Journal alien_blueprint's Journal: The "Sizzlers" of Madness 1
Driving home tonight, I passed the local "Sizzlers" restaurant franchise which brought to mind a scene of blasphemous horror I had witnessed recently that defied all logic and common sense - and indeed made me question my own sanity and the nature of the world in which we find ourselves. However, even at the risk of being though a madman, I feel the tale should be told to serve as a warning to others.
I was picking up our order of food on Saturday night from the nearby excellent chinese place, when I was faced with the horror and the madness. Before I go any further, some context may be useful. "Sizzlers" in Australia is a restaurant chain in Australia similar in many was to "Dennys" in the US. So it's better than, for example, a truck stop, if you're passing through an unfamiliar town and wish to obtain sustenance of tolerable quality quickly, cheaply, and in a familiar setting. The chain exists in the US, but I never saw a franchise so I've no idea how similar it is to ours. But you get the idea - better than McDonalds, better than Kentucky, but not exactly a big deal. "Mediocrity" is perhaps the word I'm after.
Firstly, I couldn't find anywhere to park close to my intended destination. That's when I knew something odd was going on. But, I don't usually go there on Saturdays, so I shrugged off my forbodings, parked across the road, and proceeded on foot.
It was rounding the corner of the carpark, before I crossed the road, that the unholy sight greeted my eyes. There was a line into the Sizzlers that not only filled all of the queuing space inside the establishment, but spilled out onto the street and down the road at least twenty meters. Can you imagine my horror at seeing this line of dead-eyed zombies, shuffling slowly towards the "all you can eat" salad bar? The bored children whining and moaning? The barely contained frustration of the parents? The glazed stares of the couples who have run out of all possible small talk that can be made while standing for hours out on the road adjacent to a carpark for no good reason?
Why?! Why?! This is the question that burned in my mind. Why not go somewhere else? Somewhere better? Given that it's Sizzlers, that wouldn't be hard. I considered questioning one of the legion of the damned, but I was afraid that I too might fall under the same accursed influence that had drawn, and held, those wretches to that blasted spot.
It shames me to admit it, but I averted my eyes, steeled my will, and walked around the lost souls. Obtaining our order from the nearly empty Chinese restaurant (which, did I mention, is excellent?) I made the trek back to my vehicle, casting only one glance back at the unfortunates - who seemed to be as one gazing at me, and through me, at the same time. I could see what was left of their minds grappling with the concept that I had somehow obtained far better quality food - almost instantly - than the poor fare for which they were condemned to spend a relative eternity standing on the hard bitumen, exposed to the elements. But they could not act, nor really comprehend what was happening to them, such is the hopeless state of the damned in hell.
Perhaps I should have risked everything, and attempted to save at least some of them. Cured them of the blindness that had somehow afflicted their vision - that there was only one place in the world they could go, and that even if that place had a line that would make a Soviet waiting for his monthly roll of toilet paper give up in disgust then there was nothing for it but to wait for as long as it took. Curse the demonic and blasphemous influence that brings men and women to such an end!
But I made no attempt at rescue. I had not the courage for such a thing, lest I also be damned along with them. I returned to my home, and my food that would normally have been a highlight of my culinary week tasted like ashes in my mouth. My friends did not believe my tale of horror, thinking it to be surely a fancy brought on by an over active imagination and the tricks of the light that can occur on a starry night. Even as I recount the tale now, I find it hard to believe myself. There simply is no rational reason for such a thing - I can only conclude that the workings of beings incomprehensible in form and ancient before the continents began their separation are working their dark designs on the innocent, drawing them into their lair after their baleful influence has torn any trace of free-will from the minds of their victims.
I write this now, even though it may seem like the nonsensical ravings of the mad, so that you may think twice before considering going to cheap family restaurants. Once you take that first step to degredation, it will only be a matter of time before you too are standing literally on the road waiting to get in - to the Sizzlers of Madness.
- ab (with apologies to H.P. Lovecraft)
P.S. (Score:2)
-i