"A cafe? Where else would you be?" Alex retorted in response.
"Yeah," Erica chimed in, "What are you even drinking in here? Because it doesn't sound like coffee."
The man teetered and swayed on the seat as if inebriated, made an attempt to stand and then slumped back down into his seat.
Alex raised an eye in curiosity, he was shocked but not at all surprised. The sign had said that it was a cafe and bar, although he wasn't sure how exactly that worked.
Still though, the counter was empty from drinks of any kind, be they beverage or alcoholic.
The patron who had originally tried to stand now lay halfway between his seat and the counter, his face slumped across it, mumbling incoherently into a growing puddle of drool.
Alex cringed, hygiene standards are a must, the place lost a star in his mental rating.
He waved at a server who appeared to be making a drink in the back, "Hey! Excuse me!" He yelled.
The server did not respond, arms still flying across the complicated coffee machine, still refusing to turn around or even acknowledge his presence. Waving his hands did nothing to get any attention, prompting Erica to tap him on the shoulder.
"The guy might as well be deaf, I don't think he's going to listen to you, he would have responded by now." She said, "Instead, maybe we should focus on getting this guy some medical attention?"
"I hate it when you're right," He grumbled, looking the patron over. "Still, what should we do with him?"
On closer inspection, the man appeared to be in his mid-forties, with hair already starting to grey along his temples and across the patchy scraggly beard that covered his face.
Judging by the state of said beard, it had been a while since he had last cut it. It hung in knotted clumps and was dotted with aged crumbs. To put it kindly, he looked and smelled like he hadn't bathed in a while.
Erica turned up her nose, pinching it tightly with one hand whilst using the other to prod the man in his ribs. He only murmured in his puddle and in response, Alex swatted her hand away.
"Don't be rude." He admonished, "Check his pockets or his wallet. He might have medical information or emergency contact or something."
Still scrunching her nose, she rifled through the man's pockets, stopping when she felt a wallet. She handed it over to Alex.
"Your turn, I think I'm going to be ill if I continue." She dry heaved into her hand dramatically.
Taking the wallet from her, he looked around. "Don't you feel odd?"
"Odd?" She inquired with a quizzical expression.
"Yeah," He flicked through an array of cards, "Why has no one else tried to help this guy? Or more importantly, is it just me or does everyone here seem like they either can't see us or don't want to?"
"Small town mentality?" Erica mused.
"Nah, doesn't seem like that, stuff here just seems a tad weird. Like there is something wrong in the air here-" He stopped abruptly as he finally found what he was looking for - an emergency Medicaid card - with the name Mattias Pettigrew followed by a number with a local area code.
"Hold on," He held up a finger to shush his sister and pulled out his phone, dialling the number.
It rang briefly, at most two rings, before someone picked up. A gruff, deep voice answered. "Who is this and how can I help you?"
Alex inwardly cringed at the idea of a phone conversation but powered through. "Hello, I found your number on a card, an emergency contact card to be more specific."
"Oh? Do continue, it's not often I get calls like this, considering that everyone I know that has me listed as a contact is dead."
"No, sir... It's not like that, it's not a joke. I'm in a cafe with my sister, we found this guy here, he seems to be pretty out of it. Your card was on him."
"A cafe? Which one?" The voice now sounded uncertain, shakey even.
Alex responded carefully, "A weird cafe in town, called the 'Afterlife Bar & Ca'-"
The guy interrupted him, "Afterlife Bar & Cafe?" There was urgency in his voice now. "Stay there, do not move! Don't let him go anywhere! I'll literally be a few minutes." And then the call dropped.
"Well... That was odd to say the least, wouldn't you say so?" He said turning to Erica, who at this point was looking quite alarmed.
"What's wrong?" He asked, but quickly shut up. He needn't have asked. The patron that Erica had been watching over was now sitting bolt upright, his back straightened to an unnatural degree.
The now slack and soulless expression on his face was not the cause for Erica's distress though, rather it was the server who had now turned around to face both the twins and the man.
From where Alex was standing, he was not sure if his eyes were working correctly or if he was suffering from some kind of anxiety-induced psychosis.
The server looked normal, from the gaudy uniform, the awkward name badge that was oddly blank. All was normal, all the way up till his eyes flickered to the face.
The problem was there was none, none at all. It was a smooth and blank surface with no indentions or irregularities that hinted at any normal facial features. Even without all of that though, he still felt like he was being watched.
The gaze had no malice or good intentions, it felt completely indifferent and apathetic. Like it could care less.
It walked smoothly, too smoothly, over to a door further behind the counter, wedged somewhere between a fridge and what appeared to be a machine for dispensing whipped cream.
It opened the door and Alex saw that he had been wrong, he had incorrectly assumed that the door had led to a kitchen of some kind. But as the server opened the door, he felt himself becoming even more confused, the door didn't appear to open anywhere.
In fact, he couldn't see anything besides a blinding white light that spilled into the cafe through the threshold. Looking at it gave him an instantaneous splitting migraine, the back of his eyes throbbed and he found himself moving his arms to block his eyes.
The server swivelled on its heel and then pointed towards them. No. not towards them, Erica realised it was pointing at the patron. And then it spoke.
"Come. Follow." Its voice sounded deep and baritone, but unnatural in the way it had no inflection to the words that it spoke, like it had no personal meaning to them and was just repeating them.
Be that as it may, its words seemed to have some sort of effect on the man. On hearing the words, he attempted to get up and climb the counter.
Alex remembered what Mattias had said earlier and yelled, "Erica, stop him from moving!" Even as he gave the command, he was already holding onto one to the guy's arms with all of his bodily strength.
Erica, finally breaking out of her stupor, rushed over to help. Jumping over the counter, completely ignoring the server, she turned around and jumped back over, tackling both Alex and the guy to the floor.
Getting up with a groan, Alex joined her in tackling and pinning the now thrashing man to the floor.
Erica groaned in mild irritation, "Look dude, calm down. I have never heard of a single time were walking into the light has been a good idea in any way shape or form."
Alex struggled with flailing man, struggling to hold him, "Why the hell-" He grunted in exertion, "Is he so damn strong?"
Erica smirked at him, "Are you sure it isn't because you're just too weak?"
"Piss off."
"How long do we have to hold him for anyway?" She asked, and almost as if in response to her question, the server behind the counter droned again.
"Come! Follow!" Its voice sounded deeper and louder somehow, the man they pinned thrashed even more violently. Alex watched, however, as several of the seated still sleeping patrons at the counter stood upright before climbing over the counter. All of them passed silently into the light beyond the door.
The light thrummed insistently, and even from the floor of the cafe the twins felt it, it pulled at their skin, almost as it was trying to pull them through the door.
Erica tore her gaze from the light and looked at Alex, she looked terrified, the tough shell she kept up slowly crumbling. Alex couldn't say he blamed her, he felt scared himself. This was the unknown and it was touching him, yet he did not know what it would bring.
In fact, right now he feared it would bring death to them both.
It was at that moment that the door to the cafe slid open, a dishevelled and panicked look bear of a man barreling in. He looked the twins up and down, and then as it was nothing, hoisted the man up off of the floor. The twins tumbled off, but he steadied them with a hand.
"It's fine. Everything is fine, you're okay. Just follow me." He said in a surprisingly gentle voice.