Anywhere But Here

Chapter Two

Sounds of rain beating down on the roof echoed with the mix of endless chatter in the midsized bakery. The horrendous weather had caused wanders to mingle their way inside, leaving their coats hanging by the door and seated for fresh baked breads and hot cups of coffee and tea.

Normally the bakery was never crowded besides lunch and breakfast hour, however with the thunderstorm in action everyone took refuge, moving their outside activities to the comfort found indoors.

For the last three hours Ione had been bundled up in the corner booth drawn to her fathers’ journal; not once tearing her gaze from the wrinkled pages of ink. With her headphones plugged into her ears she was oblivious to the crowds’ chatter; the voice of Steve Garrigan from Kodaline melting her into a world of her own.

“Another cup of coca, Ione?” a girl with bright red hair in a black t-shirt with the words ‘Samsons Bakery’ printed across the side asked taping her small bitten nail on the table. Ione hugged the journal in her arms with her face in between its cover and pages, inattentive towards the barista beside her.

Rolling her eyes the redhead pulled one of Iones’ headphones out of her ear, causing her to jump and drop the journal from her hands and onto her lap. Iones’ right hand clutched her chest, feeling the race of her heart.

“Way to give me a heart attack, Ray” she breathed eyeing her coworker, Rayne, who just shrugged her off with a laugh. Her gaze fell behind Rayne, taking in the massive crowd that staggered throughout the bakery and out the door. “Aren’t you glad to be working tables today instead of at the front?” Ione smirked with a raised brow.

Rayne looked over her shoulder towards the front of the bakery and groaned, “Aren’t you glad your shift is over?” she mimicked with annoyance at the crowd of people waiting to order and those who were complaining of a long wait.

“I’m taking my lunch,” she mumbled rubbing her temple, mentally crossing her fingers she would be able to sign out without being harassed last minute to work the front, “coca?” Ione nodded a ‘sure’ before placing her headphone back into her left ear and opening the journal in front of her.

She hadn’t been able to finish her fathers’ journal since she received it from the old box the prior night; not able to make it past the first page. The first page of the journal had the year ‘1993’ sloppily yet neatly printed in blank ink on the top right corner. Down below towards the center of the page, a sentence danced in a slanted line due to the fact it was a blank page with no writing lines.

        Madison was my girlfriend. I loved her, and she loved heroin.

Ione had eyed the words, fascinated by the curve of the letters; tracing the sentence over and over as if she could feel the tip of her fathers’ pen that created the sentence. As much as she was fascinated by the sight of her fathers’ writing, the sentence she read over and over frightened her.

For years she wanted answers about her parents but after reading the first sentence she was unsure, fearing she would be disappointed by what followed in the next few pages. She had tried reading further but couldn’t find the courage to do so until she had woken to a fresh day and carried her fathers’ journal with her into the bakery.

She knew she couldn’t carry the journal with her without reading; knowing, she had to push back all the fear she had towards what could possibly be lurking in his writing and once she relaxed in the booth with hot cocoa she had done so.

Sure, she hadn’t read much since she had been sitting in the booth for the past three hours had passed but she had read more than just one page. The farthest Ione made into the journal were the twenty pages, stopping when she turned to the eleventh page.