• "Can I take your orders?" the boy asked us. On our vacation to Japan, we had decided to get Thai food. Don't ask me why. I don't know. The restaurant was one large, well-lit room, the floor covered with tatami mats. The kitchen was open and behind the bar that ran the entire length of one wall. High backed booths lined the other three walls with low tables scattered about the floor. It was a very pretty restaurant, and the waiter didn't look half bad either.
    "Yeah," I answered, giving him my best smile. "I'll have the catfish with lemon sauce."
    "And the rest of us are gonna split the pad thai," one of my friends said, handing him our menus.
    "I'll get right on it," he said, shooting me a grin before he left.
    I watched him as he gave our order slip to the chef and said something in rapid Japanese. The chef gestured to our booth with a large knife, saying something, and the boy laughed.
    There was no one else in the restaurant, so the boy came back to us, pulling up a chair and sitting in it backwards. The other girls could barely contain their giggles as he held out his hand, saying, "Hey, I'm Koichi, and you are...?"
    "Charli," I answered, taking his hand and blushing slightly.
    "Charli," he mused, a twinkle in his eye. He turned to face the rest of the table, but he was still talking mostly to me. "So, what brings you girls to Japan?"
    "Vacation," I said. "This is actually our last day."
    Koichi smiled. "Well, then I hope it's your best."
    We talked and flirted throughout the meal, and when it was time for us to go, Koichi even footed the bill.

    The restaurant was silent as Koichi sat gazing at the scraps of catfish, his eyes growing distant.
    "Thank you so much for the fish," a pretty brunette girl said with a Russian accent, dabbing the corner of her mouth with a napkin. "It was delicious."
    Koichi was still eating his catfish. "I know. I'm glad you thought to add the lemon sauce, Natasha."
    Around the room, various machines beeped and ticked, carefully measuring Natasha's vital signs.
    "I love you, Koichi," she smiled, her eyes tired.
    He smiled as well. "I love you, too."
    Just then, the machines went haywire as Natasha began to cough, an electronic requiem for the blood splattering the room. Koichi leaped up, calling for a nurse, his food falling to the ground.
    But it was too late. As the nurses and doctors tried their best to pull the girl back, Koichi found himself only able to stare at the food on the floor.
    Blood.
    Catfish and blood.
    Catfish with lemon and blood.

    I walked through the halls of the new exhibit at the Museum of Human History in D.C. "America's Most Terrifying Horrors," I muttered, rather unimpressed with the emotionless models of such landmarks as Dracula, Attack of the Killer Shrews, and the Unibomber.
    A large crowd of people had congregated about one display in particular muttering amongst themselves, unable to leave what ever monster they were currently facing. I made my way to the front and found myself looking into the blank eyes of a model of Anthony Hopkins wearing a blue jumpsuit. Several brilliant pencil sketches were hung on the walls of the mock cell.
    "Hannibal Lecter?" I asked no one in particular. "This is what's got y'all so worked up?"
    "Well, forgive us if we're not all twisted freaks like you," a rat faced housewife snapped at me.
    I scoffed, my eyes still roaming the display. I froze suddenly, my eyes fixed just above the mannequin's right shoulder. A brunette girl in a pink sweater glared back at me, her face beautiful despite it's deathly pallor.
    "Natasha," I breathed, and I knew - I knew - that flirting with that guy in Tokyo had been a bad idea.
    "That's more like it," the hag clucked approvingly, noting my colorless complexion.

    "Katie, wake up!" I hissed, jumping onto her bed. It was one in one of two seemingly endless rows that made up the bedroom. "Come on, Katie, it's important!"
    "Wuh...?" the girl slurred, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "Charli...? What time is it...?"
    "Doesn't matter," I whispered. "I'm being haunted." I told her everything, but her expression just became more and more confused.
    "Charli, what are you talking about?"
    I sighed exasperatedly. "Come on, what do you mean? I just told you!"
    I heard a laugh and looked over to see a young Hannibal Lecter shaking his head, the expression on his face clearly saying, "Forget her. We'll talk about it in the morning."
    Then, startling the three of us, the door slammed open, yellow light pouring in from behind a silhouetted figure. "Charli! Katie! Hannibal!" my mother screeched. "What are you doing up?! Why aren't you in bed, Charli?! Why are the three of you still awake?!"
    Unable to keep from laughing I scurried back to bed.

    My eyes fluttered open. DC 101's Travis Bagwell was saying something, but I was beyond comprehension. I just kept thinking, What the heck was I doing getting Thai food in Japan?!