“Psssst, he is here” I whispered to my friend Gina.
Gina looked at the mysterious customer of ours that I always talked about.
“He ain’t that bad you know?” She said winking at me.
“Young lady focus! I didn’t tell you about him to drool over him from here, I just wanted you to watch his every move”, I said rolling my eyes.
“Roger that Ma’am!” Gina saluted me and marched away and I rolled my eyes.
I continued wiping the table, immediately I was done, I took my notepad and headed to table 7 where he was seated.
“Good morning sir and welcome to the Brewsmith Cafe, what can I get you?” I asked.
“The usual please,” he said plainly and handed me his flasks.
“Alright, sir", I said as I went to prepare his coffee. The mysterious customer always ordered his coffee in large quantities.
“There you go sir, exactly as you like it”, I said while placing the cup of coffee and two flasks on the table.
“Thank you”, he said plainly.
“You are most welcome”, I smiled and made my way back to the counter.
A few seconds after I gave him the coffee the mysterious customer kept on drinking the coffee like he was being forced to finish the whole thing in a heartbeat. While I kept on observing him like I did every single time he stopped by the Cafe, Gina's eyes were fixed on him as well, her mouth wide open.
Our eyes met and she mouthed “What the fuck!”
I smiled and continued with what I was doing.
Five minutes later the mysterious customer walked to the counter and requested for more coffee just like he did every single time.
I gave him the same quantity of coffee as before and he thanked me and went back to gulp everything just like he did earlier.
At this point Gina’s eyes were about to fall out, she stood close to the door and stared at the mysterious customer with wide eyes.
After enjoying the coffee, the mysterious man, paid his bills and left the Cafe.
Gina who couldn’t hide her curiosity for a minute ran down to me, “Jessie what was that? She asked.
“No idea my love,” I said smiling.
“Is the dude cursed or something?” She asked me still dumbfounded.
“Do you want me to book an appointment with him for you?” I said jokingly.
“Man! Please do”, she said and went to clear the table.
The next day came and the mysterious customer did not disappoint us as he continued with his daily routine, Gina who was now a die-hard fan of his watched his every move from a distance.
A few weeks flew by and our mysterious customer was a regular at our coffee shop. We took his orders and made sure he was happy with our customer service.
Everything was going well until one day.
Our Cafe started experiencing some financial crises, we couldn’t buy the big bags of coffee beans that we always bought, we had to make do with the little we could afford. In a matter of hours, we were sold out already due to this.
The mysterious customer walked into our cafe like every other day and sat at his favourite seat.
I walked down to his table to break the bad news to him but what I saw and heard will forever be in my heart.
“Good morning sir, we were just about to close before you walked in”, I said politely.
“Why?” He asked and for the first time, he raised his head to look directly at me.
“Sir our Cafe is going through some financial crises so we cannot buy enough coffee beans to keep the business running, we buy in smaller quantities and our coffee finishes in no time” I explained politely to him.
“So you mean you do not have any coffee?” He asked.
“Yes sir we do not, I am sorry”, I politely said.
“Not even a little cup?” He said agitated.
Getting uncomfortable by the tone of his voice and how he began to scratch himself every second, I said “Not even a little cup sir, I am sorry”. I said lowering my head.
“Why!” He yelled.
“Beca..use we are out of coffee be..ans sir, I stuttered.
“Get me a cup of coffee young lady!” He yelled, I looked up at him, and what I saw almost made me pass out.
The mysterious customer was changing, his eyes became darker, and he kept scratching his body uncontrollably. I saw his teeth, his canine grew bigger and sharper, and I saw his fingers transform.
I was so scared but in my scary state, I knew exactly who he was. He was a vampire; I have watched so many vampire movies not to recognize one.
Instinctively I went down on my knees and began to beg.
“Please sir don’t kill me, please spare me”, I joined my two hands together and pleaded for my life.
“Sir I am sorry that we do not have coffee, so sorry”. I wept as I begged.
The mysterious customer began to calm down, I saw his eyes switch between black and his normal hazel eyes, his breathing began to normalize and I noticed his countenance change.
Finally, he changed back to the mysterious customer that I knew.
“I am sorry,” he said, concern laced in his voice.
“It is alright sir”, I replied still frightened.
"You weren’t supposed to see me like this, nobody is supposed to,” the mysterious customer said bitterly.
“Please forgive me, I am a vampire like you already know, I got married to a human, and I ran out of blood one day, and out of frustration I drank my wife's blood, with the deep cuts on her neck she couldn't survive it anymore and since then I have sworn never to take blood again so I stick to coffee and this has not been easy, he said sadly.
All images are mine except otherwise stated.