Chapter 1
The Coffee Shop
The man opened his eyes. “All I can see is darkness.”
His blindness dissipated as a dim light came into his vision. He turns, facing his phone.
“I gotta get up.” He mutters.
“Work starts soon.” Sleepily, he fumbles for the light switch and grabs his phone.
He reaches for his phone but pauses, letting his fingers tread along the bedsheets. “Why does this feel so different?”
An alarm blares into his ear, interrupting his thoughts. “Later…”
“Right now, I’ve gotta go to that coffee shop. He snatches up his phone, turns off the obnoxious alarm and throws on his uniform.
He heads for his door and opens it, letting in a chilly air. “The halls feel… so much colder.”
He stumbles through the hallway, bumping along its walls, barely making it to the elevators. He presses the lower button on the elevator.
“The buttons feel… dirty. Dirtier than usua-” The elevator sounds its arrival.
He steps into the elevator. The doors close before he gets the chance to press the G button. He thinks to himself as he descends to the ground floor.
“Do I want to do this? No…. I need to do this.” His eyes filled with guilt.
The sounds of machinery fill the elevator. He quickly went through the lobby, making it outside.
“It just keeps getting colder.” He hugs himself tightly.
He looks up and watches flakes of white dance around him with no moon to outshine them. His car is hugged tightly by these flakes. He pulls on the handle, opening the door.
“Why is the car unlocked?” He stares at the empty car, frozen in place.
A melody plays amidst his frozen state. His fears melt away as the tune plays.
“I gotta start driving now.” He takes a seat and starts the car.
His attention is stolen by a necklace. It dangles from the rearview mirror’s neck. A bar with 5 small holes etched into it is attached to the chain.
“I don’t have a choice, do I?” The coffee shop awaits him.
The car leads him away from his apartment and onto the main road. His mind wanders while he drives across this empty stretch of road.
“I don’t want to think… I don’t need to think.” He enters the city, nearing the coffee shop.
He checks his phone. “5:30, I’m early.”
The radio blares ear-bleeding static. “My ears!”
He covers his ears. The static eventually comes to a stop. He pulls into an open space in front of the coffee shop and gets out. 3 other cars rest near him. He opens the doors to the coffee shop.
“It reeks of coffee.” He covers his nose.
He goes towards a countertop filled with machinery, his feet dragging across the worn-down floors.
His foot falls into a puddle. “Huh? Why does my… i-it.. it doesn’t matter.”
The chime of a bell goes off as the door closes.
He took a deep breath. “I hate the smell of coffee.”
One person sits in the corner of the coffee shop. They seem to expect something out of the man.
“They feel so familiar. Why?” He watched the person as he moved toward the countertop.
The hum of machinery grew louder as he got closer. He takes a seat, and before he’s able to settle in, the bell chimes. He lifts his head, showing him a woman headed in his direction. She has a wolf cut and fluffy black hair. She wore a black skirt just above her knees and a red turtleneck that hugged her tightly.
“Hey!” Her chin is raised as she points at the man.
He puts on a smile and stands up.
“Hi, I’m Haruto. How can I help you?” He begins a slight bow.
“I want a black coffee.” She crosses her arms, her chin still slightly raised.
“Would you like anything else?” He moves towards the baked goods but is stopped by her gaze.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Haruto studies her. “She looks familiar; that fluffy hair, eyes so dark you could see yourself in them, a sharp jaw, with a necklace holding an orb dangling around her neck. Wait, is she….”
“Hey! Are you going to make my coffee or what?” Her eyebrows now furrowed.
“Sorry. I’ll get right to it.” Haruto’s eyes light up.
The water heats up to a boil. Haruto grabs the newly ground coffee and gently places it on a filter. He looks back over at her. She has a look of disappointment written on her face. He isn’t bothered by it. He’s delighted.
His improved mood helps him carefully pour the boiling water onto the ground coffee. The water seeps through the filter, forming a dark-coloured liquid, dripping into the decanter. He turned back to see the girl seated at a table for two with her legs crossed.
“The coffee will be ready soon, Ha...” Haruto says a name, but no sound escapes from his throat.
He patiently waits for the drops of coffee to cease.
“It’s finally ready.” He pours the coffee into a small cup.
The black coffee is brought to her table by him. She lifts the cup to her lips and takes a sip.
The coffee is spat back into the cup. “This tastes horrible.”
“You asked for black coffee. You know what that is, right?” Haruto leans forward, resting his hands on the oak wood table.
“Of course, I know what it is!” She seems unsure of her own words.
He tries to tease her. “Ok. Then what is it?”
“It’s…” She darts her eyes to the left.
“It’s milk and coffee!” She puffs her chest with a sense of accomplishment.
“Yea. You’re right. It is milk and coffee.” Haruto focuses on a distorted reflection in her dark eyes.
The moment the reflection shows itself, she vanishes into thin air in front of his eyes. Her necklace was the only thing left behind. Haruto is not given the time to comprehend his fear before his heart drops, and his eyes open as if they were closed the entire time. Haruto wakes up in a snowy field, cold and gasping for air.
Haruto stands up and examines his environment with curiosity and confusion. “Where am I?”
“What are you, an idiot?” A man in a loose black kimono pointed at him with a dark sword, his chin lifted upwards.
Haruto notices the large man standing in the deep snow before him. His eyes widened.
“Ohhh, I see. Looks like my punch got you real good, Huh? Well, you’re not asleep anymore. So let’s get right back to our spar!” The man dashes at Haruto, his dirtied blonde hair pushed back by the wind.
The air in front of Haruto is cut, the sword nearly slicing his bare chest. The man flies past, digging his feet into the ground, eventually coming to a stop. Seeing an opening, Haruto started his sprint. Snow sinks around his feet, slowing his movements. The man turns and throws a stab at the sprinting Haruto.
“Not this again..” The man’s breath heavies as he pulls at his sword to no avail.
Streams of blood go down the sword, reaching the hilt; the source trailed back to Haruto’s cold palms. The blade stopped from piercing Haruto. Determination fills his grey eyes. The dark sword is pushed through the snow, and into the dead ground, by the very hands that stopped it. Haruto squats atop the flat edge of the blade, his knees flared. The man struggling to free his sword watches in awe as the boy leaps above him. Haruto felt calm. He belonged up there. He opened his eyes and saw hundreds of pine trees encircling the snowy field.
He takes a deep breath. “It doesn’t smell like coffee.”
A memory of the girl from Harutos recent dream surfaces. She has red tears running down her face. The memory quickly fades, and a jolt of immense pain takes its place. Haruto grunts and tenses his muscles. He loses control of the air around him. The man watches as Haruto hurdles back down to earth. Snow is sprayed in all directions from a Haruto-shaped hole.
“It seems that you still belong down here with me.” The man’s smiling with his arms crossed.
“Oh shhut up, Goro. Go back to struggling with that sword stuck in the snow.” Haruto tries to free himself from the hole he created.
“First of all, it’s actually wedged into the ground, and second of all, why were you out for so long? Don’t tell me you were dreaming of a pretty girl.” Goro finally unwedged his sword and then sat down as if awaiting a story.
“Well, I did have a dream, but a peculiar one. I lived in this fancy room with many other small fancy rooms next to mine. Then I went into this metal creature that could take me places.” Haruto thinks as he ties most of his long black hair into a ponytail, his messy bangs droop in front of his eyes.
“Like an armoured horse?” Goro asked.
“Yea, but not exactly. Anyway, this creature took me to a place that smells disgusting with a really bossy girl telling me to make these disgusting drinks that she even hated herself!” Haruto slugged through the snow to get over to his friend.
“So there was a pretty girl?” Goro chuckled as he spoke.
“Hey, Goro.” A tense air begins to form between the two.
“Yea, buddy?” Goro stops his laughter and a look of confusion forms on his face.
“Did I do anything… Uhm, how do I say this? Did I do anything weird while I was knocked out?” Haruto patiently awaits an answer.
Goro takes his time thinking back to the opening of the fight. “Kinda, I guess. You almost got up a couple of times but then fell right back down. Until the very last time, which is when you finally woke up.”
Haruto was lost in thought, trying to relate what Goro had just said to his dream.
Haruto muttered to himself. “Was I trying to wake up? No. Was my mind trying to wake me up; When my bed felt silky instead of coarse, when my car door was unlocked, creating a sense of fear, when a loud noise blasted into my ears, causing them to near the verge of bleeding, or when my foot fell into a deep puddle before vanishing. All those things would usually wake me up. Is something trying to keep me there, in that dream? Is something of importance there? Could it be because of…”
Goro slapped him on the back. “Haruto, don’t tell me you went back off to dream world with that pretty girl without me.”
“I never said she was pretty!” Haruto’s young face flushed with embarrassment, and the tense air dissipated.
“You seemed excited when you talked about her, though. Aaand you know, your face is bright red right now.” Goro rested his arm on Haruto’s shoulder.
“Shut up, Goro, let’s just go back to the house already.” Haruto pushed Goro away and started to slug through the thick snow.
“I’m surprised you remembered our home so quickly! Hahaha!” Goro followed behind him, proudly chuckling at his own joke.
“Also, Goro, what happened to my shirt?” Haruto looked back at Goro with a glare of suspicion.
“Uhhh…. You know it’s getting late. We should get to the house before the wolves get us!” Goro sprinted past Haruto with a big grin on his manly face.
“GET BACK HERE, YOU BIG BITCH!” The shorter Haruto screams at Goro as he tries to catch up.
They forget about the mess of a snowy battleground they left behind. Hoping nature will clean up behind them.