Thinner

OKAY Friends
I wrote a short story and would love your input. I plan to enter it into a contest. This is the first of my own work I have shared on this blog.

“Thinner”

By Erika Hayes

     The restaurant was buzzing with activity. Reese Waller found a strange comfort in the white noise. This was how she worked. The busyness allowed her to focus on the task at hand. Wrapping a clean napkin around her iced tea, she put the familiar green straw to her lips and took in the much needed caffeine. Sitting at her favorite booth, she prayed for the words to come.  But her slender fingers remained idle. The cursor on her computer screen was stuck. “This article isn’t gonna write itself,” she mumbled softly. She moved her hand across her forehead, leaned her head back. Sighed deeply and closed her soft brown eyes.  

A crash in the kitchen gave her a shock and the adrenaline pumped as she instinctively lifted her hands over her chest and face.  Looking around for the source of the sound, she caught the glimpse of an inexplicable shadow move across the floor. The hair on her arm stood rigid. A shiver slithered down her spine.  Reese moved her hands over her bare arms rapidly in an attempt to tame the chill that was spreading.

“What the hell was that?”

“Oh, new guy in the kitchen.” Reese’s server and best friend Danika Mitchell perky voice chimed as she walked past carrying a full tray of meals to deliver. Danika paused, turned and added, “He’s kind of a butterfingers, but cute as hell.” Lifting her brows she smiled at her friend “And that’s always a bonus.” 

“No—not the glass, the…the—did you see that…”  Shaking her head, Reese paused and considered her words “Never mind, I just thought I saw something.”

“You want more tea?”

“No, thanks.” Reese looked back to her keyboard, “Oh but hey, if you have an idea how to write this article, I will take one of those.”

“Nope. All out of those, we 86ed ‘em just before you got here.” Both girls laughed as Danika walked way.

Reese’s eyes followed her short spunky friend as she moved with ease to a table to take their order.  Reese noticed the teenaged girl at the table was not smiling along with her family. She sat very still twisting her fine dull brown hair. Then she flashed a quick false smile as Danika placed the small salad on the table in front of her.

 Reese turned her attention to her computer again. She absent-mindedly massaged her shoulder. The cursor mocked her, unmoving blinking in anticipation of inspiration.  She Picked up her iced tea, she gave herself a feeble internal pep talk. I know I can do this.   She tapped her fingers on the table. She stared at the empty booth in front of her.  She shuffled the “Starve Fat Cells Diet” research that presented an adequate distraction.  Damnit, I’m never gonna make my deadline—I just can’t think straight. Reese thought and resolved that writing in the restaurant tonight was futile.  She reached for her blue ombrѐ computer bag and began packing up. 

Danika plopped into the vacant seat, her long blonde ponytail still swinging. “You heading home?”

“Yeah, I’m never gonna get this artic--” A shock of terror moved across her face. The shadow she had seen before paused in the doorway then slithered across the room. Reese tracked the movement, “What the…” her voice was hoarse and her eyes transfixed.

“Reesie—you okay?”

Reese sat frozen.  Her focus was on the table with the young teen picking slowly around her salad.

“Reese, Reese what’s up?” Danika craned her neck to scan the room and try to pinpoint what had captured her friends’ attention. “What are you looking at?”

A small gasp escaped from Reese when for a moment the grey shadow took form above the girl and then disappeared. Looking back and forth from Danika’s round questioning blue eyes to the place where the creature had appeared, “I, uh, Danika did you see that?”

Dumbfounded, Danika searched again, “What? See what?” Her brows knit together. She reached across the table and took her friends frail hand, “Reesie, you okay?”

 Reese blinked her eyes and  looked to her friend. “Uh, yeah I think my imagination is in full gear,” she laughed and lifted her tea and swirled it around. She titled her glass in Danika’s direction. “Maybe a little too much caffeine.”

Danika raised her eyebrows and nodded, “Yeah that must be it.” 

Reese shook her head and shifted in the booth. Then she scanned the restaurant from wall to wall. “I changed my mind.” A small bead of sweat trickled down her back. “I think I will stay here—if you don’t need the table.” She drew her eyes to meet Danika’s “What time are you off work?”

“I still got a couple hours. Why don’t I get you something to eat? It’s on the house.”

“No, I’m not hungry.”

“Reese, you’re never hungry. When did you eat last?” Danika tossed a crayon-covered menu on the table “I think you are starting to hallucinate.”

“Dan-Dan, we are not going here again. I just need to drop a little weight before my sister’s wedding.”

“I hate that you do this.” Danika let out a deep sigh “Just frickin’ eat. Okay!”

“Shut-up, MOM!” Reese knew how to stop Danika from nagging her. “I had this delicious passion fruit iced-tea for dinner.”

“Yeah, whatever—but did you put sugar in it or that stupid pink crap?”

“Don’t you have a table to wipe down somewhere?”

Danika drew her hands to her chest put an exaggerated look on her face. “Bitch.” Then she smiled, turned and bounced away.

“Right back at ya!” Reese paused until Danika was several steps away and called out, “LOVE YOU!”

Reese glanced over the room again. She felt her heart pushing against her chest when she spotted the young teen pushing the lettuce around her plate. The girl tugged at the bottom of her lip then slowly lifted a small piece of the lettuce to her mouth and paused. The shadow materialized again just above the girl. Reese threw her hands over her mouth to muffle a scream as the beast loomed over the young thin girl.  The long dark hollow-faced creature turned its crimson red eyes on Reese and revealed several inches of fangs oozing with black fluid.  The thick liquid oozed through the fangs over fat lips and fell on the table near the  girl’s small house salad.  The monster hissed at Reese, and flicked its serpentine black tongue. Then it returned its attention to the young girl.

As the teen’s fork came to her mouth, a drop of ooze fell from the mouth of the beast onto the fork.  The girl’s nose crinkled and she contorted her face in disgust after she forced the small tainted lettuce into her mouth. She pulled her head back and returned her fork to her plate as she choked down her food. A hideous guttural laugh echoed. Reese’s eyes darted all over the restaurant checking the faces of each patron. What the hell is wrong with me? Why did she eat that? Can’t she see it’s covered with something? Am I the only person that sees what the hell is happening?   Evident that no one else had heard the laughter nor seen the hideous creature, Reese bit her lower lip and looked down at her shaking hands.

“What’s up with you tonight?” Danika’s voice pulled Reese back into reality “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

“Uh—I,” color slowly returned to her cheeks “I’m imagining things again, I guess.  You know how it is for us writers.” She flashed a quick smile and looked back to her keyboard. “We start thinking and the next thing you know we…” she swallowed, “we get lost in our own little world.”

“Okay if you say so. You sure I can’t interest you in a salad or some—“

“Oh god NO!” She frowned, “I do not want a salad.”

“Okay, Okay calm yourself.” Donning a sarcastic smile, “Don’t you have a deadline to meet?”

“Bitch.”

“Right back attcha, baby.” As she walked away Danika reached behind her back and flipped her best friend a single digit “I love you too!”  Reese could see Danika laugh as she smiled and introduced herself to the newly seated customers.

Reese reached into her handbag and took out a pair of electric blue headphones. After she plugged the metal into her computer, Reese lowered her head, flipped her thin dull brown hair, and placed the ear bud into her ear. NOW Focus she commanded herself.

Resolved that her hunger pangs were what had caused her to imagine things she tried to focus on her article.   She reread what she had.  All she had managed to assemble was a completely incoherent jumble of words. She rapidly pressed the delete button and watched as the letters disappeared rapidly backwards. When she reached for her almost empty glass, her stomach growled. “Damn, size zero.” Reese muttered as she recalled the phone call with the dress shop, “Why the hell didn’t I tell her I was a size two?”

 Danika slid a plate with several saltines onto the table. “Just humor me.”

“Whatever, you’re a real nag you know it!” Reese shoved a cracker into her mouth as her friend watched. A look of disgust crossed her face, “Oh god, these are gross!” She spit the partially chewed cracker into a clean white napkin, “What the hell did you put on these things?”

Danika reached down, broke a piece of one of the crackers off and popped it into her mouth, “Mmm, they are fine.” She ate the remaining piece of the cracker and slid into the booth opposite her friend “Seriously, when did you eat last?  I think your taste buds are broken from lack of use.” 

“I’m fine Dan-Dan” she lied “I ate earlier today. I just gotta drop a few more pounds.”

“Girl you have been saying that for fifteen years.” Shaking her head, Danika stood “You are too skinny already.” Danika reached down and patted Reese’s flat midsection “Damn there is like zero fat there girl. EAT already.”

Reese gawked at her friend, her cheeks burned.  “What the hell is wrong with you?” her voice broke. Quickly she gathered herself and nervously checked the other patrons had seen what her friend had done. Trying to alter her voice she joked, “Don’t ever grab my fat like that again, jerk.”

“Okay, okay sorry.” Danika lifted her hands in surrender. “Take it easy skinny Minnie. But as soon as this stupid wedding is over I am taking you out for a steak dinner and you’re going to eat it all. Got it?”

Reese fought the gag reflex at the thought of eating a steak. “Anything to get you off my back.”  

“Your bony back.” Danika’s voice softened with concern. “Reesie, you have lost too much weight, you really are starting…,” Danika sighed and swatted at an invisible pest. “You are starting to worry me is all. I think maybe, never mind, just promise me you will eat something.”

“I told you, I had something earlier. I’m fine. I know what I’m doing.” Her eyes swept the room again as she checked for the shadow, “It’s research.”   

Danika shook her head. “Yeah, research for what?” She wrapped her arms around herself. “How to starve to death?”  She sighed heavily. “A by-line isn’t worth it. I don’t care if it is a national magazine.”  Danika rolled her eyes, pushed the plate of crackers at her friend, and walked away from the table.

 Reese looked at the crackers and felt her stomach pull. Her mouth watered unmercifully as she considered eating one of the crackers.  Oh, one won’t kill me. She shoved a cracker into her mouth.  A vulgar metallic taste assaulted her tongue. Her eyes widened as she looked down and black ooze had puddled near the napkin.  Pulling the cracker from her mouth, she tossed the remaining piece onto the plate and watched in horror as the ink-colored fluid pooled on the plate.

 An eerie hiss cut through the white noise that had minutes before been her comfort.  Spitting and coughing, Reese desperately searched the room for any indication that someone else heard or saw what she was seeing. Cupping her elbows tight in her hands, she retreated into herself. The skin on her arms pricked at the sense of something unnatural passed through her.

The muscles in Reese’s back gripped her spine. Closing her eyes, she attempted to calm her rapid breathing. She inhaled deeply and held her breath, then slowly released as a quiver of icy fear ran through her. The presence of her oppressor materialized above her. Oh, God what is happening to me?   

“You know me Reese.” Its familiar cruel voice licked her ear. Cold hard talons gripped her shoulders as Reese clung tighter to her midsection. Unable to speak she sat rigid. The creature’s shrill evil laugh encased her. “You and I have work to do.” It hissed.

 Reese shuddered and pushed away the plate of crackers.

Her shoulders sagged. She couldn’t resist the creatures hold.  Reese set her hands on the keyboard. Fingers shaking, she and tapped out the whispered lies the creature spoke,

“Thin is In: Drop Ten Pounds in Ten Days.”

          By: Reese Waller