Rykar Valley gets its share of strange events, though most don't pay her stories any mind. Would you believe your neighbor if they told you they had seen a looming figure outside their apartment complex, beckoning them to come outside from the shadows? Penny didn't believe us when we told her that our café was haunted, the new hires never did. Her first week, however, saw tourists torn to shreds in our parking lot. A giant by the name of Tall Ben gave her a quick introduction to the violence that the supernatural could offer.

I've been here a few months and seen about the same on a regular basis. Everyone reacts differently, so I wasn't surprised when Penny began avoiding the drive thru and, when she had to take an order, she stared hard at the drive thru camera to ignore the face that stared at her behind the glass pane. Her only protection was a thin window and her own willpower, which the giant so wanted to break. It was easy at first, for all of us to ignore that stare, the constant waving over, even his voice muffled by the glass snaked into our ears in a whisper. It was a slow breaking that would drive anyone mad, and for Penny it had only just begun.

That is why we spotted it in the first place, though. The thing in the drive thru, that is. She was staring at the screen. We take signatures through the drive thru on receipts, there is a little spot to leave a tip and you'd be surprised what our more... unnatural customers leave us. It isn't always money, and it isn't always useful, but in order to remain safe I'll say it is always appreciated. Well, twice a day (or night, since we are an overnight café) we have to input the tip amount that is on each receipt into our system. Penny had to do it since she was still training and it was slow. So, desperate to ignore the shadow-lit face that stared at her through the drive thru window, she stared at the camera that would show the cars lined up to order at our menu, were there any.

The drive thru is weird. It connects to a road that leads to some apartments behind the café, which makes it appear very long. Of course, that road sees little traffic aside from our customers. Again, however, there was no one in line. The only thing on the camera was a figure in casual attire. A dress shirt unbuttoned and untucked from jeans, occasionally caught in the wind to show a white undershirt.

It (or he, I guess) was turned around so we could only see his back. "Hey guys?" Penny called us over and, seeing as we were already dreading to bring out the deep cleaning list, we leapt to action when she called us over. "Do you see that too?"

"Is he just... standing there?" Em asked. "I've never seen someone... just stand there. Not next to the woods."

"So he isn't human, then, right?" He couldn't be. "Something would have grabbed him if he was." I voiced what was obvious; the forest is where most of the worst things slip out of. At night, it was the most dangerous place in all of Rykar Valley. Maybe even the entire state.

Barrow shrugged it off. "I mean, it isn't really our job to make sure people don't go out there. If it was, we failed miserably."

A little over a week ago, two people went outside when they shouldn't have and got themselves killed. Was I going to have to watch that again on our camera?

"Should we... I don't know, go tell them to come inside?" Penny saw the person as a human, that was probably a mistake. "Or holler at them at least?"

"Over the speaker?"

I clicked the button without thinking, channeling my voice to the back of our store. "Hey, can you hear me?"

Nothing, just silence.

Pixels adjusted slightly, but I couldn't tell if that was just the wind catching his shirt again. Had he... moved? Swayed? It was impossible to see.

"Can you hear me?"

Em slapped my hand away from the speaker. "Don't do that!"

"Why?" I asked.

"Is he moving?" Penny still had her eyes on the screen and it was then that I also noted Tall Ben was gone, his visage not even visible in the distant shadow. "I think he moved."

No, he was standing still. The wind was picking up, little bits of rain starting hitting the window outside. It often sprinkled here in Rykar Valley, the weather was ever overcast. Thankfully, our camera still had a high visibility in the dark. We all stared so hard at the screen that we were blinded when a car came around the corner to stop at our menu with brights in full exposure.

It had blocked our view of the person down the road for only a moment and I was certain he would be gone when the car finally pulled around. But, when the vehicle stopped at the menu they turned off their high beams and I could see past it, the man stood there just as he had before. Unmoving.

Then, for whatever reason, the truck turned back on their brights. I couldn't see the guy anymore.

"Thanks for choosing The Drowsy Spectre, take a look at the menu and order when you're ready." Penny recited.

"I'm ready." The customer replied over the speaker, then silence.

Penny hesitated, then clicked the button to speak again. "Okay, order whenever you're ready." She repeated.

"Do y'all have cappuccinos?"

That was, depending on the size, two shots of espresso and steamed milk made mostly of foam. No sweetener, no flavors. Just foamy espresso. A café staple. "Yes, we do."

"Oh good because that is what I usually get from Tom Thumb." The customer replied. I sighed loudly. Tom Thumb (well, I guess it is Cumberland Farms now, but I am going to resist that change like the stubborn i is a gas station, for those of you that don't know, and most gas station coffee titles their sweet coffee flavor as "cappuccino." It isn't a cappuccino though, not even close.

So the customer did not expect a foamy espresso, but a sweet drip coffee of some kind. Penny didn't know that. "Awesome! What size?"

Damn. Too late. I would have to explain things at the window. "Regular."

"Like a medium?"

"Yeah, a regular."

God dammit, I felt Penny's pain. "Okay, so a medium cappuccino."

"Yeah with some creamer if y'all have it."

"$4.36 at the window." She watched the car pull around to the building's north side, we all did. When the lights were away from the camera, we all saw the man on the road.

He was a lot closer. Not quite at the store, but... closer. It was definitely a dress shirt that was blowing in the wind, just like I thought. Untorn jeans, dark hair. I couldn't be sure about much detail because the night contrast on the camera drowns out colors pretty heavily. He just sort of stood there, not even swaying in the wind. Completely still.

I explained to the customer at the window that he would likely not enjoy a cappuccino and rectified his order. He was happy anyway, it was a whole dollar cheaper. With him on his way, we returned to watching the man on the road.

Originally I assumed Tall Ben left because of the customer in the drive thru, but he did not return when the car left. Then we all saw where he went. From the shadows around the man in the woods, a figure loomed in the trees. I would have thought it a tree in the wind if it weren't for a large hand that crept from the forest's edge, over the road.

If that was a person, they would be meat for his next "product." If it wasn't, Tall Ben was about to find out for them.

I clicked the drive thru speaker to life, earning a confused glance from the others.

But now we could hear. It was quiet and distant, but we could hear.

"Hey... do you..." Tall Ben was trying to talk to him. "Come... if you..."

The rain was falling too hard and the speaker was overwhelmed with static. We all leaned in close, trying to catch anything over the storm. All of us had our eyes away from the screen and I regret that. I want to know what happened.

A boom shook the store, knocking us all away from the speaker. It wasn't thunder, no. It was a roar of anger, or pain, or perhaps even fear. When I finally got my head up to look at the screen, the man still stood where he had.

There was no Tall Ben.

Another car pulled around, but they didn't have their bright lights on. We could still see the strange man. "Thank you for choosing The Drowsy Spectre. Take a look at the menu and order whenever you're ready."

"Yeah, thanks." Silence. They would need a moment.

I saw it, though. I don't know if the others did because no one said anything, but I swore I saw the guy take a step. Not a lunge, or a run, just a single backwards step. Now, if a customer is taking too long looking at the menu, we might assume they need help.

In that case, we say "if you have any questions, just let me know." Penny then waited for a reply.

The guy, he took another step. Maybe two, I couldn't tell. I know Barrow saw it because he gave me a look. One that said we had an issue, but none of us knew what it was.

"Can I just get a caramel latte but can I get that iced? A small?"

"Absolutely. Anything else for you?" Two more gentle steps.

After a long moment of silence, the customer replied. "Nope, that'll be it."

"$5.06 at the window."

I knew he was moving. A puddle rippled as his foot struck it so carefully. Nothing happened, however, then Penny spoke to the lady at the window. Maybe he couldn't hear them? He was still a bit far away from the shop.

Barrow leaned forward and pressed 'speak.' "Are you a customer? Do you want something?"

Three more steps. He was close enough to enter the light out back. "I could peek out and see if I can see him off-camera." Em offered. "I don't have the same effect on these things."

Usually only humans did. "Alright, just don't go outside." Barrow watched the camera as Em went to the back door. The way the camera is angled, we can see the door as it is perpendicular to the drive thru road. It opens so that she could see out without having to leave. We couldn't see her though, the door blocked Em.

We watched it open, but the door was sort of reflective so it shined on our store's light out back and the camera caught that. The contrast was way too high suddenly.

Barrow clicked the speaker on again so we could hear, but the rain was coming down pretty hard. I think I heard Em talking, but we really couldn't make anything out. Because of this, I was going to go back and see what she was up to, but right before I did the door slammed shut. Em came running up as if something was fixing to bite her butt.

"Okay it doesn't care that I am a pixie it doesn't care about that at all! Absolutely not!"

"What did you do?" I asked.

She looked towards the back door.

But Barrow gestured at the camera. "Look."

The guy was a lot closer, actually in the drive thru itself. At the very end of the drive thru, seen even through the rain, was a figure that was getting soaked by the downpour. He didn't care, didn't even move, didn't flinch as a bolt of lightning brightened the forest up.

Another customer, more steps. Penny noticed and started to keep her word count low, but the guy was still making a steady approach. He was a lot closer now, which was concerning as when Penny opened the window and cashed out the customer we saw the guy outside take a few steps. Not quite as many as when we were talking directly to him, but a few; it was as if he heard bits and pieces of something and that was enough to follow whatever rules he was bound to.

Crap. Usually Heartmin comes inside, but she doesn't have to. Even the supernatural doesn't always like the cold rain. There was a rule about her, one that required us to make her order in two minutes once it was placed. That seems like a lot of time, but for her order it really isn't.

Heartmin also asked the same questions every time.

"Do you have heavy cream?"

"No."

"Do you have a panini press?"

"No."

You get the picture. Each answer came with a step from our new friend, though he didn't respond to our customers at all. Not at first, anyway.

"I don't like this guy out here." Heartmin complained, not having finished her order. "Who is he? Why is he here?"

The moment she acknowledged his presence, he turned slightly to put his back to her. Then, he took a step.

"Seriously. Tell him to leave or something." He got closer. "Get out of here, you bum!" Two more steps. "If you don't get him away from me, I will leave right now! I'll-" She put her car into gear and started to leave.

The guy was already at her window though. She had spoken too much.

When Heartmin doesn't get her drink in two minutes, or it is made wrong, or she really doesn't like something, she screams. Like, really screams. I had to go to get my hearing checked out last time that happened.

Even the walls of the store weren't enough to mute her banshee cry.

I had to get on the ground, to cover my ears, to protect myself. I think one of our thin glasses broke, I heard something shatter. A lightbulb blew up. The lights flickered too.

Then it went quiet. We looked back up at the camera, but her car was gone. In its place? The man, with his back to the camera, soaked from head to toe. Our store was still open, however, and a customer came in.

We turned from the drive thru to see a familiar, yet confusing face. Well, confusing and confused.

"Dr. Fields?" Some of you long time readers might recognize that name. He's the one that was hunting that pest Bilgoth. Then I saw him at the Headsman's, but he wasn't right.

Then he was there, in our lobby, raggedy and skinny. Completely unlike the man I had seen months ago, but I knew that face shape. I knew those weighing eyes.

"Me?" He asked. "You do know me?"

"Don't I?"

"Where did I go?" What sort of question was that? "How did I get to Texas?” We aren’t in Texas, but I guess he had been. “All of you vanished! I was here, but then I was there!"

Like I always say, it is a long story. "You mean at the Headsman's?"

"How did I get there?!" He shouted.

The guy at the camera was at the wall. He could hear Dr. Fields, but could he get in? "What do you remember?" Barrow asked Fields.

"Nothing!" The shouting, it was too loud.

I approached Dr. Fields. "Hey, we don't know much about you either. You came in looking for something, then left. Next time we saw you, you had no idea who you were."

"Why are we whispering?"

He was cautious. "Because there is something that might kill us if it hears."

Fields swallowed, but understood. That he had no questions for, the supernatural was still ingrained in his mind. "But what happened to me? What is this place?"

"This is just a café that gets some weird customers." Well, they were a lot more than weird. "Whatever happened to you, it didn't happen here."

"Guys?" Penny pulled our attention back to the camera. "Its gone."

I went back around the counter and, sure enough, the guy wasn't there anymore.

"Did he go back in the woods?" Em asked. "Did you see him move?"

Penny shook her head. "No, I was listening to you guys."

"You weren't the only one." Barrow muttered, then he nodded towards the kitchen. He shushed everyone just as we turned to see the backwards guy standing in the back of the lobby, by the bathrooms and towards the back door. How had he gotten inside?

Water dripped all over the floor. He was, as expected, soaked.

"Selene!" Barrow shouted, causing the guy to rotate away from him and take a backwards step.

Our manager opened her office door. "Yeah?"

The thing then turned towards her, facing us.

My own teeth hurt when my eyes fell on it. It was... teeth. Wiggling, like maggots in a skin suit. Little ones, as if from rodents, humans too, and sharper from predators. All teeth, clicking and chittering ever so silently. Still, the thing didn't move as everyone stayed quiet.

Selene caught on fast.

"H-help." A voice came from the teeth. No, from inside the teeth. They scattered like bugs to reveal an all-too-human face underneath. "P-please..."

It wasn't just water on the floor. The thing was dripping blood.

But there was another one, in the shadows behind the first creature. Another figure covered in teeth. If each of them had someone inside, that meant that the second one could only be one “person.” Heartmin.

It was... eating them. Teeth were eating them, munching away of their own accord. Crunching, clicking, clinking away as they slithered about by some unholy magic. Heartmin was sobbing, but she did not dare scream again. The teeth moved with each breath, with each soft cry, as if it were their heartbeat. Even their victim's heart seemed to make them ripple ever so slightly, taking just a little bit more flesh.

"P... p.... please..." The guy begged again. Each sound, each letter, brought with it a squishing sound until blood burst from where his eye should have been. He screamed, the teeth moved faster. He screamed so much.

The blood that poured from between the teeth would be enough to kill anyone, but the teeth still stood. Their victim was silent.

We were all silent.

One by one, the teeth fell from the corpse onto the ground. They scattered across the floor in all directions, not by magic but just gravity. Where they landed, they stayed.

"N... n... no..." Heartmin whispered. Then she grunted, then she gurgled. Her death, for all her power, was ever so silent.

Her killers also toppled to the floor to reveal a mooshy corpse, organs half chewed and bones exposed. Her skull was on full display, but not her teeth. No, those belonged to something else now. Those were on the floor, and they would be hungry.

At least, I thought they would be. But we stood there, in silence, until a customer walked in.

"Uh..." The lady seemed normal. Looked human, I mean. "Teeth?"

They didn't respond to her voice.

And we learned nothing else of it. Heartmin is dead, we know that. She hasn't been seen since that night. The other guy? We don't know either. Tall Ben has been absent as well, but I doubt some teeth could kill that giant. The teeth were dead, I guess. No biting, no movement. We swept them up and did not touch them (that would be stupid). Oh, and I am talking to Richard about hiring Fields for the kitchen. Some of us would like a day off sometimes. Since that night, however, we have not had a similar issue.

Regardless, I left a new rule on the list and crossed out an old one.

- Rule 11. If you see someone standing in the drive thru, don't make a sound. The store is closed.

And go here. For all those long time readers, this is a new list of every update. I'll put everything there.