"The children won't play anywhere near the old burger joint on the hill. Nor can the realtors do a thing with it.

"From outside, no one can hear anything through the boards. But those who have ventured inside bring back terrifying tales:

"The anguished cries of bits of potatoes, being awakened from frozen slumber by being dumped in a sizzling pool of oil. Salads screaming as they are shoveled into mouths. Even the packages of ketchup cannot rest silent: they cry out again and again, reliving being torn open and squeezed empty.

"What troubles everyone…though no one dare give voice to it: everything that was once there makes noise…except the meat.

"The meat is oddly silent."