 Hey you guys, I want to do this quick story time in between Relentless because the relentless can probably go on for another let's be honest I have no idea how that story is going to end But when I do have a story and I know at the beginning in the middle and it's gonna look like I want to go ahead and Share it before I forget. Okay, so this is called the nightingale diner So the main character is Steve Steve was in his mid 50s Steve rolls over to the sound of his alarm clock going off and he rolls over in a six o'clock and he Turns off the alarm. He's tired, honey. He's mid 50s. He is tired He knows he has to get up for work soon. He rolls over to his side to see that his wife His wife Carolyn has already gotten up. She must be downstairs getting his breakfast together They've been married for 30 years Steve gets up. He goes into the bathroom. He showers. He looks into the mirror looks at his little belly He had put on a couple of pounds the last 10 15 years. He didn't know if it was his You know the whiskey he would drink every now and then or the egg sandwiches, whatever it is He knew say he need to cut back some right So he go downstairs to see that his wife Carolyn was at this stole fixing breakfast He goes oh, he's a good morning. Sweetheart and gives her a kiss on the cheek. She's a good morning, Steve Did you sleep well, honey? He's like, yeah, not really Unfortunately, Steve had not been sleeping well for the past five years or so. He's been having nightmares waking up shaking sweating and He didn't know if it was stress from running the diner Steve was the owner of a local diner called the nightingale diner His father had ran it previously. This was not only job that Steve had So he knew that eventually once his father passed away that he will be running the diner himself Steve and Carolyn didn't have any children by the way. You guys they just never had children and so Steve's father died of a heart attack 15 years ago And of course that diner was left to Steve to run and it was a great diner breakfast diner They serve breakfast and lunch mostly. Okay, so Steve's like, yeah, I just want to make sure that I get up to the diner early because Jerome was supposed to have locked up and Shirley apparently gave me a call last night So I got to make sure that everything's okay. Now Jerome was Carolyn's nephews or basically Carolyn and Steve's nephew. He had had troubles with Being on drugs and all that but they wanted to give him a chance. So they figured they would have him to work at the diner And so Jerome had a bad streak. He had been in and out of jail He had been on drugs for a while, but for the last year or so He had supposed to have been clean, but for some reason he had left the freezer open last night and surely had called frantically Steve was too tired to go down there So he figured he would get to the diner a little bit early to figure out what's going on, right? So, you know, Steve sits down. He has his breakfast and he heads down to the diner Which is just 15 minutes away from his home. He heads down in his old Ford pickup truck he gets to the diner and You know, he unlocks the doors and goes to the back and sure enough the freezer is in disarray Some of the meat they would definitely have to toss but some of it in the back. It was okay He has no idea why Jerome would be rummaging through the freezer What he specifically gave him instructions on how to lock up and Jerome had been working in the diner for six months And so he doesn't understand why all of a sudden he was acting this way So the diner opens up you guys at seven o'clock and so Steve needs to hurry up shooting up He hears a bill, you know, he hears the front door chime And it's Shirley Miss Shirley had been working at the diner for 30 years Steve was mustering up the strength to hear her complain And so he could hear Shirley's friend Steve Steve did you see what this nephew of yours did and so Steve gets my he's a yes surely I saw what he did It's so Shirley came around miss Shirley was all of 250 pounds and she stood at about five foot two hundred. She was around and so she's like, well, what are you gonna do about it Steve? Steve turned around to see Shirley standing in the doorway of the freezer with her hands on her hips He's like, well, I'm gonna talk to him She's like, well, you better because I can't imagine how much money you lost in all this meat Look at all this Steve you have to throw all this stuff away So Steve kind of rolled his eyes He knew he did not have time for this the nana was gonna open soon So he wanted to make sure everything was okay and everything was set up at the front. He's like, Shirley I know I know I will talk to him. So Shirley looks to me. She said, well, you better you better do something around here Shirley goes up to the front she manages the front of the diner where the people sits up at the at the bar almost so Steve, you know starts throwing away some of the meat that they can't salvage and closes the fridge Excuse me closes the deep freezer. He goes back into his office and he sits down in his chair He opens up the drawer and there's a bottle of whiskey there He knew he shouldn't have one so early, but he had to get the edge off so he poured himself a little bit of whiskey Took the shot and you know, put the cap back on the bottle and close the drawer Steve was a functioning alcoholic y'all one of you know, it is what it is So he gets up go out in the front and sees there's already there's already patrons He looked down at his watch and was just 715 but diner had just been open for 15 minutes But hey people are hungry. So he says hello to his regulars and make sure everything is okay So about two hours go by and Steve has to go have another drink. He's jittery He he's set to point to where if he doesn't have a drink he gets to shake so he go back to his office pours himself another shot of whiskey and shoots it back. That's all of a sudden he hears a knock at the door and It's Shirley Steve, you won't believe who showed up here up here today Yeah, Steve Steve sits back and he's like, oh god, he's like, come on in Shirley Shirley walks in she doesn't even wait to be letting it. So she's like, you won't believe who's up there. He's like, who? Who's at the front Shirley? She's like, yo nephew Jerome, is his name Jerome? Yeah, his name is Jerome. So he's like, what? He told Jerome he called him when he found out that he left the freezer door open He told him to not come up there. So Steve is confused. He's like, why is he here? She's like, I don't know. You need to go talk to him. He's acting real funny And he's scaring my customer. So you need to go up there and talk to him See if he's like, okay, I will I will and she said you need to hold off someone on your neck straight, too Shirley knew Shirley was like a second mother Steve and she knew that He had a drinking partner. So he's like, okay, okay So he puts the cap on the bottom, puts it in the drawer and Slows the drawer slowly he gets up. He doesn't know why Jerome was up here at the diner when he told him You do not need to be coming up in a diner. So he walks towards the front of the diner and he sees Jerome Sure enough sitting at one of the booths and Jerome you guys was in his mid 20s. Like I said sketchy But something about him look a little off to Steve so Steve goes over to the, you know, area where he's sitting at He's like Jerome man. What was happening? What's wrong? Jerome looked at up at him and sure enough Steve knew something was wrong His eyes were bloodshot So Jerome was like kind of shaking and Steve sits down. He's like, are you okay? What's wrong? Jerome and Jerome's like shaking. He's like, did you see it? Did you see what was in the back? And so Steve was like, what are you talking about? I Saw that you left the deep freezer open, you know, we lost a quite a bit of meat back there But Jerome was like it was a panther and so that's when Steve's heart's kind of sunk and it was clear to him that he was having one of his episodes and If he didn't get him out he there's no telling what you're wrong with what say next So so Steve gets up and he leans over on the other side of Jerome. He's like, come on man Let's let's walk out. I can drive you home and that's when Jerome snatches his arm away from Steve He's I don't need to go in anywhere. We need to go back in and back and kill that panther And so Steve was like, there's no panther in the back Jerome. You know, are you hungry? You want to get shortly to fix you a plate? It's a Jerome was like, I don't mean to fix me. Shit Excuse somebody with y'all. He's having an episode, baby More than an episode at this point you guys So Steve knew that this was a risky but then he said, okay Well, you want to go back to the office and have a drink with me? And that's when, you know Jerome then looked at him and shook his head So Steve led him to the back and that's when sure they looked over to the side judging both of them She's like, hmm so they go to the back and so You know Steve looks at him and he could tell something was off He wasn't sure if it if it was because he wasn't taking his medication If he was back on drugs or all the above but he knew that he needed to get Jerome home and safe As soon as possible. So he opens up his drawer pulls out two paper cups and pours Um, Jerome a shot and he pours himself something So Steve's like, are you okay? And so at this point, you know, Jerome was like, well when I came back here last night I was, you know, putting the food back in the in the freezer and that's when I saw it And so Steve looks at him so sad. He was like, look man, there is no Panther here I know that you have your issues whatever Carolina and I can do to help you just let us know That's when Jerome looking he's like, you think I'm a liar? And so Steve's like, no, I don't think you're a liar. I just I know there's no black panther out here and that's when surely Knock on the door and then just let herself in and she's like Is y'all okay? You know, I got got people up here Steve, you know, you you're gonna come up here I got someone who and that's when Jerome gets up. He's like, why are you always coming here? Oh woman, that's when surely was like now. Look here son. You ain't gonna be talking to me like that. So that's when Jerome reveals that he actually has a weapon. He has a gun you guys And that's when surely was like what what the hell and she runs towards the front door. She managed to get out That's when Steve is like he's now he's scared and his heart starts pounding. He's like, look Jerome man I could drive you home. Put the gun away wherever you need. We can we can handle it Just put the gun away Jerome. I was like, no, no, we got to go back into that that freezer uncle and find that that Panther Steve didn't know what to do. So he wanted to make sure He didn't know if to get him in the back So the customers don't see him again afraid but before he can even make up his mind Jerome heads up to us the front and Steve races after him Jerome makes it to the front At this point you guys the diner has about 10 15 other customers, right? Including Cheryl and let me just say that and surely screaming now Steve can hear screaming at the front Jerome is waving the gun around and Steve is trying to ask him put the gun down Jerome is like, no, I gotta kill him. I gotta kill this Panther Before he could even stop him Jerome points the gun at one of their long-time customers Mr. Ben who was all seven 70 years old and he pulls the trigger Ben falls over instantly gun shot to the head. He dies on the spot and Shirley starts screaming and Jerome turns around and says shut up. You shut up right now. You old woman Shirley's Leans back and she's shaking and she's afraid and Jerome is like, oh, I gotta kill him. I got I got that they think He is in the episode. You got this guys. There's nothing that anyone could do at this point to stop him. He sees a couple Uh, try to run towards door and he shoots the woman in the back and she falls and so That's when Steve's like, no, no, no, no, you gotta stop this. You gotta stop this Jerome and he's like, no I gotta kill him. I gotta kill him. That's when Steve tackles him from the back And he tries to wrestle the gun away and so at this point, Steve and Jerome are fighting over the gun They're trying to get it Jerome turns around and he shoots his uncle in the stomach For a split second something changes with Jerome's eyes and he looks down at his uncle. He's like, I'm sorry And so Steve manages to get himself up. He crossed he tries to cross in the back and he Makes his way to the deep freezer. He can see two of the it looks like two of the customers Who tried to hide in the freezer too? So Steve goes in there and he's holding his Basically, he's holding his stomach, you know, because the blood is coming out fast And so he turns around he's like, it's okay. We're gonna try to lock ourselves in there So he closed the door They could all they could hear is gunshots at this point. It's just shooting So Steve sits down and he could tell he's losing a lot of blood and he's closing his eyes opening Closing and all he sees is black blackness when he looks up is surely And all of a sudden they hear it go quiet and Steve looks up again. He's open and closed and surely it's like Steve Steve are you okay? He's like, I'm sorry, Shirley. I should have gotten him. I used to get it's okay At this point, Shirley had knelt down next to him and he could tell that she was um She he could tell that she was dying and she was basically succumbing to her wounds too And she looked pale on the face, but she was smiling and Steve thought that was kind of odd He and Steve kept saying, you know, this can't be real. It just can't be happening And that's when Shirley said actually it is happening Steve And you know what happens next and Steve looks at her oddly He's like, I don't know Shirley. I'm sorry. I should have got you on in the back And so that's when Shirley shook her head. She said it's okay, Steve This is this is happening, but it'll happen again And they'll keep happening like it's been happening for the last five years And Steve looked at her confused That's when he closed his eyes and darkness engulfed him. All right, and we're gonna cut to the front Okay, so now this is a cut scene. It's the front of the diner There's a newscast out there that's a young woman holding a microphone in front of the camera and she begins to speak This is the scene of the nightingale massacre five years ago Where the honest nephew killed several patrons including himself And the longtime owner mr. Steve. So we're gonna cut at six o'clock Steve looks over He sees that his wife curling had gotten up They've been married for 30 years and he knew that she had gotten up and was fixing himself some breakfast He has some coughing and he gets ready to go to work He has to open up the diner early because He got a call the night before from Shirley letting him know that his nephew's you're wrong had been there And had unfortunately left the deep freezer open So Steve had to get there early to see what he could salvage and what need to be You know, basically what he could throw away or what he could keep He gets there Steve is all of a sudden has this Uneasy feeling of deja vu. He can't shake it. He goes ahead and go into the diner He opens it up And that's where he gets the door built at the front rings The door at the front chiming and must be Shirley Steve Steve is that you are you back there? He's like, yes. Yes. Shirley. Come on. I'm in the back He turns around and there is miss Shirley in the doorway miss Shirley was all of 250 pounds, baby She had both hands on her hip hips looking at Steve Oh, I can't believe that nephew's a your seat. I can't believe he you have to talk to him Steve was like, he turns around and he looks at her. He's like And that's when Shirley was like, Steve, are you are you okay? He's like, yeah I'm just having a really really bad case of deja vu there And miss Shirley looked at him and kind of smile and she's like, oh honey, you have no idea And she goes into the back. So you guys this story I wanted to do a story like this for a while So Steve miss Shirley even Jerome and the other people that died in this diner They are all stuck in this diner. They're stuck in their own little purgatory Um, and they relive this Every night and it's been going on for five years So I hope this wasn't too disturbing for you guys. Um, I got this idea from one of my favorite short stories Is a Stephen King short story. Some people believe that hell the idea of hell is re-acting A moment in your life over and over or purgatories reliving a moment in your life over and over So I wanted to spend that idea in the story time. So I hope you guys enjoyed it That it wasn't too often disturbing for y'all. Okay. Take care. Bye