Welcome to a Nightmare

Chapter 21: Operation Evil Twin

Chapter 21: Operation Evil Twin

The following morning, Crystal wakes up to the familiar gloom of the Maine mornings and goosebumps form on her skin immediately as she stretches out in the cool air. She'd left her window open in the room because it was unbelievably stuffy in Granny's and was also not the exactly the cleanest either. The widow Lucas had seriously let her business go downhill because of the curse, which is understandable considering she was competing with the casinos, the hotels, bars, and restaurants in this city. It actually appeared that Granny lived in one of the rooms of the bed and breakfast for unknown reasons. Maybe to ensure that if this building is torn down, she'll go with it. Her pride and joy and the heart of the tiny town was slowly crumbling. It was as if the Black Fairy was literally reaching into the chest of Storybrooke, removing the heart and slowly crushing it into dust.

"We have to stop her," Crystal mutters to herself as she examines herself in the mirror before hopping into a shower.

Once she feels clean and refreshed, the daughter of Rumpelstiltskin goes downstairs to smell the cooking of bacon. Her heart skips a beat, she's been waiting more than a month to have one of Granny's breakfast specials again. Everything in Storybrooke had its own unique flavour, something that the young woman has longed to come back to.

She hops in front of the counter onto a bar stool and waits for some service. It takes a while but eventually, Granny appears, having come out of the kitchen with her apron covered in flour and flecks of bacon grease spotting her glasses. She looks surprised to see that she has a customer waiting to place their order.

"Sorry if I kept you waiting. I'm surprised you'd even want to eat here. I'm sure there's an all-day breakfast buffet in one of the hotels or an IHOP somewhere for you to go."

"I'm not that kind of person," Crystal says honestly. "I'd rather have a homecooked meal in a small quiet diner than eat overpriced garbage in some loud casino."

"You've certainly come to the wrong city if that's what you desire," the old woman grumbles. She goes over to the coffee machine and pours herself a cup of coffee. "Want some?" she offers.

"Yes please," Crystal nods.

Once she's taken a good long sip, she decides to pry a little more to further her understanding of the curse. "So... didn't this place used to be a small town?"

"Once," Granny mutters, milling about, cleaning up certain things along the countertop. "A long time ago... In fact, it's been so long that I can barely remember myself. How do you know that?"

Typical curse mindset, nothing is specific about dates or time, it's just "as long as I can remember."

"Well... what happened was I had parked my car on the side of the road while waiting for someone..."

"Bad move," the old woman grunts.

"So, I've been told. Anyways, I ended up falling asleep in my car and waking up to some guy trying to break into my car. When I confronted him, he told me he was actually trying to move my car to avoid it being stolen."

"Sounds like August Booth," Granny says.

"You know him?"

"He rides his motorcycle around the city and stops here from time to time..."

Residents of Storybrooke still habitually come to Granny's, Crystal thinks in her mind. It's as if she's making a checklist in her mind of the impact the curse has on everyone.

"He tries to help people avoid the theft of their cars. He considers himself a good Samaritan by "breaking into" the cars and moving them to the impound lot or the police station."