It Was Only A Cut In Another Universe

Well That is Not Good

Things were looking good that day. The sun was shining and the ride to the bistro was good. It made Vincent feel much better about yesterday. Though when things were going on well for Vincent they usually ended off worse. He had his doubts today would be any different. When he arrived at the bistro he was surprised to see it was still closed. He had left a bit earlier than yesterday just in case the weather decided to fuck with him, or if the sidewalk was to crowded. It was surprisingly not. He looked down at his watch. It seemed about right. Then a loud slam startled him. Causing him to nearly jump out of his skin. 

He looked around, but found nothing in sight. That's when he heard the sound of whistling. Followed by the sound of footsteps on steel. All approaching his direction. His heart beat began to speed up as his feet became glued to the ground. It was still pretty early outside. Not many people were around. Would anyone hear him scream? Vincent's knuckles were turning white by now as the person rounded the corner. "Vincent?" All the fear vanished in an instant as soon as he saw Rody's extremely confused face. "What are you doing here this early?" Vincent could finally move. His fingers hurt from how long he had them in place. 

"I felt bad about showing up late yesterday so I decided to leave earlier." Vincent explained. "Your shift doesn't start for nearly another hour?" Vincent just shrugged. He was a little embarrassed to admit last night he didn't sleep well. He had been plagued by nightmares for most of the evening. To the point he just gave up on trying around five. Instead he opted to use that time to get ready. Minus eating of course. He hadn't eaten since his first day on the job. By now his stomach was empty, and he was starving as usual. Luckily Rody couldn't pinpoint it based on his looks. He already looked like shit enough. Rody just smiled and shrugged. "Well that's alright. You can help me open up." Rody said as he walked over to the door. Vincent locked his bike up before following him inside. The restaurant looked oddly eerie while the lights were off. The sun was barely rising leaving it especially dark. It almost felt enchanting. Vincent had always had a fascination with the dark. How it made everything look eerie. He loved it. He loved how mysterious the night was. How someone could just hide in the darkness. 

Then again he also hated it. His worst moments had happened in it. Vincent hissed in surprise when the lights turned on. "Oh sorry, I should have given you a warning." Rody said with a slap on the shoulder. Vincent flinched before rubbing it. Giving a shy laugh while Rody let out a big hearty laugh. "It's fine. What do you need help with?" Vincent asked as Rody walked over to one of the doors. Unlocking it before tossing Vincent a pair of his keys. He barely managed to catch it. Having the keys fly up in the air a few times. "You can start by unlocking the doors. All the keys are labeled with an initial for what door." Vincent nodded before unlocking the janitors closet, front door, and freezer. Rody had returned to the kitchen. Yet he hadn't moved far from the door frame as he was staring at Vincent. His eyes were heavily dilated. Though just as quickly as Vincent noticed that Rody returned back to normal. "Next thing you can help with is getting some of the dishes out, and utensils out. You know, like cutlery and stuff." Vincent nodded as Rody showed him where they were. Helping him organize the stations. Putting the proper knives where they need to go alongside other utensils. 

By the time they were done at least five chefs were there. Vincent went around finishing his tasks. Making sure they had plenty of silverware and napkins. Getting the plates into easily reachable places, and getting wine glasses ready. Finally it was time to open. Morning was always the easiest. There were usually very few people in the morning, and that's what probably made it the best time for the shift. Even then the chefs were busy as ever. Cooking multiple other dishes for the lunch rush. Sure enough when it hit, it hit hard. Vincent was rushing around, and the hunger was getting to him. He was used to it but today was relatively bad. He knew the good start to this day was a bad sign. The dinner rush wasn't much better, and by the end of the day Vincent was so exhausted. Sure the customers hadn't been rude. In fact most of them were rather polite Yet just as he got back inside he heard a sound he dreaded to hear. Vincent let out a groan causing a chuckle from one of the chefs. 

"One last floater." She said as Vincent nodded, grabbing his platers and walking out onto the floor. There by the front was a man with dyed blonde hair. He was probably going to get it redyed soon as he could see his brown roots. He was dressed in rather flashy clothes. Most notably a large fur coat, and large gold sunglasses. It did confuse Vincent. Wasn't it dark outside? Why the hell was he wearing sunglasses inside? Whatever it didn't matter. "Let's just get this over with." He muttered to himself as he walked over. "Hello sir, how many will be dining?" "Twenty." Vincent had to do a double take. "I beg your pardon?" Vincent said as his heart began to sink. "I told you twenty." Vincent walked over to look back. To his horror a large crowd of people were behind him. "Sir, we don't have any tables for twenty people." Vincent said quickly. Did this man have a reservation and he didn't know about it? Surely not, he would've been informed about it. The rich man gave a snicker as he moved his sunglasses down. Despite Vincent being taller than him he was acting like he was shorter, and to be honest he felt like he was. His big brown eyes stared up at him. "Why don't you go fetch Rody for me? I do need to announce my presence." Vincent was actually quite thankful for this scapegoat. 

Even though he didn't like Rody's last angry burst, he was slightly relieved. When he made it to the kitchen some of the chefs were already cleaning up their stations. "Is everything okay?" Another chef asked. "You guys may not want to leave yet." Vincent said as he looked around. Rody wasn't in the corner or the station he had cooked in. He was probably in his office. Vincent gave three gentle knocks. "Come in." Vincent peaked his head in. Rody looked up from the paperwork he was doing. His gray blue eyes were bright and a happy smile was on his face. "Oh hey Vince. Is everything alright?" "Uhm it's Vincent and there is a guy who's here who wants to dine with nineteen people, and asked to see you." Rody's eyes widened as he stood up and marched over. His face was more confused. Vincent hadn't moved much but being this close to Rody he noticed how muscular he was. Vincent felt his face warm up. He wondered what he did to get them. How did he stay in shape? What he looked like without a shirt on. How it would look wet, from sweat after he. Nope! Vincent could not be thinking about this while at work. Not only that but about his boss. While he had a girlfriend. Vincent looked out into the dining room. Rody and the man were clearly arguing. The rich guy was rather relaxed. While Rody was pissed. Eventually Rody let out a loud long sigh. Eventually turning back to the kitchen. 

"What's the word?" A chef asked. "We're working overtime boys, but everyone is getting paid fifty euros extra at least. Vincent perked up at that. Those fifty euros would benefit him well. Rody turned over to where Vincent got his platters and grabbed two of his own. Vincent raised a brow. "What are you doing?" Vincent asked. "I'm helping you out. We have plenty of chefs, but we're having a full house tonight." Vincent looked back and saw all of the tables were filled. Hell the booths had two more people than they were meant to hold comfortably. Vincent nodded as he and Rody hit the floor. A lot of the people were nice and friendly, and the menu made it easy for him and Rody to get orders down, to the kitchen, and to the tables. Yet his stomach had been growling at him a lot. Not to mention he was feeling rather dizzy. God was he exhausted, and most of them were on their main dish. All he had to do was get through the desert portion and he was done. 

"Hey waiter boy, hand me a dessert!" A guy shouted as Vincent was right next to him. Not only that he stood up and shouted it in his ear. It had startled Vincent so bad that he had dropped his platters. Causing them to hit the ground with a loud crash. The noises hurt his head causing him to cover his ears. Why were they ringing so bad? Not only that but his hand felt wet. When he knelt down onto the floor to pick up his platters he saw the reason. Dark red were on his hands as he felt liquid fall from his ears. "Vincent, are you okay?" Rody asked as he dashed over. His steps and voice were muffled by the ringing. Before Vincent could say anything his eyelids felt heavy as he fell forward. Blacking out on the job, and on the dining room floor.