Salt & Pepper

CHAPTER 1: COBWEBS
I walked into the dusty, eerily empty restaurant.

"So, what do you think?" asked Meadow, the saleswoman.

I looked around warily. It was... strangely quiet. Of course, it would be quiet as nobody was talking. But the quiet sense that I perceived wasn't normal.

Although I felt wary in this place which could potentially be my restaurant, I also felt... bound to it. It was like I was meant to own it. Even though it was dusty, I could furnish it and make it spic n' spanny in a few hours.

Also, the price wasn't that bad, so I supposed I could afford it.

"I'll take it," I said, a dull expression on my face. I probably should have been more elated about my new restaurant, but by the greedy expression Meadow had on her face, it didn't seem like she wanted anything besides my money.

"Congratulations, Mr. Greyson. This is going to be yours," Meadow said with an eager grin.

A few weeks later, after all the bank agreements and contracts, I finally could call the restaurant mine. Before I could haul in any tables, I had to refurnish the place- myself. I could always hire someone to do it, but it was expensive and I wanted to do it myself anyway.

I went to the kitchen, and the oven seemed rusty and ancient. Tsk, I thought. Whoever owned this must have been really irresponsible. Or the oven just hadn't been used in, like, years.

I began scrubbing the oven, my gray tail getting in my way half the time. I finally managed to make it look half-decent, and went to clean the wooden cupboards. As I opened one halfway, it creaked unusually loudly. It was completely empty- spare the cobwebs that lounged in it. I attacked the cobwebs until they finally came off, and then I managed to get them off my paws as well.

I then noticed a door in the back of the restaurant which I hadn't seen before.

It wasn't an ordinary door. It was made of metal- very, very heavy metal I found out after an unsuccessful attempt at opening it. It was like one of those hotel doors, but three times heavier. It also have a big circle in the middle which was a dark gray- a peculiar choice of color, as the rest of the door was light blue, as were the walls of the restaurant.

I tried again to open it.

As it was about to give way, I heard a shrill cry coming from inside.