Challenge #01651-D190: Ill-Met By NeonsteemCreated with Sketch.

in #fiction7 years ago (edited)

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The city sleeps, if the city is large enough to support night workers, cops, nurses, cleaning staff and cab drivers, somewhere there is a place open with hot coffee, hot food, a place to sit and grab a meal or snack before heading home to sleep. -- Knitnan

Towns can sleep. Villages definitely slumber. Cities? Cities never close. There's always somewhere going. Some light that is on and someone who is using that illumination for something. Not always something nice, because the have-nots figure out where the haves are and attempt a little manual redistribution.

But neither of those are here, in this tiny island of light in the darkened streets. It's a spot where the permanent and the itinerant alike come for a moment. A moment of peace. A moment to think. A moment to have a coffee, or bitch about politics, or catch up on a news station that isn't interrupted by static. The regulars sit with their laptops or their studies, and ask Joe about his corns or his lumbago. The people who aren't regulars watch the shitty television in the corner and process their food and beverages.

This is a space for the Night People. The flotsam and jetsam who just don't fit in the daylight. Those for whom the sun is their enemy. Those for whom normal is not obligatory, and unusual is acceptable. It is a realm of cheap but neat clothes and fading uniforms. And into this speck in the night-time galaxy of the city, there comes a complete stranger. Trouble about to happen.

He wears a ski mask and a hoodie. And he's holding a gun. He has a backpack with Hello Kitty as a larger pocket, and it's both empty and open. "All right. You know what this is. I want money, phones, and any jewellery that's worth a damn. Laptops, too."

Most of the clientele begin to obey. Except for Corienne, who was still busily working on her thesis in her usual corner.

"Hey! I said laptops, too."

Corienne looked up. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, mister. One, this is a pre-loved laptop from the nineties. It barely runs. Two... I hate to use a cliche, but you came into the wrong diner."

"And it's a full moon," growled one of the regulars, he was already shaggier than he had been a handful of seconds ago. "That's when the crazies come out."

"And the weirdoes," said another. Her glamour faded away and revealed her truth. That she was a vampire. "You look delicious, by the way."

The would-be thief unloaded all his bullets into Gladys. And then he threw the gun. He turned back to Corienne. "And what are you? The daughter of C'thulu?"

"Naw, I'm just a night student. These guys helped me out once when I had a really bad month. So I help them out with the new stuff once in a while."

"I can use a smart phone now," said Gladys the vampire. "My selfies rock."

Dorothy, both Djinn and waitress for this place, had her eyes burning. "Honey, you better talk fast or you're gonna have a bad time."

Joe in the back was an amorphous mass of shadows and tentacles.

"They sort of adopted me," explained Corienne. "You can take their money. They don't really care. Immortality really lets you get perspective about belongings. But me? You leave me alone, okay? They take it personally if something happens to me."

Bill was full werewolf, now. Slavering. "Run," he snarled. He had to snarl because his muzzle wouldn't let him do anything else. "Please run. I love it when they run."

The would-be thief dropped the backpack. "I'm sorry," he said, rapid-fire. "I'm sorry I didn't know, I was just trying to get ahead and there's always people in here and I thought--"

Carol, still apparently normal, got off her stool. "Stand down, my friends. We have a first-timer. Confess, and repent, and all will be forgiven."

Dude started infodumping about his horrible life. Corienne, who had experienced an Angel's influence before, got back to her thesis. There were only so many hours before sunrise. When the light would burn her skin. This dude was not her problem any more. But he could be another adoptee, so she kept one ear open on his confession.

She's always wanted a brother. Or anyone who could help her out. The one downside of being in a community of interesting night people is that... they don't do so fantastic in the daylight.

[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / ADavis]

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