I sat in my car looking straight ahead at the Chinese restaurant.
Stanley had jotted down some notes while on the phone with the mysterious caller. And after his body was taken out of the apartment, I grabbed a bag of clothes, the notepad and left without looking back.
Mike Hanlon. The mystery man who called my husband just before he decided to take his own life. Anger boiled in me as tears rose to my eyes. I started to play with the ring on my finger as I kept my gaze on the restaurant.
The thought of leaving this town and leaving the unknown alone passed my mind for just a second. But I can't. I need to understand what this man said to make my husband take his life and I will not leave until I do.
Stepping out of my car, the cold breeze of the night left goosebumps up my arms. I held my purse close to my side as I shut the door. I took a deep breath in through my nose before making my way across the parking lot into the restaurant.
My ears filled with voices of friends and families all around me, giggling and chatting amongst each other. I walked up to the hostess table and smiled.
"Hi, I'm looking for a Mike Hanlon." I told the woman, she smiled back at me.
"Yes right this way, they've been waiting for you." She began to walk away, gesturing me to follow her.
My stomach immediately sank as she said they have been waiting for me. I swallowed the lump that sat in the back of my throat and followed the woman towards an enclosed space, only separated with paper barriers as walls. The laughs and chatter got louder as she brought me to the entrance way. My mind got slightly foggy as I looked at the group of adults. The woman left in a hurry, leaving me alone with the strangers. They hadn't noticed me, they were stuck in their own world.
"Excuse me." I spoke up loud enough to grab their attention. "I'm looking for Mike Hanlon."
Heads snapped towards me, making my stomach tie in knots. The one dark skinned male stood up and looked at me with confusion.
"Yes?"
I felt tears trying to push their way out of my eyes, I held them back and swallowed my fear that was begging to escape.
"You called my husband?" My bottom lip began to quiver as I spoke of him.
His eyebrows furrowed, our eyes not leaving each other's gaze.
"You're Stanley's wife?" Mike asked. "Where is he?"
"What did you tell him?" I ignored his question and blurted mine out.
"Where's Stan?" A man with glasses took my gaze from Mike for just a second. I quickly looked back to Mike and clenched my jaw tightly.
"What did you tell him?" I asked again, my voice more stern.
"I- I told him to come here." Mike was taken back by my tone. "Why are you here and not him?"
"He's not coming." I forced the words to leave my lips, holding back the sobs I wanted so desperately to let out.
"What do you mean he's not coming?" A woman with short red hair looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"You had to of said something else." I stared deeply into Mikes eyes. "You had to!"
I pressed my arm tightly against my side, making my purse dig into me.
"Woah, chill out." A man with blue eyes stood up and held his hand out.
"I will not!" My temper snapped as I yelled at the man. Yet no one else in the restaurant seemed to notice my sudden outburst. "You said something! Something that upset him so much that he-" I cut myself off, tears begging to stream down my already pink cheeks.
Mikes eyes softened as he looked into my teary ones.
"What are you talking about..?" Mike asked in almost a whisper.
The circle table began to rumble, making the others jolt back from their seats. My eyes grew wide as the fortune cookies began to crack on their own.
"What the fuck!" The man with glasses blurted out, his voice cracking with fear.
My heart thumped heavily in my chest as blood began to spill from the cookies, slowly forming letters on the table.
"This is what It does!" Mike exclaimed. "It's just your fears!"
Other fortune cookies started bursting open, an eye ball crawling out of one, spiders out of another. A soft singing got loud quickly, pulling all of our attention to the fish tank in the back. Severed heads sang under the water, bubbles floating from their mouths up to the top of the tank.
"Fuck no!" The shorter man of the bunch stumbled backwards into the man with glasses as he panicked.
The table shook more violently, the blood forming the rest of the letters into words. Just as the last word formed the table stopped shaking, the heads stopped singing and the bugs that flew out of the fortune cookies fell to the ground. My shaky body stumbled back against the paper barriers as the others leaned in to read the writing.
"Stanley couldn't cut it." Mike's voice spoke out.
My hand slapped against my mouth as I stopped a gasp from leaving my lips. Tears flooded my eyes as the memories started to flood into my mind.
"No..." I shook my head in disbelief. They must have done something to him. This is all some elaborate plan, to do something I'm blinded to.
"What the fuck does that mean?!" The shorter male yelled.
They all quickly looked back at me, their eyes piercing my skin deeply. I quickly turned to my left and ran out into the undisturbed restaurant and towards the front doors.
"Wait!"
I quickly pushed one of the first sets of doors open then making it to the second set and pushing that door open too. The cold nights air brushed past my skin as tears began to pour down my cheeks. Just as I made it to my car door a hand grabbed onto my arm, turning me around. The red headed woman stared into my eyes with a mix of fear and confusion.
"You know something don't you?" She stared deeply into my glossy eyes. "What did that mean?! What happened to Stan?"
I tugged my arm out of her grasp and stared back into her eyes.
"He's dead!" I spat. "Whatever you and your buddies said to him over the phone made him take his own life!" Tears poured down my cheeks. Loud sobs began to escape my lips as the woman's eyes softened.
"Fuck!" The man with the glasses yelled as he ran his hands through his hair. He started passing back and forth.
"What...?" The woman mumbled. Her voice filled with disbelief. "He killed himself?"
