Page 1 of The Good Char
Chapter1
DZIK
“Doyou have any other options?Like, maybe a crunchy outside?”the kid with the boils on his face asked.He turned to his friend and continued.“The last time I went to the county fair, I got this really good deep fried one.Dude, it was the best corndog I ever had.”
Pimples, my mind supplied.Humans called it pimples, not boils.Bah, it was all the same.Whatever it was, our demon of infection back home, Sabnock, did a better job than what I was looking at.
I leaned over the smooth, white counter, my nails raking the inside of my palms as I stared into the boy’s face.“The menu above my head is all we have at The Good Char.You’ll be guaranteed to not leave here wanting.We use only the best selected meats for our products.”
The boy’s face turned splotchy as if diseased and I leaned back and crossed my arms wondering if Sabnock was playing tricks on me.Humans were a strange lot and if it wasn’t for the fact that I had a little too much fun back in the underworld, I wouldn’t have been banished to this wretched place they called a mall.The name was false advertisement—Hellscape Mall indeed.
And who didn’t like messing with the damned souls back home?It wasn’t entirely my fault one of them somehow figured out how to escape back to the realm of men.It just so happened that the Master had also been moody lately and I inadvertently was in his path of destruction.
“Yeah, you’re probably not going to get a deep fried corndog here.Just get something, you’re holding up the line, Henry!”the friend exclaimed sheepishly, bringing me back to my current sorry existence.
Second hand embarrassment.It was a common trait among humans I came to find, though it still didn’t make much sense why anyone would care what others were feeling.Dead or being tortured, their feelings had no attachments to the other being.
“All right, all right.I’ll have the GC special, please,” the boy finally chose with false exasperation.
A large, menacing grin split across my face before I made my way over to the grill—a vortex to the underworld.But to the humans, it was how we got ourgood char.
I worked alone once again after our last staff fell into the vortex from tripping over the recently cleaned floor—one thathemopped.Daniel never did watch what he was doing and created more work than necessary.Wasn’t the point of hiring help…to get help?Luck was on my side that he wouldn’t be missed.Daniel was a lone wolf, one that didn’t have any family that cared.Not that any of that mattered, he was a crap employee.Good riddance, I say.
Spearing the meat and dipping it in our secret batter, I made my way over to our fryer and plunged it into its own personal hell and torture.Once it was satisfactory, I pulled the sizzling product out and placed it on its flimsy paper tray, handing it over to the resident of Death Canyon City.
Their eyes widened comically and I could practically see their mouths foaming for the delectable prize in their hands as I rang them up, then stood there with my arms crossed once more.This little prison of mine sported a trio of colors as the theme to match the other deplorable food stalls beside us.The red, yellow and deep purples made me want to wretch into the batter but being manager of The Good Char had its perks.
Customers were sparse this early in the day.Being the last stop on the food line also had that effect.The store beside us recently went under renovations, the construction leading most of our customers away.
I stood there with my chin in hand, pondering if I truly needed another worker to join my never ending torture.When more of the human teenagers looked over to my corner as the day went on, I curled my lip into a snarl, anticipating their jabbering and wishy-washy tendencies when ordering.
Yes, I needed another worker before I ended up inadvertently killing one of the customers from sheer annoyance.I let out a resigned sigh as I bent over and pulled out the ‘now hiring’ sign and placed it against one of the glass sneeze guards.Master help me, if I come across one more incompetent worker…
Leaning back against the opposite counter, I watch as the gaggle of teenage girls stroll past the construction—right for The Good Char.
“Oh!I haven’t had a good corndog in so long!Let’s get some!”one of the girls screeched.She stood a few heads shorter than me, with large framed glasses that covered half of her face.
“You just ate one a week ago, you liar,” replied the tallest one with a snarky tone.She held an air of authority among this throng of females.She must be the leader.
“Don’t be mean, Cindy.You know what I mean.I’m craving it.”
“It does smell delicious…” a softer feminine voice chimed in.This one was partially hidden behind the other two.
“Why do you want to eat this crap if your parents own a restaurant, Kimmy?You should be eating everyday over there,for free,” the one with the attitude barks out like a command.Her voice grated my nerves and my fingers itched to do something I probably shouldn't do according to human customs and laws.
She wouldn’t be this snarky when her soul was tortured down below.The demons of the underworld would make sure of it.I began daydreaming about home and peeling flesh from bone when she casted her gaze in my direction.Her eyes perused my form from the top of my head, downward.
It made my skin crawl.
Here in the human realm, I was forced to take on an appearance that wouldn’t disturb the order of things.Though my demon form was perfectly sound, the master didn’t want me wreaking havoc up here the same way I did back in the underworld.I scowled at the thought.Wasn’t that the best part about being a demon?As part of my punishment, I was forced to ‘play nice’ while I served my time—and I had to do it looking like one of the locals.
I chose the flesh suit of a muscular male of a taller human build who decorated his body with imagery that kept many humans at bay.Some of the images reminded me of home.In my annoyance at the time of my punishment, I chose to replicate one of the human criminals I had come across back in the underworld—minus his hideous face.
It was my bad luck that human females were irrationally attracted to dark haired men with tattoos.Just like the leader of this little mishmash of females here.I glared at her while she continued to size me up.Her blond roots revealed her true colors but she knew that.
As she tilted her head, I’ve concluded that females tend to tie their manes to the side in order to make themselves look bigger with their frizzy locks.An attempt at dominance.
The more I looked at her and the rest of them, the more I realized this gaggle of girls weren’t girls at all, but older than I initially assumed.I scrutinized the timid one that finally chose to emerge from behind her guardians.She looked younger than the other two and I wondered if she was a wayward straggler they picked up to mother.
