The Shine

The one where I find a magic door

Overall the diner doesn't look much different at 2 PM than it did at 2 AM. Same number of customers even. None.

Two obvious things were different. Instead of plus size Regina Hall the lone person on duty was a middle-aged woman in skin-tight Velvet Revolver t-shirt. She has one of those smiles that looks like it pulls the skin so taut over her face that it hurt.

The other difference is there was a door next to the bathrooms that wasn't there before. I am positive of that. The first time when I felt the magic energy I examined the place thoroughly. That door was not there before.

It was open. The room behind it looked small but was big enough for a ratty couch, a weird old floor lamp, and a couple of beat-up tables. The walls were covered with pale yellow wallpaper that was faded, stained, and faintly lumpy all at the same time.

I made a move to sit at the counter and Velvet Revolver pointed me to a booth instead. When I sat where directed she disappeared into the back and left me there examining what would be a very boring room if it had existed the last time I was there.

I hadn't ordered anything but VR slid into the booth across from me and half-dropped plate down loaded with chicken fried steak, hash brown scramble, two eggs sunny side up and toast. It looked alright. When she held her arms out with the plate I saw that she had tattoos on both wrists of a circle with a pointy line through it.

"You want to go in there?" she asked.

"Is that the break room?" I said not answering her question like a jerk.

"No" was all she said.

We stared at each other in silence for a while before I asked if she knew the owner, Raymond Pine. She said that she did. I asked if I could meet him. She said no. I asked her what would happen if I went in the room. She peered at me like I was a tiny bug that she needed to look at close up.

"You would disappear. I don't think you would come back."

"I guess I better not go in there then."

She shrugged.

"What is this place?"

"You sense the flow of energy. How it moves. How it gets channeled. This is a dam. My job is to protect it. I don't know how you got past me last time. That shouldn't happen. It's troubling."

"I couldn't see the door last time."

"Maybe that's why."

"Why make this place a diner? Why not something private where people don't go."

"People need to disappear sometimes."

"Based on what?"

She shrugged.

"I'm trying to learn more about my abilities. What can I do to speak with Raymond Pine?"

"Nothing."

"What about you? Can you help me?"

"I can't even help myself."

"I know the feeling."

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