"I don't know why you insist on coming here, Chell," Mel complained, glancing around the diner nervously. "There's so many sketchy looking people here…"
Chell gave her friend a shrug as she took a sip from her mug of coffee. Most of the folks who came into the small town of Crystal Downs, Michigan, were outlaws, runaways, and the like. There weren't any other towns for miles, and they all wandered in hungry, tired, and injured. The doctor fixed them up, and didn't tend to ask where they came from or anything about their background. The town simply took them in. Chell herself had been very grateful for this when she arrived in town with bullet wounds, numerous bad bruises, bad burns, a very sore throat from disuse, and possibly a very minor case of serious brain damage. After fixing her physical wounds, the doctor, Susan Delaine, took Chell into her home and helped her regain her normal speech—though not speaking was still a habit of hers. Chell helped the two in the C.D. Hospital in return for her housing. While she was recovering, Mel Delaine, the doctor's daughter, and Chell became fast friends, despite their polar differences. Dr. Delaine's no-nonsense demeanor was very comforting to Chell, and Mel's girly-girl attitude was as different from Chell's as it could be, but they all got along fine.
"No, really," Mel muttered. "Some of the guys here look like they'd murder someone in cold blood. And some of them might've!" She leaned over the table and looked Chell in the eyes. "You've got your coffee. Can we go home now?" She whispered the last part, as though afraid the men might hear and try to stop them.
After a silent stare down, Chell broke away. She downed her espresso and, leaving a few dollars on the table to pay for it, stood up to leave. As she and Mel headed for the door, a small strangled ding-dong came from the bell attached of the door of the diner.
As the door opened, Mel took one look at the people behind it and groaned. "Oh, great. These guys look weirder than the sketchy guys." The people did look a bit odd. Their clothes were pure white and weren't very dirty. With no other town for miles, and no good way to wash clothes in C.D., it was nearly impossible for anyone's clothes to stay that clean, especially if they'd walked from wherever they'd come from. There were about eight of them, all walking in pairs like a small army. They sat down at the tables nearest to the door, as though making sure they had an escape route. They looked around the diner nervously, as though expecting an ambush.
As new people appeared in town about twice a week, however, no one made any move to go over, friendly intentions or no. Even Mel started pulling her towards the door again, strangers forgotten. Determined to set an example, Chell shrugged her off and walked towards the new people to introduce herself. With an exasperated glance towards her retreating figure, Mel left for the hospital.
When Chell reached a table, the man closest to her looked up at her, green eyes flashing. "Oh," he grinned, tipping his hat to her, "hello, pretty lady. What're you doing in a crummy place like this, hm?" He jabbed the man sitting next to him in the side. The man put down the book he had been reading and glared at him in annoyance. "Check this out, four-eyes. Some lady hanging out in a pub." The first man winked at her. "My kind of girl. D'ya like explosions?"
As Chell glared at him in disgust, the second man rolled his eyes. "Oh, please," he said, his voice clipped and proper. "It is a well known fact that no girl will ever like you."
The flirtious look the green-eyed man had been giving her vanished as he gave the second man a tight frown. "Well, they might if you'd just shut up with all of your stupid 'facts'!" As the two men began arguing, Chell, feeling uncomfortable, moved to the next table.
Sitting there were two people in clothes identical to the first two, but the woman was wearing a purple heart-shaped necklace, and the man had a red broche n the shape of a flame. They were sitting in silence, their faces only dimly lit by the flickering light hanging above the table. Feeling as though she was intruding, Chell cleared her throat. The woman looked up and smiled. "Hello!" she said in a voice so soft, it was barely audible. "Do you live here?" Chell nodded, instantly at ease with this woman. "Excellent! We're a bit lost. We were kicked out of our home, and, according to one of our company, the first thing we had to do was find a certain person so she could help us. So we let him lead the way, but—"
The woman was cut off as her partner stood up abruptly. "—but he was such a moron that he got us all lost!" the man yelled loudly. His eyes were bloodshot, making them look red. He continued shouting. "He's always been a moron, but this is just ridiculous!" The man scowled as he sat back down, but he visibly calmed as the woman put a hand on his shoulder. Chell looked around to see who had heard his outburst, but no one seemed to have heard him over the general hubbub of the diner, and all of his companions seemed used to his temper. Remembering Chell, the woman shot her an apologetic look before whispering soothingly into the man's ear. Chell nervously edged around the man, and moved on.
She saw one man with light blue eyes asking a waiter if they served cake. She chuckled, remembering how she had asked the very same thing when she first entered the diner. She left him to it, and glanced at the last table. A boy and a girl, both looking to be about 16, were looking around the diner with obvious interest. When the girl, who wore an orange necklace, spotted Chell, she poked her companion in the shoulder and pointed to her. They both gave her large grins, and Chell felt herself smile back. They waved her over, and she sat down across from them.
"Hi! Who are you? Do you live here? Where are we?" the girl asked, instantly firing off one question after another. Without a breath, and not letting Chell answer, she continued. "Why are all these people dirty? Are they bad people? Is the food good here? Do they have cake? Oh, oh, can I have some? Will we be able to see the stars tonight?" The last question was the only one Chell caught—she smiled and nodded. The girl squealed and poked the boy's shoulder again. "Did you hear that?" She grinned at him. "We'll be able to see space! Isn't that great?"
"Space?!" The boy looked at Chell for confirmation. The enthusiasm in his voice was hard to resist. She laughed and nodded again. "SPAAAAACE!" the boy yelled, holding up a large spherical thing in the air like a trophy. Chell frowned and pointed at the object. It was a hunk of charred, twisted metal, seeming to have the vague shape of a ball. The boy grinned again. "It's my space helmet!" he declared gleefully, and placed his head inside a hole in the bottom. "See? I'm an astronaut! In SPACE!" Chell just gave him a thumbs up, unsure how safe putting that thing on his head was. The boy began to spew random facts about space, and the girl seemed quite captivated, interrupting him frequently to ask questions, which he answered gladly.
Having been forgotten, Chell went back to the table where she and Mel had sat. That was interesting…she thought. The first two men didn't seem to be on good terms. They barely acknowledged I was there. She grimaced. And when they did, it wasn't the type of greeting I wanted. She looked over at the man and woman at the second table. They had resumed their solemn state, but the woman caught Chell's gaze and smiled. Chell smiled back. That lady is very nice. Her partner is a bit…angry though… When she looked at the two of them, she felt a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She didn't know what it was, but she shook it off and looked towards the younger pair. They were still chattering lively, and the man who had been ordering cake was apparently trying to swap cake recipes with the waiter. Looking at the man and the girl, she felt the same small surge of queasiness. She pushed it away again, with the effortlessness that came form years of shielding her emotions.
Lost in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed a shadow fall over the table. The figure casting it cleared his throat, and Chell looked up into his face, first noticing his dark blue, shining eyes, and secondly his charming English accent.
"Oh, hello," the man said. "I was hoping you could give me some directions…"