Waking up all of a sudden , giving a heavy jerk to her body and lifting it up , she sits and thinks , “What in the world did I see last night?”, her body still numb , her hands all sweaty , the thoughts of the last night gaining momentum in her mind turning them into a wild windstorm , “stop!” she covers her ears with her hands trying to calm the storm stirring inside.

Her hazel eyes , run across the room , inspecting every single thing , “where did he go?” she stands up , starts walking barefoot , her feet stomping heavily on the ground. She ran downstairs to find the little innocent pup sleeping cuddled up on the hot summer floor with his arm swollen from the night’s injury.

Her eyes showed extreme regret and sorrow as she walked up to the pitiful tiny little body. She picked it up embracing her in her arms.“I am really sorry , I was just … just scared.” Her voice still weak and croaky from all the shrieking last night.

The little pup started licking her hands , cleaning them , showing his love.

“I’m-I’m sorry. I have to drop you back to where you came from.” The pup looked at her with a confused look. “woof” he says. She lays him on the chair and walks up to her room , puts on her tartan long coat , suede leather boots and her beige floral sun stash hat. “Let’s leave.” Picking up the pup and putting it in her straw-made skin basket , putting on a forced smile , she says.

Her feet stop on her own in front of Beans&Snacks , she felt light headed and empty legged. “I guess Ill eat something first.” Her energy had drained trying to recover from all of the mess that she had experienced last night.

She walks to the table and puts the basket down. “Ill have the usual.”she smiles and says. she watches as the waiter blends the coffee and pours it into the cup. After sometime , he appears with a tray in his hand. “ Here you go”.

He is about to put the tray down when his hand trembles and he looses his balance.“ Woah Woah!” she imagines the coffee spilling on her and involuntarily speaks pulling her hands away from the table.

“Stop with this over-exaggerated expression.” The waiter splendidly balances the tray and puts it smoothly on the table. Ava feeling insulted shows an expression of irritation. “Why are these guys provoking my inner devil.” She thinks remembering the way the barista talked to him yesterday. While the waiter was walking away she looked at him with her eyes carrying the annoyance. She notices a bite mark on his wrist , it looked like a dog bite , it was red swollen and seemed painful.

Ava’s P.O.V :-

“what is that? On your wrist?” I asked. His eyes turned and he looked at me “None of your business” . Slowly walking away he went to the other side of the counter took off his apron , hung it on the wall and walked out of the café. Offended , I thought to myself ‘do I look like someone who cannot kill? Wait till I show you. Yesterday that barista and now this guy. What do they think of themselves , they are of exactly the same nature! ’ I held the mug in my hands and suddenly recalled that the new barista had also done the same thing , hanging the apron and walking

out the door “Even there actions are the same!” I thought then ignoring them I looked at my coffee mug . “what is that?” I saw dog fur on the cup. I looked at it closely , the same fur color as the dog I had rescued yesterday , yellowish brown. In a haste I looked at the basket beside me , gone! It wasn’t there , both the dog and the basket , both of them were gone! I speculated that it had something to do with him , the waiter of this café. I rushed to the door to follow the waiter. I saw him walking hurriedly somewhere , as I got closer , he just faded out of my sight. It was as if his presence had completely vanished in thin air. I could not feel him , it was like he had transported himself to another dimension , my Imagination started running wild again , thinking about what the connection between the barista and the waiter is , their actions , their voice and their nature are exactly the same , why? but my deep chain of suspicions was disrupted by the outspread of the murky twilight. “it’s going to get dark soon , time to head home.” I said to myself and started walking. “how could that be possible? How can someone disappear? Maybe I’m sick or something , I have to inform all of this to Sophie tomorrow.” I hurried back home.

Narrators P.O.V:-

When she arrived outside her house , she found the door to her house wide open . Noticing further , she spotted the same dog fur that she had found in the café covered In blood. Her legs started trembling with fear , she had never experienced such incidents in her life , and being alone was the factor that elevated her fear. She gathered up all of her courage and stepped in. “Whose there?! Come out!” she shouted .Her voice tremored. in her head she was already screaming and crying for help , she had always been afraid of these things. unarmed she was not strong enough to walk any further. She heard someone walking in the kitchen. “who-whose inside? Sh-show yoursel-“ she heard another strange noise inside. Run! was what she kept hearing inside her mind , her skin turned pale , then all of a sudden tremendous amount of pain followed by cramps in her neck made her fall to the ground unconscious. The strange presence faded. Her powerless fragile body laid cold in front of the door.

The sun shone upon her face , warm rays penetrating her eyes. She opened her eyes slowly covering them with her frail small hands. She forced her body against the gravity and sat up. “What in the world happened?” she thought to herself. “ I am not going to sit here one more minute!” she said while a tear rolled down her cheek. She lifted herself and started walking towards the town.

“Sophie!” she ran to the flower shop. “Ava?! What happened?” Sophie asked after looking at Ava’s stuffy eyes , and bloated face. “Are you sick?” she ran to Ava and put her hand on her cold forehead. “I have to tell you something.” She said and walked inside the flower shop , the upper portion of the flower shop was Sophie’s room. “Someone was inside my house last night , the dog disappeared , both the guys vanished and my neck hurts a lot.” She muttered. “Wait wait what?” Sophie Acquired. “I am confused.” She said. “I need a favor from you.” Asked Ava. “My pleasure ma’am” Sophie replied. “ let me stay with you for a while.” “Why are you even asking that? This is your bed. Wait here I’ll get some hot chocolate for us , we will go pick up your things tomorrow , alright?” Sophie stated and went out of her room.

Ava’s P.O.V:-

My heart was burning , why is she so perfect and kind , every person has a weak spot , something he hides , something that is flawed. Why is she like that? Whenever I look at her , she looks like a completed puzzle and I look like the lost piece. I don’t know anything about myself , my parents , my abilities , nothing! I never cry so I just swallowed my tears and wore a huge smile on my face. “Sophieeeee” I ran to her , and wrapping my arms around her , I tightly back-hugged her , feeling her warmth on my body. She lost her balance and fell on the ground taking me with her. “What the! Ava! My back! Ow! ” she shouted. “I love you Sophie.” I looked at her and said. “Sorry , I’m booked with the barista , maybe in my next life?” she replied with a sly smile on her face. “ you loathsome creature , you don’t even know his name.” I said and started walking back to my room. “WHAT? WHAT DID YOU SAY?” She followed me with the tray walking slowly balancing the two round huge cups of hot chocolate , hot vapors dispersing in the atmosphere.

The next day , “Let’s leave after I’m done talking to Ash’s mother!” she says. “what ash , I mean who ash?” I ask. “The barista!” she tells with an expression of amusement , pride and satisfaction like she had accomplished the goal of her life , yes… She had finally found the barista’s name.

“Why are you meeting his mother?” I ask again with a suspicious expression narrowing my eyes and looking at her trying to guess what she’s up to. “ What? It’s purely because I like to serve old people!” she says and throws at me her so-called innocent smile that is actually a time-bomb ticking rapidly about to explode revealing her true purpose. “hey weirdo , what’s your motive?” I ask again. “ are you trying to question me showing me that you doubt my intentions that are as clear as glass!” She kept bluffing. “Go away , do whatever you want , but I’m sure you don’t even know what a clear glass intention is.” I say smiling. I turned and looked at the creases on my bedsheet which resembled the wrinkles on an old woman’s face. I started staring at it , before I knew it I was lost in thoughts and twenty minutes had passed “what’s taking her so long?” I thought and went downstairs to check on Sophie. I saw her talking to ash’s mother in the café. “So stupid” I looked at her laughing , she was holding his mother’s hands and fake smiling , listening to her mother’s long never ending stories. She gave me a quick look and gestured me saying “Call me! I’m stuck here!” I started laughing and looked away. “Innocent , clear intentions.” I thought to myself and walked back to my room to make my bed. I entered the room just to see with the pillow on the bed and the creases lessened. What is happening to me? I am pretty sure the bed was covered with a lot of creases and my pillow was on Sophie’s bed. “What happened?” Sophie called from behind. I jittered and turned. “I am sick. My mind is not stable.” I said. “Oh that’s fine but what’s the problem?” She asked. “Stop it

Sophie , I am seriously sick.” I explained. “ What happened? “ she asked again. “I don’t know what’s happening but something is definitely wrong , either with me or with this world.” I said.

“most probably it’s you because the world has ash , It’s perfect in my opinion.” She said while dramatically raising her eyebrows and staring at the roof of the room , expressing her great love. “Anyway if you seriously think something is wrong with you , then you should come with me to the next town , my aunt lives there , never fails in solving these kind of problems , you know these hunches.” “really? I should probably meet your aunt then.” i said.

“Alright let’s take your things, pack our bags and travel to Hemlock City.” Sophie explains.

“hemlock? Never heard of it.” I replied. We started walking towards my house while still talking about hemlock. “yeah , hemlock , the city famous for the hemlock flowers , really rare but found in abundance in this city.” Sophie reveals. “oh really? I grow so many flowers but I never heard of hemlock.” I said. “Well it’s pretty dangerous you know.” Sophie says. “ well people call it the cause of smiling corpses.” “What kind of scary name is that? Sophie none of your information is normal , it’s always extraordinary.” I replied.

“Is that something to be proud of? By the way , when someone ingests the flower’s extract , it’s instant death and the corpse has a smile on it’s face.” She explains. “that is dreadful , so creepy ,no doubt for people like ash and the waiter who don’t know how to smile.” I talk to myself but Sophie overhears.

“ what did you just say?” she asks with a smiling but vengeful expression. “ hehe sorry my bad , look! the gate to hemlock!” I tried to divert her attention from me. “ We are in the opposite direction heading towards your house , now tell me what you just said.” she still stared at me with a more wide smile. “I’m sorry Sophie! But one thing’s for sure! Ash suit’s you perfectly!” I smile giving her a thumbs up.

“Well…Yeah… I guess , I guess that happens when destiny tries it’s best.” She says tucking the straight silky golden hair strands behind her ear and blushing. “Anyway , let’s go pick your things up.” Says Sophie. We enter my house , the fur and blood gone , everything perfect

“ I guess you were Imagining things.” Sophie says while running upstairs “Ill pack your clothes , you take other essentials. “ she shouts from the room upstairs. I walk to the kitchen from where the sound came. “My basket!” the basket on the shelf in which my money and flowers were present was carefully placed. Who could it be? Why did he return it? What is happening? .

I walked into the bathroom and picked up my blue toothbrush. “Sophie! Are you done?” I call out and start to roam around the hall. “Hey! What’s this box Ava!” Sophie calls out from the room upstairs?

“Box? I don’t know , I’m coming.” I reply and start dragging my feet taking each step slowly , my energy had suddenly drained , I didn’t know what was happening , I was lazy and tired all of a sudden.

“Ava? You comin’ or what?” Sophie asked to confirm. I enter my room , traipsing inside. “What box? open it up” I asked sluggishly.

. “ You can open it up yourself , while I pack the remaining stuff.” Sophie says and walks away. I pick it up and look at it , examining it’s exterior . “looks like a wooden box.” I say.

“wow Ava , what a great discovery!” Sophie replies sarcastically , expressing her frustration.

“Alright , I’m opening it.” I say as Sophie stops packing and starts staring at the box , she seemed really interested in the box , she wanted to know what was inside desperately. I uncovered the rectangular box that had a strange lock on it , the lock did not have any keyhole , just a button , I pressed it and it opened with a ‘CLITCH’. “Why did they even bother putting this lock.” I laughed and looked at Sophie, her deep blue eyes still stuck on the box. I looked inside the box. “What is that?” I wonder taking out the strange paper from the box.