Let Me Watch You Eat

It was finally lunch time, and Kaori excitedly skipped down the disgusting sidewalks of New York City. Her skirt was bouncing up and down ever so slightly as she did so, revealing the very bottom of her butt cheeks as she quickly made her way to a place called Johnny's. The perfect thing to eat as she took a break from playing was to chow down on a nice, sloppy chili dog. 

She slowed down to a walk as she neared a stoplight, the camera pointed directly at her face as she winked at it, reading her chat as she adjusted her hair and black cat ears that sat upon her head. "I can't help that I love Johnny's!" She squealed with happiness, responding to people that were hounding her for always eating there. 

You'll get fat! 

Gross! You'll get ugly! 

Don't ruin your figure! 

Except, not only did she not care about their suggestions, but she really didn't like the hotdogs either; she just noticed that she always had an influx of viewers and gifts when she gobbled down a long coney dog compared to anything else she's had yet. 

Upon reaching the grungy, hole in the wall mom and pop shop, Johnny's, the preppy influencer popped open the door, immediately being greeted by every worker in the restaurant; her stream playing on their TVs that hung from the ceiling. Though when she made her way through the doors, they changed the channel to a random sports game that didn't even show the team NYC was supposed to represent. 

Kaori dragged her feet against the dirty tile that they called the floor, making her way over to a red booth while the delicate, greasy smell of cooking, fatty foods filled her nose.

When she finally reached her spot, while sliding in as close to the wall as possible, she set her phone up against one of the mini baskets that held an odd array of jelly pouches to continue filming herself live, hands-free, while she ate. 

As she peaked at her dashboard, it was just as she expected; certain viewers began to join, raising her count even more, and her gifts began to pour in faster. The downside of her fame, however, was the normally slow restaurant quickly becoming packed as people wanted to simply sit near her; staring at her while they did so. 

She was lucky enough to not have to deal with any one that was too crazy yet, though the stares always bugged her while she ate. Millions of people staring at her through a screen was one thing, but having literal eyes on her was another. 

The influencer didn't even need to place an order, and within minutes of her sitting down, her usual order arrived; a chili covered coney dog with a side of salty fries and a soda to compliment it. She immediately took a sip upon its arrival and before her waiter even took a step away from her; more so out of being nervous. 

When the waiter didn't leave after giving Kaori her food, she gave him a glance out of the corner of her eyes, and she immediately noticed he was bit dirtier than usual; nor had she even seen him before. Though, she didn't want to think too much of it considering they were always getting new staff. 

Still though, his appearance was quite different than the normal server uniforms. 

Instead of black attire, he was wearing a dirty, stained white t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans that sat below his belly, while the entire front was covered with a heavily soiled, white apron that was tied around his midsection while hanging from his neck. 

Noticing her anxiousness, the waiter took it upon himself to join her at the table, catching Kaori off guard before his butt planted onto the cushion opposite her. 

She stared at him for a moment, bewildered that he just joined her without being asked, "can I help you?" She asked him instead, her head tilting to the side slightly like a curious puppy as she eyeballed him. She pushed the option on her phone to flip the camera around to face him. 

The man, a balding, wrinkled fool with green eyes and a beer belly cleared his throat, placing a sideways fist against his mouth as he did so. "I'm the cook, but I wanted to watch you in person actually eat my food." His eyes darted from her to the hotdog, and then back to her again. 

Kaori's eyes shot to the chat that was being spammed with the red flag emoji. She gave him a weak smile, "it's always delicious, but I just realized that my break is shorter today due to the circumstances with what I'm streaming; may I take this to go?" The man hesitated for a moment before reluctantly agreeing, excusing himself from the table as he went to get the to-go box for her. 

Instead of waiting, though, she left the moment his back was turned; darting out the glass door and back onto the sidewalk where she entered the crowd of people walking upon it; though failing to blend in. "So, that was a bit odd, wasn't it babyloves?" She chuckled awkwardly; but it was short-lived, as she saw through her camera the same man quickly approaching her with a bag in one hand and a bouquet of flowers in the other. He was obviously prepared for her before she had even arrived. 

"Kaori! You forgot your food! Please come back. I want to see you eat it!" 

She began to speed-walk, talking to her chat as she tried to act like everything was normal, and her chat only thought of everything as a joke. 

He kept repeating the same thing over and over again, and her heart began to beat faster and faster as he got closer. While she was surrounded by so many souls, she felt utterly alone. 

It didn't take her long before her anxiety kicked her muscles into full gear, forcing her legs to start running- the man following suit but running faster. 

Kaori's smile quickly twisted upside down, and she began to let out small whimpers as her nervousness started to slip through her barely open lips. 

Being smaller than the man she wasn't able to simply shove her way through the crowd, instead she was forced to maneuver through the sea of people. The balding man, being bigger all around, was able to just push everyone out of his way; keeping himself in a straight line as his eyes remained locked on her. 

Ba-dum 

Ba-dum 

Ba-dumBa-dum 

Ba-dumBa-dumBa-dum 

Her heart was pounding and that was all she could hear as her blood pressure rose, deafening her with her own heart. 

Then the sea stopped, and she finally mustered the courage to stand up for herself. 

Instead of trying to get around them, she immediately pushed her way through, her heart drowning out the warnings the people around her tried to issue to her frantically. 

They were stopped at the crosswalk, their indicator light was red, but she didn't see it until it was too late. 

She stopped in the middle of the road and looked to her right just as the sounds of the world finally came back to her; the horn of a large truck was piercing her eardrums harshly as she realized it was coming right for her, unable to stop. 

What? She asked herself. Why is this happening to me? I can't die yet. 

Kaori slammed her eye lids together, anticipating the pain that was about to trigger every nerve in her body. 

Everything went dark for a brief moment before finally the lights came back on, and she was still standing in place. Though, something didn't feel right. 

She looked down to her feet. 

Kaori was standing in her own body. The truck had hit her so hard, that instead of being flung, her body had shot down to the ground, splitting her head open and killing her instantly; let alone the heels of her shoes nearly touching her smashed head from behind her. 

She let out a wailing scream that no one could hear when it finally registered. She wasn't coming back from this. Though, before she went, she needed to peak at her phone that was still in her physical hand. 

Kaori's ghost stepped out of her deceased self and twisted about to lean down and look at her chat; the screen of her phone cracked only an inch at the corner like a mini lightning bolt. 

Her entire chat was only filled with RIP and the gravestone emoji like what they witnessed was only an act. 

She tried to stomp on it, but her foot only went through it. Kaori then dropped down into a fetal position, sobbing with her face tucked into her ghostly knees. 

Then from behind her, a calm, warm motherly voice entered her ears. "Are you ready to go now?"