A Baker's Dozen

• Gabrielle Rule, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2018

Slam! The bakery door slammed shut as the furious baker stormed in because he had just found out that someone is trying to sue him, so they can purchase the bakery for themselves. Every day the baker would make 13 loaves of bread as in a baker’s dozen, but he would keep the 13th loaf of bread for himself, as 13 was an unlucky number.
One afternoon the baker had finished his work and he was fairly hungry, so he got the bread knife and started cutting his loaf of bread into slices. While he was getting closer to the centre, he noticed something odd, the bread had a blood red colour through the centre. Horrified he threw the loaf of bread out and checked his hands and arms to make sure there were no cuts of marks that could have caused the blood in the loaf of bread. There were no cuts or marks to be found.
The next day, the baker woke up early to slice the loaves of bread to sell to his customers. He had finished slicing the bread and there was a knock at the bakery door. It was far too early for the bakery to open, so he walked over to the door to see who was there. There was nobody at the door, so he went back to the kitchen to find that all the bread was gone, except for one loaf. The 13th loaf of bread. He tore the bread in half to find that there was blood again, he chucked the bread out and every time a customer came in, he would have to tell them he sold out of the bread. This happened 7 times in a row until one day the baker decided to place security cameras, so he could see who was knocking on the door in the mornings.
As per usual, the exact same thing happened, just this time he could see who was doing it. He stomped up the stairs to check the cameras to find that it was the same person that he had found out was trying to sue him. He phoned the Police to tell them the news. The Police arrived around 20 minutes later so the baker opened the door to let them in. They went upstairs, and the baker showed them the security footage. The Police left the house to go and arrest the culprit, but once they got to his house, he had vanished. The Police went to his house every day to see if he had come back, but he had disappeared. Ever since that day, the man was never found or seen again.