The Night the Waitress Found the Last Table Set at the Oasis Diner

It was the slowest hour of the graveyard shift at the Oasis Diner on the edge of Salton, California—3:47 AM, according to the clock above the pie case. The waitress, a woman named Cora who had worked that shift for eleven years, noticed a booth in the back corner that she had not set. The table was laid for one: a water glass, a coffee cup turned right-side up, a single paper napkin folded into a triangle. She knew every regular, every trucker on rotation, every deputy who stopped in for coffee on his rounds. She had not placed those items. The kitchen was empty, the parking lot was empty, and the heat lamps glowed on a tray of untouched hash browns. Cora stood behind the counter for a long time, watching that booth. She told herself she would not look away. But she did—once, to wipe down the counter—and when she looked back, the coffee cup had steam rising from it. This episode is a story about the things that arrive in the spaces we refuse to watch, and what happens when a woman who has spent her whole life being unseen finally sees something she cannot explain. #FexingoHorror #HorrorPodcast #TheLanternAnthology #OasisDiner #SaltonCalifornia #GraveyardShift #Waitress #Loneliness #Unseen #EmptyBooth #CoffeeCup #Steam #Route9 #Desert #NightShift #AtmosphericHorror #SlowBurn #Luna Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo