The clock struck 4 and with that came a loud ringing noise. Martha, a single mother of 3, has an alarm set everyday at 4pm. She’s startled by the sound of the blaring alarm despite hearing it the same time everyday. One of her kids, Stewart, is practicing their violin in the living room. Martha’s littlest, Johnny, is holding onto her leg as she walks, causing her to slug across the kitchen trying to get to her phone. She frantically tries to stop the alarm, and gives out a sigh of relief when it stops. Johnny starts biting her leg, causing her to groan. She picks him up, prying him off of her leg and sets him into his high chair. Claudia, her 7 year old, walks up and tugs on her shirt, “Yes love?” Martha says, trying her hardest to not sound as annoyed as she feels. “I’m done with my homework can I have a treat now?” She looks at her mom with bright eyes, excited for her after school reward. “Yes, i’ll get it for you right now. What a great job finishing your homework.” As Martha walks to the cupboard Johnny starts slamming his sippy cup on the high chair’s tray. He has gotten riled up since his sister is getting something that he can’t have. Martha rolls her eyes to herself before looking back at Johnning and saying “Just a minute sweet boy.” She grabs a snack out of the cupboard for Claudia and grabs some juice out of the fridge. Her oldest, Rupert, is stringing good notes and bad notes, stopping and starting their playing. Johnny sees Claudia get her snack first and starts to cry. Claudia sticks her tongue out at her little brother and runs away into her room. On her way she bumps into her brother, causing him to drop his violin and yell out in frustration. Claudia says a quick “sorry” but ignores the situation and just goes to her room. “Mom! Claudia just ran into me and didn’t even care that my violin fell!” Martha, still being screamed at in front of her, finishes her current task by getting Johnny juice before walking over to the living room. “Mom! Mmoomm! Mommm!” Rupert continues to yell until he sees her come around the corner, “Did you hear, Claudia’s running around again.” “I’ll go talk to her, please continue your practice.” Martha walks to Claudia’s room, knocking twice before peeking into her room. Claudia motions her to come inside, and she sits on her bed next to her, letting out another large sigh before collapsing on her back onto the bed.

Quickly moving by the head chef, Marcus yells “Behind!!”, as he carries a large pot of steaming soup. The kitchen is filled with noise, tentacles being dropped into the fryer, the sue chef yelling out orders, butter hitting the fry pan. Marcus makes his way through the maze of a kitchen area, turning and twisting as other staff walk through with their items. Some soup spills on the ground as Marcus turns the corner and splatters purple on the floor tiles. In the dining area the waiters are busy with a full house. Tonight is the restaurants most busy night and they have some high paying customers to keep happy while waiting for their food. On a small stage a jazz band plays, drowning out the loud chatter of the guests and the yelling of the sue chef. “Excuse me, excuse me!” A women with a fur coat, large gemstone necklace, and a stuffed snake used as a scarf, yells at one of the waiters passing by with a tray of food. “Yes, how may I assist you?” The waiter looks young and intimidated. They look between the lady who spoke and the table he needs to be at, the other customers looking angry and impatient. “I’ve been waiting so long for this dish, it’s my nephews birthday you know, I just can’t believe I was invited to be here just for this to be my wait time, I mean does Samantha even know I’m here? I’m not someone to be kept waiting“ The lady keeps dragging on as the young waiter grows more anxious. They start to shake, causing the soup bowls to slosh and spill onto the serving tray. They mutter a quick “excuse me please” before turning quickly, running into another waiter and dropping both trays of food.

Samantha, the head chef, is prepping vegetables in the back. They know how crazy busy nights can get and try to hide away doing prep work and re stalking the freezer. This also happens to be their big delivery day, the head chef needs to be present to make sure the stock has been properly delivered and to sign off on the order. A loud knocking can be heard from the back door and Sam hears the rumblings of the delivery truck. They quickly wipe off their hands on their apron before removing it and placing it on a hook near the door. Sam checks behind them before slipping out the back door, making sure no one is following behind. “Hey Sam” The delivery driver says, lifting open the trucks back sliding door. “I’ve got quite the catch for you today,” they’re rubbing their hands together, warm air visibly escaping their mouth as they enter the refrigerated truck. “Locals said they use it as a dessert, ya know thought you could spice up your menu a little.” The driver heads to the back of the truck until they find a small cube freezer with a lock. Sam rubs her arms while she waits for the driver to unlock the freezer, looking around at the other cargo, piles of frozen calfs, lamb, chickens, even an alligator head. The lock clicks open and Sam turns her head to the contents inside. The driver reveals four vacuum sealed bags, he puts three of them into another bag labeled “exotic meat”, and shows Sam the remaining bag. “So they said something about the eyeballs being sweet, they make a sauce and throw it on ‘em, but these little antennas for the eye got the most delicious part to it. You just crack em like crabs and suck the juice out, then you take the shell and use it as a straw for the brain.” The driver chuckles at his own story, no regard for Sam fake gagging into their hand. “I don’t eat my dishes I only serve them.” Sam chokes out, putting the bag with the rest of them and sealing it up. “I just need to know the species name.” “It was, let me think a second, something grabocious… hmmm.. oh I got it, Garbol-Axetrocious, they come from the planet Juevesen. Ya know that sea planet you asked about. They have a lot of aquatic aliens you could definitely pass off as sea creatures if you ever got busted.” The driver replies. “Yes, yes thank you. I’ll have Marcus come out and unload the rest of the order, here’s your tip.” Sam hands the driver a roll of money and leaves with the bag of alien meat. Inside the young waiter from earlier is franticly running around the kitchen looking for Sam. Tears well up in their eyes as they aggressively open the walk in freezer door. Sam is sitting on the ground organizing the bottom shelves. “I’m so sorry, it’s Lady Shivan, I spilled some soup, the Lady was barking at me, the other worker, I think her name is Matilda, she’s pissed at me, and now Lady Shivan is demanding to speak to you. I’m so sorry, I know it’s-“ Sam walks past the waiter, not letting them finish, heading straight towards the dining room. Someone is still cleaning up the spill while the Host tries to calmly speak to Lady Shivan as she’s standing up and yelling at them. “I’ll have you know i’ve been attending this club for 20 years, I don’t have time to be waiting like this and dealing with your incompetence” Lady Shivan’s demeanor completely changes when they see Sam, their eyes lighting up and their deep set anger lines loosen up as they form a smile. “Oh, Samantha dear, finally someone who can help me.” Sam nods to the Host letting them know they are no longer needed, they give Sam an angry scowl before heading back to the front of the restaurant. “My dear Lady,” Sam greats Lady Shivan with a kiss on each cheek, “I am so sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused you. I have a new special dessert that just came in fresh, I’d love to extend this delicacy to you as the first patron of this club to ever try it.” Lady Shivans entire attitude changes, they look so excited they’re almost drooling. They nod their head, wiping away a bit of spit from the side of their mouth. Sam bows to the Lady before heading back to the kitchen. As the doors to the dining room close she smirks to herself. “Is Lady Shivans soup almost ready Marcus?” She calls out. “Yes I was just waiting on the latest shipment, i’m serving her dish as we speak.” Sam heads to their prep area to get the new dessert ready for Lady Shivan. Patrons come across the country and sometimes even out of country just to be a member of this club. The rich spend so much time having copious amounts of money but not enough time to live according to them. Sam’s father was the original Head Chef, using his status to gain an extra income on the side by selling exotic meats to the wealthy. The exotic meats in question were those of aliens. It wasn’t until later that the wealthy who would consume these other worldly beings found that they were extending their lifespan. If they stopped partaking in the food, though, they would age greatly. This caused them to be consumed with greed and desire. They made the restaurant into a club, making it exclusive to those they deemed worthy to know of their miracle meat. Without their miracle, they would slowly be consumed with madness and turn into a beast. As Sam adds the finishing touches to the dessert, pouring the sauce over the top and cleaning the edges, chatter is heard in the front of the restaurant. Sam hands the young waiter the dish and sends them out to Lady Shivan. Sam heads to the Host’s desk where two investigators are waiting. Some guests lower their chatter upon seeing the investigators, tension filling the air. Lady Shivan is distracted by her delicacy, letting out child like sounds of joy as the waiter sets down the dessert. “We have been tipped that you just received a shipment of-“ The investigator on the right pulls out his notepad flipping through it, “A shipment of Garbol-Axetrocious meat illegally. We have a warrant to check the premises.” Sam compiles her shock trying not to show the investigators any sign of hesitation or guilt. How could they have a warrant so fast? Was she set up? Who else knows about the opporation? The club had been running for 20 years now, if her father found out she messed up the business, “Haha, that sounds like a new kind of bird, what is that? Right this way, i’ll take you to our kitchen.” Sam walks past the customers who all seem to be starring. Lady Shivan is endulging herself in the dessert, making awkward moans as she bites into the eyes. Sam opens the kitchen doors and leads them to the walk in freezer, “This is where we keep our meat, if you have any questions please let me know, i’ll just be over here while you do your search.” Sam steps aside, peeking out at the dining room and at Lady Shivan. The other guests have gone back to eating but visibly look tense. Awkward chatter starts to fill the air, covering up Lady Shivans enjoyment of her dish. The investigators leave the walk in and start making their way around the rest of the kitchen, finishing their search. Sam makes eye contact with Marcus as he comes through the back door. He nervously looks away and heads to the staff room, avoiding both Sam and the investigators. Sam peaks back out at Lady Shivan, who is slurping the rest of the brain juices with the make shift antena straw, a giant grin across her face, her lips stained purple. The investigators tap Sam on the shoulder, startling her. “Sorry to scare you Miss, and sorry to bother you for the night. We found no foreign meats anywhere with our scanners, we’ll be done for the night.” “I apologize for the inconvenience, if you could just see us out.” The other detective states. Sam walks them to the Hosts desk, side eyeing Lady Shivan as she licks her fingers of the last of the evidence. “Sorry for the confusion officers, here’s my personal number if you need anything else from me” Sam hands them each her business card as they leave, they give her a smile and wave in return. As soon as they exit the other customers start back up their regular flow of conversation, Sam lets out a large sigh of relief. “Hahaha, if it weren’t for that newbee waiter messing up in front of Lady Shivan, we may have been caught for sure.” Sam says to the Host who is shaking their head. “We can only hope we’re just as lucky next time. Now about this rat in my kitchen…”