It was a mundane, quaint day at work. Even for a Tuesday, traffic seemed to be slower than usual. The trees slightly swayed outside of the restaurant as the occasional car or biker passed the long asphalt road that stretched across either side of The Slice of Peace-the very establishment where Tyler sat behind the register, fidgeting with a plastic straw, waiting for someone to come through the door and free him of this drag of boredom. Not a single customer had shown up in the past five hours of his shift.
As if to answer, one of Tyler’s coworkers, Hank, walked out from the other side and sat down across from Tyler, with only a box of fries in his hands as he munched away, relaxing for a moment and began to gaze through the same windows that Tyler had been doing for the past hour and a half. Tyler looked over at Hank, noticing beads of sweat lying still on his forehead, a quiet indicator of a busy day on the other side of the restaurant.
“How goes things over there?” Tyler asked, watching his coworker continue to munch on fries. He could have had more to eat, but it’s clear he was in desperate need of a quick burst of fuel.
“It’s busy. Violet’s out sick today and I have no idea where the hell Jonsey is, so I’ve had to deal with all the customers single-handedly. One of them got way too close to the Vita and started remembering everything, so I had to convince him he was saying nonsense and got him to leave. We’re having too many close calls, Ty,” Hank explained, nearly finished with the box of fries.
“Don’t even get me started. I’ve had four different people start remembering in the past week alone. And Shirley isn’t going to do anything about it, because she thinks we’re giving her bullshit. It’s really annoying,” Tyler said angrily, now standing up because of the recollection.
Tyler had mixed opinions about his boss. Shirley Quinten wasn’t the kindest or most caring person ever, but that wasn’t the problem Tyler had with her. His problem with her stemmed from her irritating tendency to assume her employees were childish pranksters. Sure, they were the right age to be easily accused of shenanigans, but with the task they’ve been tasked with? Tyler would have hoped she’d have a little more faith. But nope. She treats them all the way she’d treat any 25-year-old she met on the street. It didn’t help that Jonesy fed into the stereotype way too much, skipping work every other day, and being one of the most disrespectful people when it came to costumes and coworkers alike.
The sound of the door chime pulled Tyler from his thoughts, as he stood up and Hank immediately rushed for the door to the other side of the restaurant. But to the relief of both of the men, it was simply their coworker Opal, who walked into the room as if she hadn’t been four hours late to her shift.
“Relax, Hank, it’s just me. Though you know you shouldn’t be on this side of the restaurant during work hours,” Opal said, chuckling at how clumsily Hank had rushed for the door.
“Can you really blame me if I needed a break from the busyness over there? And it’s not like I was over here for long,” Hank said in his defense, sitting back down in the chair, but making sure he was within good reach of the door, just in case someone happened to stroll by.
“So, what had you so held up you arrived to work four hours late? I’m absolutely DYING to know,” Tyler said, leaning against the counter and slightly grinning-waiting to hear Opal’s excuse.
Out of all his coworkers, Opal was the one he got along with the best. They were essentially work siblings-helping each other out whenever needed, and keeping each other entertained when a customer wasn’t at the register. Of course, as with any kind of sibling, there also came the need to point out each and every flaw of the other.
“Okay, Tyler, if you MUST know, I was helping Shirley get things ready for the new recruit. His files, uniform, stuff like that.” Opal responded, walking over to her locker to relieve herself of her items.
“A new recruit? What poor soul did Shirley bring to suffer her wrath?” Tyler joked. Opal gave him a gentle shove of his shoulder in response.
“She takes her job seriously, and you know that. And it’s not like you’ll be seeing the recruit much during work hours-he’s from the other side,” Opal said, locking her locker.
“I’ll bet you anything she’s hiring because of how much Jonesy is slacking,” Hank chimed in, leaning back in his chair, clearly still sour about Jonsey’s absence. “He’s been about as useful as a two handled spoon ever since he started working here.”
“He’s really that bad huh?” Tyler asked, to which Hank gave a disappointed nod. “So I’m assuming the new guy’s gonna be put to work tomorrow?”
“Yeah, but Shirley wants to get his induction done today, and she’s decided to have you give him the rundown,” Opal explained, now leaning back on the counter next to Tyler.
“Wait-me? Wow. I guess it is my time to run an induction, huh?” Tyler said in shock.
And induction wasn’t really as regal as it sounded-it was simply the newest worker being given a tour of the diner and all its workings by the worker before them. It had been so long since a new recruit was brought in, however, and Tyler nearly forgot he was technically the “newest” worker-other than this recruit.
“In fact, I’m pretty sure she wants you to get that done whenever the other side closes down. It’s why she had the human side of the shop closed for the day,” Opal told Tyler.
Tyler turned to her in shock. “Wait-the shop’s been closed all day?”
Opal chuckled, thinking he was joking. She then began laughing harder when she realized he was not. “Are you serious? You haven’t noticed that there hasn’t been a single customer? You didn’t notice the sign was out?”
In response, Tyler looked at the door, and lo and behold, the sign, which read “open” in bright orange lights, was out, indicating a closed shop and Tyler’s fallacy to being sure the sign was on.
“Look, I was tired and I didn’t get an email from Shirley saying the shop was closed! And if it’s not open, why are you here?” Tyler asked frantically, clearly still shocked about the revelation.
“Oh my god, I’m here to tidy up for tomorrow! I can’t believe you actually sat here for five hours and didn’t notice we were closed! Ah, you’re something else, Ty,” Opal said, a tear of laughter rolling down her face at Tyler’s predicament.
“Y’all suck. I’m gonna go over and talk to the recruit. It’s about that time,” Tyler chuckled, getting up and walking to the door.
It had been so long since his own induction, when he got his first look at the other side of the restaurant. Seeing everything on the other side had changed him so much-it was where he first got the sudden realization that everything wasn’t as it seems. He remembered seeing Jonsey for the first time and losing his mind. Now, he was about to give the same effect to the person on the other side of the restaurant.
“Alrighty then, I’ll leave you to that. Good luck man!” Hank exclaimed, walking past Tyler and through the door to the other side, leaving Tyler and Opal on their side of the restaurant.
Tyler grabbed the doorknob, mentally preparing himself for the whole spiel that Shirley made all them memorize for the inductions. He looked back at Opal, who gave him a reaffirming nod. And with that, Tyler swung the door open and walked through to enter the other side of the restaurant and take his next set of steps into the weird, hellish landscape that was the demon world.