Prologue

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May 19th 2016

In the small town of Lakedale, located in a small family owned bakery were two people, a father and his daughter, she was behind the counter as she put the freshly baked goods into the glass cabinet showcases them. In the back, in the kitchen was Ken Jackson, a family man and the proud owner of the bakery, passed down to him by his father who was too old to keep an eye on the business. His daughter, Allison Jackson had been working there since she was fifteen years old and had been baking ever since she was born.

The morning was like any other morning, Ken would bake his signature cinnamon buns in the kitchen whilst Allison would place the cakes into the glass cabinet in the front of the store, just before the shop doors would open and the townspeople would come in, getting their freshly baked bread, baked early in the morning. To collect their cakes for a birthday party for their children, grandchildren or even their parents. The sun was shining through the glass windows, leaving an inverted shadow on the floor where the name of the company Belle's bakery – in fancy writing – leaving it's mark, moving further back as the day went on.

Allison, a beautiful young twenty-four year – twenty-five in the summer – crouched down to the floor as she held the freshly baked cakes, donuts and pies. She placed each cake into the glass cabinet with care. On the top row there lay brownies of different flavours, chocolate, pecan, salted caramel and more. Underneath were rows of cupcakes, classic cupcakes, mini cupcakes of all different flavours that would explode in the mouths of the customers. And then there was a row of cakes, cakes that could be bought as a whole or just a slice. Carrot, chocolate, angel, vanilla, cheesecake and more. The donuts were next, ranging from the classic donut with a classic glaze all the way to filled donuts with personal designs being able to placed upon them. And finally, at the bottom of the cabinet were the pies, their famous pies. Apple, pumpkin, lemon meringue, pecan, key lime and Mississippi mud pie.

The sweet smell of the sweet goods consumed the bakery, but the one thing that caught the attention of Allison was the smell of the cinnamon that was wafting in from the kitchen, where her dad stood over the stove, placing in the rolls that he had created and was waiting for them to come out. Allison lifted up her nose and sniffed in the sweet smell of the sugar and cinnamon.

"As always, dad. They smell amazing." She said.

Ken smiled. "I may not be the best baker in the world, pumpkin, but I can tell you something, I make the best cinnamon rolls in the world."

Allison giggled. "And I don't doubt that. I'm actually shocked that grandpa actually handed you the keys to the bakery, you know, with your background of baking. You know, the term rock cakes doesn't actually mean that they're supposed to be as hard as rock, so hard that they would break your teeth."

Ken laughed. "All right, I get it. You don't have to keep rubbing it in. I know that I didn't hand you down the gift of baking. I think that was from the help of your grandma and grandpa."

Allison giggled once more. "Yeah."

Her giggle soon disappeared by the sound of a metal bowl crashing down against the tiled floor in the kitchen. It rattled and spun as soon as it touched the floor and the sound of an almighty thud caused Allison to run immediately towards the kitchen area.

Once she reached the kitchen area, her face was as white as a sheet. Her hands gripped tightly on the doorframe and her heart was pounding on her chest. Within moments of a shock and being unable to move, Allison found herself pushing away from the door and falling to her knees, she kneeled beside her father who was lying flat on the floor. There was blood dripping from his nose and her breathing was short.

"Dad?" Allison cried as shepushed him slightly from side to side. She continued to repeat the gesture andrepeated calling his name but there was no reply. Tears streamed down her faceas she continued to call his name, but she knew he couldn't hear her. Shereached into her pocket and dialled for an ambulance, she was terrified. Onemoment they were laughing and joking and the next this happened. She wasafraid, she was terrified. Why was he bleeding from the nose, she thought. Butshe knew that because of the blood, it was bad, it was really bad and she wasafraid that it might be something that would eventually take him away from her.She knew that the time would come, eventually, but not now, not at the age offifty two. He was still young. He still had the rest of his life to live. Hestill had to walk his daughter down the aisle. He still had to see his firstgrandchild. He was too young to die. But Allison, even though she was terrifiedat the thought, knew that from what she could see in front of her, that her dadwould never see that happening. 2Y=dW+{

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