"It all started with a crash. I was just getting up to make myself breakfast before I went to the gym when the sound like glass shattering, but it echoed a lot, which wasn't normal, but that was the last thing on my mind. I looked around to see what happened, trying to find what broke to make that sound. When I couldn't find anything, even with your help, I turned to Kaylyn's room. I tried to break down the door, but you stopped me, had me go get things out to cook. Then you kicked in the door all of a sudden, and then I saw the blood, and we called the cops. After doing police statements and all that we packed a bag, and that's when we saw the body. It was horrid, with burned eyes and a slashed stomach. You feinted and when you woke up we came here," Jack said. His story wasn't well told, and he seemed like he was reading a dry text in front of a middle school English class.

"That is awful. What about you? I'm sure you have something to add, since you can see us," said one of the Korean soldiers.

"They say it's awful. I don't really have much to add myself. There was this awful crashing sound, it reverberated forever like a shout into a canyon, but it didn't seem so odd. It was more just annoying to be woken up. When I went out to look for what that sound had come from I noticed that there were no ghosts around. Usually there was someone who wanted to talk, or watch TV with me, but not today. When I saw the carpet in Kaylyn's room turning red I kicked in the door. I only saw the blood then, and Jack called the cops. I waited for her ghost to talk to me, or at least hang around the spot she died for a few years like they usually do, but I could tell her ghost never formed. I could feel it, deep inside. I talked to the police, and that part is kind of blurry for me, I was not handling it well." I paused, taking a moment to breathe. My story was much less bland in how it was told, but it was bringing up the feelings that had rendered me near catatonic earlier, so I had to slow down.

"The shock. We've seen it time and again, I assure you," said the other Korean soldier. "It destroys you for a long time. You wont be back to full for a month. That's as bad as any damage we saw on the front lines, although I guess you didn't watch it happen like some of us did."

"I almost wish I had, then I'd have something to go off of. After completing police statements we went to pack our bags, and I tried to get a look in the room because something that kills a soul wont be found by someone who can't see ghosts, but I didn't have anything to go off of. I looked into the room right as they uncovered her body. . . and her stomach was all cut up like something was trying to escape, her eyes had been burned out like red hot pokers had been shoved in the sockets. She looked like she was still screaming in pain. Next thing I knew my bag was packed and we decided to come here for some food for today," I finished.

"Shit. No ghost? I didn't even know that was possible. That's some crazy stuff. I'm sorry for your loss." The Korean soldier in German military gear took another fake bite of food, blowing on nothing for a moment before putting it in his mouth.

"Thank you. Do you know what you're getting, Jack? I think this egg burger sounds good," I said. Reading the menu as I told the story allowed me to tell the story and consider what I wanted to eat. Every ear in the diner was on us four at this table and everyone knew it, but the custom for these places was to eavesdrop, so that's what they did.

"I'm just thinking pancakes and hashbrowns with some eggs. I'm not as in love with burgers as you are," Jack responded. He was right, burgers have always been my favorite. I looked at the drinks. No alcohol, unfortunately. I wasn't much of a drinker, almost never more than a glass of wine on special occasions, but this seemed like the kind of night that required some hard liquor. We could pick something up before getting to the hotel. The milkshakes looked good though, so I figured I'd get a vanilla, they were almost always good and dipping my fries in it brought a childlike joy, like going out to eat with your mom after a doctors appointment.

"I think I'm ready when you are," I told Jack. "I'll pay, you're driving."

Jack nodded. "Alright." He raised his hand and Clarissa saw, making her way quickly over to us with a notepad and a pencil in her hands.

"What can I do for you folks?" she asked.

After a moment of silence to decide who was going to order first Jack said "Pancakes, sausage, and hashbrowns. Can you add a few eggs too? Over easy."

"Sure hun. I heard your story back there. You want a milkshake? On the house," said Clarissa. The ghost thing probably confused her, but she seemed like a good person, trying to lessen any pain we were still dealing with in the only way she could, with delicious greasy food.

"Chocolate would be good. Thank you, it has been a rough day."

"Don't you worry about it. How about you hun?" Her heavy southern accent made this feel like a homecooked meal before we even got the food, even though I hadn't grown up in the south. There was something about that twang that just felt like home no matter where you were from.

"I'll have the breakfast burger, medium rare with some fries and a vanilla shake. Over easy on the egg for me too," I said.

"What size do you want the burger hun? We got small, medium, and large, real simple like."

"I guess a medium. Thank you," I said.

"Separate checks?"

"No, I've got this meal covered." She nodded, marking on her page before smiling lightly.

"Those'll be out as soon as they're done," she said, walking off and to the back. She might even be making the food herself, I hadn't seen another living soul behind the counter.

"She's nice. It's too bad we can't eat, her food looks good," said one of the soldiers.

"I'm sure you could eat, but things don't cross over very often, food even less so," I told him. I figured they would have the ability to but not the opportunity to.

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"All the same to us. No food, can't eat."

"Fair point. The ghosts are saying the food looks really good," I told Jack.

"That's good," he yawned. "I probably wont be able to sleep but I need it."

"Yeah, I get it. Those eyes will probably haunt me forever." The charred flesh flashed through my mind. Earlier I had described the eyes like red hot pokers were stabbed in, but it looked more like the eyes themselves were what were burning the skin. The eyelids were slightly closed too, not like something had been shoved in, at least from the front. My appetite was gone, but I had to eat something, I was getting dizzy already.

"You and me both," Jack said. We both silently agreed that something like that should never happen, and if it does anyways no one should have to see the aftermath.

The ghosts were less silent about their agreement. "What kind of person would do that to another person? Death is death, sure, but that had to have hurt like hell," said the older of the soldiers.

"Let's just talk about something else," I said.

Jack nodded his agreement, silence reigning for a long moment between the four at the table.

"I started reading a new book the other day," Jack offered. "Children of Chaos. It's not bad so far, although I haven't gotten very far into it."

"I've never hear of that one," I said, readily grabbing onto the new subject while the two soldiers started chatting about nothing between each other as they pretended to eat.

"Yeah, the author isn't very well known. He has really cool ideas but he doesn't write very well. I'd say it's still worth it."

"Sounds good," I told him.

"I think I heard somewhere that he wrote it in high school," Jack said, nodding slightly.

"Is that impressive? I don't know a lot about writing," I admitted.

"Eh," Jack said, wiggling his hand back and forth. "Plenty of authors started in high school, but being a published writer is impressive no matter when you start, so I guess."

"Oh, cool." The conversation died then, awkwardly waiting for food to arrive. Neither of us wanted to pull out our phones, but neither of us knew what to say.

After about ten minutes of silence, Clarissa seemed to appear out of thin air holding two plates, one holding a stack of pancakes with two eggs, four sausage links, and a small plastic cup filled with syrup and another with butter, the rest of the plate filled entirely with hashbrowns so that the plate wasn't visible under the food. The other plate held my food, a half pound burger with two fried eggs, bacon, pickles, cheese, and two patties, all barely stable between two toasted buns, the rest of the plate filled with a small mountain of steak fries that looked seasoned with more than just salt.

"Burger for you, and pancakes for you. I'll be right back folks," she said.

"Thank you," the two of us said simultaneously. I picked up the burger, causing the egg to burst onto the small space the burger left behind. Some of the yolk got on a few fries, but that was fine. I dipped the burger in the yolk that marred the plate and took a bite. It was really good. Big Boy's Burgers were unparalleled in the region, but this breakfast alternative? Divine.

"I should have gotten a small, this thing is huge," I remarked.

"You could use some more protein, build some muscle," Jack said. The thing was, I'm not unathletic by any means. Being an electrician had worked my muscles, if not as well as a balanced exercise routine would have. Jack was rather muscular though, a bit of a dude bro in that sense. What made Jack tolerable is that it wasn't the only facet of his personality like it was for so many others. Jack was an artist, a lifter, a football player, and a kind soul.

"I'm not that bad," I responded around a mouth full of burger. "Just because you're a monster doesn't mean I have to be too."

"Then who will this monster be friends with? No mere mortal could handle me." That caused me to laugh, almost choking on the large bite I had just taken, only to see Jack had almost eaten all of his pancakes and had taken good chunks out of everything else. It felt light, comfortable for the first time that day.

"Right here for ya boys," said Clarissa as she dropped off two milkshakes, whipped cream and a cherry topping both. It looked really old school which fit very well with the aesthetic. And the dead people.

"Thank you," Jack said as I tried to choke down another bite to speak.

"You two don't worry about it. Wave me over when you need somethin', alright?"

We ate the rest of the meal, trying to make lighthearted conversation while dodging any reference of our former roommate to prevent the dread from coming back. It inevitably would, but being somewhere unfamiliar helped. Rather than bringing up old memories it helped us forge new ones. I was stuffed to the brim, but I still had several fries left that I used to clean out the milkshake cup. It looked gluttonous to the extreme, and to be fair it was, but we needed something like that to lower the stress of the night. After getting the check, only twenty bucks for the both of us, we walked out. I said goodbye to the two soldiers we had started the night with, each of them waving goodbye, telling us to come back soon, a response echoed by the living Clarissa.

"I'm sure we'll be back," I told her.

We got out to the car, Jack unlocking the doors so I could slide into the passenger seat. It wasn't quite light enough for music yet, but the air seemed a lot lighter after our night out with the dead. It was almost eight when we pulled into the hotel parking lot, the building a dark void where the stars disappeared rather than a building made of wood and stone. The headlights of Jack's car lit up the fake stone masonry along the outside of the building as we pulled in and put the vehicle in park.

We got out, Jack popping the trunk before leaving his seat as I walked around to pull the bags out. I swung the trunk open further to pull the bags out, Jacks looking like a marbled pattern in the darkness while mine was almost invisible against the asphalt. I left the tool bag in the trunk, it might be useful, but if I needed it I would have enough time to come out to the car.

Jack took his bag and closed the trunk with a muffled crash, dragging the suitcase towards the dark entrance. The doors weren't locked and swung easily open, although the darkness on the other side of the glass doors prompted me to pull out my phone and turn the flashlight on.

"It should be right. . . here," Jack said as he walked around behind the counter and lifted the mat holding the prices for different sized rooms to reveal two cards. "Bingo." Jack pulled the keys out and handed me one as I joined him on the way to the elevator. The lobby wasn't huge, but it was nice. Definitely somewhere you would enjoy walking into unlike so many other hotels.

Both rooms were on the top floor, side by side. Suites, the nicest in the place. It was incredibly kind, even though none of these rooms were going to be used in a while yet.

We waited for the elevator in silence, climbing on when the doors opened. The music wasn't as upbeat as it was in out apartment, instead this played some classical piece I didn't know, but it was very fast. We walked out of the elevator a few moments later, the vertigo from going up so many floors making me ecstatic to leave the moving vomit box.

"Goodnight," I said to Jack who responded in kind as we made it to our rooms, sliding the cards into the chrome card reader attached to the doorknob and hearing the door open with a nail-biting grinding noise. I swung the suitcase I was dragging behind me into the room without care. I left the lights off, finding the room with the king sized bed and falling into it. The darkness was filled with macabre images all the way until I drifted to sleep in my street clothes, even the visions of such a crime unable to overpower my exhaustion.

And so the first day ended.