[Team Story]

Gabi

The old sign above Gabi's head flickered in the night sky. It was made up of individual yellow squares, each containing a single black letter. The area was completely unknown to her, but what was even more of a mystery was how she had arrived. Wanting answers, she entered the restaurant that belonged to the boxy, yellow sign and approached a dark-haired waitress at the counter. She stood there for a minute, waiting to be acknowledged, and tried to seem casual. But despite her attempts, she couldn't help the sense of panic beginning to creep up on her. It soon became obvious that the waitress wasn't going to notice her until she decided to speak up, so Gabi got herself together.

"Excuse me, ma'am," she said, her voice coming out small at first. "Could you please tell me where I am?"

It took a minute, but the waitress finally turned to face her. The woman's face was pale and round, with heavy winged eye-liner and red lipstick to go with her red and yellow apron. "Well, honey," her voice was accented and reminded Gabi of somewhere she knew she should remember. "Welcome to Waffle House." The waitress pushed a laminated menu in front of her. The pictures of endless breakfast foods made her head spin with memories that she couldn't quite grasp.

"Thank you, but I really just need to know what city I'm in, or even what state or country." Gabi said with a forced smile, handing back the menu. "And it would be even better if you told me why I ended up here because I have no clue."

The woman suddenly froze up, her features turning cold and robotic. "Would you like some pancakes?" she asked suddenly.

"Um, no thank you. I would just like to know where the heck I am." Gabi was starting to get suspicious of this Waffle House.

"Would you like some pancakes?" the waitress asked again.

"Um, no. Shouldn't you be offering me waffles instead of pancakes? I mean this is a Waffle House..." She laughed nervously, trailing off, and then realized that the entire restaurant had fallen into silence. Every single person, except her, had fallen in to what seemed to be a trance.

"Would you like some pancakes?" the waitress asked again. She didn't reply.

"Would you like some pancakes?" The voice that came from the red lips of the woman had changed and was now completely void of any emotion.

"Would you like some pancakes?" The phrase had begun to be repeated more and more rapidly.

"Would you like some pancakes?"

"Would you like some pancakes?"

"Would you like some pancakes?"

The demonic voice continued as Gabi backed away from the steel counter and bolted through the door. She kept running and running, not even thinking about where she was headed, desperate to escape the simple, yet haunting, question. She eventually slowed to a jog and then a walk as she headed to the bright lights of the metropolis.

Finally a long chapter...yay!