Mcdonald's Charlotte

I drove up to the drive thru after work and it was very much a mote of familiarity floating on a dark, foreboding liminal space where the shadows seemed threateningly surreal. Everything around the McDonalds was dark, shut down, and deserted and there was this loud, very strange, rhythmic tone that was literally injected into the night air. I didn't know what it was but it was obviously broadcasted over loud speakers. The car in front of me peeled out of there as if getting back into the street was life-dependant. I looked around to see if there was a reason for his hasty retreat onto the road but all I saw aside from the other car behind me was -- nothing; no people, not a soul. All that surrounded is was empty black flattop, the nearby road, a gas station with nobody in or around it, and trees that stayed in the still corners of the lot that casted thick black shadows that I could tell was being monitored by the lady at the takeout window before unlocking the latch to cautiously greet me. "You had the two ten piece meals with the Doctor Pepper?" She asked while looking over my car toward the emptiness around us. "Yes, that's correct. What's that weird noise I'm hearing anyway?" "Oh, that's just to keep people away. It's supposed to keep the homeless and the deranged away." She explained. "Look, uh... I still need to make some fresh fries. Can you pull around front and keep your car as close to the door as possible?" She asked. "Yeah.." I replied. She shut and locked that window and I pulled around. I sat there listening to those strange ominous sounds with the window cracked and I couldn't help but keep alert. Maybe it was the odd speakers that did their job to make the place feel alien to me; to the McDonalds employee as well, because I saw her checking her surroundings before even opening that door. She handed the food and the drinks off to me and ran back towards the door as quickly as she could. As luck would have it, the door slid shut on her as she tried to run back in and with no exaggerating, this lady screamed for her life for the other employees to let her in. It was as of the projected shadows of the bushes themselves were coming to get her. It was so ominous that it felt like I was living a horror movie moment... The other car behind me drove off when this happened. I don't even know if that man got his food. I drove around slowly just to make sure she got in because it for sure felt like something was going on that I didn't know about; perhaps something I didn't want to know about. Forget Hawkins Indiana. For the Upside-Down, Stranger Things experience, just visit this McDonalds at the witching hour and make sure you have your doors locked. ... The McNuggets were delicious, by the way.