The Stranger

Amy yawned as she slouched down in the hard, plastic chair. She was tired and desperately needed to sleep but sleep was when the dreams came. The time on her phone read 2 am. She looked around the laundromat and saw that there was only one other person there and that was the laundromat attendant. She thought to herself that this was a better place to be than some of the other places she used to hang out at this time in the morning. Three years sober today. It would have been nice to have someone to celebrate it with but the alcohol made sure she was alone. It was peaceful here listening to the sounds of the machines. The washer swishing the clothes around making them clean. The dryer humming and doing what dryers do. If she sat here long enough, she probably could drift off but that wasn’t an option so she got up and decided she needed a pick me up. There was a vending machine with a variety of sodas and one next to it with candy. As she contemplated the choices, she remembered seeing a café a few doors down with a bright sign outside that said they were open 24 hours. She decided she would get a coffee and see what kind of pastries they had available at this hour.

As Amy walked outside, her first thought was how can it be this humid in the middle of the night. She had been away for a while and forgotten that this is how it is this time of year here. One of the many reasons she left in the first place. She opened the door of the café and was instantly hit with a shot of AC. She walked up to the counter and could see that a woman was standing in the kitchen in the back. It looked like she was trying to flirt with the cook, but they didn’t seem interested. The woman looked over and saw her and the smile she was wearing quickly faded. It seems she may have ruined the moment. As she got closer, Amy could tell this woman was older maybe in her late 60’s. The cook looked to be a little too young for her.

“Can I help you?” she asked irritably.

“A large coffee and one of those blueberry muffins, please.”

The waitress walked away to gather the items. She came back, sat them on the counter and rang up the order. Amy paid and asked where she could find some cream and sugar. The waitress brought her the items and then disappeared to try to finish what she started in the kitchen. As she poured the tiny creamers into her cup, she heard a voice come from somewhere in the café.

“Have I seen you around here before?”

She looked up to see where the voice was coming from. The waitress was still trying to get the cooks attention, so it wasn’t her. As she scanned the café, she noticed someone sitting in a booth near the back. They had on a baseball hat and the lights in there were not the brightest.

“Are you from here?” The voice asked. She didn’t really want to get into a conversation with a stranger, especially at this time of night. There was a familiarity in their voice, and it was drawing her to answer.

“I’m visiting family.” She said hesitantly. She didn’t want to give too much information and wanted to see if the stranger would try to get more. Besides, she wasn’t completely lying. She did have family here, but she had no intention of visiting them. They abandoned her when she was at her lowest and if it wouldn’t have been for the pastor at the church she passed out in front of one night, she probably would be dead. She helped her get clean and then she got as far away from here as possible. She was only back to get some closure and finally say goodbye to someplace she never really belonged.

“Oh? Who’s your family?” They were digging now and Amy was done. This didn’t feel right and she needed to get back to the laundromat where the lights were brighter.

“You probably wouldn’t know them. They keep to themselves.” With this Amy turned to walk out the doors but the stranger had one more thing to say.

“Try me.”

She pushed the doors open and walked as fast as she could back to the laundromat.

2:39 am was now the time displayed on her phone. She had picked it up as soon as she got back to make sure it had power in case she needed to use it. The sounds from earlier had stopped and she knew she had to check on her clothes. She sat the coffee and the muffin down and pushed a cart to the dryer to unload them so she could load it back up with the clothes she had in the washer. Those two words, try me, had made the hairs on her arms stand on end and she noticed her hands were shaking as she tried to fold her laundry. Who was that? Did they know her? Did they know her past? She looked around, her anxiety very high now. It was still just her and the attendant who was deeply involved in their phone. She finished folding and sat back down to try to enjoy her now lukewarm coffee and blueberry muffin.

Amy had been doom scrolling to get her mind off of the stranger. She was watching a video of a cute dog when she thought she heard someone laugh. She looked up and thought it might have been the attendant but they were not where they were a few minutes ago. She glanced at the time again and saw that 20 minutes had passed. She surveyed the room and didn’t see anyone else. The dryer was still tumbling so she chalked it up to her nerves and went back to scrolling. Then it happened again. This time she put her phone down and decided to investigate. The laundromat was set up with a counter by the front doors where the attendant had been. You could get change there or purchase detergent and dryer sheets. There was also a coffee pot that looked like it hadn’t been used in a few years. The vending machines were next to the counter. In the middle of the room were three rows of machines. Washer, dryer, washer, dryer and so on. Amy was at the very end of the second row where there were a couple of plastic chairs and a wall outlet so she could charge her phone. As she stood to walk towards the front, she noticed that the dryer had stopped running. It was eerily quiet. She made her way past one empty machine after another, the only sound was her sneakers squeaking on the linoleum floor. The machines were tall so she couldn’t see over them and would have to decide if she wanted to venture into another aisle. She tried to listen as she walked but there was nothing but silence. As she reached the end of the aisle, she heard the laugh again. This time it sounded like it was coming from behind her.

“I know who you are.” The voice said and then laughed again.

Amy started to sweat. She turned on her heals to face where she had just come from. No one was there. Her heart was racing and she could feel that she wasn’t alone. Every instinct in her told her to run for the doors and get as far away as possible. Her curiosity, on the other hand, urged her to stay and figure out what was going on. The stranger was here; she just didn’t know where. She reached for her phone so she could dial 911 if she needed and realized that she left it back where she was sitting. Back where she heard the voice. She had to go back and get it. She stood still for a moment to see if she could hear anything but there was nothing but silence. She slowly made her way back and as she got midway she heard a dryer in the other aisle start. She froze. There was a loud thumping as the dryer spun. Again, she knew what she should do but something else was telling her to go in the direction of the dryer. She decided to take her shoes off, that way she would make less noise. She knew she needed to get her phone first and then would make her way to the other aisle. She tiptoed to the back where her phone was laying on one of the plastic chairs. She grabbed her phone and starting slowly walking towards the running dryer. Now more than ever she should probably have run out the front doors. There was a voice inside her now telling her to stay and see this through. As she got closer to the dryer the tumbling sound got louder and was uneven, like a pair of shoes had been put in there. She was now standing in front of the dryer with her hand on the door. The voice in her head was screaming at her to open the door. She pulled the door open and it went quiet. She leaned in slowly to get a better look and what she saw made her gasp in shock. She was trying to back away when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and was now face to face with the herself and she screamed.

She awoke with a jump to see she was slouched in the hard plastic chair. The washer and dryer were still going and her shoes were on her feet. She listened for a moment and what she heard made her heart race. There was something loud tumbling in a dryer in the other aisle. She grabbed her phone and walked over to it. She was standing in front of it again with her hand on the door. Before she could open it, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She held her breath and turned around to see the waitress from the café standing behind her.

“I think you got the wrong dryer”, she said dryly. She opened the door and reached inside. Slowly she pulled out a pair of shoes and walked away. Amy breathed again and went back to her chair. Waiting for her when she got there was a coffee and a blueberry muffin. Under them was a note that read try me.

Amy left the coffee and the muffin and gathered as much of her clothes as she could and walked out the doors of the laundromat. The sun was coming up as she threw everything in the back seat of her car. She got in, started it and looked up as she put the car in reverse. Sitting in a hard plastic chair near the back was the stranger. They looked up at her and took off the baseball hat. The stranger was Amy and she started to cry. She backed out of the spot and headed for the highway. She couldn’t get out of this town fast enough. She shouldn’t have come back here; it was a mistake and as she drove away for the last time she vowed never to return.