CAD4-037
Barista: Max King
Date: Dec-31-2019
Receipt: CAD4-037
Subject: Business as Usual
Well. That happened.
I don’t even know how to put this into words, but here goes:
Julia’s gone.
Jean-Marc’s gone.
One second, he was lunging into the flames to reach her. The next? They just—vanished. Collapsed in on themselves like they were never there at all. And now? Nothing. No fire. No distortion. No eerie hum of reality cracking at the seams. The Hollywood Sign still looks wrong, but not as wrong. Like whatever was happening here burned itself out.
Or maybe got sucked into… wherever the hell they went.
Everyone’s still reeling. Jericho’s pacing like he’s trying to punch a hole through the earth with his boots. Jackie’s got that look—the one where she’s two seconds from snapping at the next poor bastard who breathes wrong. And Ichabod? He just keeps staring at the spot where they disappeared, like if he squints hard enough, he can will ‘em back into existence.
Wish it worked that way.
Usually doesn’t.
I want to say they’ll be back. I hope they’ll be back. But right now? We got nothing. No clues. No answers. Just silence. And a hole in the middle of everything where two of our Baristas used to be.
One of them being the last surviving founder of the Cafe and Diner.
Happy New Year, I guess.