The Photograph at the Maplewood Diner

It was the autumn of 2019, just before the leaves turned. I was driving through central Vermont, trying to outrun something I didn't want to name, and I stopped at the Maplewood Diner off Route 14. The diner was empty except for a waitress named Cora and a photograph pinned to the corkboard by the register. A polaroid of a man sitting in booth four, smiling. Cora said he came in every Tuesday at the same time, ordered the same thing, paid with a crumpled twenty. She said she'd never seen him smile before that picture was taken. She said the photograph was taken by someone who wasn't there. What I found when I looked closer at the reflection in the diner window behind him is why I don't stop at roadside diners anymore. Not after dark. Not alone. This is a story about the things cameras catch that eyes don't, about the shape that stood behind the photographer, and about what happens when you develop film that was never exposed. #FexingoHorror #HorrorPodcast #MaplewoodDiner #Route14 #Vermont #Polaroid #Photograph #WaitressCora #BoothFour #Autumn2019 #DinerHorror #Unseen #Reflection #FilmDevelopment #SmallTown #Luna #Imaginary #SoloNarrative Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo