My friend Khutso and I were standing in a long queue at a Starbucks. Both of us waited for our drinks, a caramel ribbon crunch frappuccino for me and a green tea with no sugar for him.

“That much sugar will make you a weakling,” Khutso remarked. He has always been this lean, gym freak trying to build his muscles daily.

That’s one trait of his that I didn’t mind. The only thing that annoyed me about him was his aggressive and arrogant nature. You see, Khutso is a very temperamental individual. He is always getting into fights with anyone. The slightest provocation, and he’s already got his fists held up, ready to knock someone out.

I would sometimes get dragged into his conflicts, usually in his drunken state, and on occasion, I would have a black eye or two because of it. I have often warned him to tame his anger before it gets worse, but being the hot-headed mess that he is, he would just dismiss me, saying that it is his nature. And if anyone tried to cross his path, that was the day the world would come to an end.

I, on the other hand, would try my very best to avoid any conflict. I was not a fan of getting bruised every weekend.

On this day though, his anger landed him in a predicament.

While we stood in line, a tall muscular guy entered the coffee shop. He wore all black clothing which seemed to blend in with his skin. There was a necklace he wore with what seemed to be made from beads and…something that looked like tusks? Maybe teeth? I couldn’t tell. His long dreadlocks bounced around as he marched straight to the counter. “Hi, I’m here to pick up an order for Jericho,” he said to the cashier, in a friendly tone. He proceeded to present his phone, showing the order ticket.

Khutso huffed, annoyed at his sudden presence. “What the hell? Why is he cutting in line?”

The guy turned around to look at us. I guess he had heard my friend’s melodramatic cry. “Relax, man. It’ll only take two minutes max, I promise”.

Khutso protested, “I don’t care! We’ve been standing in this line for a long time. You can’t just cut the line! What’s so special about you?”

The poor worker serving the man just sighed and rolled her eyes, as if to say that she gets paid way too little for dealing with this. “Sir, the man presented his slip from our app and his order is complete. In future, please consider using our app if you wish to get similar customer service from us”.

I facepalmed. I told him beforehand that we could order our coffees online. The stubborn mule refused to. He gave an excuse for how he didn’t want the government or some other corporation to know his personal or financial information. That’s another trait that I hated about him. Easily gullible and yet too stubborn to correct.

The strange man got his coffee, said thank you to the lady, and was heading out. My friend put on a scowl. That’s never a good sign. He was about to do something stupid.

Khutso stepped out of the line, marching straight to the man. With one swift motion, he yanked the man’s shoulder, making him turn around to face him. He raised his hand and swatted the coffee out of the man’s hands, which splattered all over the man and the floor. He then proceeded to shove the man backwards.

Everyone else gasped as the strange man staggered back a little. His silent demeanour was an unusual and eerie response to my friend’s actions. I got a glimpse of his eyes. His wild-looking eyes were…glowing?

The man slowly stretched out his hand to my friend’s chest. He glared at him so intensely.

Suddenly, my friend gasped. Quickly he clutched at his throat like he was choking. Then, his dark skin started changing into a ghostly grey. After that, his hands dangled down, before he fell to the floor and landed with a thud.

You could hear a pin drop in the coffee shop at that moment. Everyone was staring at the man, who was evidently not in the mood to order another coffee. He simply stormed out m, slamming the door and almost breaking it, leaving my friend lying there on the coffee-stained floor, motionless.