Lunaris

Chapter Two: First Impressions

This chapter was a long time coming, but I had a stressful week. It was ready three days ago but I haven't had time. It's up now, so that's good. Thank you to the lovely souls who've commented and read my story since my last update! Hope you like this one!

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 The red Dutch-door opened with the cheerful jingle of a bell. 

Mina rushed out of the sub-freezing mountain air and into Howler's Diner, breathing a sigh of relief once the toasty heat wrapped around her like a phantom hug. Body involuntarily shaking from the stinging wafts of winter air on her exposed skin, she hurried to clean the dirty slush off her worn Timberland work boots on the muddy greeting mat before she would allow herself to cross the threshold into the sleepy eating establishment. Once inside, she indulged in a moment of unabashed scrutiny, soaking in with eager eyes every minuscule detail of the small diner.

Howler's Diner was far from what she expected. The decor was strictly 50's themed and pristinely clean, she observed with some satisfaction. The walls were a non-threatening eggshell white, in the spaces void of framed posters and shadow cases displaying signed sports merchandise. Amongst the typical black and white photographs of James Dean, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, and Betty Davis, there was also a great amount of photographs of wolves and classic Hollywood horror actors and actresses in their monster garb. Lon Chaney as The Wolfman, Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula, Boris Karloff as Frankenstein, and several other actresses who Mina couldn't identify in various stages of distress and undress.

With black and white checkered floors polished to perfection, with not a scuff mark to be found on the linoleum, shiny red vinyl booth seats that lined the windowed walls of the front, polished stainless steel table tops, and a long bar with a soda machine and glass case with pies and pastries lined inside, it was not the run-down, outdated small-town diner Mina had expected. She quickly glanced around at the few customers seated at tables near the window, mostly staring sullenly at a muted tv monitor playing a re-run of a FRIENDS episode- the one in which Monica Geller and Chandler Bing get married. Curious to discover if the food was as colorful as the decor, she decided then that she'd stay for a meal. A quick look toward the occupied tables offered little towards her discovery of the menu, as all of them had plates covered in giant slabs of steaks and thick, perfectly golden steak fries. Their drinks were steaming coffee, in plain white coffee cups. She felt a pang of disappointment that none were having a cliché strawberry smoothie in a tall malt glass, as that was what she was suddenly craving, despite the sharp chattering of her teeth from the frigid air.

The only sound inside the place was a jukebox, which was lit up in friendly neon colors next to the cash register to the left of the entrance. Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire floated softly from the speakers, serving more as white noise to break the uncomfortable silence, rather than as entertainment. There was an occasional loud squeak of a knife on a plate as the customers worked through their food, but the only other sound was the soft buzzing of the neon light display hanging in one of the windows. The silence was peaceful, if not startling. A place this cheery deserved loud chatter and laughter, but it seemed that the whole restaurant was in a sullen trance.

Mina's fingers itched to touch the place, to confirm that she was actually standing in this place and not dreaming it. Without touch, she felt lost and blind. She was not a touchy person with people, feeling the encroachment of her personal space more severely than most. But with buildings or objects, it was an entirely different story. Her father had often said that walls have seen more history than the human eyes, that if she listened close enough and opened her mind, she'd see much more than plywood and drywall. Mina could feel, more than see, the history living within objects. It was a compulsion that did her well throughout her career. She somehow knew what the building wanted, and she worked hard to achieve it.