/lit/ - Literature

>>19246290
>She definitely just spoke in English

New Madrid was a miserable place for those unfortunate enough to find themselves traveling through town. Richard was one of the unfortunate souls who found himself in New Madrid, New Mexico. It was not at all his intent to have stayed within the city limits. He had been heading towards Albuquerque for his sister’s wedding. Thanks to his slow pacing, he was forced to spend the night in a shabby two-star hotel.

“Here is the key.” Richard said as he dropped the room key on the front desk of the hotel. It read “three” in a faded black print on the jet tag.

“Thank you, sir, have a wonderful rest of your day!” The woman at the desk was oddly cheerful as she stated this. Something that Richard had not really seen in his limited experience with hotel clerks.

After stepping into his shabby old 2001 model of the blue Chevrolet Silverado, he booted up the GPS on his phone in search of somewhere to eat. The hotel he stayed in had not offered a breakfast to its clients. Rather unsurprising of such a rundown roadside inn. A four-star breakfast diner popped up on his phone. The closest of all of them, being only a five-minute trek from the hotel he stayed at. The few, yet consistent, positive reviews as well as the short distance was enough to sell him on the location.

The drive was as eventful as any other desolate and lightly populated town in any of the sun belt. Shabby old homes that looked as though they would fall apart if you hit the wall too hard with any kind of construction tool. Richard chuckled to himself as he imagined the fact that his very vain sister would very likely be living in one of these homes thanks to her and her soon-to-be husband’s horrid spending habits

“Poor bastards,” Richard thought as he gazed on the dusty single-story Spanish Colonial homes.

The diner seemed to be in a rather similar state to the hotel and housing in this town. Despite the fact it was on a main throughfare of the town, the shop looked as though it had been abandoned during the 2008 stock market crash. Hell, the whole town seemed to have suffered a similar fate. Richard was not in position to judge appearances, especially after reviewing the café’s profile online. Richard was simply a customer who was seeking food and drink before he had to make the his way to Albuquerque.

Richard opened the door to the café only for him to be met with the loud ring of a bell. He flinched to that. The second flinch came from the fact that the café was completely empty, save for a single soul. A younger white woman, no older than maybe twenty-five sat at a table for two right next to the barren café’s countertop.

“Sorry to bother. A—are you guys open?” Richard asked, stammering slightly.