Becoming a Possession

• four •

Bailey Runner

The morning air was brisk, you could see your breath like a blown out hit from a long cigarette drag.

"Mornin," Louise smiled as I entered through the front door of that the diner, she was wiping down the counter and a few of the tables.

"Morning." I replied, heading straight for the back room.

After I was dressed in my uniform and I had swept my long hair into a tight bun I came out from the back and went to the front register.

"Hey, I know it's a bit soon to leave you to run the diner, but I have to pick up my sister at the air port tonight so I'm leaving at noon to drive down to Seattle," Louise spoke as she restocked a few of the napkin dispensers.

"It's okay I don't mind." I shrugged as I began tying an apron around my waist.

"It shouldn't be bad today, Sundays  around here are the days everyone has dinner at home with their families so it's usually not all that busy," she explained.

"I should be fine I've worked at a lot of diners so I know the drill." I explained just as the fry cook came bustling through the door and back to the kitchen.

"Sandy'll help you close up tonight," she told me, referring to the short roundish shaped man now behind the grill.

I nodded and opened the register, placing the cash box back in from where Louise had set it down after taking it out of the safe.

After prepping the diner Louise flipped over the service sign and our first customers began to trickle in.


• • •

It was much later in the day, hours after Louise had left when the bell above the door jingled.

It had been at least an hour since the last customer had left and it started pouring rain, the sky had turned gray and finally released its heavy load.

I looked up from where I'd been leaning on the counter to see someone strange standing there.

It was a man, he was very wet and there was mud covering his face. He was wearing a ragged and torn pair of shorts and a very dirty black hoodie.

His feet were bare and he was dripping onto the old tile floors.

"Sir?" I asked him quietly. My guard was up, could he have sent this strange man?

But when I said sir, the man looked around as if he was searching for the source of my voice.

His eyes settled in my general direction and after a second I realized he was staring at the wall behind me.

"Hello?" He questioned. Then I looked closer at his eyes. They were glazed over, I'm sure they were a fantastic blue but now they were cloudy and there were so many scars surrounding them it was hard to look.

This was definitely the type of man that would be sent to find me.

But it was strange, I could tell this man couldn't see; he was very blind.

He took a few steps towards the counter, it seemed he was struggling to find his way.

I went around the counter cautiously and stood closer so he wouldn't have to struggle around the furniture.