Possessed

Chapter 3

Jane and I finished our dinner in about forty minutes.

While we ate, every other customer slowly drifted out of the restaurant, until only Jane and I were left.

"Wow!" Jane exclaimed as she wiped her mouth with a napkin and lent back in her chair. "That was amazing."

"Agreed." I said as I took a sip from my glass of water. Then I stacked our plates on top of each other, so Shelly could carry them easier.

"Did you both enjoy your meal?" Asked a voice from behind me.

I jumped and quickly spun around, coming face to face with a man.

"Sorry for frightening you." He added as I sighed in relief.

"The food was wonderful." Jane said with a smile. "Darren sure knows how to make a good steak sandwich."

"Well." The man replied. "I'm glad you're both satisfied. I'll just grab these." Then he reached for our plates.

"Oh, Daddy!" Shelly exclaimed as she rushed out of the kitchen. "Go sit back down. I've got this!" She said, before grabbing our plates and rushing back into the kitchen.

The man stared at Shelly as she hopped away, with a heart warming grin on his face.

A moment later, he pulled a chair away from a nearby table and sat down next to Jane and I.

"I see you've already met my lovely daughter." He said matter-of-factly.

"Yes, we have." I said politely, extending my hand for the man to shake. "The name's Mark Dawson and this is my sister, Jane."

"Darren Jones." He chuckled, shaking hands with both Jane and I.

"As in the Darren of Darren's Diner?" I asked.

"You bet." He replied. Darren was a lean man in his late forties, with graying hair and an impressive moustache. He was tall and had crystal blue eyes like his daughter's. He was wearing a white collared shirt, black pants and suspenders.

"Well, it's great to meet you." I said, covering my mouth with my hand to stifle a yawn. "Excuse me."

"It's getting pretty late." Jane stated, noticing how tired I was. "You don't happen to know a good place to crash around here, do you?"

"Definitely." Darren replied. "'There's a place around two blocks away that you can stay at. It's called Fernway Motel. You can't miss it."

"Thank you." I said gratefully as Jane and I stood up and pushed our seats in.

"Are you leaving?" Shelly asked as she came back out of the kitchen.

"Yeah, we're gonna go stay at the Fernway Motel." I said with a grin.

"Well," Shelly replied with an even larger grin. "Maybe you and Jane could come back tomorrow morning. We have a great breakfast menu."

"Sounds like a plan." Jane answered. "I'm sure Mark would love that." I shot Jane an annoyed look, but she just burst out laughing.

"I guess we should get going. Goodnight." I said to Darren, before passing our money for the food to Shelly.

"Goodnight. And keep the change." I whispered with a wink.

"Thanks." Shelly whispered back, cheeks going red. "Have a good-"

Suddenly, Shelly was cut short by a voice screaming for help.

"Darren!" A man shouted as he burst through the front door of the diner.

"Help!" He yelled, stepping aside to let another man barge through. "Its happened again!"

The other man rushed forward, and that's when I noticed what he was holding in his arms.

Actually, it was more like who he was holding.

It was a young woman, who rested slack in the man's grip.

And she was definitely dead.