by Eunice Nyamuhindu
I first saw him while picking up my coffee at the local coffee shop as I did every morning. I preorder my Caffe Latte made with one-third espresso and a dollop of foam each morning. Milo the coffee shop’s owner and only server already knows and has my order ready before I get to the shop. So, my morning routine is very basic and very predictable, and I’m usually the first customer in at 5:45 am, and the only people I see in the coffee shop are Milo and Suzanne the cleaning lady.
“Who’s the suit?” I asked Milo as I picked up my coffee.
“I dunno,” Milo replied as he left to attend to the drive-thru customer.
I turned towards the strange man trying to see if he was a familiar face, but he was definitely not from around here; I knew just about most people in our town. Middleburg is a very small town and has a population of less than 1000 people, a quarter of them being the older generation. I should know this because I work at the local newspaper, and we had covered an issue on the town’s declining population as most of the younger generation were moving to the city for better work opportunities.
The man had very handsome features… at least I thought so as a stared at him. He had defined cheekbones, and a strong jawline, he was a bit tan with clear skin, and his dark
hair was kept and well-groomed. He looked like he may have been in his mid to late thirties, or maybe early forties.
In the middle of my staring and analyzing as if he could sense what I was doing, he turned towards me, and at that moment we were both staring at each other awkwardly. I was embarrassed for being caught, so I hurriedly looked for a five-dollar bill in my bag and left it on the cashier’s counter as I quickly left the coffee shop.
While driving to work, I couldn’t help but think of the little morning situation I started and cowardly escaped from. Something about the matter bothered me, after all it is a free world, and I am certainly permitted to stare at whomever and whatever I please.
The next few mornings, I noticed the strange man, seated at the same place near the bookshelf, probably drinking the same coffee. He never really seemed to do anything besides drink coffee and keep to himself. And I decided to mind my own business as I continued with my morning routine.
This particular morning, I woke up, ready to go to work, and I was well ahead of my normal schedule. I waltzed in to pick up my coffee, this time with an extra order of their double chocolate chip muffins, because it was Thursday and Thursday was “happy hour muffins all morning, as long as muffins last!”
As I walked in heading to pick up my order, I looked towards the bookshelf and there he was, the same strange man, this time in a lighter suit than the one he was wearing the day before. I’m not sure why, but I stood there staring yet again and if Milo had not called my name very loudly and very obviously indicating that I was staring at the strange man, I’m not sure when I would have gotten to pick up my coffee.
“Ow yeah, sorry Milo,” I said as I inched closer to the cashier’s table as Milo was handing me my order.
“Sorry Mia, the suit took the last of your favorites.”
Annoyingly I accepted a different muffin and paid for my order. As I turned to go, I looked back at Milo and whispered, “Hey, is it just me, or does that man seem strangely familiar?”
“I dunno,” Milo replied with a shrug as he yet again left me to attend to another drive-thru customer. Milo was like that, a very odd barista. Most barista’s I’d met were usually talkative and gossipy, but Milo was a man of few words.
I turned to look at the strange man as I was walking out of the coffee shop. I was not happy about my muffin situation, and I would have ignored the matter if he hadn’t grinned at me while taking a big bite from my muffin with his expressive eyes, and charming smile… Well, his muffin.
So, like any civilized person, I walked up to him and I was going to ask him what he was laughing about, but something stopped me in my tracks. I could have sworn I had seen this man somewhere, but for the best of me, I could not remember.
“Hello! You look familiar, have we met before?” I asked him. Usually most people respond with yes or no to this question, but his response shocked me. His demeanor suddenly and completely changed, and he gave me a look that sent shivers down my spine. “Miss, I’m not the kind of person one forgets after a meeting... we are definitely not acquainted… yet”, was his response as he got up and left the coffee shop with a chilling grin on his face.
“What is up with that man?” The question ran through my head as I walked towards my car. I unlocked my car and opened my door. But just before I entered, I remembered that a couple of months prior while I had been obsessed with a particular true crime series, there were these three-part episodes of a man who was kidnapping women around coffee shops. He would stalk them for days before they suddenly disappeared. While I was thinking about it, I could have sworn he looked like the strange man in the coffee shop. I was trying to remember if he ever got caught or if they ever found those women when suddenly I saw a face reflecting on my car window. Instinctively, I turned to verify who it was, but it happened so quickly, and the next thing I knew, he had what seemed like a dirty white cloth pressed to my mouth. I could smell a strange odor like rotten eggs, and before I could make sense of what was going on, my body became limp, and all I saw next were stars. I’m not sure how long I had been out, but when I finally opened my eyes, I was definitely not in my bed or my car, and the strange man from the coffee shop was standing right in front of me, staring and grinning with that same chilling grin as earlier.
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