Tale 4 – Overactive Imagination
My parents and I eat at a local diner that we haven’t been to for a while. When we arrive, we see that there are very few people here compared to what it was years ago, which is a shame. While we wait to eat, I notice that it’s taken the waiters about ten minutes to ask us what we want to drink. They haven’t even given us water yet. From our seats, I can see the waiters looking at us and talking to each other. What are they talking about? Why are they looking at us or are they just looking in our direction?
I can hear them talking from here and even though I can’t hear exactly what they’re saying, their tone of voice doesn’t sound good. Maybe the reason why not that many people are here is because of the waiters or maybe it’s just because it’s past dinner time and not that many people are out. This part of town has gotten worse over the years as well so that could also be the reason. Speaking about people looking at us, I could swear that I see shadows outside of the diner looking at us and running away as soon as I look at them. I also see these shadows or people looking at us in the diner. What is going on?
After fifteen minutes of waiting, the waiters finally ask us what we want to drink and eat. My mom goes to the bathroom while we wait. Five minutes pass and it seems like the diner is empty. The waiters are still looking in our direction and periodically talking to each other. A loud noise draws my attention to look outside where I see people near our car. I hope nothing happened to it.
This is all so strange to me. It reminds me of stories of people being set up to be kidnapped in a seemingly normal place. Wait, were those stories fictional or real, or did my imagination make them up? Whatever the case is, I tell my dad that I’m going to the bathroom as an excuse to check on her. I look over to the kitchen and see no one in there. Now that is really strange-wait! I heard my mom scream in the bathroom. The waiters don’t seem to mind as I walk as fast as I can to the women’s bathroom to see my mom walking out of it just fine.
It turns out that she slipped and almost fell because the floors were recently cleaned. Okay, that’s normal I guess but why didn’t anyone here come to see what happened when they heard her scream? When we get back to the table, the food is finally here. I should be more cautious about eating this especially since I didn’t see any cooks in the kitchen and because of the weird behavior of the waiters. Strangely, nothing happens and we get the check to leave not long after finishing and leave the diner.
Mom and dad talk about how the diners we’ve been to have fallen in quality over the years before they start the car. Wait, the car isn’t starting and the waiters are still staring at us through the window! What-oh, never mind. The car is fine. The wheel just had to be moved a bit while starting the car. I have to stop overanalyzing things. This overactive imagination of mine makes me think that the worst things will happen to me because I try to rationalize things that I don’t know about. Wait, why is someone running in front of the car? Were those people behind us always running behind the car?
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