I took a summer job at The Perfume Gallery, a small perfume store in the local mall. West Plaza Mall is the most popular mall in the city. It has all the best stores, and it’s conveniently located near a high school, so there are always crowds of teenagers hanging out in all corners of the mall.
The Perfume Gallery doesn’t get a lot of customers, which is exactly why I picked it. I basically get paid to sit around and sometimes clean off the glass counters. There are only four employees working here, with two employees per shift. I’m always stuck working with Ethel.
Ethel is not an annoying person, in fact, I’d say that we’re friends. But she does have a few quirks. She talks too much, which is generally fine considering that there’s not much else to do here, but it does get annoying to have someone contracting droning on and on all day long.
She’s three years older than me, but she’s working at The Perfume Gallery because she thinks college is some sort of elaborate trap set by the government to force you to either get you to waste money, or study business.
Three days ago, Ethel arrived at work shortly after I had opened the store.
“Did you come in through the food court entrance?” She asked as she threw her bag down behind the registers.
“No, I came in through the north entrance,” I replied counting the bills in the register.
“There’s a new restaurant, where that burger place used to be.”
“That’s nice,” I said, closing the register.
She stood behind me, tying her thick black hair up into a ponytail.
“There’s a giant line, it’s crazy. I’ve never seen that many people in the food court at once.”
“What do they sell?” I asked, leaning up against the counter.
“I don’t know, something called the award-winning premium drink.”
“They sell one drink? That’s it?”
Ethel nodded her head.
“That doesn’t sound like a solid business plan,” I said.
Ethel shrugged. “Well, it’s working for them apparently. The line goes all the way to Macy's.”
“Weird,” I commented.
I worked the rest of my shift normally, with only about ten customers coming in before my lunch break. I let Ethel know that I was going for lunch and made my way to the food court as I tried to decide what I was going to eat.
As I turned the corner and passed the Macy’s, I realized that Ethel wasn’t lying. The line was still incredibly long, blocking the entrance into the store.
I pushed through some of the people and headed for the Salad Shoppe, glancing back at the new addition to the food court.
The new place was called “Evil Eddies”, according to the glowing neon sign above the counter. There were three employees in black uniforms taking orders and handing every customer a black cup with a rainbow straw. Almost everyone in the food court had one.
I ordered my salad and sat in the corner of the food court, watching as everyone grabbed their drink and found a seat or stood around in groups, sipping out of their cups.
“This really does taste like an award-winning premium drink!” A man at a nearby table exclaimed after taking a long sip from his drink.
The people around began laughing as if he had said the funniest thing in the world.
“Are you gonna try the award-winning premium drink?” One of the women asked, looking over at me.
“Maybe later,” I lied. “The line is too long and I need to get back to work.”
“Bummer,” she replied, sticking out her bottom lip. “Evil Eddie’s has the best drink I’ve ever tried.”
“Alrighty,” I replied.
I got up from the table, feeling uncomfortable, and ate the rest of my salad on the walk back to the store.
A couple of minutes later, Ethel left for her lunch break, talking about how excited she was to try Evil Eddie's new drink.
She came back thirty minutes later, complaining about how she had wasted twenty minutes in line and didn’t even come close to ordering. She spent the rest of the shift complaining about how many people were in line and how long they had been there.
“It’s just because they’re new,” I said. “Give it a week and it’ll be empty again.”
The next day, it was the same story. The line to Evil Eddie’s was impossibly long, once again blocking the entrance to Macy’s.
I rolled my eyes at the crowd of people as I walked to the store.
Once again, Ethel came in, complaining about how she had arrived twenty minutes early and still hadn’t made it to the front of the line.
“Don’t you want to try this drink that everyone is raving about?” She asked me, halfway through our shift.
“Not really,” I replied. “Don’t you think it’s kind of sketchy that they don’t say what’s in the drink?”
Ethel laughed. “No, what do you think they’re gonna put in there, drugs?”
“Maybe. It would explain why everyone is so obsessed.”
“You’re so negative, Leyla,” Ethel replied.
I shrugged.
On my lunch break, I once again walked past the giant line of people. I was beginning to think that the line wasn’t even moving, but it was. Every time I walked by there were different people in line.
The food court was littered with black cups and rainbow straws. The trash cans were overflowing, and every single customer had one.
I grabbed another salad for lunch and sat at a table in the far right. No one talked to me that day, and I was able to finish my food in peace as I watched everyone sipping from their drinks.
I glanced at a group of high school kids that I recognized. They were sitting a few tables away, a black up in front of every single one of them. They all sipped from the cups, only a few of them actually eating any food. It seemed like ever since Evil Eddie’s had arrived, all anyone ever did was drink the stupid drink. I hadn’t seen anyone actually buy food from any of the other places.
That day, Ethel once again tried and failed to get a drink from Evil Eddie’s.
She came back huffing and complaining and I tuned her out as she rambled on for the rest of the shift.
When I left that day, the food court was the same; a long line, and hundreds of black cups with rainbow straws.
The next day, Ethel didn’t show for her shift.
I sent her over six text messages and left her three voicemail messages but she didn’t reply. Annoyed, I worked the shift alone, until the other worker was able to come in and take Ethel’s place.
Once she was there, I went to lunch where I found Ethel standing in line. She was about six spots away from ordering and I got even angrier, realizing that she had flaked in order to stand in line and try the stupid drink.
I walked over and tapped her on the shoulder and she spun around.
“What the hell, Ethel?”
“Oh! Hey Leyla!” She grinned.
“You could have warned someone that you weren’t coming into work,” I said.
“I must have forgotten. I got so caught up in all the excitement!”
She chuckled as she pushed her hair off her shoulder. I noticed that she was holding a rainbow straw in her hand.
“You already got a drink?” I asked, pointing at the straw.
“Oh, yeah I did. It was so good Leyla! You really should try it.”
I shook my head. “You’re unbelievable. You already got a drink and you still missed work?” I asked.
“You don’t get it, it’s so good!”
I rolled my eyes and left as she continued to tell me how good the drink was. By the time I got my lunch, Ethel had already gotten her drink and she was sitting at a table alone as she sipped on her drink.
I finished my lunch and went back to the store to finish my shift. I was annoyed at Ethel for not answering my messages and for missing work for a stupid drink.
When my shift was over, I walked past the food court and saw that Ethel was still sitting at a table. There were three empty black cups in front of her, and she had another in her hand as she scrolled through her phone.
As I approached her, I noticed she was eating something, although I saw no food or wrappers in front of her.
“You’re still here?” I asked, leaning against an empty chair.
She nodded, taking a sip from her black cup and then continuing to chew whatever she was eating.
“How long have you been here?” I asked as I looked at all the empty cups around her.
She shrugged, continuing to chew.
“Are you just gonna give me the silent treatment now?”
She said nothing and continued to shrug.
I rolled my eyes and then watched as she took another sip. This time, I noticed that when she pulled the straw out of her mouth, there was a thick drop of red that slid down the straw.
“What are you eating?” I asked.
She said nothing and continued to chew, faster and faster until I realized she was bleeding. She parted her lips slightly after she swallowed and blood poured out of the corners of her mouth.
“Ethel, what are you eating?” I repeated, leaving over and grabbing her chin.
She stared at me and chewed faster, gulping sporadically as she tried to pull away from my grasp.
After a while, I got her to open her mouth, as blood dribbled out and down her chin. She swallowed once more and then opened her mouth wide.
I jumped back when I saw that her mouth was covered in blood, staining her teeth and running down her lips. She had chewed her tongue off almost completely somehow, and I felt nausea creeping up my throat when I realized that’s what she had been swallowing.
I gagged as I pulled my phone out to call 911, looking around and noticing that almost everyone with a black cup was chewing and swallowing, just as Ethel had been.
As I stared at her, she slowly closed her mouth and let out a series of garbled noises that I could just barely make out.
I stared as she continued to let out the same noises while I tried to tell the operator what was happening.
After a few seconds, I knew exactly what she was trying to say.
“It's so good!”
