In A World Of Our Own (Westlife Fan Fiction)

Chapter 4

It had already been a week after Ellen had received her gift from Westlife. She was still buzzing with excitement and once Emma had listened to the entire story of that day, Ellen was so full of energy that it had continued throughout the week until it was Saturday.

 Ellen still had to go to work, and her staff dreaded how much energy she would have left inside her. Today however, when she arrived at work (After contacting her brother and getting her Vespa fixed) she seemed to be back to her usual bubbly self that didn’t bounce off the walls. Ellen grabbed her uniform and slipped it on over her newly bought Westlife T- shirt. She soon got to work and was so caught up in flipping burgers she didn’t realise that someone was knocking on the back door. One of Ellen’s waiters sent her back into reality after giving her a little nudge and she shook her head and walked over the back door. She swung the door open expecting to see a stray dog or cat, but she didn’t. It was a small child. Ellen crouched down by the door and looked deep into the eyes of the crying child. As Ellen crouched there, a shadow fell over the child and herself causing Ellen to stand up and look at the cause.

 It was Gillian, Shane’s wife. She had a sweet smile on her face and she swept the child up in her arms and comforted it. She placed the child back down and looked at Ellen.

“Hello again……Ellen” She sounded as if she had forgotten her name, but Ellen didn’t mind, after all, they had only met the once.

“Hi Gillian, what brings you to the back door of my diner, if you don’t mind me asking”

“I’m sorry to bother you but I was wondering if you had retrieved any soft teddy bears recently, it’s just that Nicole has lost hers and she keeps getting upset. We are trying to retrace our steps over the past week to try and find it, but as you can clearly tell, we have had no luck.”

“I can have a look for you; one of my staff may have put it in the lost property box.” Ellen disappeared under the counter around the corner of the door and retrieved a box with a padlock on the top.

 The small girl’s eyes were wide with anticipation as she watched intently as Ellen clicked open the lock. Ellen flipped open the lid of the box and brought it down to the level of the small child. The girl screamed with happiness as there, on the top, laid a small brown bear with a t shirt on. It had a picture of Nicole and her family on it, and she hugged it tight and showed her mother. Gillian portrayed a look of relief as she picked the child up (Still holding on to the bear) and smiled at Ellen as she locked the box back up.

 “Thank you so much. We had almost lost hope. She can’t sleep properly without it so you could probably tell what the last week has been like”

“I can only imagine. I’m sorry I didn’t notice it sooner otherwise I could have tried to contact you in some way.”

“Don’t blame yourself. It was my fault for not keeping a better eye on where she puts things down. Anyway, we had better go, if we are away too long Shane gets worried”

“Okay, goodbye”

“Goodbye Ellen” as they walked away Ellen gently closed the door behind them. It was like her diner was a magnet for Westlife since their family visited. First Kevin strolls in giving gifts and then Shane’s daughter loses her teddy bear that just happens to be in her café. Ellen wasn’t a strong believer in fate, but this had to mean something.

 She smiled for the rest of the day, thinking that fate was delivering unimaginable gifts to her. What would it be next? Maybe Georgina had lost her keys. No, Ellen was being stupid. With a stern look on her face she snapped back into the real world and tried to forget the whole situation. Fate wasn’t real, it was just coincidence, and there was no such thing as destiny, and if there was, surely this would have happened sooner?

 Ellen remained deep in thought for the rest of the day until Emma came into the shop and plonked herself down at one of the tables, a huge smile on her face. Ellen tried to resist the urge to ask her what she was smiling like a Cheshire cat for, but the temptation was too strong for her. She crept over to Emma and sat opposite her.

“So? Why are you smiling like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like a Cheshire Cat around a saucer of milk”

“You will never guess what”

“What?”

“Can’t you work it out?”

“No that is kinda why I am asking”

“I have a boyfriend!”

“Really? You have a boyfriend” Ellen sounded as if she didn’t believe Emma, it sounded like something that Emma would make up to annoy Ellen.

“His name is Oliver, but he prefers to be called Olly”

“Where did you meet him?”

“Hospital, he was one of my patients”

“Okay, what does he look like?”

“See for yourself, he is meeting me here in five minutes!” Emma sounded genuinely excited; she bounced up and down in her chair and giggled like a little girl.

 Ellen sighed and stood up. She shrugged and walked behind the counter, returning to her job as chef. Ellen stood with her mouth open wide as a tall, young man walked in. He saw Emma and walked over to her, kissing her softly on the lips. Ellen just stood behind the counter. He was fairly handsome, not her type, but definitely Emma’s. She grabbed her notepad and subtly strolled over to their table. She pulled out her pen and spoke in a clear voice, to alert them of her presence.

“Hi there, what can I get you?”

“Drop the act Ellen. Olly this is Ellen, and Ellen this is Olly” Olly held out his hand and Ellen took it with no questions.

“Hi” Olly’s voice was smooth, she could see how Emma fell for him, and she was a sucker for the way men talked.

“Hello” Turning to Emma she said: “What can I get you both?”

“We will have two of your speciality milkshakes please”

“Coming right up” As Ellen turned and walked away from the table, she could hear Emma inform her new man that Ellen was her best friend as well as the owner of the diner. She shook her head. She asked a waiter to take two milkshakes over as soon as he had finished with the table he was serving. He saluted her in a jokey way and she smiled in return.

 Soon after entering, drinking their milkshakes and having a chat, Emma and Olly said their goodbyes and walked out the door, hand in hand. Ellen had never seen Emma like that with any other bloke; she could tell that Emma clearly thought that he was ‘the one’. It seemed as though fate was still working its magic. Unfortunately, it was not Ellen’s turn this time.

 As Ellen was closing up the diner; she had locked both doors because she needed to do some paperwork so she would be staying late, she walked behind the counter and slipped on some spilt water that hadn’t been mopped up and fell to the floor, banging her head in the process. The fall had knocked her out completely, and she was in the one place where no one would be able to see her: behind the counter on the floor. Ellen drifted into unconsciousness just as she saw one of the deep fat fryers burst into flames. She let out a little murmur and her head slumped down onto the damp floor. Ellen’s body just lay in the smoke of the kitchen, blood trickling down her forehead as she remained lifeless and limp.