Short Stories 

It was dark when the car slowed and stalled. That’s all I could remember. The darkness. Nothing but dense trees and an empty road for miles on end. He turned to me, a look of confusion and then defeat plastered across his stupid face. I wanted to smack him. 

“Shit...” He grumbled, shutting the car off before trying to turn the key over again. The engine sputtered, then failed. He tried again and again, cursing each time before slamming his hands down on the wheel. 

“What?” I snapped, “What are you doing?” 

“We're out of gas.” He snapped back, ripping the key from the ignition. 

“What! I told you we should have taken that exit thirty minutes ago and now look where we are! We could've been home by now!” I yelled at him. 

“Hey! Don’t sit here and blame this on me! You're the one who refused to stop for more gas on the way to the wedding!” He yelled back. 

“Well we would've been fine if you didn't insist on taking some stupid detour!” 

“I told you, it's not a stupid detour. It's a short cut. Which clearly, we needed since YOU refused to get gas.” 

“And I told YOU, that we could've been home sooner if we just took the same road we always do but you never listen to me! Now we're lost in the middle of nowhere with no way to get home!” 

“We're not lost. I know where we are,” He scoffed, “Town is just a few miles up ahead,” 

“Really? Because you've been saying that for the last thirty minutes.” 

“You sure? Because last I checked you've been ignoring me for the last 3 hours!” 

“You know what? Screw you!” 

I rolled my eyes and got out of the car. There was no use arguing with him. At least not now. We were already lost, hungry, and completely out of gas. Arguing wouldn’t solve any of those things and it especially wouldn’t fix his snappy attitude. 

“Hey! Where are you going? Get back in the car!” He called after me but I ignored him, “It’s dangerous out here, ya know! There could be bears!” 

“I’m going to find a gas station!” I yelled back, not bothering to turn around and face him. 

I wasn’t scared of bears or the dark or whatever else lurked in the deep brush of the woods. The only thing that really scared me was starving to death on an empty highway next to him of all people. I heard him sigh dramatically behind me and then slam the car door. The headlights flooded the path in front of me and the repetitive sound of the sputtering engine rang in my ears. I kept walking until eventually the lights and noise faded out in the distance and I was shrouded by darkness. The pavement beneath my heels were the only indication that I was still on the right path and not accidentally headed off into the middle of the woods. After what felt like hours, something finally caught my eye. At first, I thought they were headlights of an approaching car but as I got closer I realized it was the faded neon lights of an old restaurant. A wave of relief passed over me. 

I picked up the pace, hoping that maybe the late night cleaning crew would still be there, or if they weren't, maybe I could sneak in just to spend the night. Surely they wouldn't mind too much and I could explain it all to the police in the morning. In fact, maybe I could just blame it all on Charlie. He was the one being a stubborn jerk after all. 

It wasn't until I got closer that I realized just how out of place the restaurant was. It looked completely abandoned, nestled between a patch of trees with nothing else around it for miles. Its patchy, peeling paint and flickering neon sign were immediately recognizable, making me stop in my tracks.

“Burgerville?” I muttered under my breath, taking in the sight. 

‘Burgerville’ was an old restaurant chain that sprang up back in the mid 1930s. Actually it was the first restaurant chain to ever take off in America. They were wildly popular, gaining traction almost immediately and opening up new locations all across the country but strangely, just as soon as a new location opened, another three would close, with the very last one closing its doors during the summer of 1943. That wasn't the weird thing though. Lots of businesses failed around this time. The weird thing was that nobody really knew why it failed. The food was amazing. The prices were great. Locations were opening left and right, so why? There were a lot of theories, ranging from it just being an elaborate money laundering scheme to the owner being arrested for black market dealings but those were far fetched and not based on any real evidence. Personally, I thought the owner was in over his head, opening too many locations without the money to maintain them. Some people, like my grandfather who loved to sell us a scary story, were convinced it closed due to more sinister reasons. Now, as I stood there in the darkness of the forest staring at the neon lights, I wondered which theory was actually true. 

Obviously it was abandoned, I told myself as I started down the broken concrete path to its front doors but as I got closer, I realized it wasn't. The lights inside were on and the delicious smell of food wafted through the air. I could even hear faint voices coming from the inside. A small bell chimed as I opened the door and stepped inside. The inside looked grungy and dirty with old blue leather booths that were cracked and weathered with age and a tile floor that was covered in dried footprints.

“Hi, welcome to Burgerville. How can we serve you today?” A cheery voice asked. 

The cashier appeared from around the corner with a large smile on her face. I looked up at the menu for a moment, only to realize that it was unreadable, covered in layers of old grease and black soot. 

“Um… Just a burger, I guess,” I told her. 

“One burger coming right up!” Someone called from the kitchen. 

“Do you know if there’s a gas station around here?” I asked, “My husband and I are kind of lost.”

“We’re the last stop for miles,” The cashier replied shortly before disappearing into the back again. 

“Right.” I sighed, tapping my fingers on the counter as I watched her go.  

I sat down at one of the booths and waited, wondering if I should try to call Charlie to see if he found any help but before I could pull out my phone, a large burger was set down in front of me, along with a milkshake. I looked up at the cook and opened my mouth to say something but he cut me off. 

“It’s on the house,” He winked and then walked away. 

I hesitated for a moment, staring down at the food. Something didn’t feel quite right about this but I was starving and there was no way I was going to get any help on an empty stomach. I picked up the burger and took a bite, savoring the taste of it in my mouth. It was divine. The perfect mixture of salty and delectable, topped with sweet onions, pickles, and some signature sauce that I had never had before. I kept eating, slowly forgetting about my argument with Charlie and all that walking I had to do. Maybe I could order him a burger too, I wondered, and maybe by now someone had stopped to help and we could patch this all up on the way home. 

My thoughts were cut short as I bit into something hard and metallic. With how old this restaurant was, I didn’t doubt that it was probably just some screw that had rusted its way out of the wall or maybe a chip off a broken spatula. I set the burger down and fished it out of my mouth to inspect it. A wave of nausea and horror passed over me as I realized what it was. It was Charlie's wedding ring, burnt and chipped. Like it had passed through some kind of heavy machinery before being thrown in a fire.

That didn't make any sense though. Charlie was back at the car. Or maybe at a gas station by now? I wasn't sure actually. I had left him alone for what felt like hours. Anything could have happened in that time. Maybe it wasn't his ring, I tried to tell myself. Except it definitely was. I could still read our wedding date engraved into the side. 

I looked over at the burger as questions flooded my mind. Was that really hamburger meat? It looked a little off.. but maybe it's just old? I felt sick, like I was going to barf. Was the room spinning? 

“Everything good here?” The chef asked, appearing in front of my table and making me jump. I quickly set the ring down on my napkin and looked up at him with a forced smile. 

“Yes, everything here is delicious. Thank you.” I told him, hoping he'd believe me and leave me alone. He smiled back and then placed a set of keys down in front of me. 

"We filled her up for ya. You take care now and don't make any more wrong turns." He told me. 

I nodded, balling the ring up in my napkin and shoving it into my purse. I grabbed my keys and stood up, smiling at him before walking out of the restaurant. Sure enough, as soon as I opened up the door my car was right outside waiting for me.