The following is work of fiction.
The Haunted Pizza Shop
There’s a pizza shop that I drive by every day. For some reason, I always get stuck in traffic right in front of it. For the longest time, I didn’t take much notice of it. But a while back I saw that it was there. It looked like it was in desperate need of a full overhaul. The front glass window and the neon sign was straight out of an eighties movie. From what I can see from inside my car, the interior was equally dark, dingy, and neglected. There didn’t appear to be anyone inside.
Later that day, at work, I looked up the pizza shop on my phone. I couldn’t find it. I thought maybe the owner wasn’t aware that he can put his shop online. Anyway, I didn’t think much of it further. I went back to my desk.
Weeks went by without thinking about the pizza place. But then one night after work, I was stuck in traffic, right in front of the shop again. I was little hungry and decided to grab a supreme and pulled over. I went inside and the first thing I recall was the awesome smell of the dough, the toppings, garlic, salami that lingered the air. It reminded that time when I went to Naples with my family as a kid. Beautiful memories came rushing in, all from the smell of pizza cooking in the oven.
I waited for about a minute when a gentleman in his fifties walked down the stairs with a welcoming smile and asked me what I’d like to drink. I said, I’d like to just order a large supreme takeaway, but he insisted that he have a drink with me whilst I waited for my pizza. He seemed too nice for me to refuse. I must have sat there for about twenty minutes having a red wine with the man whilst he made the pizza and sat with me. We didn’t really say much to each other, but I’m glad that I found this cool this place. Eventually he boxed up my pie and handed it to me.
When I looked up at the menu on the wall for the price, it was that faded that I couldn’t make out anything that was written on it. I politely asked what I owed, and the man insisted that it’s on the house. He also said that I was the first customer in decades. I was a little perplexed at what he said but told him that I’ll tell everyone about this place.
I woke up next morning and got ready for work and got in my car. As usual, I stopped right in front of the shop, or at least where it was. This time it was just a burnt-out hole in the wall with a badly damaged façade of what used to be a pizza shop. I thought maybe there was a fire overnight.
I rushed to work and the first thing I did was look up the news. There were no fires in the area. I dug a little deeper. There was a fire in the eighties that killed the owner and his family that lived above the shop. My hands shook uncontrollably as I read the old newspaper article.