When Kai arrived at his favorite restaurant in all of Germany, his body had finally convinced his mind to take a break from all the walking and such. One of the hardest parts of the boy’s job was traveling. Since his father had never decided to buy a car, Kai went to most graveyards either by bike or by foot. Ones that were in tough locations, such as the one he was currently heading to, could take a few days, during which he would miss school, work and home. But to him, it was worth it.
His current job was to head to a small secluded graveyard at the top of a mountain and fix some of the lighting and decorations there, as well as general upkeep of the graveyard. Most would ask compensation or anything of the sort for this work, but Kai gladly did it for free. He didn’t care much about money, rewards or breaks- but after 7 hours of walking, he needed one.
The restaurant he found himself at was a cute little family owned cabin known as ‘Der Fegefeuer’, translated to ‘The Purgatory’. While the name may hint at something scary or evil, it was actually a very calm and cute little restaurant, which Kai loved to visit. The coffee they had there was absolutely amazing. Maybe it was a special kind of bean they used, or fresh spring water, or maybe it was a family recipe? Whatever it was, he was in love with it.
The boy took his usual spot in the very back of the restaurant, on a large old brown couch. While most people avoided this spot, Kai loved it. It was private, comfortable, quiet and he nearly blended in with the wall when he had his hood on, so he would be a bother to nobody. Usually, the only person that even knew he was there was his favorite waiter, a young but ridiculously tall woman by the name of Angelika. Speaking of her however, where was she? By now, he would have already gotten a surprise hug from behind and been lifted up in the air. He wasn’t particularly a fan of that, but he had grown used to it by now. So what was going on?
And then it hit him. Just a week prior, he had helped the girl plan her grandmother’s funeral, which was… Today. The memories of him helping her shot through his mind. In a way, he was fond of those memories and the time they spent together, but he was sad they even had to spend that time together to begin with.
The boy quietly looked around and noticed that the restaurant was in worse shape than usual. Normally, he didn’t mind at all, since he had no right to talk about keeping yourself or something you own clean. But this time around, it was a bit strange. A lot of the lights were messed up, decorations missing and the owner was walking around quite stressed.
He didn’t mean to listen in to what the man was mumbling to himself, but the man hadn’t noticed Kai at all and thought he was just speaking to himself. Interrupting him would be quite rude. From what the gravedigger could gather from the man’s mumbling, they were in the middle of a renovation, but because of a few factors, including the funeral Angelika was going to, everything they needed would only arrive tomorrow. Even worse, they were short on staff. They might just have to close the restaurant for the day.
Kai hesitated a little bit, before he went to offer his services to the man.
When guests arrived at ‘Der Fegefeuer’ that night, they would be shocked to find a whole new atmosphere in the building. The restaurant was dark, only a few dim white lights and candle lights were scattered around the building. The staff, including a strange looking short boy, who seemed to somehow carry the presence of death on his shoulder, were dressed in pure white. The usual colourful flowers had been replaced with white and black ones, which Kai had personally gathered.
While it was a little scary at first, there was a kind of peace and warmth to it all, one that the restaurant had always had, but was now clear as day. At times, guests would wonder if this was really the restaurant they had always known, if they hadn’t stepped into something else, something a bit more supernatural. The presence of the young boy didn’t help either. But even if they had, most of them felt… At peace here.
When the guests left that night, some turned back and wondered if the restaurant would be the same if they stepped inside again. And if it was, could they ever leave again?
The day after, everything was back to normal. The decorations, the staff and the whole mod were like they used to be. And just for fun, the owner swore the restaurant had been closed the whole night. Kai wouldn’t find out about this though, as he had left first thing in the morning. But maybe, just maybe, he would find it a little funny.
My first writing thing for @royal-despair
I hope you guys liked it!
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