. I think you would really get on well with my friends.” He said as he sighed turning away from me, heading down the hall towards the staff room.

“Hey! Can we get some service over here?!” Said a loud shrill voice. I quickly slid my fingers into my pocket finding their bill I had printed a little earlier. Holding it within my fingers

I scurried over to their table. “You would think after the fiasco earlier that she would show more attentive behaviour.” The devil woman said with no hesitation as I drew nearer.

“Can I get you anything else? Or is that everything for the night?” I asked literally wanting to blow my brains out as soon as I got within arms distance. My eyes traced back of her bright red locks once more trying my best to distract myself.

“Took long enough. The bil-.” Before she finished her sentence, my hand shot forwards slapping the bill down in front of them.

“Will that be cash or credit?” I asked coldly while that fake as fuck smile stayed plastered to my lips. At that point and time there was nothing anyone could say that would have made me want to deal with this couple any longer than I had to. Still not having heard her husband say a single word, his wife spent the remaining time muttering about the horrible service she had received along with how shitty the food was. Once they had gathered up their belongings, I marched them to the door swinging it open merrily. The fake smile had slowly turned into a massive happy one. Soon enough I would be home in my comfy bed with some leftover

Halloween treats and everything I needed to have a good night. “Have an amazing night!” I said rather enthusiastically as the couple silently pushed past me. The devil lady kept her final comments to herself bobbing away into the darkness. I watched them until they were barely visible beside their cherry red car, enjoying the sight of wind batting woman’s bright red locks and her obvious discomfort.

My eyes drew back from their car, which I watched with glee roll away, to the front door that was being held open. Reaching forward to grasp the door handle I heard movement behind me. I let out a sharp gasp wheeling around, leaving the door wide open clattering loudly.

“Boo.” Greg chuckled. He stood a few feet away slipping on his tanned leather jacket.

“Day of the Dead baby, there’s bound to be ghosts running wild tonight.” He said smiling away his charming grin. It was rarely a time that Greg wasn’t smiling especially, when it was time to go home.

“Mhm. Totally because ghosts are real.” I said sarcastically. The truth was, I didn’t really know what I believed. I knew there was something out there but that was the extent of my knowledge. It just sounded funny to say ghosts were real, or at least it sounded funny to share the possibility of them being real.

Greg placed his hands in his pockets as he walked closer to me. A gust of cold frigid air spilt into the café tussling my short locks around. “Hey, you never know they could be anywhere. I do know someone who’s going to be running wild tonight.” He said as his honey coloured eyes gazed around the café before once more setting on me. “Jordan.” He joked shaking his head.

I couldn’t help but snort a laugh, mimicking his shake of the head. “Good old Jordan. One of the true woman wooers in the world.” I said my fingers coming up to loosely quiet the snort infused laughs.

Greg just stared at me for a second as if his train of thought had dissipated. Letting out a little cough he nodded once more. “Okay, I’m pretty late so if I want to live, I should go now. I’ll see you later Nova. Hurry up and finish up here so you can go home and bask in your antisocial activities.” He said as he moved past me, his dark flesh literally melting into the darkness though he was only a foot or so in front of me.

“Obviously.” I said following him so I was a step outside the store. The moment I had stepped outside the wind had begun attacking my thick curly locks. My fingers wrapped around the handle steadying the swinging motion. However, the open sign was threatening its resignation as it teetered back and forth against the glass attempting to free itself from its confines. “See you tomorrow. Let me know how it goes.” I said wrinkling my nose. The cold was lingering against my arms and slapping aggressively against my face. That was enough for me, the weather had given me a reason to retreat. I gave Greg one watchful glance before he cut to the right, his body no longer in sight.

I took a step back pulling the door shut with some force. Twisting the circular lock, I heard a clicking sound along with the wind rattling the now ridged door. I began to whistle a random made up tune turning back around to finish my closing chores. ’Let’s see, I need to finish wiping down the tables, take out the trash, turn off the lights, and then lock up… I feel like there something else I’m forgetting…Oh fuck. I had forgotten to switch the open sign to closed. I turned back towards the door but stopped dead in my tracks when I saw past the sign. Right in front of the glass stood an extremely tall figure.

My heart had nearly leapt out of my throat as I took in the stranger. I hadn’t been expecting anyone else to be outside since it had been nearly an hour past close. Reaching my arm out awkwardly, I grabbed the sign and flipped it around showing the closed words to the stranger through the glass.

Peering through the door glass I had an opportunity to check out the figure up close. Scanning upwards I could tell he was a man. He was taller than Greg, at least 6 foot 4 with rather broad shoulders. I couldn’t really make out his physic since he was clothed in dark jeans and a black sleek looking leather jacket, however I could tell he was on the thin side. His skin was lighter than even mine, looking as if it was the same pigment as the moon. In fact, he seemed to be luminated in the moonlight almost like he was glowing against the stormy background. He seemed to have dark chestnut coloured locks that ran rather long which, had been hoisted up into a restricted bun. When I finally scanned his face, it was hard not to stare. He had such high cheekbones that were mixed with a softly defined jaw and chin. Running along his jawline he had barely any stubble peeking out, but enough consistency to set his age in the mid-20s. He had a little dented scar at bridge of his long nose but, other than that it was perfectly symmetrical to the rest of his face. Finally, I set my eyes on his and I lost all breath. His eyes were the most stunning colour of blue I had ever seen. It was as if the Caribbean Sea had fill in his irises.

Gazing up at him like an idiot it took me a few moments to remember what was even happening. “I’m sorry sir we’re closed.” I said giving him a little empathetic look. Poor guy had come out here to grab a meal and I couldn’t do anything for him. I waited for him to give me a nod and head back to his car wherever it was, however, he just continued to stare at me. His expression was flat, yet his eyes had a troubled worried look to them. ’I don’t think he can hear me with all that wind out there. ‘Ugh, I feel bad but hopefully next time he’ll look up our times beforehand.’ I thought wrinkling my nose. “I’m sorry. We are closed.” I repeated louder, breaking it down a little bit in hopes he would hear it better. My pale fingers tapped against the closed sign as added reassurance.

The only thing that changed on his side was a little crease in between his brows as they furrowed. His eyes had lifted just a smidge looking over my shoulder as if there was someone behind me. I felt my muscles tensing as he did. He might have been one of the most beautiful men I had ever seen but this was getting creepy. I turned my head slowly to look over my shoulder, expecting to see something out of the ordinary. My eyes scanned back and forth tracing over the tables and chairs cautiously. I waited for any sign of movement and to my relief there was nothing. This had to have been either someone with some sort of mental issue or a creepy joke. I spun back around. My hands swept down to press into either side of my hips while I parted my lips to ask what was going on. That was when I took in a sharp breath once more. He was gone. Completely and utterly gone. I got as close to the rattling door as I possibly could peering around trying to see where he went. There was nothing to see, it was as if he vanished into thin air. Feeling a chill run up my spine I wrapped my arms around my middle continuing to stare at the door. Something just didn’t feel right.

I took the next half an hour and used it to do almost everything I was supposed to do. My mind was so fixated on the vanishing stranger I knocked over a bottle of cleaner and had to soak it up off the table and floor. I added a chore to the list, giving the café a quick sweep. I wanted to gain some confidence before I ventured outside plus the café needed it. I didn’t end up taking out the trash. I felt uncomfortable lugging around the people sized trash bags in the dark by myself. I already knew Greg would help me with it since we both were opening. Lastly, I turned off the lights and quickly moved to the front door pulling out a modern silver key.

Now, I wasn’t scared of the dark but when weird things happen in the dark you don’t necessarily appreciate the pure instinctive anxiety that starts to creep through the body. That feeling was that last little push I needed to send me out to find my silver Dodge which, could be seen through the front windows. I unlocked the circular lock with a turn of my fingers and the door flung right open. The wind had only gotten worse. Once I got home, I knew I was going to feel a lot better about this weird day. I looked around to make sure I had everything however, it was pointless because I had left literally everything besides my key and phone in the car. Keeping one arm wrapped around my middle I took a step outside, squinting as the wind began to once more attack my body. I took a quick look around making sure the parking lot was deserted. The only movement that was present were Rittos’ flickering emergency roof lights and the big swaying oak trees that lined the edge of the lot.

Feeling satisfied with the little activity in the parking lot I grabbed hold of the outside handle. I ended up having to use both hands, forcing the door shut as I pushed with as much effort as my tired body had left in it. Once I had the door in place, I kicked up my knee for added pressure leaning against it. I brought the jagged key up to the lock clicking it in place as I wiggled it around to the right once and with another click the lock released its grip on the key allowing me to pull it back out. I dropped my knee and checked to make sure it really locked by tugging on the handle, not being able to move it in the slightest.

“Boo.” Whispered a voice from behind me. Even though the wind had been slashing away at my ears there was no mistaking his single word. It was a voice I didn’t recognize. A deep gruff cold voice that made my stomach turn and my skin crawl. I knew voices like this and they weren’t good.