Mother B…

When our town got its first Panera Bread outlet, I decided to apply for a part-time job. I had a scooter hence could easily do deliveries. On my first day at work, it was Carl who came to talk to me first. Carl was the chef there and had a good reputation for his cooking skill. Every loaf of bread he baked turned out to be perfect. 

Their mouth-watering smell and warmth put a smile on the customers’ faces. Carl never bragged about his culinary skills and maybe that’s why people loved him more. His humble nature and welcoming attitude made him approachable to strangers. 

Handing me my uniform, he said – 

• “Welcome to the Panera Bread family. Let me know if you ever need anything, Kelly.”
• “Thanks, Carl! You are the sweetest.”

Slowly I got accustomed to the restaurant and my job. Everything was going well when suddenly Carl’s mother died. Little did I know that Carl adored his mom. All that he knew about baking bread, he learnt from his mother. 

After her funeral when he came back, I expected to see him in a bad shape. But to all of our surprise, he looked just fine. He wasn’t smiling and talking like he used to but he didn’t say a single thing about his mother. 

He mostly kept to himself and finished his job. We were about to close the restaurant when I decided to talk to him. I don’t know why I felt odd about his behaviour and this sudden toughness that he acquired after losing his mother. He was folding his apron when I entered the kitchen. 

• “Hey…”
• “Hi, Kelly.”
• “Umm…done for the day?”
• “Yeah.”
• “I know you are going through a tough time and it’s not easy to deal with the death of your loved ones but I want you to know that I am with you. If ever I could be of any help just let me know…”
• “Sure, I will.” 

His straight-cut replies made me understand that he doesn’t want to talk about this. So, without interfering much, I bid him goodnight and turned to leave. That’s when he stopped me. 

• “Kelly…”
• “Yes?”
• “If I say something, will you believe that?”
• “Like what?”
• “My mom is with me.”
• “Of Course, she is Carl. She is watching over you from heaven.”
• “NOOOO! That’s not what I meant…”
• “Then what?” 
• ” My mom is with me. Like inside me or around me…I can’t explain but I feel her. I feel her in that house. I feel her here too. She watches me standing in that corner when I bake.” Saying this he pointed at a dark corner of the kitchen. 
• “What???” 
• “You must be thinking I’m crazy, right?”
• “No…no…I think it’s the sorrow that’s making you feel this way. It happens when we…”

Suddenly he leaned close to my face and said in a creepy voice –  

• “She is getting angry.”
• “What?”
• “She is here. She doesn’t like the fact that I’m telling all this to you. I…I better go home.”

He quickly grabbed his bag and left the Panera bread outlet abruptly. I stood in the empty kitchen like a clueless 6-year-old trying to figure out what just happened. I felt goosebumps as my eyes scanned the kitchen slowly. I stared at the dark corner where Carl pointed out and felt a cold shiver down my spine. That night after coming home, I just couldn’t help but ponder on the words Carl said to me. 

His mother is with him? How is that even possible? I went to her funeral myself. I saw her lifeless body lying in the coffin. I was there when she was buried in the church cemetery. Then how can she…there’s no way I’m going to accept a ghostly tale. 

The next morning waking up, I decided to talk to our boss about Carl’s weird behaviour. The shock was such that this guy started to lose his mind. And I can’t let that happen. 

I went to work in the evening. Carl was working in the kitchen like usual. But this time he didn’t greet me like he used to. Rather he was avoiding me like a plague; barely looking at me, keeping to the minimum whenever the chance of conversation came. 

So, I didn’t bother him either at that moment. I decided to talk to him one more time before going to our boss. I set out for the night deliveries and when I came back it was closing time already. The boss already left and our cleaning guy was taking out the trash. It was just me and Carl in the restaurant so I took the opportunity. 

I went to the kitchen. Carl was busy wrapping up. He was cooking the last batch.

• “Hey, how are you today?”

He turned at me and smiled in an eerie way.

• “Never been better, Kelly.”
• “You know, you can always talk to me.”
• “Yes…yes of course.”

Saying this he looked at me and his eyes froze. He stopped blinking or even moving.

• “Carl…Carl…”

I called out to him but he didn’t reply. Suddenly, his body started to shake violently like he was having an attack or something. I screamed again –

• “Carl! Carl! What’s happening to you?”
• “She’s back…she is…”

The voice he spoke in sounded so distorted that I couldn’t believe it was coming from a human. I ran to grab him and just then his head started to turn up in a very scary way. His eyes widened; his mouth opened into a silent scream while he faced the ceiling. What happened next will be forever imprinted in my memory. Carl was standing right next to the deep frier. His body went out of his control as if someone else was operating it. He slowly started to bend down and I realised what a huge tragedy is about to take place. Carl is about to drop down in that hot, flaming deep frier. I was so shocked and scared by this scenario that I forgot to move.

Right in front of my eyes, he dipped his own face into the frier and I could hear a loud frying sound mixed with a suppressed scream.

• “Oh my God!”

I could see his face getting fried. He was trying to get up but something or someone was pushing his head deep into that hot, boiling oil. I couldn’t stand the scene and fainted after letting out a spine-chilling scream.

• “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….”

When I woke up at the hospital, my parents were seen standing by my side. Two cops were there too. One of them said –

• “I’m sorry for what happened to your co-worker miss. We know it’s not a good time but I have to ask some questions about his tragic death. You are the last person to be with him at the time of his suicide.”
• “Suicide??? You are ruling this out as suicide?”
• “Well, we have the CCTV footage ma’am. He killed himself. We came to know his mother died and we think he was depressed about that.”
• “Yes, he was but that doesn’t explain why he would dunk his head into a deep frier??? I… I didn’t believe him when he told me…but I think he was right all this time.”
• “Right about what?”
• “That his…”

I couldn’t tell them. No matter how much I wanted to but I just couldn’t who would believe me? Who would accept the fact that it was Carl’s mom who possessed him to kill himself that night? I couldn’t work in Panera bread after Carl’s death. Whenever I am alone, that image of Carl’s face getting fried like a pretzel still shocks my mind. I will never get the answers. What do you think? Was it a suicide or did something evil make him do it?