The Coffee House Back Door

Renee had walked into the coffee shop for a cup of ice and a packet of honey. Her favorite tea place always served their earl-grey a little too hot and a little too bitter, so Renee would bring in her plastic cup and fill it with a few ice cubes and two honey packets. It was a pattern she had fallen into years ago, but she only exercised it once every week. At 26 years old, and living in Boston, Renee held the record for the weakest social life, but that was the last thing she wanted. Grey was her favorite color and rain her preferred weather, but she was in no way a dull person. Every time it rained, she would throw on her old green boots and stomp around the city until her feet were miniature aquariums. Every time she saw something beautiful, she would whip out her charcoal pencil and sketch in shades of grey. Her apartment was small, but it didn’t need to be any bigger. She was content with what she had, and any change at the moment would be most troublesome. 

The boy behind the register was young. He almost seemed too young to be working, and he always had a blemish on his round face. Even though Renee had handed him a credit card 52 times every year for 2 years, neither of them ever attempted small talk. If a stranger tried to chat with her, Renee would nod and smile along. The other person usually started to get bored with her mindless agreement, but they wouldn’t walk away because they felt bad. 

Now, when Renee relinquished her blue and gold card, the boy’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull. He pressed a few more numbers, and his eyes widened even further, which Renee hadn’t thought possible. He started to flush red and grumble to himself for a minute or two as he ran her card through another machine and another. Renee knew that the problem would eventually solve itself, but her curiosity got the best of her and she couldn’t help but ask. 

“I’m sorry, is something wrong with my account?” She tried to sound innocent and not prying. The boy glanced up at her as if he had forgotten she was there or even where he was. Renee leaned forward as if prompting him to tell her what all the fuss was about. He just shook his head with his mouth open. He seemed like she had asked that he spill his deepest, darkest secrets for her instead of just asking him to tell her the problem. 

“Please wait by the counter for me and I will be back in a few minutes to tell you the problem.” He finally spoke, but his voice had about as much emotion as a robot’s, and tension forced the words out instead of his vocal cords. 

“Sure…” Renee squinted her eyes as he scurried off into a back room. He still had her credit card, and she wondered whether he was copying the numbers. Hopefully, he wouldn’t try to steal from her. 

It had been longer than Renee expected when the boy finally ventured back to the cash register. He explained in a hushed voice, but Renee didn’t know why. “My manager will speak to you. He has your card, and he is the one near the sweeteners.” Then the boy, who still seemed tense and flushed, gestured for her to get out of the way and let the next customer through. Renee found the boy to be rude and dismissive in his actions, but she didn’t point it out or hold onto her irritation for more than a few moments. Her mind had already wandered to other possibilities by the time she reached the man at the sugar table. 

“Hi. You must be the lady with the credit card. I have it right here.” He pulled out a dark green card with bumpy white letters, and Renee, who had already started to reach for it, recoiled. 

“That’s not mine. It should be blue, not green. Are you really the manager?” The man blinked a little in surprise as if he truly believed that Renee would take the fake. 

“You’re right. My mistake, your card must be somewhere in the back.” He gestured for her to follow, which was odd. And it was odd that he lost her card when the boy had probably just given it to him, but that card was new and Renee didn’t want to go through 2 weeks buying food with cash. Renee didn’t like how cash had to be counted and how pennies and nickels filled her pockets. It would be awful to have a jingle follow you around all day and night. The man led her through the “Staff Only” door where, as Renee just discovered, they kept a little area for the staff members to hang out as well as a tiny fridge and a few boxes. Renee had slowed to look around, but the man waved her over to another door. The was made of metal and had the tiniest amount of rust on its edges. The man held it open, waiting for Renee to step inside where there seemed to be no lights on. She stopped just short of crossing the threshold into the room and took the smallest step backward. 

“Why are you taking me all the way back here?” Renee might have been a little naive, always assuming the best of people, but letting a stranger bring her into a dark room at the very back of an establishment is something that only an idiot would do. 

“It’s just the lost and found.” The man reached up and pulled on a string. Sure enough, when the fluorescent light flickered to life, the room revealed brick on all sides and a few shelves with various things stacked on top of them. The man’s cool demeanor served to douse some of the rising suspicion in Renee’s stomach, but she gestured for the man to go first. Just in case, she thought. The man ducked into the space, and Renee followed. He sent his gaze over the few shelves and plucked up the blue card. Before relinquishing it, though, he asked her a question. 

“Where did you get this card? I don’t think I’ve seen these colors on a card before.” The man was a good foot taller than Renee, and he held the card just out of her reach so she would have to reach a little to get it. He was starting to get on her nerves. 

“I started with a new bank, and the government sent it to me.” She straightened her spine and tried to stand tall enough to grab her card, but he threw her another question. 

“Who arranged it? I might want to get one of my own.” 

“Someone named Mikey.” Renee was openly frowning. At that point, she had had enough and she didn’t care if she looked childish standing on her tiptoes. She snatched back her card and made to walk out the half-open door, but the man tapped her on the shoulder. Renee had been expecting him to pull her back inside forcefully but he remained as polite as ever. 

“You left one more thing,” he said. Renee turned around to see what he might be talking about, but he held nothing and he wasn’t searching. 

“Yeah? And what’s that?” Renee’s voice was getting dryer by the second, and she yearned to be out of the creepy dark space and back in the lovely city of Boston. She didn’t want to stay another minute even though she was glad that she had her card back. All the cards nowadays only had ones and zeros and a few of them even had an extra number, but Renee had found a secret. The extra letter cards had just enough numbers for a three-letter word in computer language, and her card spelled out the word RAY. It was the most interesting thing that could happen to 21 numbers. She had considered sharing her findings but decided against it when she realized there was no one worth hearing it. 

“I was thinking of going down to Florida in a few weeks.” The man had completely switched their topic of conversation, but Renee was on the verge of hysteria. She had just been thinking of her code word and now it tied in perfectly to what the man was talking about. The irony was almost too much. 

“Ha! Maybe you will catch a few rays while you're there.” She smiled at the pun that would only make sense to her, but he jerked back in surprise. Renee ignored his reaction and swiftly moved the topic back onto her missing item. “Don’t you have something else for me?” The man nodded and motioned her into the small room again, but this time he closed the door with a soft creak and a clanking of a metal lock. Well, Renee hadn’t been expecting that. 

“Welcome to The Soundless Cry. It has been a long time since we received a new member.” The man pulled down hard on a lever that had just been hidden behind the door, and the room shook and slowly started to descend. Soon the lowering platform had broken free of its walls, and Renee couldn’t open her eyes wide enough to take it all in.