Chapter Text
"This place is WHERE again?"
You pulled the pizza out of the oven, still steaming, and slid it onto the counter.
"Just past Rosswood Street."
"Steve, that's like an hour away."
"I tried to tell them that, but they still made the order. Said there wasn't a pizza place closer."
"No wonder, it's in the middle of nowhere." You held up the giant, half-wheel pizza cutter and pressed it down hard, crust crackling beneath you.
"I'm sorry Y/N but I don't make the rules. We can only outright decline if it's more than an hour away, other than that, what we say is just a suggestion to the customers."
You huffed quietly, pulling open a pizza box. Half the time, people who wanted a pizza taken out this far were either prank callers or old people who thought the "15 minutes or less" rule still applied. You didn't like your chances at getting a tip on this, but it's not like you could say no.
You stood up again, sighing. "What are the odds that this place actually exists?"
"Hey, if it's not, you get to take that pizza home with you."
"Right, like I don't get to do that enough." You said with a chuckle. "Let me grab my bag."
In fairness, the house on Rosswood Street wasn't QUITE an hour away, and it probably would've been even quicker if it wasn't in the middle of nowhere surrounded by forest and if it wasn't dark out. But you didn't want to take any chances. You couldn't see very well over the cliff you were driving by, but it looked pretty steep here.
You gripped the steering wheel tight, classic rock blaring on the radio, an attempt at a distraction. You just wanted to get this over with and go home. Friday nights were always the busiest, and you and all the other delivery drivers were basically in overdrive right now. You just hoped to god these extra houses would be a good boost to your paycheck, you didn't trust this one.
Speaking of which...
You rolled to a stop at the house and did a double-take, pulling out your phone and double, then triple-checking the address. There was no way anyone lived here, at least not recently; the windows were shuttered, the paint was cracked and peeling, you could see a pile of scrap wood a few feet away, and there were no lights on, inside or out. Either this was a prank, or you were about to be murdered.
Well, you still had to check, at least according to your managers. You could already kinda see where this was going, but you figured you'd bite, you really didn't wanna drive all the way back out here if someone DID live here.
You opened the door slowly, pausing a minute to glance around for wild animals or axe-murderers. After seeing nothing, you stepped out, leaving the headlights on just in case. You trudged through overgrown weeds and grass and continued looking around. Just behind the house, you spotted a tire swing that looked long since abandoned. You felt something against your shoe a foot away from the porch and glanced down to see a faded glass bottle. Stuck in the wooden slates of the porch, you could see a piece of paper with something written or drawn on it, but it was too faded to see what. You thought you could see scratch marks on the door.
Beneath the stack of pizza boxes, you stuck your keys between your fingers like claws and started wondering how fast you could sprint back to the car, get in and drive off. With that, you knocked.
You paused a minute. You'd count to 20 and if they weren't here by then, you'd leave, you didn't care, that was long enough. You paused a minute, noticing the rusted metal knocker on the door. How did you miss that? It was clearly meant to be something, but you couldn't tell what--
You were momentarily blinded as the door opened and light flooded out. You grimaced as your eyes adjusted slowly to see a figure standing in the doorway.
"Uh, pizza." You mumbled.
You vision cleared more to reveal the figure was a man. His build was stocky, his eyes tired and hair messy, and he had a cigarette tucked behind his ear.
He scoffed through his nose. "Yeah, Toby definitely chose dinner tonight." He said it quietly, almost to himself. "Uh, give me a sec--"
He began digging through his pockets, and you peered over his shoulder as he did. You couldn't see much past him, but it just looked like the entryway to any other house; the light behind him was amber and faded, you thought you could see a long skinny entry table just behind him with some half dead flowers on it, maybe a threadbare rug at his feet, and you could hear voices in the distance. A big gathering? That would make sense given all the pizzas.
But what were the doing HERE?
The man stood back up abruptly, holding a cracked and faded leather wallet. "What do I owe you?"
"Uh...$62.50."
You expected him to balk at the price like everyone else did, but he simply opened the wallet. counted out a few bills and handed them to you. You tried to grab the stack, dropping your keys in the process and cursing under your breath.
"Here, I've got that--" He quickly took the stack from you. "Have a good night." He said, and disappeared back inside, leaving you in the dark again.
You stood up and paused there a minute, before mumbling out a small, "Thanks?" You shuffled back to your car, climbing in and sitting there a minute, just staring at the house, trying to make sense of it before giving up and driving off.
When you counted out your money later that night, you realized that man left you your largest tip of the night, and you couldn't help but smile.