The Fourteenth Cookie

4 - Goodbye...for now

The cookie and the little boy were starting to grow very fond of one another, got really close to each other and they did so remarkably quickly, it seems. They managed to swiftly set-up a bond of sorts between them which was both unique and rare in its nature. It's true that it all happened far too fast for them to be able to process properly what was going on, but they appeared unfazed by this. Regardless, there was a truly pressing issue they needed to address. No matter how much the cookie would have liked to stay with the boy and vice-versa, the truth of the matter was that she did not belong there. She did not belong in the little boy's world. In a sense, it was therefore inevitable that she would want to head back, that she would end-up thinking more and more about returning home, to her own home.

In an ironic twist of fate, the company which was responsible for transporting the cookie boxes in the first place, the owners of the lorry which was transporting her to begin with and which had crashed in that dreadful accident, had gotten wind of her story and were very eager to bring her back to their factory, to their base of operations. This accelerated considerably the cookie's process of returning home, without her actually having to do something about it. The company in question went in fact the extra mile, by making a real marketing spectacle out of this. They arranged for a nice car with a chauffeur and all the trimmings, to pick her up and bring her back. The little boy and the cookie spent their last hours together talking, getting virtually no sleep and when the time came to say goodbye, they boy surprised her by managing to arrange to go with her for part of the trip. That gave them just a little more time, a little more time to be together. The boy's gesture meant a lot to the cookie and touched her profoundly, for sure. She had always preferred small demonstrations of affection to other grandiose moves which seemed pre-designed and thought-out, aimed at impressing her. The little boy was happy she appreciated it and off they went, arriving at a certain mid-way point of the cookie's trip where they did in fact say their goodbyes. They both knew and sensed they'd meet again. They both appeared convinced of this and this helped them remain composed and calm.

After the cookie's return home they did stay in touch, they tried their best to overcome any issues came their way and they were mostly successful in doing that. Unfortunately, weird forces were at work hidden in the shadows. Forces which were going to try to make things tough, complicated, tricky, impossible, for the two of them. Pretty soon, it transpired that the company which had manufactured the cookie was more interested in how the cookie had survived, than its actual well-being. They secretly arranged matters with the transportation company and had already examined her medical records, before she had even returned.

As soon as she did return, they begun performing tests on her. All under the guise of a medical check-up, to ensure -allegedly- that she was perfectly all right. The cookie started doubting immediately their intentions, but there was nothing truly untoward taking place. Everything was carefully planned to perfection by the company. Suspicions or not, nothing they did seemed out of place. The examinations seemed particularly thorough, but not excessively so. There were a lot of tests relating to her psychological state, but again they were not done in an intrusive manner. The exam data confirmed that the cookie had several biochemical characteristics which were inconceivably uncommon, on a molecular level. The company wanted to learn more, wanted to find-out more about her and kept their findings well under wraps. They wanted the cookie all to themselves, to analyze, to diagnose, to dissect and apparently to keep with them forever. And they were going to go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the cookie remained oblivious to all this.