Partly inspired by the Hotel of Lost Souls, written by Fiss, and partly by my own meandering mind and experiences.
thoughts?

The Caf? of Broken Dreams

Tinkle-Tinkle?
Ahh! Hello there. Welcome. Take a seat Hon. You want some Coffee? Course you do.
There we go. A nice warm cup. What brings you to these parts?


Ahh, the talkative type. No worry. I?m used to seeing people like that in my Diner. The average clientele don?t seem to want to talk much.
Take Johnny for example. Over there, the brown haired lanky kid in the corner nursing a mug of cold coffee. He?s a sad one. Not that the others here don?t have their own stories. No, his is just more recent, and harder for the poor kid to bear.

Hey man, there?s this cool do down at Sally?s place. Wanna come with?
Was a few months back, the local popular chick was having a party at her daddy?s mountain cabin, about a day and a half?s drive from here. All the cool kids were gonna be there. Hell, even the not so cool ones, ya'know? Bring a keg, and your free to crash there. How fitting.
Shit man, it?s pissing down. Go careful, yeah?
See, it was raining the night of the party, he was running late with his mate and was slightly annoyed, his girlfriend had dumped him that same day for another guy, so he wasn?t quite himself, know what I mean? Anyways, I don?t know if you?ve seen the roads up that way, but their treacherous as hell. And well, you can guess what happened next, cant you?
I still can?t believe she dumped you man. Don?t worry about it. We?ll get you some pussy tonight and you?ll be right as rain tomorrow. Pun not intended, fucking rain. Hey, don?t look at me ? FUCK!
Lucky for them they only smashed into the mountainside girder. The car skidded slightly and impacted on the passenger side, killed his best friend of 8 years. The poor boy blames himself, although its not his fault. Some dickless wonder with a poor transmission had been leaking oil all up the road. On a sunnier day, it wouldn?t have mattered. Boy kid blames himself though.
No! shit man, speak to me. Aagh, fuck my arm hurts. Come on Georgey boy, talk to me! Please man!


Top up? Of course you want one. There you go Hon.
This diner is full of stories, you know. Look over there, see the balding mousey man in the brown trench coat, clutching his head and staring at his coffee? That?s Bill.
Mr. Jansen, I'm afraid that if you don?t pay up the loan on your bar, we will be forced to default you.
Billy Boy used to own a bar in the next village. It was quite successful, but rumor has it that it wasn?t successful enough. He made enough money to pay off his inventory, plus a bit extra, but the bank he took a loan out with to get the place was ruthless. He kept on getting letters threatening to default him on his payments.
Aww honey, don?t worry. It?ll all work out. Come to bed now. We can worry about that in the morning...
The rumor goes that one day, in desperation, he was looking over the insurance papers. He notices his building was insure for a lot by a third party against a lot of things. Flood. Fire. It would be almost impossible to trace the insurance payout to him if he were to do damage to the building?
They could never bring it back to me?one spark and I can pay them back, plus have enough to get out of here?
They say he filled the bar with gasoline, light a match, and walked out. Just like that.
Unfortunately, his wife had been down in the brandy cellar at the time. He didn?t realize it till he heard her calls for help, they say. But by then it was already too late. Know what happens to brandy when its heated up in a confined space? It boils. Then it Ignites.
Help me! Oh god! No! AAAGH! AAAAAAAAAGH! AAAAAAAAGH!
Poor Bill. He just sits there every night, staring at his coffee with his head in his hands, remembering those screams.
Course, its all just rumor.



Yes indeed, everyone here is a rich depository of life stories. Everyone in the area ends up in my Diner sooner or later. It?s the shape of the land.
See over there, in a booth by himself, staring at the TV with a vacant expression on her face? That?s Mary.
No-one knew much about Mary before she came to the Diner. From what I gather, she lived with her husband on a small ranch out into the lowlands more. From what I gather, they were pretty happy. Expecting their first child soon.
Oh sweetie, I love you so much. Our lives are like a movie, so cheesy, yet so happy.
They owned cattle. The man would work out with the hands during the day, and Mary would watch the farmhouse till her love came home. It would have been such a nice life.
Just like a movie baby. And you?re my star.
Anyways, one day, she goes out into the field to bring her hubby his lunch. Looking around near his pickup, she hears strange grunting noises in the bushes. Thinking its wild pigs or something, she gets a gun from the back of the car and walks quietly over. But what she sees isn?t a pair of pigs. Boars, maybe.
She parts the bushes, and there is her husband, having sex with one of the farmhands. One of the MALE farmhands. Well, Mary, she?s a good catholic. She just screams and drops the gun, and runs home.
Baby, I can explain. Please, he doesn?t mean anything to me!
She packed her stuff up and drove off to her mothers. A few weeks later, her child is stillborn. It drove her over the edge.
Now she just sits and watches the closest TV all day. It?s sad, such a promising life, yet now she?s reduced to a vegetable by one bad experience.
It was like a movie?I should?ve seen it coming. How did I miss the signs? When will they roll the credits?
Tut tut. Sad, isn?t it? Poor girl.


Thirsty? Of course you are. All this talking is making you thirstier than me, I?ll bet.
Your leaving? Well, ok then. That?ll be $10 for the cups of coffee. Thanks. Have a nice night Mr.
Feel free to come back if you ever want to hear another story.

very profound.