A few weeks past by and everything seemed to be going to well. My family was goofy, but loving. I had my mom, dad, an older sister, and my little brother. My little brother, Kurt, loved to tinker, always making something new for fun or school. Chrystal, my sister was always focusing on making sure she was different from others, whether it be dyeing her hair, not using the websites everyone else used, I believe she called it being "too main stream." My dad was an engineer, and one hell of a mathematician. My mother was an accountant with beautiful blonde hair. She was so kind and loving."Bye, I'm off to work." I yelled as I walked out the door. I worked in a little Italian restaurant called Burning Inn. As I walked down the street, I got tackled. I let out a scream as I fell over, the person falling on me. Looking up, a young girl with a school uniform on, was on top of me, rubbing her head. "Jeez, watch where you're going!" My cheeks flushed red as I looked down and saw her cute black panties. She quickly covered them with her skirt as she noticed, and a slap came across my face. "Pervert!" Moe slaps came after. What the hell is with this girl? It's not like I intentionally looked under her skirt. She got off me and snapped, "Who do you think you are, running into people and then looking up their skirts?! Weirdo!" I'm the weirdo? What the hell girl."In all due fairness, you ran into me. Cute undies, though." Another slap. "Will you stop, munchkin?!" "You're the one making dirty jokes, dick!" With that, she stormed off. Who the hell was that? Whatever. Rubbing my face, I walked off to work.
"Hey boss, how you doing?" I threw my apron on in a haste, getting right to work, chopping up fresh grain for flour. Conor looked over at me, "You forgot to clock in again, you fool. That's gonna cost you." Crap. He got me there. I turned around and grabbed my I.D., clocking in. Turning back around, I washed my hands and went right back into it. I felt at peace cooking. A small flash came across my mind of a bag and some flashing lights. What the..? I shook my head and dismissed it. This happened occasionally, just random pictures or a little clip of a video, usually followed by a headache."Well, old man, you're getting slow. I've already got the noodles done and bathed in the broth for them to expand. You're over there still cutting up the Mise en place." He laughed and kicked into high gear, as usual, cutting and cooking things. Faster than I could even see, he'd be in one side of the kitchen, and then seem to teleport to the other for some spices, then be right back before I could even tell what he grabbed. "Okay old man, you wanna play that way, let's go!" I tried to match his speed, dropping things here and there. I got nowhere near his speed, but still was faster than most chefs. It was a little competition we did, back and forth. Whoever got their job for the day done fastest, closed the store that night, and so far the score was three hundred to twenty five. You can guess who was in the lead, but I was determined to win this time. As soon as I got done, I noticed the old man just sitting back, smiling, a small bit of sweat on his brow. I smiled and laughed, "Don't tell me, old man, I lost. I'll get the cleaning started after the dinner rush." He began laughing loudly. "Boy, you did it again, you somehow became too fast for me to keep up with. Maybe I am getting old." With that, he stepped away from his area to reveal a bunch of his cooking was still incomplete. My face lit up "Wooohooo! Did it again old man!" He laughed and told me not to get cocky, it's time to serve. I switched into my suit and tie to begin serving, walking out to the front door. The usual crowd was there to swarm the restaurant, hoping to get a table near the open kitchen to watch Conor work his magic.
The night went by pretty fast, occasionally getting called back by Conor to quickly bang out some herbs or cut up some more meat for the entrees when it got too busy. Towards the end of the night, the crowd had died down and I got to relax, joking around with a few regulars. All of the sudden, the bell attached to the door rang. Who the hells coming in just before we close? Some guy in a weird multicolored vest came in with a couple girls. Tonight just had to be different. Conor told me about this guy I believe, he comes in randomly for our soup and bread sticks , usual had a girl or two on him that looked too young for him. Mr. Jones I think his name was. Huh. He looked so familiar. Whatever. I straightened up and walked over, doing my usual routine of complimenting the girls and telling Mr. Jones how lucky he is to have such pretty women with him. The girls were beautiful, aside from their odd chokers that looked a bit too big for their petite bodies, but who am I to judge. Putting on the flare was what I was good at, usually it was cheesier than our tortellini, but people ate it up. He ordered tons of win for the girls, and just as pops said, soup and bread sticks, that he would sensual feed the girls stealing kisses in between. After awhile, they got up and left, thanking me for the hospitality. I began cleaning the table, picking up the tip. Two hundred dollars? Old man wasn't lying, he was a big roller, but if I remember right he's a teacher. How'd he afford this? Whatever, mine now. "Um.. Excuse me, could you tell me where the bathroom is?" I turned around to see her again, the girl from earlier who ran into me. "What the hell are you doing here?!" We said in unison. "I work here, why are you here?" She looked up at me and apologized "I come in here occasionaly to eat the yummy food." Figures. It is a restaurant, after all. I pointed her to the restroom and continued cleaning up the table. I dropped my rag and bent down to pick it up. On the floor was a picture. It was a girl, she looked familiar and kind of cute. She seemed to be drugged out of her mind, nude on a white floor. Turning the photo, over I read, "Tell anyone and you'll end up on internet. You always wanted to be famous right?" Creepy. "Excuse me again?" I jumped, hitting my head on the table. I let out a small yelp before getting up, looking at the girl from earlier. She looked up at me shyly. "What was your name again? I dont think we were introduced?" "My name is Aizen, isn't it proper for the lady to introduce herself first?" She laughed and turned red. "My name is Sarah, I live down the road. I'm sorry for running into you earlier, I'm kinda clumsy." We laughed and had a drink, talking through the night."Hey whats that in your pocket?" Looking down, it was the photo from earlier. "It's something I found on the floor." I pulled it out and handed it to her, her face turned to shock. "This is my friend from school! Wait what? You're like eighteen, how the hell do you know her? She's been missing from school for about a week now, thought maybe she dropped out, but this looks far worse." I look at the photo. "Well, looks like she had a fun night, and at some point, someone got some good dirt on her." "W have to report this to the cops!" Sarah said frantically. Maybe she's right. This photo was fucked up. But, it would shut down pop's shop, and I need the money. I gotta talk her outa this. "Now, now, let's just relax. How about we find her and see if she really needs help, or if this is some prank." She nodded after a moment and left, leaving me her number and telling me that if I found out anything, to call her.
"Hello there, bitch. I hope you're ready to put on a good show today." Why does that voice sound familiar? Why does my body hurt?
Waking up, I noticed that I was on the couch. I looked at the clock on the wall and noticed it was nearly three in the morning. "Huh, guess I passed out when I got home." Looking around again, it seemed like no one had even come home, where is everone? I got up and checked the house. No one was there. Walking into the kitchen, I noticed that there was a note stuck to the fridge. It had a strange symbol on it, almost like a key, but twisted slightly with a skeleton head with names going across the skull. "Aizen/Cody." One red, the other black. Weird. My sister must have drawn this to freak me out, they're probably just out on the town for the night. Turning around, my head felt as light as a feather, and the world was spinning. I blinked. When my eyes opened, I was no longer in my kitchen. I was in a black abyss. I blinked again and a figure suddenly stood before me, cloacked, but with an odd chain around his neck. He held out a hand. I thought lightning was going to come out, (fuckin nerd ~yfe) but rather, he handed me a paper, slightly burnt on the edge. "What is this?" I asked, but as soon as I look up, he was gone, and I was back in my kitchen on the ground. Reaching out, I grabbed the paper and took a look. On it was written, "Apelah." The hell's that mean? More importantly, I need to lay down. My head's killing me. As I passed the fridge to go back to the living room, I noticed the paper with the key on it was gone. Weird. Maybe I dreamt it when I passed out? Going up the stairs, I noticed the light was on in my room. It must be Chrystal playing a trick on me.
Walking through the door, there was someone there, but it wasn't my annoying little sister. They looked over at me. "Ah, I was wondering when you would get here, idiot. What took you so long? Thought maybe he got you." Taken aback slightly, I blurted out at them. "Who the fuck are you and who, or what, are you talking about?" Stepping closer, I noticed he had sheen silver hair spiked with gel, a well squared jaw and dazzling blue eyes. "Quit your barking you idiot, my name's Asoka. I'm like you. You've seen it right?" "Seen what? Cause right now all I see is a random guy in my room, that I've never even met before!" He grabbed me by the shoulder and shook me back and forth, yelling in my face. "The door, you idiot! The secret that everyone knows, but no one admits!" "What door? There's a good dozen of 'em right here in my house! What are you talking about?!" Is there an extra room here that I didnt know about? He quickly took the notebook he had in his hands, and flipped through it. Puzzled, I looked over his shoulder. There was writing through all the pages, different names and faces, a couple looked framiliar. Ah. There was that name again. Cody. He stopped and leaned aside for me to see. "This door, idiot. The one that stands in the nothing." Looking closely at the page, it was a very detailed door with angels seeming to hold up a sun with strange writing scratched all over it. It's that damned door from my dreams. What the hell? How does this kid know about that? Bowing my head and letting out a sigh, I looked over at Asoka and gave the best smile I could, given the circumstances. "How would you like something to drink? Let's go downstairs and discuss this shall we?"
