The Coffee Date

Chapter 9 - Meet Evidence

That alarm.

Again.

As the girl sat up and slapped off the irritating sound bouncing around the room, she glanced at her clock.

9:30am blinked back.

She could hardly remember what time the two of them managed to sneak out of that office. When Nathan arrived to help her finish, Hazel was just barely past half way through the 50 pages of torture. She hardly remembered the car ride home except of how absolutely exhausted she felt. The last thing she remembered was the folder being slid shut and Nathan telling her how they were finally done, removing the empty cup out of her hands and taking his own to the building's kitchen. In-between that and waking up in her own bed Nathan had escorted her down to his car and driven her home, assuring her that now they could submit her folders and all would be done.

Groaning as she pushed herself out of bed she made her way to her closet and began to rummage.

First day of real official work, first real day she would need to associate with real people, today more than anything she needed to dress to impress. A brown dress with a white collar, white flats with tiny black bows where the toes began, and a brown charm bracelet she had since she was a little girl. Her parents and her had bought all the charms on it together. There was the playschool block charm with the letter H from when she finished kindergarten, the sunflower charm from when she was a sunflower in her grade 4 play, the star charm from when her family went stargazing on the beach during a vacation at the coast, and finally, her graduation hat charm from graduating high school with honours.

Turning into the bathroom she washed her face and cleaned it properly, unlike yesterday, and brushed her hair, allowing her natural curls to wave down against her shoulders. After taking her bangs and pinning them together at the back of her head with a white bow, she smiled contently and made her way to the kitchen to feed Lily. She could feel her stomach grumble as she dumped the food into her feline's dish. Right, she hadn't eaten anything in the past 24 hours.

Her eyes flew to her kitchen, admiring the beautifully untouched room she had worked so hard to make wonderful. She loved cooking, she used to bake pastries every chance she got a few months ago. Gradually school began to take it's toll on her, her parents got busy at work and school work would pile up while she was busy icing cupcakes, so her chef life took a backseat while her education took the wheel. During her baking break, her parents lost their lives. After dropping out of school, after needed to speak with the police department everyday for weeks on end, her cooking life soon vanished and was forgotten altogether.

Her parents had helped her pick out the new appliances and move them in. Now they sat there, untouched. Wanting and waiting to be used again.

Feeling her stomach scream at her once more, she placed a hand against her waist and wandered into her kitchen, cracking open each of her cupboards searching for something quick and simple. She was sure that she had the ingredients for something. Like the day previous she had promised Nathan to be at the office before 11, so while she didn't have a lot of time to spare she had enough to make whip up something.

Snapping open the last cupboard in the row she reached into the back and tugged out a blueberry muffin mix. With a happy sigh she whisked her way to the fridge and tugged out the milk. As quickly as she could she began madly mixing all of the ingredients together. More than anything, she needed food. Fresh, warm, fulfilling food. She felt as if she was moving like lightning as she whisked the batter and poured it into muffin trays. Tossing it into the oven and setting the timer she turned to her table and got ready to clear a spot for her to eat when she paused, staring down at all the paperwork scattered against her table. There, right in the center of her view, she saw her parents will.