10. The first meal
Josh woke up to a hammering sound. He groaned and turned around once, just to snap awake at the unfamiliar setting.
"Where!?.... Oh."
He sighed as his memories flooded him and he sat up at the side of the bed. He slowly stood up and walked to the door from which the hammering had originated. He opened it and squinted as the light burned his eyes like he was a vampire. The red-headed boy from the day before stood on the porch with an energetic smile.
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead! Toss on some clothes and come to eat breakfast when there still is some left. Food is gone in a snap around here. Come on, chop chop!"
He pushed Josh in and closed the door behind him, walking fast towards a wardrobe beside the bed section. A blue uniform that looked to be the perfect size was hanging inside, and the boy tossed it to him with an impatient face. Josh hurried up and got changed, he wanted breakfast. The boy then exclaimed:
"Hey, wait a minute! We were never introduced, right? I'm Kevin. I'll be your guide today." he said proudly with a hand on his chest, almost as if to assure Josh understood what he was talking about.
"Yeah, nice to meet you. I'm Josh."
Kevin walked towards him and yanked his hand and started walking with a speed resembling the director's.
"Alright, let's get going! So much to see, do and learn!" he glanced back at Josh with a smirk. "For you, that is."
Outch. Josh started to like this kid. He had some sass in him.
---
They arrived at the pavilion area, where it was once more standing in its full glory. A lot of people were there and some scrumptious smells wafted the area, making Josh's stomach roar in anticipation. Kevin seemed to hear this and laughed, pulling Josh along towards the long buffet-style breakfast table. As they went up the stairs many people greeted Kevin and glanced at Josh behind him with interest. Kevin was a polite kid and greeted them back with even more enthusiasm, and walked towards the start of the buffet table. He grabbed two plates, handed one to Josh, and started picking amongst the delicacies. Sausages, eggs, grilled vegetables, bacon, toast with an array of cheeses, ham and jams, croissants, fruit, yoghurt, müsli, cereal and much more. They offered an equally diverse drink selection, raging from freshly pressed juices, milk, tea, coffe, hot chocolate, fizzy drinks to drinks Josh had never heard of before or couldn't identify. He followed Kevin as he picked with some hesitation, grabbing small portions of all kinds of stuff. He liked food as much as the next person, and he really enjoyed trying new stuff. Sadly, his old job didn't provide a salary that could handle exotic ingredients, so he considered this a treat.
Kevin had already walked away to one of the three long tables in the centre of the pavilion. Josh noticed him immediately. 'Red hair really helps.' he thought and made his way to his guide. A bit of fiddling past people and getting caught up staring at the strange things on people's plates, he sat down beside Kevin.
"Oh, you're here. Here's the sitch. We'll walk around, introducing you to people so they don't think you're some random customer and kick you out. Then we'll check what you'll be doing for this week and going through the steps of those tasks. You with me?" Kevin looked over and Josh nodded while putting a fork full with orange strings into his mouth.
'?!...!!' Kevin laughed at the shift in his expression, from surprise, to confusion and lastly fascination. He looked at the stuff he just tried and turned to Kevin, asking what it was.
"That's sloffy. It's from a mushroom in Arcaia, I think? I don't remember its real name though, it's long and complicated, so people and myself call it sloffy." he answered, looking very proud of his knowledge. Josh smiled at this, and returned to his plate of mixed exotics. He had just scooped up a black jelly and was about to taste it when-
"Hello." A silky smooth voice spoke right next to his hear. Josh jumped a bit, tossing the jelly up off the spoon and back on the plate with a splat.
"Good morning, director!" Kevin smiled and greeted the creepy fellow that nearly gave Josh a heart attack. He slowly turned his head and found the director staring at him with an amused gaze.
"Good morning. I trust the both of you slept well?" The director seemed to address both of them, but only Kevin answered with a 'of course!'. Josh breathed slowly for a while, calming his heart before turning fully towards the director.
"Yes, thank you." he said, facing the director head on. More amusement filled those golden eyes.
"Splendid. That energy will be needed anon. I shall see you both at noon."
Josh followed the person with his eyes until they were out of his sight, then he sighed in relief and turned back towards his food. He needed to steel himself for jump scares, since they seemed to be frequent around here. Kevin looked at him blankly, and then asked:
"Did you do something?" Josh nearly choked on his mystery jelly, turning to Kevin with furrowed brows.
"The director seems a bit angry with you for some reason. What did you do? Maybe I can help."
"What makes you say that?" Josh inquired, even more suspicious of the director's actions.
"Well, the director only scares people when the person has done something wrong or when the director REALLY doesn't like that person." he looked at Josh with interest.
'Well, fuck. Not only have I been trapped into this weird-ass place, but now the owner hates me. How. Fun.' Josh ate his food in silence. Not even the exotic flavours of this wild-looking stuff could lift his mood and dampen the anxiety slowly growing inside him.