1. Prologue: Sherrys Dairy and Diner (1/2)

prologue: sherry's dairy and diner

it was closing time at sherry's dairy and diner in coolsville; the last of the customers were slowly filing out the door. parents scolded their children as they examined the fresh coat of sticky ice cream melted onto their children's hands. sherry's was known for two things in coolsville – the ice cream, and the friendly customer service. both would be vital assets for a restaurant in any other regular town, but these were even more essential in coolsville. notwithstanding the borderline laughable restaurant name, the walls of sherry's diner regularly fostered the coolsville population on any given evening, whether it was for dinner or just a fun night out consisting of shakes and ice cream. after all, the citizens of coolsville needed some refuge, some neutral place, during the times when coolsville was under siege by the latest mystery, or sometimes even monsters. somehow, it was as if even the monsters and the villains knew that the only sacred (and therefore untouchable) part of coolsville was sherry's, as the diner was spared from any possible destruction or general interest during a mystery.

josh, the high school cashier who worked at sherry's, began mopping the blue tiled floor after the last parent left with a sticky fingered child in tow. the bell chimed as the door slammed behind the family, and josh slowly let out his

eath. it wasn't that he didn't like working at sherry's; as a matter of fact, he enjoyed it immensely. sherry worked around his school schedule, and the extra money helped him work towards his goal of owning his first car. but tonight he had a pre-calc test on his mind, and he was really beginning to lament not hiring velma dinkley, his classmate at cooslville high school, as his tutor.

"maybe i'll ask her about it tomorrow, after the exam is over…" josh thought wistfully, as he dipped his mop head into the bucket. "if i bomb tomorrow, i can always retake the te-"

josh paused his internal debate; he suddenly felt anxious, as though someone was watching him. he slowly, ever so slowly, placed the mop into the bucket and surveyed his surroundings. as his eyes swept the diner, he mentally took inventory of the empty cherry colored booths and the sticky, tan colored tabletops that still begged to be cleaned. but he saw no sign of another person in sherry's.

josh sighed and shook his head. anyone in coolsville would tell you that living in the town sometimes took a mental and emotional toll on the population; you were never sure when the next mystery would strike, and if it could even take place in your own backyard. in fact, this made josh begin reminiscing about the time his neighbor had one day discovered that her hallway was long and never ending, and sometimes it even morphed into different shapes by expanding into multiple levels or shrinking into a mere six feet. she called upon mystery inc., these kids who went to josh's school, and –

"roar, gotcha!" screamed a deep, male voice coming from behind josh. josh screamed in terror and jumped away from the voice, knocking over the mop bucket in the process, and spilling the dirty water all over the tiled floor.

"oh my god dude, relax! it's me!" laughed the voice. layne, sherry's chef, emerged from behind the checkout counter. his face was split by a mischievous, but playful, grin. "i saw you mopping from where i was standing in the kitchen. i could tell you were feelin' all jumpy and shit, so i thought it would be hilarious if i scared you."

josh groaned and rolled his eyes. "yea layne, real hilarious. now look what you've done! i spilled the water from the mop bucket everywhere!"

"that is your own fault, my man, by actin' all jumpy and shit. but hey, i'll help you clean it up anyway." layne emerged from behind the counter with multiple cotton dishtowels and dropped them onto the ground, where the water was expanding into a wider and wider puddle by the minute. "what's got you all scared, joshy? nothin' ever happens here in sherry's! this place is totally boring."

josh shrugged and shook his head. "i have no idea, layne. truth be told, i guess i can just be paranoid sometimes. you haven't lived in coolsville long enough to realize that this place can put you on high alert sometimes."

layne nodded, as though he understood. while it was true that he was relatively new to coolsville, he had lived here long enough (and observed the evening news frequently enough) to know that, in layne's own words, "crazy shit happened all the time in coolsville." "well, sorry to freak ya out man, but i couldn't pass up the opportunity when i saw you tensin' up. if i had known you were gonna spill the mop bucket water and put us behind, i would have never done it!"

josh couldn't help but laugh at his own blunder. "that's what you get for scaring me, you moron. now let's hurry up and finish closing this place up. i have a calc test to study for tonight, and a long walk home from the diner."

layne chuckled and shook his head, his dreadlocks bobbing around his tan face. "joshy, ya know i'm not gonna let ya walk home alone in the dark. let me give ya a lift in my jeep tonight. you can just pay me back with a lift home in your own sweet new ride when you have the funds. i'm gonna go finish mopping in the kitchen. oh, and in the meantime, i need to dip into that new ice cream flavor sherry order this morning. she puts it on sale tomorrow morning, and as the chef, i need to be the first to try it!" and with that, layne quickly walked into the kitchen, whistling as though he hadn't just scared his co-worker in a nonsensical manner.

josh laughed and shook his head as he kneeled onto the ground and began vigorously drying the puddles of water with the towels layne had given him. layne was a great guy deep down, even though he was a bit rough around the edges sometimes. he never allowed josh to walk home after a shift by himself, and layne knew how to make everyone laugh during a hectic evening in the diner. "but he better watch himself next time he tries to scare me," josh thought wistfully, as his hand worked in circular wiping motions to dry the floor. "next time he tries that, he might not be so lucky. why, i might just –"

his thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash in the kitchen, where layne had just disappeared behind the double doors moments ago. josh looked up from his work and paused. "layne, stop screwing around in there!" he yelled. "if you can't find the new ice cream flavor, it can wait until tomorrow. i really just want to get going and –"

another loud crash pierced josh's sentence mid-thought.

josh felt himself tense up, as he had earlier. he took a deep