Two
1059 Words
The door jingled after the strange man left, and I just stood there staring at the space where he’d been.
Weird.
But honestly, my life was always weird.
I shook my head and went back to wiping the counter. My hand was still sticky with chocolate and the flour in my hair was starting to itch. The storm outside kept hitting the windows, making the little bakery feel even smaller and colder.
My shoulders dropped.
Rent was due tomorrow.
I had no money.
And now the bakery felt like it was holding its breath, waiting to collapse.
I grabbed the broom and started sweeping the floor, trying not to think too much. But even the broom handle slid from my grip and hit my foot.
I hissed in annoyance. Of course. Nothing ever works out.
By the time I finished cleaning, the sky outside had turned even darker. Snow fell so hard I could barely see the street.
Another Christmas Eve, and instead of joy and magic… it felt lonely.
Very lonely.
I hugged myself and turned off the open sign.
As I walked toward the back door to lock up, I heard something… a soft click, like someone had tapped the window. I frowned and turned around.
Nothing.
Just the snow.
Just the quiet.
Just me.
I shook off the creepy feeling and reached for the light switch. But before I could, the ceiling lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then boom… one bulb burst, showering tiny sparks onto the floor.
I jumped back. “Oh come on! Seriously?”
I rushed to the counter to grab something to cover the sparks, but my foot caught on the corner of a rug and I fell forward, hitting my elbow. Pain shot up my arm. Tears stung my eyes.
“f**k… is it so hard to get just a day where no s**t has to happen. I whispered.
The wind howled outside, like it was answering me.
And then… the room changed.
Not in a big way.
Not suddenly.
Just… a shift. Like the air thickened around me.
The lights flickered again, but this time they didn’t go out. They glowed soft and warm, almost golden. My breath caught in my throat. I backed away, holding the edge of the table for balance.
“What… is happening?”
A soft gust of peppermint-scented wind brushed past my cheek.
The same smell the strange man had when he walked in.
I froze.
The snow outside hit harder, the windows shook, and then…
A bright flash of light swallowed the whole bakery.
I gasped and squeezed my eyes shut.
The floor under my feet wasn’t there anymore.
The cold around me disappeared.
The sound of the storm faded.
And when I opened my eyes…
I wasn’t in my bakery.
Or in my town.
I wasn’t even sure I was still on Earth.
My breath froze in my chest.
Snowflakes drifted around me… but the storm was gone. The air felt colder, sharper, almost too clean. The sky above wasn’t the gray town sky I knew. It was dark, wide, and full of bright stars that looked too close.
I looked down at my boots.
I wasn’t standing on a bakery floor anymore.
I was standing in the snow.
Deep snow.
“What the hell…” my voice cracked.
Tall trees surrounded me, huge and old, their branches heavy with frost. The forest was silent…too silent. No cars, no people, no music from the town square. Just the sound of my shaky breathing.
I hugged myself tightly. My coat wasn’t warm enough for this kind of cold. “Okay, okay, Marlise… you’re probably dreaming. Maybe the light, the stress, the broken bulb… maybe you hit your head.”
But the snow felt too real.
The air stung my face.
My fingers were going numb.
“Great,” I muttered. “I get one weird customer and now I’m in Narnia.”
I took a step forward, my boots sinking deep. The snow tugged at my feet, making every step slow. My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat.
A faint growl echoed in the distance.
I froze.
Everything in me went still.
It wasn’t a dog.
It wasn’t normal.
It sounded big.
Wrong.
Dangerous.
“Okay, this is bad,” I whispered.
Branches cracked somewhere behind me. My breath caught. Something was moving through the trees… heavy footsteps, slow and sure, crunching the snow like it owned the whole forest.
“No, no, nope…. this is how girls die in horror movies.”
I spun around, searching for anything, anyone, any sign of home. But the forest looked endless. Dark. Cold. Empty.
Except… it wasn’t empty.
A figure stepped out from between the trees.
Tall.
Broad shoulders.
A long, heavy coat that fluttered behind him like a shadow.
I only saw his outline at first, but even that was enough to make every hair on my body stand straight. He moved with a quiet, dangerous grace… like a predator that didn’t need to rush.
My voice cracked. “H-hello?”
No answer.
He walked closer.
Closer.
The moonlight finally hit his face.
Sharp jaw.
Cold eyes.
Expression like he hated the entire world… and me along with it.
I swallowed hard.
He looked like a man carved out of winter.
Beautiful in a terrifying way.
And the way he stared at me…
Like I wasn’t supposed to be here.
Like I was in trouble he didn’t ask for.
He stopped a few feet away, his jaw clenching.
“What are you?” he growled.
My stomach dropped.
What?
Not who am I.
What.
“—I’m… a lady?” I said, confused and shaking.
His eyes darkened, narrowing on me like I’d said something offensive.
“You shouldn't trespass,” he said, voice deep and rough. “You shouldn’t be here.”
My breath caught. “Look, I don’t even know where ‘here’ is. I just… I was in my bakery five minutes ago and then…”
“Enough.”
His voice cut through the cold like a blade.
The forest seemed to hold its breath.
Then he stepped closer, eyes glowing in the moonlight…glowing like something not human.
And that’s when it hit me.
This man…
This stranger with the gorgeous eyes…
He wasn’t human.
At all.
- Writer
