The deluge of rain poured down in impossible torrents, Jessica could barely even see the lines marked out on the night-darkened, unlit road. To make matters worse, she was in the middle of nowhere, her phone had died, and she was goddamn hungry enough she could eat a freaking cow, hide and all.

“GODDAMIT!” she swore as the car went over a particularly huge pothole and nearly cracked the chassis of her precious Z4. The rain was even worse now; the already shoddy road was now completely covered in a layer of water, making hydroplaning a very real danger. She needed to get off the road before something worse happened.

And then like a god-given sign, a faint neon pink sign blinked into existence on the far stretch of the road. As Jessica got closer, she could make out the dim, grubby letters of the sign: SOPHIE’S, except the ‘H’ was blinking in and out of existence, making the sign alternate between ‘SOPHIE’S’ and ‘SOP IE’S’. Not that any of it mattered. All Jessica knew was that it meant she had a place to stop and she could possible get herself some food.

As Jessica parked beside a particularly ancient brown Oldsmobile, she sat there in her car for a few seconds, studying the diner in front of her. With the dirty neon malfunctioning sign, the sad lack of people, the overall sluggish and drowsy feel of this godforsaken place, and the derelict and forlorn surroundings, Jessica felt as if she should be on the lookout for some psychotic serial killer or something. Things like that always happened in small towns such as these, and then everyone would say how they hadn’t expected such violence and bloodshed in a peaceful, boring little craptown such as theirs.

Jessica suddenly remembered that horrible film, ‘Vacancy’ with Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale. Frank Whaley had always given her the creeps. Jessica shivered, but her desire to be fed and physically sustained trumped the rather fantastical imaginations of her mind. Grabbing her laptop bag and her purse, Jessica threw her coat over her head and ran out into the rain, remotely locking her car when she was safe and dry inside the diner.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tiffany huffed, blowing up a fringe of her hair as she bent down to try and load the boxes of freeze-dried fries into the shelves of the walk-in freezer. Her legs were cramping and it didn’t help that her stomach was the size of Jupiter, pretty much preventing her from even being able to clutch at the boxes with her fingertips.

The girl blew out slowly and tried again, this time succeeding and safely pushing the heavy box onto its designated shelf.

This really was supposed to be Norma’s job, but the woman had complained of finger cramps and had made Tiffany do it instead. Finger cramps? Seriously?! Did it matter that Tiffany was eight-and-a-half months pregnant and severely clumsy? Not at all. Why the hell should that matter to Norma?

Tiffany had really wanted to, just for once, have the guts to tell the insufferable woman off. But Tiffany wasn’t brave enough, nor could she risk making enemies and possibly loosing her this job. She really, really, really needed this job. She had no one. Just the baby and her. This job was their lifeline. She didn’t even know how she would survive when she had the baby and wouldn’t be able to work for a few months. But that was how Tiffany had lived most of her life. She couldn’t plan ahead. Life was always throwing curveballs and Tiffany had always been a deer caught in headlights.

“Tiffany! We’re out of ketchup packets! Get some will you?!” came that horrid woman’s scratchy voice from the front.

Tiffany sighed. The ketchup packets were actually stored outside in a shelf behind the counter, the woman was closer to it than she was! But Tiffany had no intentions of causing a ruckus and sullenly went to comply with fat Cruella’s orders.

The young woman wiped her sweaty hands on her apron and awkwardly shuffled out of the cramped space that was the storage area, being extra careful not to knock anything over with her massive baby bump.

Tiffany took the stepladder and placed it in front of the shelf. She braced herself against the shelf and hauled her burdensome body up the first step, puffing already with the exertion.

“Wait,” a sweet angelic voice called out from behind her.

Tiffany stopped and slowly turned to look around.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jessica dabbed the rain off her face with the sleeves of her blouse as best she could before turning around. Everyone in the diner had stopped to see who the intruder was. This was a small town, and strangers stood out like a sore thumb. Jessica found herself the subject of almost lethargic scrutiny of every eye in the diner, which wasn’t much. The brunette quickly counted off less than a dozen other customers and one short, dumpy looking waitress. All the customers were either well above seventy or burly truck drivers who most likely made this diner a routine stop on their routes.

Then, as quick as she had come in, the audience lost their interest in the pretty Asian brunette who had just bowled in and returned languidly and uninterestedly back to what they were doing before: nothing.

Jessica straightened herself out a little more and walked over to sit at one of the cheap red cushy bar chairs lined up in front of the cashier and second-rate coffee machine. She ordered a simple black coffee and a double cheeseburger with the works. The short frumpy waitress had seemed uninterested in even taking Jessica’s order. The woman was clearly bored out of her mind and she didn’t give a flying rat’s about doing her job. Not that Jessica cared. She just wanted food.

Cradling her coffee in hand as she waited on the rest of her order, Jessica swiveled her chair around studied her surroundings. She was in a textbook typical diner. Candy-apple-red cheap plush plastic-covered booths, black and white linoleum flooring, wide cream-colored cone-shaped light fixtures, and a long white front counter lined with more candy-apple-red plush bar-seating. So typical it was comical.

“Tiffany! We’re out of ketchup packages! Get some will you?!” Jessica heard the frumpy waitress call out rudely, disturbing the lazy peace of the diner.

Jessica heard some rummaging around in the back, and then a young woman came out from the door behind the counter.

She was Asian, young, perhaps just a little younger than Jessica herself. The woman had jet-black past-shoulder-length hair, dark beautiful hazel eyes, milk-white skin, luscious pink lips, a beautiful curve of the neck and a stunning figure. Stunning because the young woman looked ready to pop any moment. Her belly was huge and Jessica had no idea how the she could still be working, much less in a place like this. Jessica didn’t know much about pregnant women, but she was more than certain that this could not be good for the baby or the mother.

Then to her utter dismay, Jessica watched as the girl procured a stepladder and began to reach for the ketchup the previous waitress had wanted. This was ridiculous! The woman was pregnant for god’s sak