CHAPTER ONE

Andrea was on her way back from work. She didn't mind the changed shifts. She was usually up until this point anyway. She liked to sleep in, but she could do without a lot of sleep. Besides, with working from the hours of late evening until eleven thirty gave Andrea time during the day and she liked that. She didn't get the really busy caller time, but the meaning for the calls were the same. She worked as a 9-1-1 operator and no matter what hours she was on, she was always working and usually had the same type of calls every night. Car accidents, home or relationship abuse, the prank call or misdial…once in a while she would get something big, and even though she was trained how to handle those situations, it was always hard and always mentally demanding and it left Andrea in exhaustion, wanting to be in her comfy and safe bed that instant.

From the way home she also usually stopped in at the corner diner to get some coffee for the road and a muffin or cookie or at least something sweet. The job had its tolls and sometimes there was a personal chord that could strike for Andrea, but she pulled through. It was something that her boss had originally worried about when hiring her, but Andrea had gone through every call. Though there were times she needed to take breaks afterward and calm herself down, but she would make it. She needed to.

Going into the diner, Andrea saw the regular nightshift worker Danielle standing there. She gave Andrea a smile and asked her, "coffee, three sugars and two creams?"

Andrea gave the blonde server a smile and she went to sit at her usual spot. She was about to call over to her and ask about what they had left for deserts, but Danielle was already telling me as she got the coffee maker going, "we have some blueberry pie left if you would like it. Or some ice cream for a strawberry sundae."

Andrea smiled back to her and answered, "I think I'll take the pie."

Danielle nodded back to her and she went back to get the slice. Andrea looked around the old diner. There was almost no one here at this time of night except for maybe truckers who made their stops in the night. It was a lonely night. Andrea was the only one in and she liked it that way. She liked being alone, the calmness of it.

Sitting down, Andrea went searching in her purse and she took out this week's paper word game. She had gotten pretty good at them over the past couple of years. She tried to do one every week while she was here. Andrea was here practically every night just to take a calmed-down moment and eat something before going home to crash, but the word puzzles would work her mind and they would give her something to do. She always called them fun challenges.

Andrea took the one that she cut out from this week's paper and she looked the possibilities that she could answer. She figured that it was the simplest thing that she could do first before she would use the help of the letters to find the other words and fill the rest of the boxes.

She wasn't sitting very long, just writing down INK, a three letter word that you hold in a pen when Andrea heard a motorcycle coming to the dinner. She knew that he was going to come in because there were many times over the years that she would hear motorcycles pass. She knew the sound that they made when going past on the road. This sound was getting closer, coming to the doors of the diner.

After the sound of the motorcycle was gone, it was only a couple of seconds later before Andrea saw in the corner of her eye and heard the clicking sound of the door of a man coming inside. She looked up a little bit, her curiosity getting the better of her to look at the new individual. Over the past couple of years, she would come almost every night around the same time and she recognized the people who came in as well, even the ones that only came once every six months. She had never seen him before.

He was a solidly built man, like a rather large tree. His arms like a gorillas how they hung and swayed. He had tanned skin and though his head was bald and had tattoos on them, the bustles of his facial hair were white and grey. His eyes had a deep setting to them, like a black hole.

Andrea could tell he wasn't a regular because though he tried to seem like he belonged, but he was looking over the place like he was new, like he didn't know what they served, where to sit, the set-up of the place, or even where Danielle was. At this time Andrea knew that it was normal to have Danielle or the other waitresses at the back doing dishes or putting them away so that the set up was done for the workers in the morning so that they wouldn't have to go so early in the morning to set up.

Turning her eyes back down so that she wouldn't disturb him, she went to look at her word puzzle, going to the next one that she knew easily: KETTLE, a six letter word for an object to boil water in. She only looked up when she heard the light footsteps of Danielle as she came walking back. She was holding my piece of pie in hand and she looked at the new man who was still looking around for a place to sit. Andrea could tell that the other girl was startled, but she still gave the man a smile and told him, "I'll be with you in just a moment."

Andrea gave Danielle a smile when she placed the pie in front of her with a work. The waitress told her, "your coffee is almost ready."

"Thank you. Take your time." Andrea told her as she picked up the fork for her pie. She watched as Danielle walked over to the new man. Andrea could tell that the girl was a bit nervous going to a large man in a cut, but she did it. The older woman guessed that he was a member of a gang or a club and judging by the sound of him riding up on a motorcycle that it was a motorcycle gang. She thought that it was understandable that Danielle was scared of this large, tattooed man.

"Can I get you anything?" Andrea heard Danielle ask the man as she took out her notepad to write down his order.

"You make coffee?" his voice was rough and deep and it imitated a gravel road.

Andrea saw Danielle nod. To try and seem like she wasn't prying, Andrea looked down at her word puzzle, but she watched the interactions through the corner of her eye. She found him interesting, but Andrea didn't know why. She only saw what he looked like and heard him say three words, but he had caught her interest. Maybe it was because he was so different from the people who she usually saw or interacted with.

Danielle nodded and she told him, "We do. I'm brewing some right now. How do you take it?"

"Black," he answered.

Danielle wrote it down and she asked him, looking back up at him, "anything else?"

He thought for a moment and he asked, "what did she get?"

He looked over at Andrea and upon her mention, she looked up as well and looked up at him. When they stared at each other, even for those two seconds, Andrea saw his eyes and she felt that he was looking in her, like she was naked and it was an odd feeling that she had, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Just different. Looking at him in the eyes, she could see just how deep his eyes were. It was eerie but still in a calming sense.

Danielle looked back at Andrea and answered him, "blueberry pie. I also have apple pie left as well."

The man turned back to Danielle and he answered her, his voice still rough, "I'll get the blueberry too."

The waitress nodded and wrote that down as well before going to the back. Andrea went back to looking at the puzzle, trying to figure it out, though she was sure that his eyes were still on her. She tried not to let it bother her and bring her eyes up as well to meet his again.

It was only a couple of minutes later when Danielle came out with a tray in her hands. She walked over to where Happy was sitting first and she took the plate of pie from it first before she moved to set down his coffee that was steaming from the mug. Danielle gave him a smile as he thanked her before she moved towards Andrea. The waitress gave her the hot mug and Andrea looked up at her.

"Thank you, Danielle." Andrea told her.

"No problem. Having trouble finding any words?" Danielle asked as she looked down at the paper.

Andrea thought for a moment before she looked back up and asked her, "do you know a seven letter word for something that energizes electricity and can move still objects when turned on?"

Danielle thought for a moment and Andrea jumped a bit when she heard the man's rough voice speak to them, "it's a battery."

Andrea and Danielle looked over at him. He was drinking a gulp of his coffee before he set it back down, still not looking at them, "seven letters for what energizes electricity and makes things move, battery."

Andrea looked down at the paper and she nodded before writing it in. She told Danielle as she wrote down the letters, "you would have thought that I could have gotten that, huh?"

Danielle shrugged and she told Andrea, "holler if you need me. I just have to finish up the dishes."

Andrea nodded and gave her a smile goodbye before she went back to the paper.

After that, it was just silence. Andrea ate her pie and drank her coffee and did her word puzzle in silence as the other man sat in silence, not really looking at anything, just sitting and eating the pie and drinking his coffee. When he was done, he set the fork down and finished the last of the coffee before he took out his wallet and set down a twenty dollar bill. He stood back up and Andrea watched him without a second look walk out of the place. Soon, she heard the motorcycle start again and then slowly move away. Andrea was lost in shock. He didn't even need to ask for the receipt, he just took out the money without a second thought and left just as quickly and mysteriously as he came.

When Danielle came back out, she seemed a bit shocked that the man was gone. She turned to stare at Andrea and the older woman shrugged, "I'm just as surprised as you are."

Danielle placed the bill in her pocket and told her as she picked up the plate and mug, "at least he gave a really generous tip. This together was a bit more than five dollars."

Andrea nodded and Danielle looked back at her and told her in a shyer voice, "thank you for staying."

"He ever been in here before?" Andrea asked.

"Not that I know of. I've never seen him and I've never heard any of the staff members talk about someone like that coming in. I mean, I hear their motorcycles all the time at weird hours or normal ones. I don't think they have ever came in before though."

Andrea nodded and looked over at the front door and the windows before she said, "well, ask your boss if you can have someone else stay with shifts like this if these guys make regular visits and they come when I'm not here."

Danielle nodded and went to clean the dishes while Andrea sat there for the next twenty minutes, slowly working away at her pie and coffee as she finished the word puzzle.

It was strange indeed.