Chapter 3 Chapter 3: A Deal with the Devil

Fear. It wasn’t just a feeling anymore; it was a physical thing, a cold knot tightening in my gut, gnawing at me like a starved rat. I tried to push it down, to shove it into a dark corner of my mind, the way I used to shove down the guilt after a bad night. But it wouldn’t stay down. It kept clawing its way back up, a relentless hunger I couldn’t feed. The diner was my sanctuary, or at least, it was supposed to be. Three years I’d been here, scrubbing grease off counters, pouring endless cups of bitter coffee, forcing smiles that felt like cracking plaster. This place, with its stale smells and its clatter, was supposed to