I Wish I Had a Story to Tell You

Part VIII

We drove into the waking city without much hesitation. I had no clue what we were supposed to do, but being in the same city as Brightley was a start.
    We were in downtown Salt Lake City in no time. The traffic did start to pick up a little bit once we were in the city, but it was so early that it wasn't too bad. The clothing stores still had their closed signs up, and the majority of the shops downtown were eerily empty. While lights made the city look like it was waking up, the dull, quiet streets made it seem like the city was in the midst of winter hibernation. "Where are we going to go?" Arelle asked.
    "I don't know yet," I replied, scanning for any business that was open. "We may just have to park for a couple of hours."
    "You can sleep," Arelle suggested.
    "That sounds like a great idea," I said, but then thought better of it. The last thing I wanted was for me to fall asleep and for Con to hurt my sister, but on the other hand I was a light sleeper. It could work. It would just be a matter of calming my nerves enough to sleep.
"You have to be tired by now."
I thought for a moment. "You know what else we could do? We could walk around and see if anything's open. Surely something is open. I want to stretch anyways. Is that alright with you?"
Arelle shrugged. "Sure."
We drove around for a bit, until I finally decided to just park the car. Arelle and I got out and grabbed a bit of change just in case. The early morning air was cold, but not as bad as it was in Washington. I wrapped my jacket around me a bit tighter as I joined my sister on the sidewalk.
"Shall we walk?" Arelle asked.
"That sounds nice," I replied, raising my arms. "I needed a stretch."
Arelle yawned. "Me too."
We began to walk. We looked at the storefronts as we went. Some had mannequins in the windows, all dressed up in fancy blouses and dresses. Some storefronts had purses and clutches. Another had wooden toys.
"It feels to empty," Arelle said, peering into a shoe shop. "There's nobody around."
I looked around. Aside from the occasional walkers, who were likely office workers or accountants heading into their job to start the day's tasks, my sister and I were alone. The streets were silent, except for the sound of cars passing by. The stores were lifeless, with only unsold clothes and their wooden wearers sitting all alone in the shop windows. The moon was still high in the sky, beaming at us from above.
"I like it," I said, turning to Arelle. "It's different from when we're awake. It's a whole different world."
And perhaps it was a whole different world for Arelle, but for me it felt like a familiar one. Cold empty streets and brisk morning air, it was what I was used to. I was always awake in the early morning. Oftentimes I would wander around and enjoy the short lived world I had all to myself.
I thought about the diners I would visit. At that time of day, the diners would be just opening. Sometimes the owners would give me a little something to eat for free, just out of appreciation for the fact that they had some company before the sun came up.
"You know..."
Arelle raised her eyebrows. "What?"
"Follow me."
    I turned to a dark street, with only a little street lamp and a neon on sign illuminating it. The neon sign read: DINER.
    "Are they open?" Arelle asked.
     I shrugged. "Probably. Come on." I led my sister down the street and to the diner. A bell rang when we entered.
    "Hey there," the waiter said. "What can I get you?"
"Two glasses of orange juice and two orders of waffles, please" Arelle said. She turned to me. "You don't mind waffles, do you?"
My stomach growled in reply.
"Got it."
The waiter brought us our food with a big smile. "I hope you two enjoy. What are you doing up so early? I thought you kids liked sleeping in on the weekends."
"Well, I guess the early bird catches the waffle," I replied. Arelle nodded in agreement.
The waiter chuckled. "I've never heard that one before. Say, do you girls happen to know who lives in that giant mansion in the center of town?"
I looked at Arelle. "No," I said. "We don't know. Why?"
"Well," the waiter said, "I keep seeing tons of decorations and lights going up. I'm wondering what might be happening. Maybe it's a wedding."
"Probably," Arelle said.
"Oh well, I can ask some of my customers later. How's the food?"
"Good," Arelle murmured though a mouth full of waffle. I nodded in agreement.
"Great, well I'll be right over here if you need anything." The waiter went behind the counter. "I always like having early customers," I heard him mutter to himself, "it makes things a little less lonely this time of day."
The bell above the door rang.
A man walked in. He was stocky and his face was scruffy. He wore a gigantic suit and looked mildly displeased with something.
"What can I get you sir?"
"Coffee, eggs, bacon, waffles, and pancakes."
"Coming right up sir."
The man shuffled his way to a seat. He groaned as he sat down and stared off into space with annoyance.
What a pleasant man.
"He seems moodier than most teenagers are," Arelle whispered to me.
I grinned. "He's probably an office worker. They always seem extremely grumpy in the mornings when I see them."
"Makes sense. I wouldn't want to go into such a dull job at this time of day."
    "Here is your coffee sir," the waiter said, handing the grumpy a cup of steaming coffee. "Your food should be right out."
    "I hope so, I'm starving."
    Just then, something was lifted from the table. It was our waiter, whose name tag read Charles, refilling my orange juice.
"Thanks," I said as he placed it in front of me.
    "Do you always get grumpy customers?" Arelle asked.
    Charles grinned. "All the time, hon. That's why I like have kiddos like you two in here. It lightens up the mood." He glanced at the man. "Oh, I deal with grumpy customers all the time. I'm used to it. I don't really mind. Surprisingly the grumpy ones usually leave pretty nice tips."
    "That's always a bonus," I said.
    "It sure is."
Charles went to get Grumpy Probably Office Worker's food from the kitchen. When he bought it to him, Grumpy Probably Office worker replied with a grunt, but I did notice that he gave Charles quite a bit of change. You weren't wrong about them giving nice tips, I thought.
After eating our food, we left Charles a nice tip and said goodbye. Just as I pushed open the door to leave, I heard Grumpy Probably Office worker start talking to himself. I stopped.
"What?"
I shushed my sister and nodded towards the man.
"Damned Brightley! Inviting me to this stupid party of his. I don't know why he thinks I want to go." Grumpy Probably Office worker took a little slip of paper from his coat, crumpled it up, and shoved it into the wooden box holding condiments. I motioned for Arelle to move away from the door.
"Ask Charles if he has any to-go menus."
"Who?"
"Waiter. Go."
Grumpy Probably Office Worker grumbled his way out of the diner.
"Do you have any to-go menus?"
I walked over to the table where the supposed invitation was. I grabbed it from the wooden box.
"Sure we do. Here you go."
I walked over to Arelle and thanked Charles. With a ring of the bell, we were back on the streets of Salt Lake City. I unfolded the crumpled invitation and showed it to Arelle.

                                                                                               YOU'RE INVITED
                                                                       TO M. BRIGHTLEY'S WINTER GALA
                                                                                      WHEN: DECEMBER 12th
                                                                    WHERE: THE BRIGHTLEY RESIDENCE

I grinned. "This sounds fun."
"You aren't saying..." Arelle's widened.
"We could find the photo."
"You're insane."
"What else is new?"

Hello! I hope you enjoyed Part VIII. I finally got on a good writing schedule for this piece so updates are officially on Fridays. I'm just quickly coming in here to say that if you leave any thoughts, opinions, or constructive criticism I'll gladly check out a chapter of your work and do the same for you! Also, I know that this is a shorter chapter, the same should be true for the next one as well. I'm just blocking things out differently to make it a bit easier to manage. That's not to say that longer chapters aren't in the foreseeable future, because they certainly are. Also, I have a piece called Black Lives Matter- Research and Awareness where I talk about things such as Black history and police violence. I'd love for you to check it out. Also, never hesitate to post petitions and articles on my board! The more the merrier!

Love,
Nova