While taking an order at a nearby table, the waitress noticed a man slowly sliding off his chair and disappearing under the table, while the woman across from him remained unbothered. After finishing the order, the waitress approached the woman and said, “Pardon me, ma’am, but I think your husband just slid under the table.”

The woman, without looking up, calmly replied, “No he didn’t. He just walked in the door.”

Confused, the waitress checked under the table but saw no sign of the man. She cautiously asked again, “Ma’am, your dining companion—he slid under the table and hasn’t come back. Are you sure—”

The woman smiled faintly, her voice cool, “Like I said, he just walked in the door.”

The waitress was now even more unsettled. She had been certain the man had been there, his posture slouched, his jacket askew. But now the table was empty, and the woman remained unfazed. The waitress, feeling increasingly uncomfortable, said, “I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave, ma’am.”

The woman responded with a strange, almost pitying smile. “Oh, my dear, you don’t need to worry about him.”

At that moment, the waitress caught a glimpse of movement. The man had reappeared, standing by the table as if nothing had happened. He brushed off his jacket and nodded politely, while the woman smiled again, saying softly, “See, he’s right here. Always has been.”

The waitress, shaken and confused, backed away as the couple resumed their meal, the eerie calm settling over them. The room continued as usual, and the waitress, still bewildered, left the table, hearing the woman’s words echo in her mind: “You don’t need to worry about him.”

The strange moment lingered, an unsettling mystery she couldn’t explain.