Feather Heaven

chapter 1

"Goodbye mister Humbert, see you next week" you said as you made your way out of your class, trying not to let the wave of freshmen suffocate you. You slowly arrived to your locker, sighed heavily as you opened it and thanked God that it was finally Friday. It had been a particularly hard week, since you had a test almost every day, but now it was finally over. You had the whole weekend ahead and you planned on doing absolutely nothing; you needed a break. As a small smile appeared on your face you walked out of the school, glad to finally be free.

You practically threw your school bag on the backseats and hopped into the driver sit, more than ready to flee out of that hell called school. While driving down the usual main street of Galena, a little pastry shop that definitely wasn't there the last time you had driven by caught your attention. Since no car was behind, you decided to slow down to have a better look. The glacial green sophisticated sign above the entry said "Feather Heaven" in capital letters, which were the same color of the porcelain. The edges of the sign were adorned in tiny pink painted roses. Next to the glass entry door there was a black chalkboard and on it there was written "New opening! 1 free piece of cake for every new client". The writing was neat, yet welcoming. The person who chose to write in cursive had a nice handwriting; the Os were perfectly circular and the stem of the letter Y wasn't too long nor to short. You didn't know if they actually would have given you a free piece of cake if you had gone to their shop that day, but you had nothing better to do, so you decided to give it a shot. You parked your car in the nearest parking lot, trying not to bump into the other cars, and then went to the new shop.

When you entered, a little gold bell above the door chimed, signaling your arrival. On the inside the shop looked magnificent, almost magical. The walls were painted in a warm light blue and on them were painted various types of flowers; the ceiling was painted in a soft cream color, it almost looked like a blanket of clouds had entered the shop. In front of you there was a large long counter and millions of different pastries were exposed behind a glass. Near the counter there were some new leather red stools ready to be used and from the ceiling hung some white vases with yellow flowers in them. "Hello dear, I hope you haven't been waiting for too long" a kind young voice said out of the blue, startling you. Your hands flew on your chest, as it would have helped your racing heart calm down somehow. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" the same voice said and you only chuckled in response, feeling embarrassed for getting scared so easily. "It's ok, don't worry ma'am" you said and offered her a smile. In front of you there was a petite woman dressed in a completely black attire and with a messy bun over her head. "My name's Donna, nice to meet you" she said and showed you a bright smile. You smiled back at h er and introduced yourself. "My name's y/n" you said as you stretched you hand for her to shake it. As she shook your hand you added with true admiration "This place is so beautiful". Her cheeks became a light pink and she responded while looking away "Thank you so much miss, I'm glad at least someone appreciates my style". Your heart almost broke in that moment; the shop was very nice, but also very empty. After a couple of seconds of embarrassing silent the woman spoke again. "Would you like to take away or would you prefer to have a sit?" she asked as she gestured towards some tables to the right of the counter. You were so absorbed in getting lost in the beauty of the shop that you didn't even realize that there were those tables. "I think I'll have a sit, thanks".

A young red-haired waitress immediately approached you with a menu in her hands. "Hi, I'm Daniela" she said flashing you a toothy smile. Like the other woman, she was confident, yet calm and polite. "Call me whenever you're ready" she said while placing the menu in front of you. You thanked her and she winked again before disappearing behind the counter. You read the menu and the amount of different pastries blew your mind: they had simple things such as donuts, but also a large variety of cakes and eclairs. You opted for a mug of hot cocoa and a piece of cake, which theoretically was free.