Sinner (Children of the Corn/Malachai)

Chapter #8: Dinner with a Sinner

Katie and I arrived at the cafe a few minutes after leaving the general store.
The diner was packed, as it seemed was usual for this place. But Katie and I managed to find an empty booth against the large cafe windows. We sat across from one another and began looking at our menus.

We were quiet for the first few minutes, until the waitress showed up and took our orders. I got a burger and fries again and Katie got the chicken tenders with fries.
After that there was nothing else to do but talk, so we did. Katie was the one to speak first.

    "I hope I'm not keeping you from anything. You know, if your parents needed you home for something?" She said.
I shook my head.

    "No, you're fine. We've gotten pretty much everything unpacked and in its place by this point. Now it's just a matter of getting used to this place." I somewhat lied.
This made her smile slightly.

    "Well good! I'm glad that you're all settled in finally! Hopefully soon enough it'll start to feel like home." Katie stated.

Home? Hemingford? Never. Gatlin was my home - always has been, always will be.
Still, the idea seemed to make Katie happy. In fact, her smile seemed brighter now than I'd ever seen it before, her cheeks had gone a shade of rosy pink as well, and her eyes had this odd sparkle to them at the moment....
Why did that make her so cheery?

My thoughts however, were then interrupted. By someone outside. I saw them out of the corner of my eye.

Across the street, standing on the sidewalk and staring in the cafe's direction, was the boy from the other day. With the dark hair, dark clothes and unnerving eyes.
And just like he had the first day I'd seen him, all he did was look at me. It was starting to creep me out quite a bit.

Katie must've noticed this, because her grin faded and she followed my gaze out the cafe window to the boy.
Oddly enough, when Katie glanced at him, he immediately broke his stare and began to walk off down the sidewalk.
When he was gone, Katie shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

    "Who is that kid?" I asked, looking back at her now.
She looked a bit hesistant to speak for a few seconds, but finally managed a small chuckle.

    "That's Micah, one of the other kids that's still left here. Angela, the owner of the bed & breakfast, took him in. He keep to himself mainly, he doesn't talk to any of us - personally I think he's a bit whacked. But then again I guess nobody in this town is exactly normal." Katie informed.
I glanced back out the window to where Micah had been standimg before looking back at Katie.

    "He did the same thing the other day. He just...stared at me. Why does he do that?" I questioned.
Katie shrugged.

    "No idea. As far as I can figure, he's just a little weird. Probably feels lonely or misses his friends or something like that. He might be looking at you because you're another younger guy and wants to be friends. I wouldn't blame him." She replied, giving me a smirk.
I stared at her blankly for a minute. I wasn't here in Hemingford to make friends, I was here to break routine and convert her. Nothing more.

"BREAKING NEWS"

Katie and I both jumped a bit at the sudden voice of the tv that boomed behind us. I was facing the television's direction already, but Katie turned in the booth to see the screen.
It was the reporter from the other day. Except this time he was standing in a room with several large cabinet looking doors in the wall behind him. Also with him were two people wearing surgeon's scrubs.

    "We're back with more information on the Hemingford Incident. I'm here at the local morgue, here to talk with the morticians for more details on the event." The reporter introduced before going over to one of the doctors.
    "Sir, you've been one of the people in charge of caring for the bodies of the victims, what kind of information can you release to the public?" He interviewed.