The Boy in the Photograph ↪ Brallon

Chapter 3; Bright lights say my name

Dallon left his new apartment with a coat of anxiousness troubling his shoulders.

Shakily he walks down the street of his new neighborhood. He'll certainly have to get used to this. And the whole worry of someone breaking into his apartment being a new thing to him. Before he lived in a lovely house, big enough for all four of them. Dallon suddenly remembers again that he is indeed alone, sure his kids can come visit him sometimes and everything is bound to heal better with time; so they say. Really, who is to say of anything in this life.

I already miss them so much.

And who specifically he misses he doesn't really know himself.

Before he's even realized it himself he's walked a considerable distance away from his place as Dallon can no longer look down the street and see the not-yet-so-familiar-building-of-his. He picks his head up looking around the shops. Living relatively close to downtown now makes it easy for him to walk to get food but difficult for grocery stores.

Looks like I'll be eating out for a while. At least until I can afford a car again.

He thinks. Deciding from better judgment to walk to the cross walk or J-walk Dallon hurriedly crosses the street without incident to a nice looking curry house. Sweet and spicy aromas quickly greet him from the warm building.

He enters the shop and a soft but pleasant ding of a bell hanging off the door signifies his arrival. No one else is in the shop except a small old woman sitting by the far window sipping a hot drink that could very well be tea or coffee. Dallon glances over to her, soft black locks hanging over her face with shorter streaks of grey from age. Her eyes are shaded but Dallon swears she smiles to him.

A waitress quickly scuttles out of what he assumes to be the kitchen and smiles brightly at him.

"Hi welcome to Lloyd's Curry House and Cafe, do you need a moment to look? It's seat yourself here as you can tell by the size." She says bubbly but slightly sheepishly towards the end scratching her head and smiling nervously.

"If you don't mind. I'm not from around here this is the first place I've visited." Dallon says taking his heavy canvas jacket off, he looks down to the girls chest and sees a name tag decorated with soft flowers reading Bloom, she has dark red hair. Dallon looks around for a place to sit and set his coat down and the girl quickly grabs his coat.

"Here I'll take that for you!" She hangs it on a coat rack that he did not see before placed behind the door.

"Oh thank you very much." He says and spins on his heels to the table closest the front desk a scrawled chalk menu above it. Dallon reads over it gingerly and decides on the "Signature house curry" it seems simple enough to him containing curry sauce, carrots, potatoes, pork chunks, celery, onion, and chopped garlic. "I'll have your house curry." He says to the girl who was now writing in a notebook on the desk.

"Coming right up sir." She smiles up at him again pleasantly. She writes his order on a small notepad and rips it off walking to the back kitchen.

With nothing else to do Dallon pulls his phone out; and he has nearly forgotten the old woman in the back until she speaks to him pulling him up from his phone where he was just about to type his password in. "You're the one who moved into the haunted apartment, no?"

Startled with his mouth hanging open Dallon nods, creped out.

Surely this old woman isn't a stalker. She must live nearby and seen me moving in.

Dallon tries to reassure himself.

His thoughts are put to rest as she speaks again. "Don't worry I saw you moving in a few days ago." She waves him over to her table and Dallon slowly gets up from his still mute as he sits across from her at the small table. He can see now she has vibrant blue eyes and long pretty lashes.