The First Shift

She approaches the counter timidly as if she were a customer, but I know she isn't here to eat a Monte Cristo and drink burnt coffee at midnight. My regular waitress Dalene sings out to her, "you're the new girl?" The girl's gaze darts immediately to me as if I was the one speaking. She realizes who she should be looking at, but her eyes linger as her face turns away, before finally landing on Dalene.

"Yes. I'm Melissa. I'm new. Well, I've done some shadow shifts. But, yes. Well, yes. This is my first shift by myself." She's wringing her apron in her tiny, soft hands. The poor thing seems to be as nervous as she sounds. Unfortunately, I don't think she's nervous because she actually knows what she's getting herself into at Bashful's. These young things see a job with tips and a clean, neon diner and they think they've landed a job on the set of Grease or something. I don't know where they find these girls, or how they get these girls to find Bashful's. I've never asked too much. I get paid well to be a part of the whole thing.

I've never seen someone stick around as long as Dalene. Most of the girls just can't hack it, even when we take it pretty easy on them. Dalene just has a different way of dealing with the dark stuff, I guess. I'd say pretty soon they should call this place Dalene's but... well... that ain't really the vibe of Bashful's. The ironic name makes this version of hell somewhat adorable.

"Alright sweetheart-- you'll do fine. Go ahead and get changed, grab something to eat if you're hungry. I'll start counting out the register", Dalene coos at Melissa. Melissa sprints to the back so fast I wonder if she's making a break for the back door.

Dalene's avoiding eye contact with me as she slides coins back into the register trays.

"What, Cliff?"

I finish my coffee and stare at the grounds left in the bottom of my mug. "Do you think she'll be okay?"

Dalene smirks and sighs. "You know they never are, honey. I hope so, but they never are. I hire them hoping I'll actually get a day off one of these days. Ain't your problem anyway-- she ain't gonna be on shift with you."

I raise my brow and lean my head to the side.

"Yeah-- I guess you're right. I've already got a girl." I smirk at Dalene, and she scowls back.

"Eat your damn sandwich, Cliff."

Melissa comes out in her uniform just as Dalene had finishes cashing out. She seems a little less stressed; maybe she had a cigarette or gave herself a pep talk in the mirror. Dalene packs up her things and turns to Melissa.

"Do you need anything before I go, honey?" she croons. Melissa drops her shoulders and takes a deep breath.

"I think I'm okay. Thank you, though. Once I'm in it I think I'll be fine." Dalene and I make disappointed eye contact. Dalene then gives Melissa a soft smile and walks toward the doors.

Poor kid.

Dalene pushes the double doors open and the chime atop the door rings out through each booth, her steps on the gravel echoing further and further away. Each patron of the diner immediately sits up looking straight forward and begin to exit their booths. The diner is now silent but for the sound of the customers filing out the door. Melissa watches, eyes wide, mouth open. I've never seen the look on their face at shift change before-- but they don't ever get to see a shift change on their shadow shifts. It's kind of twisted how they set the training up that way.

As the last of the people file out, I realized I hadn't been urged to leave. I check my phone: no notifications. Bashful's is sick and twisted but they never make errors, especially with the customers. Melissa seems to still be frozen in confusion, so before she unfreezes and attempts to ask too many questions, I send a text to corporate and ask for instructions. Then, as if an answer to my "prayers" as it were, Melissa's customers begin filling the booths right back up. Her expression has now contorted into a horrified grimace instead of that doe-eyed thing she had going a minute ago. Everyone takes a seat, and the diner starts happily buzzing again. Melissa still looks like a mannequin from a haunted house. I check my phone: nothing. What the hell? I'll throw the kid a bone while I wait. I clear my throat.

"Uhh... honey, I'm just a regular, but it's my understanding that when new customers come in, you are supposed to go and take their order. You can practise on me-- I'll have a coffee." Melissa's eyes absently land on me before she shakes herself into focus.

"Shit! Fu-- I'm sorry. God... it's just... this is so weird. All the people just... well you saw that. Why did they-- and then this new group are just all here at the same time? I just don't-- and this is going to sound so weird. Look... I think I know just about every person that just walked through that door." She's scanning the room as she talks, and she nods as her gaze passes each booth as if she's taking attendance in her sweet blonde head.

"You don't say?" I play along as best I can. A little sick? Maybe... but hey, I'm on the clock, I'm bored, and I've only seen one first shift. It was a long time ago that I saw Dalene realize who I was for the very first time, and I never really got to see it happen with her other customers. This type of thing doesn't really usually happen to customers twice, so I better enjoy it.

Melissa clasps her hands together and leans both forearms on the counter. She's locked on to a booth in the far right corner of the diner. Good looking guy; looks pretty chipper for midnight. Reading some kind of shitty poetry book and needs a hair cut. Ex I'll bet. That's where Dalene's sat, too.

"Like, right off the bat? The first person that walked through the door? That guy in the booth over there? That's my first ex-boyfriend. I can't go over there", she whines.

"Uh-oh. Things didn't end well?" I raise my coffee cup slightly. "Just when you've got a second Melissa, that coffee would be nice."

Melissa looks at her shoes. Unfortunately, my coffee is not on her shoes.

"I mean, not exactly. It was so long ago like, we were kids and it was just... whatever. I don't know. I haven't talked to him since. Well, he hasn't talked to me. I sort of... left him for his best friend. He... caught us."

I try to stifle a chuckle "wow, yeah, you're right Melissa. that is awkward."

She raises her voice slightly.

"Right?! And then over there-- that couple in the booth by the window there? The guy with the glasses? They were my neighbours back when we still lived on the north side and I was learning to drive. One day I was coming home late after missing curfew, and I was having just a horrible night... kinda shaken up about whatever drama was going on in my life. You know what I'm talking about?" she gestures to me with an open hand.

Damn. This one is so... young. And not too bright. What the hell do they have her here for? She can't be deserving of this sort of thing just yet. I tap my coffee mug a couple of times with my pointer finger and give a slightly interested, "Yuh-huh."

"Well, somehow... when I was pulling into the drive... I hit their cat. He was still alive but... it was so awful. I told them right away, and everything and they took him to the vet, but they had to put him down. They always said they weren't mad. I just know they were." She pauses before walking to the can of coffee and prying the lid open.

"I'm really sorry, Melissa," I grumble, "that sounds pretty tough." Her gaze darts to the jukebox and she slams the can of coffee down. I audibly sigh.

"Okay, this is getting really weird!" She's whispering and yelling at the same time. "Over there is a teacher that I had fired back in seventh grade. She caught me cheating on a test and she was going to tell my parents but if my parents knew that my birthday bash was going to be cancelled and I just panicked and I... I told my parents she propositioned me for sex after class the day she called me in for cheating. It was my word against her and I won. I've never seen her again. How can I look her in the face? She knows I lied. She knows I lied and she'll never be able to prove it. What the fuck is up with this diner?" She starts running her hands through her hair nervously. She drops her shoulders again, takes a deep breath, and finally scoops coffee into a clean filter. She slams the machine shut and the water begins to drip into the grounds. What a spoiled little brat. Maybe she does deserve a couple of shifts in here.

"You okay?" I whisper. I'm genuinely curious at this point; the poor girl hasn't even been to a table yet and she's already lost the ability to cope. They had to have known that before bringing her in. She's moving slowly; her face is straight and it's a cross between trying not to cry and trying to stifle every one of those bubbly bones in her body. She takes one last scan of the diner. Then she locks eyes with me, just as she did when she first arrived. Does she know me?

"Everyone in here is someone I've hurt. Someone who holds a memory of mine that brings me shame."

I hold her gaze, my lips breaking into a smile.

"Welcome to Bashful's."

The doe-eyed look is back. She leans back toward me and she speaks now with a sort of scared curiosity. Like someone asking a question they don't want the answer to.

"Except you. I don't know you... I don't think. Why are you here? Why didn't you leave with the others?"

My phone buzzes. "sorry I'm uh... I'm on call. Just have to check this message." I slide my finger across the screen.

"The cat ain't the only thing she hit that night, Cliff." I freeze looking down at my phone after it's long faded to black. It's her. After all these years, how didn't I know I'd find her here?

Melissa's finally holding the carafe of fresh coffee in her hand and begins to pour it into the empty mug in front of me before I answer. It's as if she's already forgotten she asked.

"Well, I'm the man you've seen in the papers and on the news pleading that someone comes forward with information about the hit and run that stole the only light from my life. I'm here because you murdered my daughter,"

I take a sip of my coffee, then I lock my eyes back onto her. She's clutching the carafe and the horrified grimace is back. I grin.

"you know, before the incident with Mr. Snuggles next door. Can I get some cream and sugar from you, honey?"