There was nothing calming or pleasant about the vigorous storm that marched into the village early last night. The whole night, I laid stirring. Listening to the wind casting tree branches against the roof, while encouraging their fingernails to scratch the windows; all hours of the night. The apartment creaked and groaned as the storm carried on till morning. I spent most of my time curled up on the floor, in a cage of my own thoughts. I tried bringing in broad breaths. I tried counting sheep. Yet I recognized myself laying next to no sleep at all.

My heart was taring though my chest while I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that there was nothing in the room with me. My mind started spinning spider webs of wretched things that lingered in the shadows of night. When light broke through the windows, the thunder still made its presence known. Reminiscing in the clouds, shaking the ground with its burley laugh. I looked over at the clock to see that it was approximately five am in the morning. I began to fold up my mat from the ground and eagerly got ready for work. I shoveled food down my throat as I rushed out of the apartment in a state of consternation.

I desperately hoped that Thomas would be at the bakery on time today, as I fantastically did not want to wait out in the rain. I ended up walking through a maze while I made my way to work. Escorting myself around puddles and walking over chunks of tree branches that had fallen from the strong winds from last night. I caught myself still trembling at the thought of the kinds of creatures that could possibly still be lurking out on the streets. When I finally met the door of the bakery, I breathed in gulps air of relief.

"That was some nasty storm there, last night, huh?" Thomas asked in a bland voice.

"And that wind, oh she blows and blows. I didn't get much sleep last night. All that ruckus and howling. Oh, I twisted and turned like a worm." Thomas complained.

"Coffee is a brewing in the back dear, I can't imagine you got much sleep either." Thomas motioned his hand to the back and started to put a row of bowls out on the counter. He brought in some dough, putting them on the counters. I could overhear him smacking balls of dough on the counter as the fans started to blow throughout the bakery.

The heat of the ovens felt nice, it was then I realized how stiff and chilled to the bone I was. I waited for the coffee machine to finish spitting coffee out the filter. I breathed in the warm earthy, yet pungent aroma of the cinnamon sprinkled coffee. It was the only way Thomas liked it, just a shy amount of cinnamon on top of the grounds. It was just enough to give it the right amount of warmth that is needed. I laid out two mugs for Thomas and me. My fingers began to thaw against the hot mug of the steaming brew. I took a sip and savored every moment.

He liked his mug an eighth full of cream with three heaping spoons full of brown sugar. I handed him the cup of coffee as he began wiping his brow with the back of his forearm.

"Thanks, doll," he muttered as he reached for the cup of coffee. He had taken a generous sip of coffee before he gasped for air.

"Ahh, that's what I needed, right here!" He brought in another sip. The man loves his coffee, which he has gotten me hooked on since day one. I even bought myself coffee for home, which I now drink religiously.

"I was thinking that we should bake up some snickerdoodle muffins with some cream cheese filling! What do you reckon?" His voice marveled at the thought. I don't know why he asked me what I thought, the decision was already set in stone. It was the town's favorite muffin. We only made it when the weather was lousy and didn't offer much joy to the village. He didn't even have to ask me to get started, I already began to pull out all the ingredients. He simply just smiled and nodded as he started to kneed some dough and place pans full of raw dough into the ovens.

We opened at six-forty-five am sharp, every day, but Sundays. Sundays are a day of rest, as Simon and Thomas liked to say. I finished pouring the batter into the muffin liners and pushed the trays into the oven and started on the cream cheese filling. His little secret was he liked to add a little bit of lemon zest and vanilla. There were a few other ingredients that I added to help promote the cream cheese to become more of a whipped texture.

I began to chop up vegetables for the soup of the day. Today was spicy tomato Tuscan bean and cheese soup. Thomas hated anything ordinary. He seemed to thrive on change. Always trying new recipes and letting the town decide if it was something worth keeping or not. Ever since Thomas opened the bakery, we have had nothing but business. Not only from the villagers but nearby villagers as well. Some people have even confessed that Thomas's bread was better than there moms or grandmas baking recipes. Which, most people blushed at their bold truth that escaped their lips and laughed it off nervously. The bread that we made was indeed soft, it literally melted in your mouth and was ever so delightful. Everyone had a weakness for Thomas's bakery here in this village and nearby villages.

As soon as we started a pot of coffee and tea for customers, we opened the doors and let the wind carry in people. Many people smiled as soon as they sniffed the warm crisp air in the bakery. It was as if people in the town knew we were making snickerdoodle muffins today. People began coming by the dozens after I had added in the cream cheese filling. Within the first hour, I was already making a second batch of muffins and second pot of coffee for the customers. People loved to stop by and take some baked goods to work with them. I loved hearing peoples feedback, I know deep down it made Thomas proud of his bakery. He took pride in what he did.

I was taking out a couple of trays when I looked up to see two light brown eyes looking back at me. Elias was here in his glamorous form. His long hair brushed passed his ears. Everything about this form was a little bit too perfect.

"Ah, Ainsworth!" Thomas sang as he took a sip from his cup of coffee. It was a little bit afternoon and he was still trying to complete his first cup of coffee.

"Hello, Elias" I chimed in as I set the trays down and took off my oven mitts. I made my way to the back to pour myself a second cup of coffee. The two men began to chat.

"It's been a while since I have seen you, how have you been?" Thomas asked.

"Fairly well, I thought I would come in and check and see how things are with your wife."

"Ah, yes. She is starting to get her strength back again. She is able to walk around and do trivial things around the house."Thomas said with a chuckle.

"Glad to hear she is doing well." Elias smiled.

"Oh, yes! She's a hoot that girl. She even got all the doctors riled up, though they say that whatever we are doing to keep doing. She just keeps improving!"Thomas praised. Elias gave a simple nod and glanced down at me as I came back to their conversation. I had a mouthful of coffee in my mouth when he glanced down at me behind the counter. I was enjoying my small bits of heaven from the simple cup of coffee and cream I poured myself.

"You've met Chise, yes?" Thomas elbowed me as he gave me a wink. I smiled politely. If only he knew. Yes, he has met me. Several times now.

"Yes, we have met." He gave me a crooked smile with a sparkle in his eye.

"Have you tried our muffins yet Ainsworth, you must simply try a muffin?" Thomas obviously got bored of the original topic and moved to something he could talk more about. Thomas didn't even give Elias a chance to respond before he handed him a plate with a snickerdoodle muffin with butter on the side.

"What is it?" Elias asked.

"It's magic," Thomas said in a sneaky suspicious tone of voice. I nearly spat out my coffee when he said that and tried not to laugh. Elias seemed to catch on to my sense of humor and chuckled.

"Chise made these. It's the third batch today, this one is on us."Thomas said with one brow cocked up.

"Well then, I'm sure they are magical indeed. Thank you." Elias gave me another glance before sitting poured him a cup of tea while he continued to talk Elias's ear off.

I made my way to the back of the bakery to start cleaning up and prepping for tomorrow. There was something that resonated with me, that took delight in seeing Elias today. I was a bit unsure why, but I knew that for sure he was a kind person. Maybe a bit strange, but he was a good person.

When the day was finished, Thomas and I had to stay a little late because someone called in sick and was not able to show up for work. Both of us left the bakery debilitated. He sent me home with some soup and bread since neither of us had a chance to even sit down and appreciate lunch. Not even a fifteen-minute break for that matter. I suppose the only time I considered to actually stand back and enjoy myself, was when Elias came by. He ended up purchasing a couple of loaves of bread and leaving with not much else to say but a few words of appreciation.

Something I noticed about working with Thomas was If I worked hard, Thomas worked five times harder. He constantly made sure all of us were well kept and taken care of. Today was an exception though, neither of us even had a chance to finish our first cup of coffee till afternoon. As soon as one of us tried to sit down after a swarm of customers, another rush of people came in.

I smiled to myself as I began to walk home. Though I couldn't really enjoy myself for very long once I started to take notice of something strange. I felt as if I was being watched somehow. I glanced behind me to see a person walking about five meters behind me in a black suit. The person wore a magicians hat and was walking with a cane. I pursued to walk a bit faster as I felt suspicious of this person walking behind me. Soon I felt another presence to the side of me, who was also wearing all black. I couldn't make out either of their faces, both figures were looking down. By this time I knew something was off and made a sharp turn to walk somewhere else to make an escape. I could tell they were tracking me, even when I was almost on the outskirts of town, they were still there. That is when I decided to drop my stuff and run as fast as I could, I also could hear footsteps close behind me.

Authors notes:

Sorry for all the grammar errors and whatnot. This is something that I am trying to improve on.

Let me know what you think of this chapter! You could even go as far as to tell me what you would like me to write more about as well!

This week has been a really rough week for me... I recently found out that someone I knew took their life...

I don't know when the next chapter will be out but I am still currently working on it.

I hope you all are well.

Take care