Hidden World

 Amber stopped as she made her way to a table from the lunch counter. She wasn't sure she had seen what she thought she saw. She took a couple steps in reverse to look back through the doorway to the other dinning room. No, she was seeing it. Standing at a high top was a man with the ass of a horse stuck to his back. People didn't seem to notice. The walked around the protruding back end stuck out into the walkway, but somehow everyone seemed to be avoiding the rear without looking directly at the strange anatomy. It was like the swishing horse tail wasn't there. She just stood staring for a while watching the strange change in communal motion to accommodate a horse butt that no one else apparently saw. Amber didn't move until one of the other people at the high top starting staring back at her. He had tiny little curly cue horns on his forehead. She didn't mean to let her mouth drop open, but it was hard to control at that point. How was it possible that everyone didn't see this?

 Maybe she should have gone to her table, but she turned on her heel and made her way to the strand assembly at the table. They pointedly avoided looking at her as she approached. When she got close enough she had to work hard on her control to keep from reaching out and touching the horse rump, but if it was real that would probably be rude.

 "Hi," she said to the back of the horseman's head, since everyone at the table refused to recognize her, "I realize this is going to sound crazy, and I would not be offended if you just told me that I'm a maniac, because I would totally get that, but are you a centaur?"

 She smiled brightly, and as non-threateningly as she could as the Centaur turned around to look at her with wide eyes. "Excuse me?"

Amber tried to laugh in a way she really hoped didn't make her sound even crazier than she felt. "It's the funniest thing. I was just walking past on my way to lunch when I looked over and notices you over here with a..." she waved at the large horse anterior that whipped it's tail back and forth. "Please tell me that I have lost my mind." Once she started looking at it, she couldn't look away. It was like watching a car crash. One of the big horse feet stamped and startled her. She looked at the other two men at the table. "Then I came over her and noticed that that gentleman was a faun, and this guy is... I'm not really sure what he is, but he is very interesting looking."

 The third man blinked sideways eyelids at her as the faun pulled a hat out of his coat pocket and pulled it over the little horn on his head. The centaur turned to her and looked her up and down. His ears were pointy, that was... unusual.

 "He's a Kappa," the horseman said pointing to the strange creature that stood across the small table. "I think he's mostly turtle."

 Her shoulders slumped as she looked around the table. "I'm not crazy."

 "You sound disappointed?"

 "If I were crazy, I could have talked myself out of what I saw. I might even forget it eventually. But now..." she waved her hand vaguely at the Kappa turtle man, "I'm not forgetting that."

 "His name is Tyler, he's from Hong Kong," the centaur scoffes.

 Amber put her elbows on the table and cradled her head in her hands. "Of course he is. It's suddenly really hot in here or is it just me?"

 Well, things could be worse. This could have all been in her head and slowly worn away at her brain until she was in a state of crippled neurosis. Now she knew it was real and she could just move on with her life. She could move on with her life knowing that there were really centaurs and fauns and kappas, what ever the Hell that was. She stood up straight and took a few deep soothing breaths. The air carried the twang of hot, sweaty horse fur. That was not helpful. Neither was the clip-clopping of giant centaur hooves. She pushed away from the table and spun around. She was going back to her table. Then she was going to sit down and eat her lunch. And if she remain sane through that she would go back to work and finish her spread sheet. When she got home she would drink enough to think this whole day was a bad dream.