Short stories

A Steakhouse

There I sat, at the same floor, on the same chair, with the same meal. It was every friday that I went out for steak, a whiskey, and serrano red pepper topped in chili oil. But today as I sat down in the same dim lighting , in the same booth as always, something felt off.

I ordered my usual , but the waiter was new so I explained the order to him. I sat in silence, which was odd normally the place was bussling with drunkards and the sound of irish folk music. But today the sound was gone, and as I looked around I realized that I wasn't alone. The silence was new and unwanted.

Time passed and The waiter returned with my meal. The waiter almost opened his mouth but my stern face told him I wasn't interested. The waiter briskly walked away with out another word. I took a sip of the whisky not the usual lagavulin, it was lighter and unfirmiliar. The steak was smaller and the side was a jalpeno not a serrano. I didn't complian though, I ate in silence, finished my whiskey, payed the check, and left. 

As I walked out the sign on the steakhouse looked different, although in the rain it was hard to tell. The rain pattered on my head and drenched my body in the cold of the open night. I walked back to my apartment, a broken busted shabby one at that.

I walked through the open door of the apartment complex, up the creaky stairs, to room 109. I walked towards my bed the only good thing that was in my apartment, and laid my head on the pillow expecting it to relive my pain. But nothing came execpt the duantings of sleep, and darkness beyond my consciousness.

I woke up in the morning to the same dark sky, and sludged out of bed to get ready for work. I looked in my bathroom mirror, which reflected my gruesome self. I knew why people always assumed that I was a bad person. I looked as if I was sleeping outside, and just got into a fight with an army tank. I had crooked yellowish teeth, a flat chin, dark brown iris, circles under my eyes, redish sideburns, and a stocky build. It didn't help that I only had five outfits. 

I hurried through the rest of the process and rode off to work. I always worked weekends, I needed the money, and Staying at home was boring. I worked with the police to chatch criminals, well not really catch, they assigned me the boring shit. I did paper work and applied warrants, stuff that didn't matter. 

As I arived at the police station I saw a teenage boy with no parents. He was sopping wet and civered in a trench coat. All the same he was minding his buinsnes, so I wasn't inclined to bother him. As I passed the boy he grabbed my arm, and looked at me. His eyes were grey and jittery, and he was a walking skeleton of a man

" Officer, I need help. At 101 lindeul Avenue, there was a break in." The boy stuttered.

I knew about that, it was something that had happened yestarday. I had seen Rick and Gulliver go to check it out. 

"Sorry kid, but that was yestarday and people went to check it out right away."

" No please, I promise you, I need help." 

I heard his pleas pass through one ear and go out the next. In a town like mine it wasn't odd to have beggars that are so high that they forget what was going on. I walked wo my desk and sat down, half expecting fo gulliver to tease me about being a slave to him. But he and Rick were nowhere to be seen.

Its not hard to belive that they would just take off, they did it all the time when they wern't ridiculing me. But today it was strange, a stillness in the air gave the room a strange feeling. Usally on a saturday it was me, Rick, Gulliver, and Amber. Amber was the temp, but she was exused for today due to family matters.

I sat in the saturated silence of the room waiting for something to happen. I looked at my desk for a distraction, but found none.  

I heard a noise from the door that broke the silence, it was the boy. And now his facial features were more clear. He had an almost pale white face, with ragged black hair, bloodshot eyes, and yellow teeth. He was wearing a yale t-shirt that had a undeniable stain on his shirt in a reddish hue. His body was that of a cripple, short and skinny, he looked almost like a living skeleton.

The boy banged his hands against the door although it being made of reinforced glass wasn't about to break. But breaking the law was just that, so I briskly walked over to where the weapons were kept. I grabbed the stun gun and walked back. The boy must not have noticed because he kept banging his hands against the door.

I walked to the door and unlocked it, not that I was going to open it. The boy looked at me funny as I returned to my seat. Although he noticed that I unlocked the door so he opened it and walked trough. A soon as he stepped foot in the building, I sprang from my desk and hit him with the stun gun.

The boy was finally waking up. After he went down I had dragged him into a cell. But now he was up, and making quiet the fuss. He was rambling on about shit that didn't make sense. About the men in his house, fiery ends and the crimson claw. It was like that for 20-30 minutes. Just desesnatized nonsense.

Once he calmed down I decided to try to get him to talk.

"Care to explain yourself kid" 

He was silent. And we sat in that silence for around two minutes. Around the third minute I got up to leave and then he sarted talking.