Chinese Resturant

Strange Happenings with Creepy Strangers

There is a new Chinese restaurant that recently opened across the street from my town house. I am planning on going there later to see if it's really worth it. A friend told me that when she went yesterday there was a very creepy looking man behind the counter in the kitchen. 

That was something that got me just the slightest bit interested. I am living a simple, there are many small things that can excite me, that is a perfect example of how bored I really am with my life. especially now that person is gone. 

At about 7 o'clock I after my shift at the local Food Mart, I walk on over to the colorfully decorated restaurant. There are glowing lanterns strung to the ceiling and silky red curtains draped everywhere. I order simple foods, not wanting to upset my stomach. I am definitely not used to eating extravagant delicacies, I usually manage to eat the food on sale at the Food Mart.

After eating the meal on the soft cushioned chairs, I look for the awaited to pay, in cash of course because no one has credit here. As I stand up to go tag down the server, there is only one, I spot something I had not paid for on my table. 

A cookie, one of the types Chinese restaurants  give away after your meal. There was a little note taped to it that said: "on the house". In the background, I hear a chime from someone either entering or leaving the restaurant, but it is not that important. 

Now I understand what my friend meant when she said creepy. Oh well, I am not a type of person who looks a gift horse in the mouth. I cracked the cookie in two and took the paper out before crushing the stale sweet crumbs. I bite my tongue as an anxious habit, then glance at the so-called "lucky numbers":

2,55,12,6,18,9,23

-pretty random. 

Who knew that beansprout was 豆芽 (dòuyá) in mandarin. I flip over the paper hastily, eager to see my fortune. What I discovered was quite unsettling, quite disturbing in a very unbelievable manner. The paper had read: "Your life's in danger. Say nothing to anyone. You must leave the city immediately and never return. Repeat: say nothing." 

At first glance, I don't consider it as a problem, but the more I cautiously reread the message, every time I try to process it, I feel that it has my heart pumping at 100 miles an hour. It should not be this way, a cookie and piece of paper defining my fate? Truly absolutely impossible.

By the time I snapped out of my daze, I realized that 20 minutes have passed and everyone who was in the restaurant earlier has already finished. There is one of the waiters cleaning a table two down from mine.

Might as well go and ask him if he knows who gave me this fortune cookie. I approach the waiter, as slyly and discreetly as possible. The last thing I want is to risk anything happening because of the fortune right now, I just have to figure out a way to ask him indirectly. I will have to start by introduction myself.

I walk on over to where he is cleaning. He's not paying much attention to his surroundings and instead appears to be jamming out to music through his headphones. Now that I get a closer look, he seems to only be a year older than me. I am careful to approach him, it would be bad if I happened to startle- ah, too late.

He jerks his body upright and snaps his head around to look at me with embarrassed wide eyes as if he was caught dancing in public, which he was.

"Sorry! Sorry! Um... did you need anything?" He asks while setting down his cleaning supplies and brushing the dirt off his apron. When he looks up and sees my face, his straight face cracked a smile, I figure he must have realized that I am not a senile old man ready to complain, he began:

"Oh! My name is Dominic, nice to meet you." He extended his hand toward mine, which I hesitantly reached out and shook it lightly.

"Nice to meet you too." I replied quietly, still unsure of the current situation, "My name is-"