Page 55 - 2024-2025 Creative Writing

All Alone

I found myself working at an old vintage coffee shop, watching the dried deadbeat leaves

fall. The café was soulless, an uninviting spot with sticky, neglected webs clinging to the

corners. Dust pilled over the years, giving it a dead abandoned impression. However, I was

not bothered by the filthy sewer-like environment because the pay was too high to resist.

The café was usually freezing-quiet, with no motion breaking my dark abyss of boredom.

Even during the busy hours of the day, there would be no traffic in line. The customers were

all the same, office employees dragging their haul of failed projects and red temper with

them, smoking their cigarettes to soothe their nasue of past deadline papers. I could feel the

smoke coursing through my respiratory system, stinging my lungs. The smell itching my nose
as if an insect had fiddled with it. This made me feel lightheaded and suffocated as the

smoke gripped me in its control. The place was not a café but a hell that tortured me every

day.

The café flipped when a dazzling bright light came in. She wore clothes never seen before,

propelling her uniqueness. Her hair was as blond as Rapunzel’s and her skin was pale. My

eyes were squinted as the rays stunned me with light. She ordered a shot of expresso then sat

near the brittle window. I knew she was different, so I gathered up the courage to talk to

her. We talked about our shared experiences and hobbies. She was delightful to talk to, it

saddened me when she left, but I was full of excitement for the next days to come.

From then on, she became a regular. Talking with her every day made us friends and made

me lighten up, making me clean up and liven the place and even giving the cafe warmth and

color. But she stopped coming one day. I didn’t have any of her contact info so I couldn’t do

anything but wait. I waited and waited for so long, but she never came. I was alone again.

Left in the dark abyss of my boredom in the forsaken coffee shop that was hell to me. Maybe

I was alone even from the start.

10B Yalalt Zolboo