It Started In The Cafe

• Sri Rahim, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2009

The rain poured down from the sky and the thunder boomed in the distance. I ran from my car to a small, cheerful café. I opened the door and heard the ringing of the bell that hung on it. It was warm in the café and loud too. I clumsily walked over to a table and sat down. I saw the chef signal a salute, I waved back. I stared at the furthest corner of the café and saw a spider weaving its web. I saw a figure move next to me. It’s the chef, Jack.
“Can you believe this rain?” he said in a strong and attractive Russian voice.
“Hmmm… It’s worse than yesterday” I sighed. I hated the rain. It’s cold and wet and down right miserable. Jack was back in the kitchen, the spider had caught a fly and the bell on the door ran through my thoughts.

My eyes traveled from the feasting spider to the door. There stood a stranger. He stood tall and slightly muscular. He wore a black trench coat and a hat. I saw his hand move to his soaked hat. The moment he took it off, I gasped. He was absolutely perfect! He had electric blue eyes, wavy, chocolate brown hair and an angel carved face. I saw his bright blue eyes scan the room. Then they landed on me.

I swiftly looked away, embarrassed, that he had seen me staring at his perfection. I flashed my eyes at the stranger and saw him stalking towards me. My eyes started to speed up making it hard for me to breathe. The stranger gracefully sat in the chair opposite me and he tenderly took my hands into his. My heart stalled inside me.
“I need you to do something for me” he said. My heart stopped at the sound of his smooth voice, but it also sounded dangerous. The moment he spoke I was in a trance.
“What would you like me to do?” I whispered. He smiled and pulled out a box from inside his coat and placed it on the table.
“I need you to look after this. I’ll only be ten minutes” he said smiling. Something was telling me that this wasn’t right, but I made that mistake anyway.
“Okay” I said. He smiled dangerously and handed me a red rose. As I took the rose from him I blinked, and he was gone.

Three hours later, I started to think that the stranger wasn’t coming back. Jack thought so too.
“Maybe you should open it” he said
“What? No!” I replied
“Does it look like he is going to come back?” he said. I knew he was right, it didn’t look like he was returning for his box. I sighed and opened the box. Then I screamed, as a head looked up at me.