The Blueshifters (Blueshifter Series Book 1) by V. A. Jeffrey Page A

Broken glass,
tattered clothes, and gaping potholes littered the alley. Strolling
along, Jack passed by dilapidated garages, broken down cars and
weather worn back fences. He neared the large brown garbage bin
sitting against the pale blue concrete of his favorite diner. The
diner sat right in an intersection of the alley path and a main
arterial street. The whole neighborhood was mostly a dead place
filled with overgrown backyards of foreclosed homes. He walked around
to the front  and checked his watch.
    10:30 a.m.
    He pushed open the door and slide into a booth. The waitress, the new
one who had the unsettling gaze, who reminded him of a poisonous
insect, eyed him steadily as he came in and drifted slowly over to
his table.
    “Coffee?” She asked. Her voice was flat. She was staring
with those unreadable, unblinking eyes. They were pale gray and if
you were looking at her from afar she looked blind.
    “Black coffee. No, sugar,” he muttered. There was
something that caught his eye just below. She was wearing red, red
shoes. They were such a rich red that they seemed displaced from
reality. It was a disturbing color. He'd never noticed that before.
She went off to fetch the coffee. He couldn't remember if he had ever
seen her wear red shoes before. They were flat and very pointy, like
knives. The diner was nearly empty, save for a few customers and the
old T.V. on the wall blaring across the room, showing an old film.
The Stranger. He was pleasantly surprised by this. Usually, it was a
game show or the news. No one else in the place seemed to care or
even notice. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the red shoes
coming back with the coffee pot. He turned his head so he didn't have
to look at her weird eyes or her ugly shoes. She poured the coffee.
He felt the gaze burning into him, like a sudden, sharp heat flash,
as he imagined it. Then she left his table without a word, to wait on
another customer.
    Relieved, he sipped his coffee and started to watch the movie but
found himself drifting, gazing out of the window. He still felt like
things were off like he was suppose to be doing something or
remembering something. The kind of unpleasant thought that gnawed at
him like a hungry rat. He watched the cars rattle down the street. A
car, an old black Buick Monte Carlo approached, slowed down in front
of the diner and then sped around the block. It had whitewall tires
and the chrome shined like platinum. A beautiful well kept car. Looks
like a '73 or a '74 he thought appreciatively. It came around the
block again. He couldn't see who was inside. The windows were tinted
too dark. It slowed down and then stopped in front of the diner. He
admired the paint job and the body. It looked powerful, built like a
bull. Suddenly, red shoes went in the back of the kitchen. He watched
and listened as he heard her open a door somewhere in the kitchen.
    The car went around the corner again. Jack suddenly got an odd,
creepy feeling. He drained his cup, threw a couple of dollars on the
table and headed out the door. Everything was off. He didn't know why
and he suddenly felt like getting home instead of lingering. The
waitress was leaning into one of the car windows. She straightened up
and stared at him with that pale, unreadable, unblinking stare. She
suddenly smiled at him. Unsmiling, ice cold eyes with bright white
teeth. Teeth with tiny, unnaturally sharp canines. Startled, Jack
breathed in sharply. What in the world? He whirled around on his
heels and took off. He could hear the low growl of a powerful engine
behind him. The car was coming down the alley behind him. He walked
faster. Suddenly the engine roared like an angry grizzly bear. He
jumped, his heart lept in panic. His ears were burning. He ran down
the path trying to find a yard with an open gate to turn into as the
car followed him, engine roaring. He ducked into a narrow passage
between two small garages and waited for the car to pass. The engine
died down to a purr.