People who have never had to do it seem to think it’s unfortunate to have to work in a diner. I didn’t think so when I worked there. At least it wasn’t unfortunate at first. I had a lot of fun working there because the people I worked with were great and our customers were very nice. It’s a small town, so usually the people are pretty nice compared to the city folk who stop in from time to time.
I would say it was one of the most enjoyable jobs I have had, but that sentiment only carried up to the point where it became a nightmare. The owner of the Diner was Dave Madison. He was also the short-order cook. Everybody loved Dave. He was very easygoing, and a character. He always had some crazy joke for you every day when he came in. Everyone loved how he could coast through the day without getting upset, even when something went wrong. He was always smart enough to remedy or fix whatever needed fixing.
I remember one year Dave managed to fix a relationship between his regular customers, John and Lyra Smith. It was about that time that they became regulars. They throw a big birthday party for him every year. We all would attend. I guess you could it was a great place to work. That is—until the day that wasn’t.
It was just before the year-end holidays. The whole town was bustling with busy shoppers preparing for Thanksgiving. The diner stayed packed from breakfast to dinner. Some days there was even a line forming at the door. The customers all tipped well and we staff members hummed throughout our day because we cleaned up on tips.
It was Thursday night and were closing down for the evening. There were only a couple of tables left with straggling customers finishing up their meals. I was stacking the freshly washed dishes while Dave gathered all the trash to put it out in the back. He left the back door open as he carried four large trash bags, full and nearly bursting open, out to the dumpster. As I shifted my focus back to my dishes duty, I heard a scream, then the sound of the dumpster getting bumped hard.
Startled by the noise I dropped a dish on the floor. It shattered into pieces. I stepped over the shards of cheap porcelain and darted out the open back door. I jumped over and off the three steps at the door’s threshold, and as I landed, I caught a glimpse of something disappearing into the bush and underbrush across the alley from the diner. I stepped in that direction to investigate what I thought I saw, but then I heard a grunt coming from Dave at the dumpster. I rushed over to help him as he was struggling to get off the ground. I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up to his feet. He was shaking profusely. His eyes were wide and alert.
“Are you okay, Dave?” I asked.
“Yeah, I think so,” he answered breathlessly.
I looked down at his shirt and noticed that there was blood on his shirt. I looked closer and saw that his shirt was torn.
“Was that an animal that scratched you?” I asked while looking back at the spot where I saw whatever it was disappeared into.
Dave’s shaking stopped immediately and stood up straight, and steadied his breathing. Then he responded, “No I must have tripped on something and fell against a sharp corner on the dumpster.”
I looked back at the dumpster for any sharp or jagged edges on the dumpster. It didn’t look like any of the corners, particularly, the corner closest to where he felt, looked in any way sharp enough to scratch him like that. There was a lot of blood.
“You sure, you’re okay?” I tested.
“Yeah, I’m good. Let’s get inside,” he maintained.
I took another look for things I thought I saw, hoping for just another glimpse, but there was nothing there. So we started back inside. We returned to the kitchen to find the entire staff standing there waiting to find out what happened.
“What happened? What was that noise?” asked Myra, one of the waitresses.
Dave chimed up before I could say anything and answered, “I tripped and fell at the dumpster.”
I looked at him surprised by how fast he answered and I was going to contest his explanation. I was just glad it was over and that Dave was okay.
“Dave, you’re bleeding,” Myra exclaimed, “are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” Dave said, then he added, “I just need to get cleaned up.”
Dave pushed his way past everyone. We all just stood there discussing what just happened, or didn’t happen as we continued closing up for the night.
Then Myra ran after Dave. She wanted to get him to the emergency room to get him some medical attention. She followed the blood trail he left to the men’s room. After some convincing, Dave let Myra drive him to the nearest urgent care clinic. The rest of us finished closing up.
The next morning, Myra, Kelly, Mark, and Leticia opened the place. Dave hadn’t come in. Leticia was surprised by Dave’s absence, but she wasn’t there for the late shift so she was unaware. Myra and Kelly filled her in on the previous night’s events.
“Yeah, Dave had an accident. A bit of a fall,” Myra explained.
“A fall?” Leticia repeated, concerned. “Is he okay?” she asked.
“He cut himself on something when he fell,” Myra answered, “He was bleeding pretty badly, so I took him to the urgent care to get him patched up.”
“Oh, bleeding?” Leticia questioned.
“But he was okay,” said Myra, “They gave him some stitches and sent him home.”
“Maybe he’s just finally taking the day off,” chimed Kelly.
“Most likely,” said Myra.
The team continued to open the Diner to get service started. They had to call the assistant cook, Guillermo in to take over for Dave while he was out. He complained at first but we all know Guillermo, he understood and deep down was grateful for the extra hours. Not to mention, this would give him a chance to show that he could run the whole kitchen on his own. Still, when he came in, he grumbled a little bit about coming in so early.
As the mid-day came, Myra took her break, saying she wanted to give Dave a call to see how he was doing. This was about the time I was coming on shift. I caught her leaving as I was coming in.
“Hey, Myra,” I greeted, “how’s Dave doing?”
“He didn’t come in today,” she answered, “I’m going to call and check on him.”
“Okay let me know what you find out,” I responded.
She pulled out her cell phone as she walked out, then I heard a yelp. I ran out there to see what was the matter. Myra was surprised by Dave standing at the door. He was just standing there, with a look on his face that we had never seen before.
“Dave!” Myra exclaimed.
“Hey, Dave, you okay?” I asked.
The countenance on his face seemed to lighten up, and he cracked a smile. “I’m great,” he replied.
“You sure?” I asked, “You were standing there with a Jack Nicholson face for a moment.”
“Yeah I just thought I’d give you guys a bit of a scare,” Dave answered, “Come on you know me.”
We all went back into the diner. Dave was acting like nothing happened. The staff were all surprised and pleased to see that Dave was Okay. They all welcomed him back. Dave responded like he typically would. With a joke.
“How long was I gone?” he asked jokingly.
Everyone laughed out loud. We all realized that Dave was fine. We continued to go about the day. Things went on normally and without incident. The next day was about the same except there was one strange occurrence. According to Guillermo, Dave just stopped what he was doing for a minute. He just stood there staring at the food as it cooked. Then he slammed his spatula on the grill, cursing profusely. Now, Dave is not the type to use profanity, in that way. You might hear one or two words mixed into normal conversation once in a while but not a long angry string of swear words like Guillermo described.
It was then Wednesday, and all was good–sort of. We all were working our shifts, Guillermo was back to his usual shift but his duties had been expanded thanks to his help covering for Dave. However, speaking of Dave. He came in late again that day. Still asserting that he was fine. We didn’t question it. We just assumed that he would normalize his schedule in time.
Somewhere around the lunch rush, Dave became unpredictable. It started with a bit of agitation. Kelly put in an order for a family. It was a large order. Dave became irritated and told Kelly to fuck off. She threw the ticket at him and then ran out of the kitchen crying. I went to see what happened. Myra went after Kelly.
“Dave, what the hell, man?” I scolded, “This isn’t like you.”
“You can fuck off too,” he blasted. His face was tense as if he were in pain.
“Dave, you were pretty hard on Kelly,” I continued, “You should go home and rest.”
Dave’s countenance changed again. This time to one of rage. Leticia walked just at that moment. She was startled by the look on Dave’s face. Knowing that she wasn’t looking at the Dave we all knew and loved, she was speechless at first. Then she took a huge step back and shouted, “That’s not Dave.”
“What?” I asked surprised, ”What do you mean” Of course it’s Dave.”
“No. That’s not Dave,” she maintained.
“Look, Dave’s just not feeling well today.” I explained,”I’m trying to get him to go home to get some rest. Right, Dave?”
Then, oddly, Dave started singing.
“”Tommy’s the got a knife, Tommy’s got a gun,
Nobody knows which way they should run…””
He sang those words repeatedly while gripping a large knife his his hand so tightly his knuckles turned white.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Myra announced, “We certainly do apologize for the inconvenience but we are going to have to close down for the day.”
We gave the customers to-go boxes and for those who hadn’t received their meals yet, we gave them all rain tickets for a free meal on their next visit. When the last customer left, we closed and locked the door. Dave was still standing in the kitchen singing that strange song and he had slowly backed Guillermo in a corner in the kitchen. He frightened Guillermo so badly that by this time, he also grabbed a knife. He warned Dave to stay away from him several times.
Myra and I were trying to talk them both down from whatever it was this situation was becoming. Dave continued his slow advance on Guillermo and Guillermo continued to back himself deeper and deeper into the corner until he couldn’t back up any further. When he bumped into the wall, it startled him which caused him to lung the knife he was holding at Dave. He missed and Dave kept advancing. Myra screamed when Guillermo tried to strike. I ran over and grabbed Dave’s left arm. At that moment Dave reached around himself with the knife in his right hand and gauged at me. He nicked me on my right forearm.
“Ow, Fuck, Dave, what the hell?” I yelled.
Dave, still singing those strange lyrics, turned his attention back to Guillermo. By that time, Guillermo was at the height of his fear. He again raised his knife and plunged it into Dave’s chest.
“No!, Fuck!” I cried out.
Myra screamed and so did Kelly. Leticia and Mark came running. When they got to the kitchen, Leticia fainted and Mark threw up at the sight of all the blood. I guess it would be safe to say that they were surprised to Dave still standing there with a large knife stuck in his chest.
I tried again to get Dave away from Guillermo but I was knocked backward and onto the floor. I struggled to get to my feet. Then Dave started after me. I scrambled onto my feet and moved out of reach from Dave as he swiped at me with his knife. Myra then grabbed a hot pan of grease from the stove and threw it on Dave. Dave immediately hit the floor writhing in pain. His roaring screams were deafening.
Then the screams lessened some and started turning into grunts of agony. Dave began writhing on the floor. His pain was so obvious. We were all nervous and at the same time, grossed out. His skin was pale and sweaty. Then Dave managed to get to his feet. We all parted like the Red Sea as he moved past us, leaving the kitchen and entering the dining room. He shambled over toward the door. We thought he was going to leave the diner. We wanted to stop him but we were too afraid to try.
He didn’t leave. Instead, he stopped right at the door and started staring at it. There was a gurgling noise coming from, I guess it was his stomach.
“Oh shit, he’s gonna puke,” Myra warned.
Dave’s head started moving back and forth as it became more apparent that he was going to puke. Then he opened his mouth and a greenish gelatinous liquid came flying out. It splattered on the door, at the seams.
“Oh god, it’s smells bad,” said Kelly.
Dave looked over at the rest of us. His face was so distorted, that we didn’t recognize him. It was swollen in some places and in other places it was gaunt. His cheeks protruded, while his eyes were sunk in.
The girls were in such shock and fear, that they stood there crying, unable to move. I didn’t know what to do myself. All I could do was just stand there holding my hand over my nose and mouth, trying not to get that awful smell in my mouth.
“Somebody do something!” Myra called out.
“What the fuck are we supposed to do?” asked Mark.
“Oh, you’re awake,” Guillermo scoffed.
We then noticed that the stuff that Dave spewed all over the door had hardened and thickened. He was trying to lock us in. We all came to that conclusion at the same time. We bolted to the kitchen trying to get to the back door. Dave jumped and chased, easily catching up to us. Each of us was knocked back or knocked down as Dave raced to reach the door first. It was just that that he did. When landed in front of the back door, he turned toward it and began to spew.
“Sick,” Mark complained.
Just like the front door, the fluid started to harden and expand. It sealed the door in seconds. We all grabbed something to use as a weapon. We knew that Dave was trapping us in. For us to get out alive, we knew we would have to fight. Being that it was the kitchen of a Diner, the best weapons we could find were knives, large pots, and maybe a broom handle. So that’s what we had.
The fight began. It started with Dave taking a swing at me. I ducked and stabbed him under the arm. Guillermo followed by stabbing him in the back. Myra had a frying pan which she used to bash Dave in the head. Kelly stepped with a broom handle and smacked him across his back. Then Mark, reluctantly, entered the fray, with a big meat fork but Dave dispatched him with a wicked backhand. This sent Mark flying across the kitchen and sliding into the refrigerator.
For a moment there was a pause. Dave fell to the floor and began groaning and yelling in anguish. This time it was different. There were parts of Dave’s body that were moving. Sort of swelling and unswelling, and pulsating. Other smells and sounds began to emanate from him.
His shirt was drenched from additional fluids coming through his skin. Then the sound of flesh tearing emerged as Dave’s back started to pulsate even more than before. The tearing sound intensified. Dave started screaming and groaning more frequently and louder. Then, to our horror, we saw something coming out of his back. They were like four appendages emerging from his back. Each one had two to three joints. We all took several steps back. I lifted Mark off the floor.
“Get up Mark,” I urged.
By the time I looked back at Dave, He was completely unrecognizable. His rage was, by then, over the top. He was bumping that ramming into things. Dave was literally behaving like a bull in a china shop. He started chasing us around the Diner and smashing through anything that got in his way. During the whole ordeal, as he rampaged around trying to kill each of us, we took opportunities to attack him. I managed to stab him about three times. Myra banged his head at least four times, and Kelly got a couple of whacks in with her broom handle.
The fight went on for several minutes. We were all exhausted, including Dave. If you could still call him Dave. Tired and worn out, we still continued to take turns in our attacks. The beast continued to lash out at us. Finally, I found a propane canister lying around. At that point I realized, Dave kept a handgun in the desk drawer in his office. I grabbed the canister and hoofed to the office. I raided Dave’s desk and found the gun. I ran out to the dining room where the battle was still going on.
I waited for the right time. As Dave crashed around the place, and the others either kept him occupied or attacked him, I waited. Then, finally, the right moment came. Dave stopped in the middle of the floor. Everyone else stopped as well, watching for the next move.
“What now,” asked Kelly.
I toss the canister at Dave, and just as I hoped, the fucker caught the thing. Dave just stood there holding the canister. He didn’t quite know what to do with it. Then I raised the gun and pointed at him. I yelled, “Get down!”
Then Dave knew what was coming. He tried to throw the canister back at me, but he was too late. I pulled the trigger, firing one shot at the canister. I saw the bullet pierce the canister. I immediately dived under the nearest pile of junk. The canister exploded with a lot of fire and heat pressure. Then I heard pieces of flesh hit the wall and the floor. I think a few pieces fell on me. I raised my head to see the results of my efforts.
“Is everyone okay?” I asked.
Everyone responded positively, simultaneously climbing to their feet. We then worked on getting that goo off the door so that we could leave. I looked around at the place and saw that some things were on fire. It became more imperative that we needed to leave. We looked around for something that could be used to pry or peel the stuff from the door. Then Mark picked up a chair that was still intact enough.
“The door is made of glass, right?” he asked.
We all agreed, “Yeah.”
Mark flung the chair through the glass of the diner door. Glass shards flew out onto the street along with the chair. We all managed to leave the place. Throughout the night the diner burned completely to the ground.
A few months later, we all caught up with each other to make sure everyone was getting on okay. As things turn out, we have managed to get past it to a certain degree. Dave will be missed, and definitely not forgotten.