The Stories of Latia, Vol. 2: Demon's Curse

Chapter 1: The Coffee Guy

Chapter 1: The Coffee Guy

Robin Brooks

Hi! I know we haven't met before, but my name is Robin Brooks, I'm your narrator for this chapter. Y'know, like it says at the top of the page.

Anyways, I've been working at a cute little diner on 32nd street called the Moss Diner as of 2 weeks ago, give or take. It's a nice job, it pays enough to keep me in college and keep me from living in a cardboard box, which is all you could ask for from a job as a waiter at a diner. I also get free chocolate which is nice.

The Moss Diner is on the corner of 32nd and 5th, which is a prime spot for many... interesting characters to say the least. But the only one who was actually interesting was a tall guy, who must've been at least 6 foot, who came in my second shift. He wore a dark brown trench coat, its lapels obscuring most of his face, but they couldn't cover the very obvious scar over his left eye. Not many people around here have proper battle scars, but this guy did.

He was quiet, barely said a word when I went to get his order.

"Just two coffees please, thank you," he grumbled.

I returned quickly with his two coffees, and he sat in silence, sipping on one of them for a few minutes, before getting up to leave without touching the other, and leaving a very generous tip.

I thought that was weird, but I moved on quickly from it, thinking of him as just another wacko customer.

Until he came in again. Same day the following week, same time, same order.

"Hey, Teddie. What's up with that guy?" I whispered to my coworker while mopping the floor.

"Huh? Oh. I have no idea. He's been doing it for weeks. I think he's waiting for someone or something. Maybe a date keeps standing him up, poor guy," Teddie theorizes, but I'm not sure.

Something just seems... off, about thinking he's waiting for someone. It feels deeper than that in a weird way.

The next week, same thing.

It was a slow night, and Teddie got the night off, so it was just me and the guy in the diner as he sipped his coffee, not even looking at the other, while I mopped the floor behind the counter because I spilled something.

It was almost painfully quiet in the diner, the jukebox that's usually playing classic 80s songs everyone's heard before broke a few days ago, so it was way quieter than usual.

Until, 2 people in ski masks barge through the doors, breaking the almost painful silence.

"Oi! Give us the money!" One of them shouted at me once they'd rushed over to the counter, holding up their crowbars.

"Okay, okay, okay. Let's all just calm down," I stammer, trying to defuse the situation.

"You need to calm down! Give us the money!" Shouts the other one, obviously panicked by the way he's just repeating my words back to me.

"Duck down, under the counter," the Coffee Guy abruptly says from his booth, placing his coffee down.

"What was that?!" The first thief shouted at him.

"I wasn't talking to you," he replied, giving me a glance, showing me more of his face than I'd ever seen before.

I take the hint, and duck down beneath the front counter, out of sight of the thieves but also out of the Coffee Guy's sight.

"Hey, what are you-" I heard one of the thieves begin, but was cut off by the sound of the booth seat creaking and the sound of booming footsteps.

What followed was a slew of strikes and pained grunts coming from the thieves, before two loud slams into what I guessed to be a booth table.

Once the noise stopped, I finally crawled out from under the counter, peeking over it to see the man, seated again and finishing his coffee, with the two thieves unconscious on the floor, one of them bleeding from the nose, the other bleeding from the mouth.

"You should call 911. They'll arrest these two," he grumbles, standing from his booth and heading for the door.

"Wait!" I shout after him as he's opening the door.

"Who are you?" I say next, realizing how corny I sounded afterwards.

"Me? I'm no one," he replied in a jokey, deep voice, before continuing out the door.