Teeny Tiny Stories

Fortune Cookie

Nate had said something stupid again, which had thrown the three friends into a fit of laughter. Allyson and Jenna tried to keep it down so they couldn't make a spectacle of themselves in the little Chinese restaurant, but that was near impossible when their comedian of a friend kept cracking jokes. Their waitress approached their table and asked if they were finished, and through tears of mirth the teens affirmed that they were. Their table was cleared as the trio thanked the waitress. A moment later, a little too quickly after the last one left, a different waitress brought out their bill and a plate of fortune cookies. She accidentally dropped a rather poorly wrapped cookie on Allyson's side of the table and muttered an apology, scurrying off before Allyson could tell her it was fine. Shrugging off this odd behavior, she grabbed the fortune cookie in front of her. Jenna and Nate already reading the little slips of paper from their own cookies aloud.

"'This cookie fell on the ground'" Jenna read, and the three of them snickered. "Guess I'll have to write a complaint."

Nate unfolded his own paper. "Funny, but we can't use the joke on that one. Here's mine; 'Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks'..." he paused, looking over at Jenna beside him.

"In bed!" They both said in unison.

Allyson rolled her eyes and chuckled, cracking open her own fortune cookie. She read it silently as her two best friends giggled across the table at their own terrible joke. And she was glad she did.
Written in neat handwriting, the slip of paper read; 'Your life is in danger. Say nothing to anyone. You must leave the city immediately and never return. Repeat: say nothing. I am watching you.'
A chill ran down Allyson's spine and she glanced towards the kitchen. Sure enough, the waitress that delivered their bill was watching her with a somber expression. As soon as Allyson looked up, she disappeared around the corner. But in that brief moment, Allyson noted how strangely out-of-place she looked; as if she were new to the workplace, or not a waitress at all.

"Allyyy!" Jenna sang. "Whachya lookin at?" Allyson started and turned her attention back to her friends.
"Nothing." She said quickly, "I thought one of the waitresses looked familiar, but I guess I was wrong."

"Happens to us all." Nate laughed, and Jenna hummed in agreement.

"Anyway, what's your cookie say?" she asked.

"Uh..." Allyson looked down at the ominous paper and shrugged, "It-it says the same thing my cookie said the last time we were here, something about it's a rocky road to success, but a fulfilling one."

"Ah, boring." Jenna stated, leaning back against the chair and patting her stomach. "Gosh I'm stuffed and that means a good lazing around session is in store. You guys want anything else?"

With Nate and Allyson's decline, the trio payed and took off; Jenna with two take-out boxes of food. After hugs and farewells, Allyson left the two siblings bickering over how much of that Jenna would share and began walking back to her apartment. Now alone with her thoughts, Allyson pulled out the foreboding fortune cookie paper and stared at it. 'Your life is in danger. Say nothing to anyone.'
Why had she lied to her friends? Maybe they could've helped, or they could've laughed it off and told her it was ridiculous. But some gut instinct told her to listen to the anonymous writer. And in the moment, she listened to her gut. But now she wasn't so sure what to do with it.

'You must leave the city immediately and never return.'
Allyson shivered and shoved the paper into the pocket of her jeans. Like she was going to do that. She had an entire half-semesters worth of university classes to finish, and neither time nor money to go off and disappear without a trace. Besides, she had no reason to believe some fortune cookie. They were all fake anyway.