Capítulo 5: The Diner
"She hunts me like the headless reaper, searching aimlessly for what he lost. Oblivious to the mistress' greater purpose"
-Archon Soleim
In a quaint diner nestled in a quiet corner of Porte City, two men sat across from each other in a worn booth. The diner itself had a timeless charm, with worn red vinyl seats and Formica tabletops that bore the scars of countless meals. The air was thick with the comforting aroma of coffee and the sizzle of the grill in the open kitchen.
A middle-aged man, of dark skin tone, wore a dark leather jacket and was accompanied by a younger counterpart with a bruised face, donning a denim jacket adorned with tacky skull designs over his shirt.
"Have you heard about the cage in ward 14?" the middle-aged man initiated.
"There's a cage there?" The young man's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Showed up yesterday, heard it was late afternoon when they discovered it" The middle-aged man awkwardly moves his right hand to reach for his coffee. "You live close there, don't you?"
"Yeah, just a ward away. Shit... I didn't even know about that. Should I tell Pa? I'm worried about those things coming out. Westbrooke's been on edge after all the shit that happened with the cage there."
"It's only been a day, Mark. Nothing's coming out yet."
"How are you so sure, man? I mean, what even are those cages in the first place?"
"Haven't you been to school? That's the first thing they teach you." The old man opened a newspaper as he spoke.
"Uh, well– no." Mark said with a slight sense of shame.
The old man sighed. "Well, folks say it's some kind of pocket dimension a-"
"Uh, wait what's a pocket dimension?" Mark's brows furrowed in confusion
The middle-aged man sighed in disappointment "...It's pointless to even explain this to you, you aren't even understanding anything"
Mark seemed irritated by the comment but brushed it off.
"Just think of it as a room in a house, the house is our world and they can make a room in the house …you following?"
"Sorta"
The middle-aged man glares at him and continues "As I was saying, those things can create these rooms if they're strong enough."
"Strong enough? What do you mean by strong enough?" Mark puts his arm on the table, curious of the information.
"If they eat a lot, they become stronger, then they get private. Don't come out of their room till about a week later. Well, I'm sure you know what happens when they leave their room"
"So, you're telling me some monster's been hanging around ward 14? Eating people? Without anyone noticing?"
"Could be..." The middle-aged man skims through the news as he responds.
"Are you kidding me? Are you telling me the Closers didn't find that son of a bitch?"
"Ward 14 has a cemetery…they don't have to be alive. Just human." The old man nonchalantly flipped the newspaper.
"Wait, so how specifically strong do they have to be to open those cages?"
"I would tell you, but it'd be too complicated for a brat like you"
"Pshh, no" Mark was visibly agitated, his foot tapping impatiently.
"Look kid I'm a busy man, it's about time you tell me about what happened to your face"
"My fa—oh... yeah."
"Go on."
Mark leaned in, voice lowered. "Well, I was mugging someone the other day."
"And?" The middle-aged man's eyes darted to Mark in curiosity
"Some bitch jumped me."
"You lost to 'some girl'?" The middle-aged man was unimpressed, his eyes lowering back to the news.
"She came out of nowhere, it was an ambush. I swung back but the bitch had moves…Shit I didn't even know what happened, I was on the ground before I knew it"
"And so? Where is this 'girl' now?"
"Dunno, that's why I called ya here. Heard ya can find people for me."
"That ain't for free" The middle-aged man sips his coffee
"I know, I know." The young man says annoyed. He then slides a silver card on the table
"Keep the change"
"Hm…say, where did you meet this woman?"
"Two blocks away from here on Giad Street…pay her a visit later with the boys if you know what I mean"
The middle-aged man pauses in reading. He pondered in silence, and a moment later chuckles.
"Let's start with what she looks like."
"Okay, well—"
"May I get your order, sir?"
Suddenly, Elise appeared, with an unusually bright smile painted on her face. Wearing a pink apron over her white collared t-shirt and brown pants.
Mark recoiled in his seat, hitting his head on the diner's window. "Holy shit, that's her!"
For a moment, the middle-aged man glanced in confusion. But, confidently looked away as he recognized the person talking.
"That's the girl who clocked me!"
Elise looked at the two in confusion. "Uh… Was I interrupting something?"
The middle-aged man clutched his right arm and gave a friendly smile. "Morning, Elise. I'll have the regular."
"Ok. Good morning to you too Mr. Jonah" Elise wrote down the man's order. "And what about you, sir?" Her gaze was suddenly shifted towards Mark
At this point, Mark was almost tucked beneath the table, shaking in fear. He gulped his dried saliva as he tried to speak. "You know her?"
"Yeah," the old man replied dryly.
"Fuckkk" Mark said disappointedly, agitated.
"Elise, this is Mark. Heard you beat the shit out of him."
Elise's smile faded away instantly. Noticing this Mark tucked deeper beneath the table.
"Hm…." Elise's sterile gaze deeply focused on the frightened teen, who was trying to use a menu to shield his face. "Oh, yeah, I remember now. He was the one who tried to steal from Sarah"
The middle-aged man chuckled. "I see."
"Anyway, what are you gonna be having today, sir?" Her gaze remained on Mark
Mark looked darted his looks towards the middle-aged man and then towards Elise.
"She's not gonna bite, Mark."
Elise faintly smiled as Mark cautiously looked at her.
A shiver went up his spine as he tried to mutter out his order. "I'll have the... the, uh, kiddie meal special."
Elise writes on her notepad as she speaks "Ok, well the food will be here in about 10 minutes" She smirks faintly at the two and leaves the table. Mark soon dropped his awkwardly tense pose as she walked towards the counter.
In a moment's notice, Mr. Jonah swiftly snatches the silver card on the table.
"Hey! Wh-who said you could take tha-" The young man returns to his seat shouting angrily at Mr. Jonah
"Well I did help you find her" The old man chuckles
Mark shoots Mr. Jonah a withering glare before reluctantly retreating to his seat, frustration etched into every line of his face.
Meanwhile, Elise's attention was drawn to the ongoing argument between the two in the distance, though she couldn't care less about its outcome. She had long been attuned to their conversation, her mind already scheming multiple ways to neutralize the troublesome teenager and his "boys" if they ever did come for her.
At first, she was intrigued by Mr. Jonah's presence, though after observing his awkward movements with his arm and his reluctant stance during the conversation her interest died down; their history was marked by a failed attempt on his part to steal from her.
Several months prior, under the cover of midnight, he had tried to take an emerald necklace near her apartment window. Unbeknownst to him; she stood in the darkness like a sentry waiting for an unfortunate soul to climb into her palace. Inflicting a relentless barrage of blows upon him, until finally hurling him down from the second-story window with an unforgiving force.
In the end, the encounter left him nursing a broken right arm, it was kind of a miracle in itself that he only ended up with that.
Mr. Jonah knew Mark would fail, perhaps he just needed some extra credits for his crippling gambling addiction.
With a flicker of satisfaction at the memory, Elise's focus sharpened on the present
She ripped off the small piece of paper on her notepad and hands it over to a small window into the kitchen "One beef steak and one pancake and one kiddie meal"
"Got it" The chef inside the kitchen reaches for the paper and pins it with the ball bearings on a higher ledge.
"Thanks for the help nak" A plump woman with blue eyes and an olive complexion wearing a worn red apron and the same uniform as Elise came closer with a radiant smile on her face. She had a distinct accent, it was obvious that English wasn't her first language. Elise recognized her immediately, it was the owner of the diner, Mama Anne.
She hailed not from the bustling streets of Porte, but rather from the once-prosperous enclave of Sector 16, a once-vibrant district within the grand city of Vera. In the aftermath of the conflict, the imperial capital of Delvut had fragmented into 16 distinct sectors, each comprising eight cities, a strategic measure intended to disperse population density and fortify military defenses against potential attacks from Geoffria. Yet, this strategy faltered in the face of relentless assaults from the entities, decimating crucial supply lines between sectors and leaving vast swaths of land devoid of sustenance as the harsh grip of winter tightened its grasp.
In the wake of this devastation, the number of sectors were halved, with only eight now remaining. Among them stood Porte, a bastion of commerce within Sector 5, in close proximity to it was the neutral country of Seris, situated in between the Great Ravine.
"Hello ma, how's Rica?"
"As energetic as ever…she almost ruined another wall with those crayons you bought her"
"I'll tell her about that later" A slight annoyance was creeping towards Elise's face as she grabs a moist red cloth hanging on the side of the wall and starts wiping the countertop.
"How about you? How was your work today?"
Elise pauses for a moment. Mouth stitched, unable to mutter words.
"Not that good" she mutters
The radiant smile quickly faded from the woman's face and was instead replaced with a face deeply filled with concern. "Who was it this time?"
"...Helen"
"Ha? Helen..?! My goodness, what about her son?" Mama Anne couldn't help raising her voice, the other customers glanced for a moment due to the commotion.
"Well, the company said he'll get all her insurance money, and they'll move him to a good orphanage" Elise spoke in a much softer tone than usual, in an attempt to divert the customer's attention away from their conversation.
"Hay… diyos ko maryosep" ("My god… Mary, Joseph" ) She sighed in annoyance "You should really stop working as a Closer Elise, how long until you end up like Helen ha?"
Elise's expression was nonchalant, looking aloof she replied "I can't do that, not yet."
"It's been almost 6 months Iha, and you still haven't seen that entity nor found any traces of her" Mama Anne's frustration grew stronger.
"Even so, she might still be out there" Elise wipes off breadcrumbs as she responds
Mama Anne paused before replying
"Do you really think she's alive? Her eyes narrowed
A flicker of doubt sparked in Elise's eyes "I don't– just don't know when to quit I guess" Clenching her hand she continued "I won't stop until I find her or if…" She visibly stopped herself from saying more
"Anyway, tell Rica that I said hi and that she should use the coloring I gave her instead of coloring the walls"
Elise starts wiping the countertop in silence. Mama Anne watched in silence with a solemn face.
Suddenly, she starts to rub Elise's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.
"...."
Elise silently stares down at the table and tries to clean the rest of the mess.
"Are you doing okay? Elise?"
"Yeah. why?"
"Doesn't seem like it"
Elise blankly stares back "You don't need to worry about me ma, I'm fine"
In a sudden burst of anger, Mama Anne pulls Elise's ear and she winces in pain "ow~"
"Hay nakakainis kang bata ka, " ("You're such an annoying little brat")
Mama Anne walks away and starts aggressively mopping the floor nearby.
"You really remind me of myself before, stubborn and stupid" She pauses for a moment "~ doesn't know when to quit."
Elise frowns at her statement but continues to wipe
"But, I get where you're coming from, if Rica ever…" Mama Anne blankly stared at the diner's wall
"Hay I should stop thinking negatively all this stress can make you look older"
Suddenly, In a nearby corner, a child's clumsy hand knocked over a glass, sending water cascading off the table. But before the liquid could meet the floor, a strange stillness worked in the water's matter. The liquid hung suspended in mid-air, defying gravity's pull, much to the astonishment of the father who watched in disbelief.
Meanwhile, the child, unfazed by the unusual spectacle, leaned forward with wide-eyed wonder, his curiosity piqued by this unexpected turn of events. His excitement bubbled over as he reached out to touch the hovering water, eager to explore this mysterious phenomenon.
Across the room, Mama Anne's gaze flickered with a subtle intensity as her blue eyes shimmered with an otherworldly glow. With a graceful gesture, she guided invisible threads of energy, placing the water back into its rightful place, the liquid obediently returning to the safety of its glass upon the table.
Elise looks in astonishment as she speaks "My shift is almost over, May will come soon"
"Thanks for the help Iha, don't forget to take care of yourself"
Elise hung her apron on the wall and coldly responded
"Okay."
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
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Goose_ Hay..Diyos ko maryosep
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