The Diner

THE DINER

Chapter One

Madison walks into a small coffee shop, ordered a mocha crème, and took the first booth on her right. The diner was painted green with black trim around the windows and doors. The curtains were the ugliest orange Madison ever seen. The tables were made of wood and each held a candle in the middle. From the kitchen came a very tainted smell which made Madison a little sick to her stomach.
Only one other couple occupied a booth in the diner. They were sitting in the back and it was so dark that Madison could barely make out their faces. Slowly Madison got up and headed towards the couple. Looking around, she noticed there were spider webs with live spiders in them and mice all over the floors and webs on the ceiling. As Madison took a step towards the couple she shrieked, jumped back and dropped her mocha crème: a snake was wrapped around her ankle.
“They won’t bite,” came from the woman in the booth, as the snake uncoiled and slithered away.
Madison walked over and introduced herself.
“I’m Emma and this is my husband, Chester. We have been stuck in this diner for three days. How did you get that door open? We have pushed, pulled, and kicked the stupid thing but it wouldn’t move?!”
I just pushed on it and walked in. What do you mean by stuck in here?” questioned Madison.
Chester and Emma looked at each other with a strange look.
“Well,” Chester paused, “just like you, we walked in here three days ago to get something to eat and drink and just haven’t been able to get out. We have slept in these booths because we were afraid to sleep in the floor with the spiders, mice and snakes.”
“You mean to tell me that you have been practically living here for three days?” asked Madison, surprised that they haven’t left.
“Yes, we have looked and looked for a way out but we haven’t had any luck. Although we have been a little afraid to go far in here with that nasty smell, who knows what we would find,” explained Emma.
“What is that nasty smell anyway?” asked Madison.
“We aren’t sure, and we don’t think we want to know. It is the most disgusting thing I have ever smelt in my life.” said Chester.
“So what have you eaten since you have been in here? With that smell I don’t think I could handle keeping anything in my stomach. And what is up with the spiders, mice and snakes in here? I would think the health department would have shut this place down by now.” stated Madison.
“Shhh…. Suzy is on her way over here, she’s the waitress.” said Emma.
“Hi my little kiddies. How are you all this evening?” asked Suzy.
“We are NOT your little kiddies,” said Madison, “and we would like to leave. Can you tell us how to get out?”
“HA HA HA” laughed Suzy “You’re not going to leave. You now belong to us. Harry and I are preparing a special meal for you. It will be ready shortly.”
“We aren’t interested in eating. We want to leave. And who is Harry?” asked Chester.
“Harry is my husband. You see, we don’t get many visitors on this end of town so we keep the ones that we get.” explained Suzy with a big smile on her face.
“What exactly do you mean by keep?” stuttered Emma.
As Chester’s temper rose, so did he. “Look”, he demanded, “We don’t know what kind of games you and your husband are playing here, but my wife and I want to leave!”
“Listen here Sonny,” smirked Suzy, “I don’t think you’re in any position to say who comes and goes around here.”
“Calm down Chester, I’ll talk to her.” said Emma.
“Suzy, you said that you keep the ones that you get. So where and why do you keep them?
“Come on, I’ll show you.”
As they all followed behind Suzy, Madison tried to keep from stepping on the mice and snakes, but she really didn’t care if she killed a spider or two. We entered the kitchen area and the smell was even worse. It was the nastiest sight we had ever seen. Parts of bodies were laying everywhere. Blood was all over the counter and sinks, a head was boiling in a large pot on the stove, and a man was rinsing off a persons heart and lungs in the sink. Madison ran back to the dining area and puked as Emma was screaming and yelling behind her. As Madison straightened up, Suzy and Harry were standing behind her laughing and Harry asked, “What did you think we served our guests? Why should we put our hard earned money out for meat when we can make our own? Those poor animals, it is just so wrong to kill them just to feed humans. Don’t you realize that humans are the worst people on earth and need to be punished for their crimes?”
“Your both sick! We have a court of law for those who commit crimes.” screamed Chester.
“Shall we show our guests to their rooms, Harry?”
“Yes Suzy, lets do. They need to get good nights sleep so they will be fresh in the morning.”
Bringing out a hatchet, Harry motioned for them to follow Suzy up the stairs. After being locked in a room, Emma and Madison held each other and cried. Chester leaned against the wall, white as a sheet, with a look on his face as if he had seen a ghost.
“I read about this place in a newspaper some time back but I never believed it was true. Someone had told the author that a friend had entered here looking for directions and never came back out. Noone ever checked it out, they said he was a lunatic trying to get attention,” whispered Chester.
“There is someone in the bed,” said Emma.
“He is frozen solid,” said Madison.
Emma and Madison had noticed that it was freezing cold in the room. The body was covered with blankets and they wondered if there were more blankets in the room for them to wrap with because they sure didn’t want to uncover the dead body.
Looking for blankets, Emma opened the closet door and shrieked. A man was hung in the center with his right foot and left hand missing. Emma slammed the door shut.
Madison noticed a trunk sitting in the corner farthest from the door. Approaching carefully, she hoped she wouldn’t find another dead body. Slowly Madison raised the lid to the trunk and gasped, letting the lid slam shut as she saw a woman’s body. They all took a step back as the lid began to open slowly. As the woman sat up she said, “They trapped you too.”
“Yes they did,” said Emma. “This is my husband Chester, our new friend Madison and I’m Emma.”
“I’m Alice,” said the woman still sitting in the trunk. “The man in the bed is my husband Frank, and the man in the closet said he was Harold. He said he had been here for a long time and that he had stopped in for directions and just couldn’t leave,” explained Alice with tears streaming down her face.
“Let’s get you out of that trunk,” said Chester.
“I hid in here when they came after Frank. I was scared and didn’t know what else to do. They took Frank away and when they brought him back he was already frozen. I thought I would never get to see anyone else alive before they came after me,” Alice said.
Madison was wondering how long they would be there before something else went wrong. How would they ever be able to get out alive? Who was going to be the next one cut up, cooked and served to another person to eat? The thought of people eating people almost made her sick.
Emma asked, “Do you know of any way to get out of here? There has to be a way for us to get past them, they cannot keep every one that come in here for food, it’s just not possible.”
Alice explained that while she was napping she had a vision of a man named Thomas who told her that there is a way out but he never gave any hints or details and if it was just a vision could he be trusted. As they all made their way into a comfortable position on the floor, they wrapped up in the blankets that Alice had used in the trunk and started discussing the vision and trying to make plans to escape. The only part Alice was able to remember was that there is a secret doorway somewhere on the second floor of the building, but wasn’t sure where it could be located.
Looking out the barred window they could tell it was beginning to become dark. Chester took the bracket part of the lock on the trunk and used it as a knife to open the locked door. Quietly they tiptoed along the hall looking for the hidden door. As they were sliding their hands along the wall, about shoulder high, Chester felt something that he thought could have been the hidden door. There was a faint light flowing onto the spot. Where could the light be coming from, there were no windows in the upstairs hallway. Now they had to figure out how to get the board off so as to see what was on the other side. Chester tried using the homemade knife but it broke off in the jam. He quietly went back to the room, looking for something else to use to open it. In the drawer next to the bed was a screwdriver, obviously forgotten by the owners, and in the closet he removed the body from the noose and took the rope too.
After getting back to the girls, Chester used the screwdriver and pried open the board, showing a body size opening in the wall. If one wasn’t very large they may be able to fit through. Alice, being the smallest, volunteered to go through the opening and try to find a way out. Since it was hard to see in the dark, she was hoping there were no spiders or snakes in there. Crawling into the hole she wondered where this tunnel would take her. Ouch, she hit her head on the top; the hole was barely big enough to fit her five foot two inch, one hundred seven pound body through. Lying on her stomach, she started sliding her way down the tunnel. After a short period, Alice thought she heard a voice. Could she be nearing an opening that would get her out of the dark hole, was it Emma and Chester or could it be Suzy and Harry? The thought scared her to the point where she was holding her breath, afraid of making any noise.
With her arms outstretched above her, Alice could feel that the crawlspace was leading straight ahead or another one to her right. Now she had to decide which tunnel to take. Listening for the voice she had heard earlier, hoping it would tell her which way to go, she heard nothing. Deciding to go right, making a dozen twists and turns, she was finally able to make the narrow turn. Cutting her thigh on something in the board flooring, Alice thought how she may never get out to go shopping for another pair of her favorite $120.00 pair of Broxter jeans.
Since it felt like 101 degrees in the crawlspace, Alice wondered if she was located over the kitchen area. Oh, how nice it would be to have a drink of cold water or a tall glass of ice tea, thought Alice.