The Invitation.

The waiter marched out of the dimly lit kitchen and kicked the obsolete jukebox until it resonated with the sweet melodies of ‘Presley’. The tune displaced the deafening silence of the dark empty diner. Kyra fixed her gaze on him as he wiped down tables and rocked along with the music. The droning hum of the appliances and pattering of the rain against the tinted windows sang with the music, a symphony of the diner.

From the walls of the booths, the once vibrant colours had now become washed out, a mere imprint of the past. Kyra sat at a corner booth, under a muted light, engrossed in her work. She tucked an amber lock of hair behind her ear as she typed aggressively, a moth to the blue flame of her laptop. She picked up her warm mug to find a sliver of coffee left.

“Kyle! Coffee stat!” she hollered from her seat. No response.

Eager, she stood up and went to pour some more. Warm hints of vanilla and caffeine filled the air as she walked back to her table. Just as she sat, a notification popped up on her screen. “Are you up for a challenge?” read out Kyra. Unbothered, she clicked ‘no’ on the screen. She stared at the screen as she pondered the answers to the homework set. Kyra grabbed her coffee cup and took large gulps.

“Slow down! You might burn yourself! We wouldn’t want that.” read the screen. Kyra put her cup down and rubbed her eyes in disbelief. Kyra chuckled and said "That's insane. Hold on." She hovered over the pop-up and opened it up.

"So are you up for a challenge?" Kyra read. She shrugged and accepted the invite. Kyra had been up since four and could use certainly use a break. Her screen now emanated a hazy auburn glow that flashed a question. “You seem tired. Order something?: salad wrap or a banana split?”

“Haha, whatever, a banana split,” Kyra whispered. ‘clink.’ It spun slowly on her table and came to a stop. Kyra's eyes bulged in shock as reality seemed to chip away. She slowly pulled the delicacy towards her as the lights spasmed for a split second. It seemed real enough. Kyra felt drawn toward the game's alleged innocence. She played, earned and celebrated, as she passed requests, and received strange momentos that tended to blip in and out of reality.

She paced around the diner, as she clicked away and laughed in solitude.

The analogue clock on the wall read two a.m. as she frantically played the game, reeking havoc within the diner. “Where is your mighty squire?” it asked.

“Mighty squire? Who would th- oh! Kyle! Kyle come out here.” Kyra called out.

“Now choose, his hair or eyes?”

“What does that even mean? I do love his eyes,” she told herself.

Kyle slowly walked out and sat in front of Kyra.

“What do you want now, crazy? He teased.

Kyra hovered over the option and chose ‘eyes’. “Nevermind,” she told him.

He got up and slowly walked away from the table until he stood upright in the middle of the diner. Suddenly, shrilling screams radiated from him as he clenched his eyes and rabidly moved around. Inhumane buzzing filled the air as the lights and appliances shook. He wailed and whimpered as he stumbled in the darkness, calling out for Kyra. Kyra’s colour drained as she snapped out of the game’s treacherous trance. Vibrations echoed throughout the chasms of the petit diner before coming to an abrupt stop. Kyra’s ears rang in the splitting silence. Kyle’s screams had come to a halt. Then he turned around. Blank. Kyles’ barren face jolted erratically in disbelief.

She sped to her laptop and slammed it. She rushed to Kyle and lifted him up to sit him next to her. When she sat back down, her laptop was open.

“Aw, you didn’t think it would be that easy…” it read.

Filled with dread, she backed away from the computer towards the inside of the booth, rigid. Kyra picked up her laptop and smashed it into the ground. Breathless, she leaned against the glass, holding onto her head only to be greeted by gentle tapping from behind.

‘Thud. Thud. Thud.’