I did not expect that the café would be flooded with people. Some were the regulars while some faces are new to me. The small pastry shop is slowly gaining momentum in this sophisticated society where I breathe the air that I actually hate. Crowds were not in my "Tolerance List" and I am not a people person, unlike the lady over there who was wearing the Victorian Era dress style.
I didn't expect that I'd meet her in this place. I watched her silently while she was enjoying her tea.
"Hey beautiful," Shania greeted me with a big warm smile on her face.
"Hey Shay, one carrot cake, the usual please," I said as I reciprocated the same energy back to her.
"Ooh, looks like you need to wait, we ran out of those cakes earlier but good old Viktor is baking new batches," She said.
"Oh, I guess I came at the right time," I said as I took out my purse from my handbag.
Shay immediately raised her hand and smiled.
"This is one is actually special beauty," She said as she punched down my order and handed me the receipt.
I'm confused. I know some might think that this is actually their best day because of the free stuff, but anything that is so good doesn't come for free.
"No, I will have to pay for it," I told her. Shay only smiled at me, which I think was right. Nothing good comes for free.
"Then you better talk to that lady over there," She pointed to the table near the window.
"She's the one who insisted you talk to her if you don't accept the free cake."
I don't how to react. If Lulu didn't saw her back at the grocery, then does that mean she wasn't a ghost?
I slowly got out of the line and stared at the lady who was still enjoying her tea. Her ash blonde hair cascaded gracefully down her neck. The color of her eyes reminded me of the sky but it was somehow lighter. She smiled at me when she caught me that I was staring at her.
"Hello, you seemed confused. Would you like to join for some tea?" she said as she gestured towards the vacant seat in front of her.
I slowly walked towards her table and smiled back at her. I am still confused about what is happening. Is she a ghost or what?
"Hello?" I said.
She giggled when she heard my confused greeting and smiled.
"Don't worry, I am not going to eat you," she said as she took another sip of her tea.
"You have lovely gray eyes,"
It was also the first thing she said about me when we met at the grocery store.
"Thank you, umm. Why did you, like, um," I started to mumble out the words? Am I supposed to say normally? The expression on her face was a mixture of confusion and concern. I just hope my cheeks wouldn't turn beet red.
"Sorry, what I am trying to say is, thank you." I finally aid after briefly embarrassing myself in front of her.
"Oh, you're welcome," she gently placed her cup on the saucer before she snapped her fingers.
She suddenly smiled at me before she diverted her attention outside.
"The rain is comforting isn't it?" she said. I didn't know that it was raining.
"I'm sorry, I would really love to stay but I have some important errands to attend to,"
I checked on my wristwatch and paused for a while before I could realize that she stopped the time.
"You better be careful," She said.
"They are looking for you; things will not be easy on your part,"
I stared at her for a long time before I dug out my phone from my handbag.
"Did you send this?" I said when I showed her the warnings I've received three months ago.
She smiled at my question and nodded her head.
"No," she told me as she giggled.
"I'm not the only one who's looking after you,"
So someone else is sending these messages?
"You're not alone?" I asked as I placed my phone on the table.
She nodded before she touched my hand. I stared at her for a long time but somehow like the people around us, I stood frozen along with time. She gently placed a silver ring on my finger and began to rotate it twice. She tightly held my hand before she turned it over. Her long delicate fingers traced the lines of my palm and smiled.
"If you ever need help, rub the ring. Someone will help you."
I wanted to ask her a lot of questions but she only smiled. I think she can read my thoughts.
"Don't worry; we will see each other soon, Athene," she said.
"Wait, how did—"At the snap of her fingers, everything was back to normal and I inside my car driving on the familiar path with Cleo on the shotgun seat.
I stopped in the middle of the road at tried to assess what's happening to me.
"Hooman, we better hurry so that Ma can eat the cake while it is still warm," Cleo told me as he stretched his chubby paws before he shifted his sleeping position.
"Wait, Cleo can you tell me what happened?"
Cleo yawned and gave me a grumpy stare. He stared at me for a long time and was also confused like me.
"Well, you told me to wait here because you were going to buy a carrot cake. Then I waited for an hour before you came and apologized because the shop ran out of cakes, so you waited for the next batch,"
"That doesn't make sense," I mumbled when Cleo ended his narration.
"What do you mean hooman?" He asked.
"I think..."
But no, that's impossible. She can't just magically teleport me here to my car and then rearranged the timeline.
"I think I'm going to sleep hooman. I just hope you are okay. You seriously look sick,"
I didn't even get her name but she knew mine.
6: 30 A.M (next day)
I woke up earlier than I've expected. I guess my body clock changes when I am on our own farm. I immediately headed downstairs while struggling to tie my hair in a messy bun.
I began to survey around the living room and smiled as I headed down to the kitchen. I quickly grabbed my mug from the cupboard and started to rummage for coffee and milk. A packet of green tea poked out of the kitchen drawer as if it was trying to say "Good morning"
I gave up my futile search for coffee and milk and slowly opened the kitchen drawer. Scattered contents greeted me along with the box of tea that Pa used to drink. I placed the box on top of the counter and sighed.
"I guess mornings will not be the same without you," I muttered as I stared at the tea packets.
I still haven't opened the letter Pa wrote for me. He told me that I am supposed to open it when I turn 20, which is next week. A tear escaped from my eye and I quickly wiped it off before Ma gets infected.
I was filling the kettle halfway when I heard the strange crashing noise followed by the cockling sound of our chickens. Oh great, did Cleo snuck into the hen house again? I slowly placed the kettle on top of the stove before I went upstairs to grab my jacket and a decent pair of jeans.
The weather's a bit cloudy; I hope it'll rain so that it wouldn't be hot tonight. I went outside of our house and walked until I reached the back part of our house.
"Hooman, I didn't do anything." Cleo meowed when I saw him sitting on the fence.
I don't know how I should react to the horrible state of the hen house. The gate was torn down, the roof forcefully opened, and the eggs were not in a good state. I started to investigate what or who might've caused the whole mess. I only scratched my head and began to inspect in case there are hidden damages in the hen house.
"Where are the ladies?" I asked Cleo while I was carrying the torn gate.
"I told them to stay at the tree," he said
"And they were accusing me of breaking their eggs!"
I placed the torn gate on the fence and immediately looked up to where the chickens are currently staying.
"Good morning ladies," I said as I started counting them one by one.
"Tinny!! It was a cat, a cat," one chicken cockled.
"Is it Cleo?" I asked while glaring at him.
"No, it was a different cat!" said the other
"Okay? Did you saw what it looked like?"
The chickens felt silent, they seemed to 'chicken out' on what just happened to their eggs and to their house.
"We don't know, ask the fat one,"
I immediately turned to Cleo who was still sitting on the fence and raised my brow.
"It was ten times bigger than me and it was fast," he said as he jumped off the fence and landed in my arms.
"It was scary and had weird glowing eyes," He began to purr when started to pat his head gently.
"We better get back inside. After breakfast, we'll check on the other animals if they're okay."
I just hope they are okay and hopefully, they won't be in such a bad state like this one.