As I walked, I got multiple texts from a few of my co-workers asking where I was or what happened to me, I didn’t really know how or what to explain everything that’s happened to me or what I was seeing as I walked through the street of Towerblock. All I sent was, long story, be back as soon as possible.
I kept wandering and walking, I let myself trail off down a much, much quieter street as I put my back to a wall and just breathed as I tried to keep myself from fully having a panic attack. I looked around as I looked for just somewhere that I could see those charms so I could get out of here as quickly as possible.
I looked around as I saw this strange building that was absolutely tiny in comparison to the buildings around, this low, stout and heavy looking building of dark stone and wood, a small front lawn area of vibrantly glowing, colourful wildflowers, sweeping sod roofs with a massive tree growing from the roof, the tree was probably twenty-thirty feet thick as it wove between the two skyscrapers the building was between, these tiny homes were slapped to the side as bridges and things were spanning to the walls of the skyscrapers where other tiny scale buildings were set, a large dark wooden sign hung in front of the building with gold inlaid along the edges of the hanging shield shaped plague that had a gold depiction of a tipped over teacup that swept up into a heart shape, the gold text that sprawled across the large shield that said The Willow Coffee & Tea House.
I walked towards the building before along the stone pathway towards the huge circular wooden front door, large windows in the two-story almost Hobbit home shaped building, large circular windows with open shutters and overfilled window boxes. The large front door was open as were the windows, the air here…didn’t smell like a city, it smelt clear, clean, and tinged with all of the flowers. I walked through the large circular doorway and flinched as I walked into the building as it felt like I walked through a wall of cling-film before I stepped out onto dark hardwood flooring. The inside of the building was larger than it should have been: dark wooden flooring that meets the cream stone and plaster coloured walls with stone cobbled along the bottom of the walls, thick and ornately carved wooden columns and rafters wrapped in sprawling vines and flowers, hanging pots of brightly coloured flowers hanging off the rafters, lots of dark wood, stone and bronze/brass adorned tables, chairs and booths, lots of plants and the heavenly smell of fresh coffee and…even fresh bread. A staircase of halved logs with raw bark along the outside of the logs as the stairs went upwards in a tight spiral to a lofted upper floor. There was a piano in the right of the huge dining room and was…playing itself as the baby blue coloured piano had a soft glow of magic to it with these floating spectral hands moving about the keys.
I walked ahead to this huge cobblestone countertop near the back, a resin encased raw bark edged strip of a tree served as the countertop as the back wall was covered in this…mad scientist cacophony of glass tubes, beakers, copper tubes and fixtures covered the back stone area.
“Hi, welcome to The Willow.” A woman asked from the counter as I walked up, she had skin that looked like moss, long hair in twisted vines and flowers, large glowing orange eyes and dressed in floral patterned clothing with a dark brown apron tied over the skirt of her dress.
“Hi, can I just get a black coffee?” I asked, she smiled softly
“What kind of bean?”
“…what?”
“Oh, we have multiple different types of coffee blends, and the beans have all the usual origins. What would you like: Sumatran, Colombian, Brazil, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Honduras, India, Uganda, Mexico, and Peru, but in my opinion, we also have a very nice Nigerian fair-trade, single sourced, artisan roast?” She spoke
“Oh, I’d like to try that Nigerian blend” I said
“Alright, and just the coffee?” she asked
“It’s fine”
“Alright” she said, “here is your number, please go find a seat and it’ll be out to you soon.” She said, “We also have a proper menu if you want something later too.” She added as she slid a little wooden tent shaped piece towards me with a 10 painted in gold on it.
“Do you sell the charms for…for people like me?” I asked
“Of course, most shops sell them. Kind of like gift cards, everywhere has them” she said with a soft shrug, “First time here in Towerblock?” she asked, I nodded, she smiled softly. “I can get one of those for you too, you’re probably going to want to get something extra too, I know the coffee and food here.” She said with a soft laugh, I looked down towards the wooden tent before I took it as I just walked off into the corner of the room and found a table. I sighed as I looked towards my feet, letting my feet softly swing under the chair as I looked around and listened to the soft music playing in here.
I looked down towards my phone as I just opened some random game I had, not really paying attention to what was happening around me, surprisingly good reception and somehow everywhere here seemed to have free Wi-Fi. I let my focus fade off as I just…let my thoughts trail off into static nothingness as I thought about what was around me. There was a newspaper left on the table, but it was not a regular newspaper, the pictures on it moved and the name on the paper said Towerblock Tribunal. I randomly flicked through the pages as I saw something that made me pause and move the newspaper a bit towards me as I opened to the page that made me pause. It had a picture on it…of the exact same mushroom that is being left at the crime scenes.
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