It started with a low hum.

Every day at exactly 3:33 pm, the espresso machine at Harmony Café would let out a soft and rhythmic vibration like it was remembering something.

Customers thought it was a timer but Jo knew better.

The espresso machine had once been ground zero for a cursed roast that summoned flames, fog, and minor goat related hauntings. It was no stranger to weirdness.

Now, it seemed to be listening.

One afternoon, a new barista named Larry jokingly said, “If you’re haunted, give us a sign.”

The machine brewed a perfect doppio shot. No one had touched a button or knob. The lights flickered and a customer’s phone played a voicemail from a number not in their contacts. The voice mail was them ordering coffee from the day before.

Jo called Mira, who ran a part-time magical diagnostics side hustle, to the café

Mira waved her hands, muttered an incantation, and promptly got electrocuted by steam. “Yep,” she coughed, steam billowing from her nostrils. “Haunted by past brews. The espresso has memories.”

The machine began reproducing drinks no one had ordered in years. Drinks people forgot they loved or swore they’d never drink again.

A cappuccino with clove and regret. 

A chai mocha called The Ex’s Mistake.

A flat white that made one customer cry and say, “My grandmother used to make this… she was allergic to dairy.”

It wasn’t malicious. It was nostalgic. Bittersweet even.

The town embraced it and at 3:33 pm each day, people came just to see what the espresso would remember.

And Jo? She stopped fearing the weird. She added a chalkboard sign that read: Today’s Special: Whatever the Machine Feels Like. Drink at your own emotional risk.