Chief

Chapter 5

Three weeks pass

*

It's March. The snow has stopped assaulting the cold Forks air, and the weather has returned to its normal, gloomy cloud cover. You've been in Forks for a few months now, and the flow of the town and its residents have finally sunk in. It feels like you've finally found your place.

Over the last few weeks, you've found yourself trying out little changes just to see how the town reacts to them- higher-quality dinner napkins, ordering more sustainable oil for frying food, and installing a new filtration system for the water tap. So far, nobody has reacted to any of the changes as poorly as you'd anticipated they would. The next change- one you've wanted to make for a while now- is one that you have been anticipating since you'd moved here.

*

"Tomorrow's the big day." You had told Cora last night. Today, you planned on typing up an ad for the paper and posting it in the window to hire more help. Besides yourself, this would be the first new waitstaff employee since Stephanie had been added to the team a few years back. Before her, it was Cora- decades ago. You were grateful that Stephanie worked at the cafe from time to time, but she mostly just filled in when the extra help was desperately needed. The new person you select will be full-time and you intend for them to learn as much from Cora as possible.

After all, in a perfect world, Cora wouldn't be in the position she's in forever- her success is one of those goals that sits in the back of your mind on a regular basis. Besides, you can certainly afford to hire more help.

The Forks sun cuts through the clouds at every available opening throughout your drive to the cafe, almost tricking you into thinking it would be a sunny day. You inhale deeply through your nose as you get out of your car and close the door of your sedan, the cold air burning your nostrils. Satisfaction warms your chest as you approach the front door while you search in your purse for your keys, happy that you'd arrived before everyone else as planned.

As you unlock the door and step inside, something doesn't feel right.

Sure- it was usually chilly inside the cafe first thing in the morning. But there was more of a draft than you were used to. As soon as the door closes behind you and the bell stops ringing with its movement, you take a cautious step forward. You freeze and your eyes scan the room, unsure of your next step.

There's no movement besides your own.

You take a few cautious steps forward, slowly approaching the breakfast bar to set your purse down. Nothing seems too out of the ordinary, and you turn your head to examine the other side of the room. A few small glimmers catch your eye by where the wall meets the corner window. You take a step closer to identify them, staring at them for a moment while your eyes adjust to the bright sunlight gleaming through. After a few seconds, you realize- they're small pieces of shattered glass. Your eyes follow the trail of glass.

The trail leads up to a large, white crack that spans across the cafe's window to a gaping hole that has been busted in the glass.

A gasp escapes your lips, the shock causing you to stumble backwards and back up against the hostess podium. The hole is big enough for someone to have gotten in through. That being said, you have no idea if anyone actually got in and if they're still inside the cafe.

All you can think of is that Art and Cora keep a baseball bat under the breakfast bar. You take a few steps over to peek through the breakfast bar window to the kitchen and peer through the opening to confirm nobody's there.

You lean down and tiptoe around the bar to reach under the counter, feeling around until your fingers find the taped hilt of the metal baseball bat. Your grip around it tightens and you pull it outwards, immediately clenching it so hard that your knuckles turn white. Every tiptoe touches the tile below you silently as you come around the breakfast bar to approach the kitchen doorway. Thoughts of the kitchen's layout and the staff restroom's placement run through your mind as you try to think of all of the places to hide.