The Diner

Josh is traveling to Charleston to visit a friend. He stops at an old school diner when he gets sidetracked by the enchanting Frances.

Oh boy it's going to be a long night, I thought.  I still have 6 hours left before I reach Charleston.  I am meeting an old college friend there for the weekend.  My eyes are drawn to a blue rickety diner sign on the side of the road.  Its open 24 hours, next exit.  My stomach growls and I desperately need some strong coffee so I pull off the highway and find a parking spot on the side of the diner.
              It's fairly busy for this time the night, hoping the food is decent, I go inside.  A waitress directs me to a booth and hands me a menu.  I pass by a cute blonde sitting alone at the main counter on a stool.  She is wearing a light blue summer dress and some type of perfume I have never smelled before, it reminds me of the sweet ocean air with something musky mixed in.  It’s captivating but I try to put it out of my mind and take a seat. She is probably waiting for her boyfriend to show up or something anyway.

This place needs some serious updating.  It’s stuck back in the 1960’s, or so it seems to me.  Red vinyl seats and white laminate tables.  There was even a mini jukebox at the table. I remember my mom telling me about them when I was little.  I put in a quarter and selected C4 the Beatles “A Hard Day’s Night”, it seems like an appropriate title for my trip tonight.  As I waited for the song to play I gazed at the menu.  My decision is already made though as something tells me to order the pancakes and bacon.  Anyway it’s hard to screw that up anywhere, I think chuckling to myself.

I look up at the blonde, she is really attractive and still all alone.  I can't take my eyes off of her.
"What can I get for you honey?" The waitress startles me.
"Hmm, I'll have pancakes and bacon with orange juice and coffee please."
"Ok I will put that right on for you."
"Thank you ma'am".

As the waitress heads back the kitchen I look back at the mysterious blonde, she is staring back at me.  Our eyes lock together and time seems to stand still.  She smiles at me, gets up and comes over. 

“Hi, sorry to intrude, but it’s funny you ordered the exact same thing as I did a few minutes ago.”

“Yes that’s a funny coincidence.  It honestly just came to me out of the blue.”  I said and we both giggled.

“Do you mind if I join you?  I mean if you’re not expecting anyone?”

“Oh well no I….”

“No, ok.”  She cut me off and sighed, her eyes darted to the ground.

“You cut me off too quickly!  I mean yes I am here alone, please join me.  My name is Josh by the way.”  I said reaching out to shake her silky soft hand.

“Nice to meet you Josh, I’m Frances.”  She said sitting down.  She looked at me with her dark green eyes. They sparkled and I couldn’t break away from her stare.  I was in some kind of trance.

Just then “A Hard Day’s Night” finally started playing over the speakers above.  I snapped out of it.   

“I put that song on a while ago.  This place is cool, it seems to be stuck back in the 60’s.” I said.

“I love the Beatles!  My dad used to play for me when I was younger.  This place is quirky and the food is good, I come in once a week when I don’t want to cook.  How did you find your way here?”

“I am headed to see a friend in Charleston.  I saw a sign on the highway so I stopped here to have some dinner and coffee. You come in here once a week?  So I take it you live around here?”

“Yes I live about two miles away from here.  Charleston is so beautiful, so quaint.  Have you been there before?” 

“No, this is my first trip to Charleston, I heard it is very nice though.  Have you lived here your whole life?” 

“I grew up around New Orleans and I moved here a few years ago to be close to my brother, who did his undergraduate and now graduate school at the university. How about you? Where are you from?”

“Ok, I grew up in Maryland and went to college in New York.  I am thinking of going to graduate school maybe next year.  We’ll see.  Right now I am working for my Dads small publishing company.  What do you do for work?” 

“That’s a good question! I am writing but don’t consider myself a writer yet.  If that makes sense?” She says giggling.  “I have one book that’s self-published and I am working on another.  Your fathers company probably was one of the many that rejected my first novel!”   She winked at me and laughed.  “It worked out ok though.  Everything happens for a reason, right?”  She said smiling looking into my eyes.

“Yes I believe it does. That’s cool that’s you’re a writer.  I would like read your novel.  Can you write down the details before we leave and I will check it out?”

  “Ok sure.” 

Just then the waitress brought our pancakes, bacon and drinks over.  A colossal triple stack of pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream on top.  The bacon was done just right, nice and crispy and not too greasy.  I wasn’t sure if I could finish all this and then drive all night without getting sleepy.

“Frances, do you seriously eat all this every week?” I said looking at her with bug eyes.

“Yes I have a healthy appetite.”  She giggled and her eyes twinkled.  I fell under her spell again and felt like she was inspecting my soul.  I felt powerless but at the same time I didn’t mind.  

The waitress came over and asked if we needed anything else.  I broke away from Frances to tell her no thank you.  I looked back at her, her face was glowing and she seemed to giggle under her breath.   The sparkle was gone.  I thought maybe I was tired and I was imagining these spells.  I took a sip of black coffee and felt the hot dark fluid as it flowed down into my stomach.  The caffeine immediately perked me up.  We both dug into our pancakes and continued our conversation in between bites.   Finishing the whole plate, these pancakes were heavy, I could feel them like a lead weight in my stomach.  I would probably have to stop somewhere for a nap during my journey.  I didn’t want to leave but it was getting late.  Frances and I really seemed to hit it off.

“Frances, I think I should get going. If you want maybe we can meet up on my trip back up here next week?  And you promised that you would give me the information about your novel so I could check it out.”

“I have to leave now too so that’s fine.  Yes sure that’s sounds fun.  Let me get a pen and paper so I can give you that and my cell number.”

               She gave me the paper with her number and novel info and we walked out together.  I gave her a hug and told her how nice it was to meet her and that I would call her next week.  Then we said our goodbyes and we headed to our respective cars.  Strangely I thought she felt cold to the touch as we hugged.  I sat in my car for a moment thinking about the interesting evening and meeting Frances. Conversation between us was so easy, she was lovely and charming as well.  But the way I fell into trance when she her eyes sparkled concerned me a little.  What was that all about?    I started the car and began to pull out of the parking lot when I noticed Frances on her phone lifting the hood of her car. I drove over, parked, got out and walked over to her. 

“Frances is everything alright?”

“My car won’t start so I called my brother.  He is out of town for the night, so I will get a cab home.  He’ll be back tomorrow and will look at it then.”

“Ok well I can give you a ride if you want?  You said it’s just a few miles away right?

“No but thank you, you have a long drive ahead of you tonight.”

“It’s no bother, I have decided to stop at some point and take a nap.  So please let me give you a ride.”

“Well….. If you’re sure?”

“Absolutely, come on and hop in.”

The drive to her house was a short one. The street she lived was very nice, with tall trees towering over the street on both sides of the road, creating a canopy of sorts blanking out the dark night sky.  Dimly lit street lights illuminated the long wide street ahead of us.  After passing ten to fifteen quaint homes, Frances directed me to pull in front of a cute bungalow.  I pulled in as directed and come to a stop at the curb. 

“I guess this is goodbye again.”  I said.

“Yes, well…. Why don’t you come in and have a cup of coffee?  That should keep you up until you stop to take a nap.  Plus I want to say thank you for getting me home safe.  I have some homemade chocolate cake I made earlier that we can sample if you have room in your stomach!”  She giggled.

“Sure I could use some more coffee and the chocolate cake sounds delicious!” With that I followed her up to the front door.

“Is anyone else home?  You didn’t mention any roommates before.”  

“No my brother is my only roommate, and as I said he is out of town for the night.”

               We went through the front door, and I saw her turn on a small lamp on a side table next to the door.  I turned around to shut the door, when I turned back around Frances was gone.  Where did she go so fast?  I saw a long hallway ahead of me, a closed door to my right.  To my left there was a wide opening and I saw some lights flicker on in there.

“Frances where did you go?”  I said in slightly raised voice.

“I am in the kitchen getting the coffee and cake ready.”  Help yourself into the living room and have a seat, I lit some candles in there.  It’s the room to your left.”  She said.

I went into the living room and waited a moment looking around.  There were two plush burgundy couches with a table in the middle and a fireplace at the end.  Very nice, I thought.   I felt eyes staring at the back of my neck so I turned around.  Frances was there at the doorway smiling at me.  I saw her eyes sparkling again and that same feeling came over me.  I shook my head and snapped out of it.  Then she flashed across the room as fast as a thunderbolt. At the blink of an eye she crashed right into my chest sending me to the floor banging my head and losing consciousness.  

               When I woke on the floor she was straddling me with my arms pinned under her legs.  I was still groggy and my head was pounding.  I saw her lean over and felt her lick my neck, then she inhaled deeply through her nose as she nuzzled near my earlobe. 

“What are you doing Frances……?  You really hurt me, how did you move so fast?”

“Hush you, you smell even better up close than from across the table at the diner.  I don’t know how I contained myself from tasting you this whole time.  And you are the only one who has ever resisted my hypnotic prowess.  All the others for hundreds of years just fell under my spell like cattle.  Not you though……. Hmmm Maybe I will keep you around as a pet, to entertain me.  We’ll see if I have enough self-control tonight.”

“What are you talking about?”  And with that I saw those teeth protruding from her soft lips.  She was grinning and her eyes were ablaze.

“I told you I have a healthy appetite Josh.  The pancakes were just an appetizer, you’re the main course.

With that she leaning into me, I felt her teeth tear into my neck then feverishly sucking and feeding off me.  I tried to resist, I couldn’t move she was too strong.  I tried to scream but no sound came out.  I started feeling cold, oh so cold and lost consciousness….

Author's Note

Hi, Thanks for reading! If you enjoy ‘The Diner’, or have constructive criticism please, please review and rate!

Reviews

[Taylor_McCutcheon]

I liked the twist. I only guessed something wasn't right with her after you mentioned the perfume (I used the same technique in my book I'm writing). there were a few spelling and grammar issues (Read this backwards to find the spelling errors) and the best advice I can give to ANYONE is never use the words "Is" "Was" or "then" unless completely 100% necessary. Re-write sentences that use those words and it'll sound much better :) Dialog could use some fine tuning but the story is a solid base :) Great job.

[nseddy]

Thank you for the comments and advice!

[Taylor_McCutcheon]

no problem

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

Nice surprise at the end, that's definitely a sucky end result! The use of the word trance, in hindsight, was very telling in regards to her eyes. nice story

[nseddy]

Haha thank you! Sucky indeed.