We have a tradition of going to buffet for my birthday dinner. As I got older it became harder to get my small family together for a meal. My brother left for school and my parents both got pretty into their jobs. When the day came, I got lucky and my brother came back for a weekend. My parents far busy but promised we could do dinner later with just them and I accepted the offer. If I went out with them later, I could go with my bother now so I got two birthday dinners.

I picked out the place I wanted to eat at. There was a Chinese buffet pretty close by that I loved. The food was great and they had some aquariums with massive Koi inside for people to watch while they ate. They place looked beautiful as well. The entire restaurant covered in red and gold making me wonder why it wasn’t a more popular spot. The hostess silently directed us to an empty table. Besides the workers, we were the only one inside. For how good the food was I felt bad that this place wasn’t packed. We got our drinks and went to load up our plates.

The dinner was fairly normal for a while. I roasted my brother in the way only a little sister could. He pretended to be annoyed but had fun hanging out after being away for so many months. We tried to stay quiet though so we wouldn’t disrupt the serves slow night shift. I swore I needed to come by this restaurant more often after eating two plates of different meat dishes. The food had no reason being this good. Soon I started to get full, leaving a few pieces of mushrooms and noodles on my plate. My brother had half a slice of cake on his. We sat and talking for a few more minutes waiting for our stomach to settle before attempting to clean the last few bites.

As we talked, someone else came in and sat at a table near ours. I glanced over at him unable to help myself. I’ve never seen a person like him before. His skin dark, but hair golden. His eyes a bright blue, almost white. It made them look fake and I didn’t know why someone would wear colored contacts to go out alone for dinner. The wait staff suddenly started to act weird. They whispered something to the man sitting down and nodded towards us. I met my brother’s eyes to see if he wanted to leave or stay to watch what this was all about. The man said something in a low voice I couldn’t make out and waved off the waiter's concerns. The waiter gave us an almost scared look for half a second, then hurried away. I looked around to see that almost everyone working in the place suddenly started to hover nearby.

The man dressed in a dark red vest with gold pin stripe threads. His shirt buttoned up all the way to his chin making his neck look stiff. He rolled up his shirt sleeves to the elbows in such a neat way and buttoned them in place with glittering golden buttons. We both did our best to not stare, finding it hard. He didn’t seem to notice the other two people looking at him. The stranger sat stiff and proper, waiting for something.

The server came over with two plates in his hands piled with stir fried rice and some sweet and sour chicken. I gave my brother another look wondering who this guy was that made him so important a buffet server would bring food to him. The plates were set down and the man started to eat, then more servers came over.

My mouth dropped open as more plates were set down. Soon the entire table was covered with dishes over loaded with different kinds of food. I couldn’t finish even a plate and a half of what been placed down in front of this man. Did this guy have friends coming by? No, the table he sat at only could hold four people. This was way more food than what four people could eat. In the time the plates been set down the man finished the first two. He set the cleared plate aside and the server scooped them up for more to be set down in their place.

This man wasn’t big. He looked rail thin and yet he already ate more than what myself and my brother did in two minutes after sitting down. We should have paid our bill and left but we sat in our seats transfixed at the sight before us. We no longer tried to hide staring at this man eating.

Another four plates set aside and the servers were sweating. They were acting as if a wild animal came inside but needed to act professional serving it. The music that played over some sort of hidden system cut out letting us hear the sounds of his cutlery against his plates and faintly a dishwasher running somewhere in the kitchen. Oddly enough, the man wasn’t making any disgusting chewing sounds. Well, until he got to the shrimp plate.

The restaurant served whole shrimp with the head still attached. I’ve never tried eating them before. The man didn’t take the heads off. he just shoved the whole thing in his mouth and I could hear the shells crunching as he chewed. I already lost track of how much food he’d already eaten. I caught my brother’s eyes again and he mouthed a silent ‘What the fuck’.

His face pale and I assumed my own expression was the same look of horror. The strange man got to a place of some sweet and sour short ribs. They honestly were my favourite thing served at the restaurant and I tensed up waiting to see if he ate them the same way he ate the shrimp. Shells were one thing, but bones? There was no way he was going to eat the bones.

We both stared, mouths open as he ate through the pile with no issue at all. Bones and all. The sound of his teeth cracking against the ribs the only thing echoing inside the restaurant. This was insane. There was no way someone could eat like this. We had a chance to just leave. I doubted the owners would care if we fled without paying our bill by then.

There was no way to figure out how much he ate with all the empty plates being taken away. We lost track of time but I think it wasn’t very long. This man ate more than what some people did in six months in under an hour. Finally, all the plate were removed and replaced by clean empty ones covering his table.

He turned his head to meet our gazes. I nearly screamed having the set of bright eyes on us. We both froze, unable to move when he stood up, adjusting his vest. Even after eating so much, he didn’t make a mess. No drips of sauce on his vest, or at the corners of his mouth. He took the few steps to come over to our table, a smile on his face that made my body want to fold onto itself. He stopped and placed a hand on the back of my chair, trying to look as friendly as possible. I wanted to scream. I looked up my brother silently begging him to do something. His hand went to his butter knife, gripping it so tightly his knuckles turned white. If this man tried anything to his little sister, he might attack him. Thank God for older brothers.

“I am sorry you both needed to witness all of that. It must have been unnerving for you, but I this restaurant had a wonderful dessert prepared for me tonight and I needed to come in right away.” The stranger spoke, his voice sweet and with a hint of a southern accent.

“You... ate the bones...” I choked out unable to say anything else.

“Oh yes. I am able to digest things like that. One should always clean their plates. It’s an insult to the chefs and the food otherwise.” He said and his eyes fell on our plates.

We still had a few things left over. I started to sweat. My chest getting tight waiting for him to do something. My mind going crazy with thoughts of what the hell this man really was and what he would do to us for not finishing our meals.

“But I suppose a few pieces left behind isn’t the end of the world. After all, you did see something a bit strange. It’s understandable to not finish your dinner with your stomach upset. I’ll pay for your meals as an apology. I do know that my eating habits are a bit different from your own.” He said his friendly tone never wavering.

I sighed and my brother relaxed his grip on the knife. I wanted to leave and nearly did so when I saw his face twist into horror. He saw something before I did and I heard a sound of muffled screaming. I tensed again, praying that if I didn’t move nothing would happen. The sound got closer and out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the servers dragging a bound man through the empty dining room. He struggled harder when he got closer to the table of empty plates. His pleas for help hidden under the cloth stuffed in his mouth and wrapped around his head.

“Oh, there is my special dessert now. This one was found trying to climb into a window of a child in the dead of night. It seems that wasn’t the first time he's done so. Just the first time he was caught.”

My dinner threatened to come back up hearing those words. I let myself watch the servers place the struggling bound man on the table and on the plates. He broke a few as they forced him still. He kicked and thrashed, causing some of the broken shards to cut his clothing. The stranger didn’t mind. He turned from our table to go back to his with a new meal.

I only stayed long enough to watch the stranger's mouth literally unhinge from his jaw. I knew he wouldn’t eat his dessert as neat and proper as he did with his dinner. I grabbed my bother by the wrist and dragged him out of that place, letting out a small scream when I heard the first sounds of the stranger biting down.

We got into his car and got the hell out of there, neither of us speaking. We didn’t even notice my brother accidentally stole the butter knife until we got back home. We threw it out, not wanting the thing in the house. It took hours for either of us to finally speak to each other.

“Do you want to... Go to the movies instead of dinner for your birthday next year?” My brother asked in a shaking voice.

I nodded agreeing with him. It sucks that I could never eat at that restaurant again. I really liked their sweet and sour short ribs.