Chapter 4: Episode 4: Chinese Hush Hush
When closing time finally came, I raced out of that cramped shop with my haul of blasphemous books to Joshua's parent's restaurant; The Dragons Den. I was famished and I pitied the poor soul who would dare come between me and my favorite dish, Crab Rangoon. The restaurant wasn't too far from the bookstore and was always busy, even in the winter months, but I never had to wait for a table. Having awesome friends had plenty of perks.
As I rounded the corner, I was hit by the beauty of the restaurant. No matter how many times I saw it my breath would still fade away. It was built in the traditional style. A vibrant red and green roof with a red exterior and so many hand-crafted lanterns. It was surrounded by a stone wall that had intricate statues and designs that seemed almost magical. Even the entrance gave a pause of wonderment. Furthermore, there was a simple bridge over a yin-yang koi pond that guided you to the elegantly crafted double wooden doors.
'I could stare at this building all day, and never be bored.'
I politely shuffled past the waiting crowd towards the check in counter. I got a sizable number of eye rolls since this wasn't my first time using my "family" benefits. The bubbly hostess smiled, instantly recognizing me.
"Hey, Angel Face. Are you here to eat with Josh and Kris?"
"You guessed it. By the way, did you ever find out about the promotion?" I eagerly asked. She smiled even wider, her light brown eyes sparkling with excitement, and pulled forward the part of her shirt with the name tag.
'Holly Guthrow, Lead Hostess.'
I squealed in delight.
"I'm so happy for you! You always work so hard," I gushed, making Holly blush with happiness, trying to hide behind her blond hair.
"Thanks, your mock interviews really helped out,” Holly thanked. “Anyways, Kris and Josh are in the back private booth areas per usual. Hurry and get some food. You probably forgot to eat again today."
"Hey, I actually did better than normal. I got soup at Kris' Comfort Café this afternoon," I laughed as I walked towards the back. The delightful aromas and gentle hum of conversations filled the air as I danced around the tables in the softly lit restaurant. The closer to the back I got the more spaced out the tables became slowly giving way to private booths with closable curtains. I passed a few closed sections with muted angry words and a few with happy chatter. The thick fabric offered quite a bit of privacy, if I couldn't make out the words while walking by. I eventually ended up at the farthest booth whose curtains weren't quite closed and offered a pleasant view of Kris and Josh laughing.
"Hey, guys. I hope I didn't make you wait too long with the locking up of the bookstore," I greeted as I slipped into the booth, closing the curtains behind me.
"Not at all, we took a bit longer than usual as well. I had to finish training a new night cook," Josh smiled, his honey colored eyes greeting me warmly as I put down my bag and sat down in the spacious booth. "We did manage to order already. I hope you don't mind; I chose some food for you."
"Not at all. I loved your soup. I'm sure I'll love whatever you ordered from your family for me," I shook my head smiling back.
"Oh, yes. Kris was telling me you ordered my new soup. Do you think it needs anything or is it a good addition to the menu?" Josh eagerly inquired, his thin body anxious under his slightly stained chef shirt.
"It's perfect. Don't second guess yourself. You're a great cook, just like your mom-"
"Is someone chatting about me?" A little old Asian woman bellowed as she entered the booth; her hands carrying a tray of tea.
"I was saying your son is a wonderful cook like his mom and should stop second guessing himself," I smiled as Josh's mother handed out teacups.
"You should listen to your friend, Joshua,” she lightly scolded. “Our family has perfected the art of cooking since the Ming Dynasty. You carry our lessons and our honor. Do I need to bring your father out here to talk to you?”
“Why is Bàba here? He should still be relaxing after his heart attack,” Josh exclaimed.
“We live behind the restaurant. You can’t expect me to keep him away from here. Don’t worry, he’s not cooking, just observing and giving your brother a hard time in the kitchen,” Josh’s mother sighed. “Also, I found some lovely groomsmen magazines-"
"Ma!" Joshua exclaimed, badly blushing.
"What? Kris is a nice man. Good for my son. Settle down and adopt some grandbabies for me or have your friend Angel be a surrogate. I'm not getting any younger. Your older siblings already have children," Josh's mother scolded while pouring all of us tea. The three of us were all beat red and didn't know how to react to Josh's mother.
"Food will be ready soon. Enjoy the tea," Josh's mother stated, leaving us to our thoughts.
"Angel, Kris, I'm sorry about my mom-"
"It's fine, babe. I'm glad your mother approves of us. We have it a lot better than most same sex couples," Kris smiled, kissing Josh's cheek.
"It's actually kind of funny she'd want me to be y'all's surrogate. I thought for sure she'd try to find you a nice Asian lady for her grandbabies," I joked while sipping my tea.
"How about we just get off this topic… Anything new happening at your work, Angel?" Josh asked, trying to ignore everything that had just happened. I sipped my tea thinking.
'Should I tell them about the books? It really wasn't theft… Was it?'
"Well, we did get a new shipment of books in-" I started but was cut off by Kris.
"We don't need to know every time that old bat buys a bible."
"It wasn't just bibles-" I tried to explain.
"Oh, yeah, fiction to make ends meet," Kris rolled his eyes.
"Kris, let Angel talk," Josh scolded. Kris sighed and focused on his tea, allowing me the time to talk.
"As I was saying, Mrs. Hartford ordered a new batch of books, but it wasn't from her usual sellers. It was from a liquidation warehouse, and they ended up giving us two books that weren't on the shipment list," I begin explaining.
"The old bat makes a big profit from liquidation products and even bigger with two accidental additions. Is she not going to pay for them or something?" Kris questioned, confused.
"I haven't told her about the two books. I'm sure they will send her to the grave, and I need my job. Plus, I took them as reimbursement for shorting over half of my check. She’s lucky I live well below my means, and I have dirt cheap rent thanks to the two of you vouching for me with the landlord," I explained, grabbing my bag. “Can’t believe he thought I was a tourist trying to get a place to hold for the summer. I’ve only lived here my whole life…”
"Angel, do you realize the trouble you could get in? That's still theft if she claims it," Kris coughed, choking on his tea.
"There's no cameras and she would never admit they were hers." I shook my head as I opened my bag.
"Why not? They're not smut, are they?" Josh inquired, trying to peer into my bag.
"No, even better." I smirked, pulling out the books. "They're about Witchcraft and Paganism." I set the books down in front of the stunned faces of Josh and Kris. Kris unconsciously reached for his odd hammer necklace as Josh reached for a tattoo I could never fully see. All I could make out was the top of a symbol on the back of his neck under his long black hair.
"Angel, I think it would be best if you put those up. We live in a small town. People like to talk, and it took years and a few LGBTQIA+ conventions renting out the beach before the town stopped talking bad about Kris and me," Josh recommended as he worriedly pushed my books back towards my bag.
"It's not a big deal. I mistook them for Christian books when I first saw them-" I smiled, confused at their reactions.
"Angel, please. You don't know what you're messing with," Kris begged, cutting me off. I grabbed the books and stuffed them back in my bag, a bit off-put. Kris and Josh were always the type to go against the grain.
'Why does this worry them and why did they reach for a tattoo and a necklace when I showed them?'
I was about to question them when the food came to us carried by Josh's pregnant sister. I held my tongue. I knew how quickly a pregnant woman's moods could change with the wrong subject or word. There would be time to talk over the weekend. Kris, Josh, and I were next door neighbors.
The rest of the night was filled with food; from crispy Egg Rolls and fresh Crab Rangoon appetizers to saucy, noodle-filled entrees; to Green Tea desserts and after-dinner Oolong. We even stayed after the restaurant closed to help with the clean up before heading home to sleep off the feast. My questions about our earlier conversation could wait for the morning.
Chapter 5: Episode 5: Bookish Dreams
Soft satin sheets… A welcoming pillow. The exhaustion and anxiety of the day slowly faded away, easing my tense muscles. Sleep then maybe dreams. Nightmares and Theme Parks…
The sun was shining brightly on the horror theme park but offered no heat against the chilly wind. The screams from the rides were thrilling and the food smelled heavenly. There was so much to do, but I didn't know what I wanted to go for first. I walked around happily when I spotted an abandoned haunted house in the park. No one was walking over to it, but its vintage looks, and steampunk style lured me in. A nagging feeling warned that something was wrong, but this was too tempting of an attraction to bypass. I had to check it out.
Ignoring that inner voice, I raced through the strangely empty line dividers toward the large double door entrance. Bolting through the heavy doors into the darkness, I was stopped in my tracks as the sudden change in light left me blind.
A soft clicking told me the doors behind had shut themselves, but I could only see darkness and sunspots. Rubbing my eyes to hurry the transition to sight, I mumbled a few choice words for the annoyance. Slowly, I adjusted, and a scene was revealed before me. I discovered the ticket booth was empty, but it had a cracked and faded sign hanging on the glass.
“Gone on break. Return whenever. Leave your ticket here or not. Not like I care.”
'Seems this park still believes in an honor system or doesn’t care enough if the request is ignored.'
Rummaging through my pockets, unwilling to break the rules, I found and pulled out a golden ticket that had a lone star on it. I wasn’t sure where or when I had gotten the ticket, but I didn’t really care. Tossing the ticket into the booth, I heard a small click as the attraction magically came to life. The internal lights gave an eerie glow as mechanical voices whispered recorded warnings, setting my heart a flutter. I eagerly raced into the haunted house, following the dimly lit path.
'With the steampunk theme, I can’t wait to see what animatronics they have.'
The path began to narrow and twist as an uneasy feeling washed over me.
'Something is here, watching me…'
What was watching me? I couldn’t tell, but it didn’t feel welcoming. My pace quickened, but the path grew no shorter. The dim lights started flickering in time with my pounding heart. Shadows grew and moved with every flash. Then a faint growling reached my ears and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as the world felt less dream-like, but still not entirely real.
'It’s not human and I think… Am I dreaming–? I don’t have time to figure it out. I need to just find a safe spot and then I can test my theories.'
Bolting down the path, I looked for a way to escape; a door, a staircase, an emergency exit, anything. All around me were blank walls, nothing I could use to get away.
'No, there has to be something. Maybe a vent or a broom closet. Something!'
Glancing up as I ran, praying to find a vent, I only found disappointment and distraction that caused me to barrel face first into a solid door and slam my back into the ground from the force.
“Fuck!”
Ignoring my heavily bleeding nose, I pulled myself to my frantic feet as the growling grew closer. Tossing open the door, praying for an escape, I found a dead end with three mirrors, but the mirrors were wrong. I saw three versions of myself. One child version, myself, and one of what I might look like as an old woman.
A sharp barking caused me to turn around, bringing me face-to-face with a giant black dog only a few feet from me, its golden collar bearing an ankh as its only inscription.
'This has to be a dream. Oh, please be a dream.'
“Whoa boy. Take it easy,” I sputtered. Its growls intensified as its red-corn eyes glowered at me.
'Please, wake up. Wake up. WAKE UP!'
The beast's growls silenced for a moment as it cocked its head in interest.
'Can it hear my thoughts? How screwed am I, right now? How scared should I reasonably be?'
The growls returned and intensified as an answer to my internal turmoil.
“You don’t want me here and I don’t want to be here,” I pleaded, trying to avoid the worst. “Okay. We can figure something out. A truce or something. Just relax–”
It lunged and, instinctively, I put my hands in front of me. A bright flash of light filled the hallway and a loud bang slammed against my ears.
…
Gasping and sweating, I could hear the heavy rain pounding against my windows as I stood alone in the dark bathroom. Looking around, I found the mirror behind me and the bathroom door ajar with blood on its old panels. A hot wetness and the smell of iron told me of my injured nose.
'Was I sleepwalking? I haven’t done that since I was little…'
A heavy weight pulled my eyes to my hands. The black cover of my stolen book was a stark contrast to my white knuckled grip. A faint growling echoed in my mind as I traced the ankh with my eyes. I could almost swear the gold was sparking in the low-light–
'No. That’s complete nonsense. It’s just the lightning outside and the darkness playing tricks on your eyes. Just take a deep breath. The theft is weighing on you. When the rest of the check comes in, just slip money in the till and make it right. You’ll feel better then.'
Taking a deep breath, I placed the book on the bathroom counter and headed back to bed.
'I have the day off tomorrow, so I can clean everything up in the morning.'
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