♡ Ribbon & Bow's Cafe

"Under the Surface" - Chapter 1 

"Welcome to the Ribbon & Bows Cafe!" a woman said, smiling. "Follow me! I shall show you to your table!" I looked at the woman and then followed her, not saying a word. The place was... quiet, in an uncomfortable way, and it was also very chilly. I had heard stories about this place, but I didn’t think they were true. Stories that the place had been investigated for a missing person or a murder. I then began to sit down, and the woman handed me a menu. "I haven't seen you around here. Are you new?" she asked. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at her. "Kind of. I moved here last month, just haven't gotten out to meet people around here." She smiled and said, "Well, you're going to love it here so much, it will kill you." I was... a bit scared when I heard those words, or maybe I shook. "Oh, uhh, okay..."

  I sat there, trying to shake off the chill that ran down my spine. The woman walked away, her footsteps eerily silent on the cold floor. The atmosphere felt heavier, like the air itself was pressing in on me. I glanced at the menu again, the strange dishes staring back at me, but I couldn’t focus on it for long. Something in the cafe felt... off. A few minutes later, she came back to ask me my order. "So, what can I get you, sweetie? Or would you like to hear our special of the day?" I looked up from the menu. "Um, what's the special?" Her smile grew bigger in a weird but comfortable way. "Strawberry shortcake with ice cream on the side. It's to die for, if I must say so myself. Everyone loves it." I gulped down a bit, trying to hide how scared I felt inside. "Uhh, yeah, I'll take that with a coffee, if that's okay..." I watched her write my order down in her notepad. For some reason, seeing her do this sent even more chills down my spine. I tried to tell myself the rumors weren't real; they were just myths trying to scare other people—trying to scare me. But I wasn’t going to let anyone, nor myself, be scared any longer. I was going to get to the bottom of this  

"Not What It Seems" - Chapter 2 

few minutes go by till she came back...

"Uhh, thank you, but it smells a bit off," I said. She looked me dead in the eyes, like she was staring right into my soul, making goosebumps rise on my arms. Then, she stopped and glanced at the food and drink.  "Nothing seems wrong to me. You're probably just overthinking," she said.  I looked back at the food, picked up my fork, then glanced at it again. I said my grace because I didn’t want any bad luck coming my way—even though I was probably done for. But knowing this world, it still had plenty of surprises in store for me.  The woman began to speak again. "Are you okay? Do you need anything else?"   I looked her up and down. "Uhh... no, I’m good. Thank you, though." 

She smiled. "Well, alright, if you say so, sweetie. If you need anything, just let me know, mk?"   I looked up, away from the food. "Uh... yeah, of course..."   She walked away, and as she did, I stared at my food, knowing I might as well eat since I’d have to pay for it anyway. "Here goes nothing," I muttered to myself. It couldn’t be that bad, could it? Maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me.  Before taking a bite of the food, I glanced at my coffee. I picked up the tiny light-blue cup and took a small sip. "Hmm, not bad," I thought to myself. Setting the cup down, I turned my attention to the strawberry shortcake with ice cream. I hoped it wouldn’t be as bad as I feared. Gripping my fork, I dug it into the dessert and took a bite! I then took a big gulp. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but it still didn’t explain where the strange smell was coming from. As I ate more of the cake and ice cream, the crunch grew louder and louder. I tried to act like I didn’t hear it. Maybe it was just because I was eating the cake too slow, causing it to harden in the cold air?

I started sipping my coffee, thinking about how weird this all was. Maybe I was overthinking it again. After a few minutes, I was almost done. I had finished my coffee and only had a few bites of cake left. But on the last bite, I felt a sharp pain in my mouth. I quickly opened my mouth and spit out whatever I had bitten into. As I spat it out onto the napkin, my heart sank. Nestled in the mess of chewed cake and melted ice cream was something hard. My hand trembled as I reached for it, pinching it carefully between my fingers. It was small and looked like a tooth or what used to be one. Suddenly, the woman appeared at my table, her smile unnervingly wide. “Oh, dear. Is everything alright?” I froze, hiding the tooth in my napkin. “Uh, yeah. Everything’s fine,” I mumbled, my voice shaky. Her eyes lingered on me for a moment, sharp and calculating. Then, she tilted her head and said sweetly, “Well, let me know if you need anything else, sweetie."

But then, my head began to spin, and a wave of dizziness hit me all at once. My vision blurred, and I struggled to keep my eyes open. The world around me felt like it was spinning, fading in and out of focus. I gripped the edge of the table, trying to steady myself, but it was no use. My hands trembled, and I felt myself slumping forward.

Before I could make sense of what was happening, everything went black.

The last thing I heard was the faint sound of the woman's voice, echoing in the distance:

"Sweet dreams..."

"You Can’t Run Forever"-Chapter 3

I woke up… in a dark room with very little light. My head was pounding, and my body felt weak, almost as if all the energy had been drained from me.

 “Did… she put me… h-here?” I muttered. I felt the cold air against my skin, sending chills down my spine. 

I tried to get up, but the sharp pain in my head and the weakness in my body made it impossible. I tried to scream, but nothing came out of my mouth. Then, I heard footsteps… my heartbeat stopped for a moment out of fear. I had never been this scared in my life. Was I going to die? I was only 15 years old! What would happen to my mom? She would be worrying, thinking I would come back, but I would dead. The footsteps grew louder and louder. I prayed it wasn’t the woman. Then, the door creaked open.

“Oh… my gosh…” she gasped, staring at me in shock. “D-did… she… do this to you?” I was surprised, it wasn’t her—it was a girl. I didn’t say anything. I just looked at her, and that alone was enough for her to understand.

“I’m going to get you out of here. You have to make sure you don’t make a single sound,” she whispered. I just stared at her. There was something familiar about her, but I couldn’t place it. Right now wasn’t the time to figure that out. I couldn’t argue. Couldn’t even think straight. I just gave her a weak nod, my head throbbing from the movement.

She slipped her arm under mine, careful like I was made of glass, and tried to help me sit up. My legs felt like they weren’t even mine anymore, heavy and useless, but she held on, her grip surprisingly strong for someone shaking so much.

“Come on,” she whispered, glancing back at the open door like she expected someone — her — to come charging through it any second. “We don’t have much time.”

I wanted to ask who she was, why she was helping me, and how the hell she even found me — but my throat still refused to work. All I could do was stumble forward, leaning on her like some half-dead scarecrow. Every step sent needles of pain shooting up my legs, but the fear of staying there was worse.

The hallway outside was narrow and dark, the walls covered in peeling wallpaper that might’ve been white once, but now was stained with grime and streaked with something darker — something I didn’t want to think about. My heart pounded in my ears, loud enough I was sure it would give us away.  Every shadow looked like it was moving. Every creak of the floorboards sounded like a scream. She led me down the hall, her grip tight on my wrist, practically dragging me when my legs threatened to give out. I didn’t know where we were going — I didn’t care — as long as it was away from here. Then, just as we reached the end of the hall, a door slammed somewhere behind us.

Her whole body stiffened, her fingers digging into my arm.

“She’s awake,” the girl whispered, her voice trembling. “We have to run.”

And suddenly, the pain didn’t matter anymore — because the terror was so much worse. Then came the voice.

“Where are you going, little Leo?” The woman's voice was cold. 

“You know,” the woman’s voice drifted closer, footsteps light like she was gliding, “it’s rude to leave without saying goodbye.”

The girl tugged me forward, her grip shaking but her steps determined. But the woman kept talking, her voice wrapping around us like a net we couldn’t escape.

“Did she tell you her name yet, Leo? No?” A soft, sickly laugh. “Poor thing. She never was very good at making friends.”

I felt the girl’s grip tighten — like she wanted to scream but didn’t dare.

“Running is useless, my sweet boy.” The woman’s voice slid closer, each word dripping with false affection. “You belong here now. With me. You wouldn’t want to upset your new family, would you?”

My legs felt heavy again. My mind fogged up, like something invisible was tugging me backward.

“You’re mine now.”

The hallway stretched longer. The shadows seemed to breathe. And her voice followed us, soft and sure.

“You can’t run forever, little Leo.”

The girl suddenly pushed open a door — I didn’t even see it until we were already through it — and slammed it shut behind us. It was a tiny room, barely more than a closet, with shelves piled high with old linens and jars filled with stuff I didn’t want to look too closely at. We both stood there, frozen, our breath loud in the silence. The girl put a finger to her lips, eyes wide and wild. I nodded, my whole body trembling so hard I thought my bones might rattle right out of my skin. The footsteps stopped just outside the door.

“Leo,” the woman’s voice purred, closer than ever. “Don’t you want dessert?”

We didn’t stop running. Well — she ran. I was more like a ragdoll getting yanked along for the ride, my legs barely remembering how to function. My lungs felt like they were on fire, but every time I slowed down, her grip would tighten, and I’d stumble forward again.

The hallway seemed endless, twisting and bending like it was alive — like it wanted to keep us here. My brain was screaming at me to stop, to catch my breath, to just sit down and cry like a normal person, but there was no time. Not with her voice slithering down the hall after us.

Eventually — somehow — we burst through a crooked door at the end of the corridor and stumbled outside. Or at least, I think it was outside. The air felt colder, but the sky was just... wrong. All grayish-purple, like a bruise spreading across the clouds. The ground was uneven, covered in dead leaves and patches of something black and sticky. Up ahead stood a house — or at least something that was trying to be a house.

Up ahead stood a house — or at least something that was trying to be a house. It leaned to one side like it was drunk or just gave up on being normal. The windows were busted out, and the door was barely hanging on, swaying every time the wind blew.

The girl didn’t slow down. She yanked me toward it, her grip the only thing keeping me upright. My legs were still made of jelly, and every step felt like my bones were rattling around inside me, but stopping wasn’t an option.

She shoved the door open with her shoulder, wincing at the loud creak, and practically dragged me inside.

The air was thick, stale, like no one had been here in years — or maybe too many things had. The floor felt soft and weird under my feet, like layers of paper or rotting wood, and the walls had these weird stains that looked almost... alive.

She bolted the door with some broken piece of wood and let out a shaky breath. For a second, neither of us said anything, both just standing there, listening — waiting to hear if she was following us.

“Okay,” the girl whispered, still catching her breath. “We should be okay here. For now.”

I slumped against the wall, my legs fully giving out. “Cool, love that,” I muttered, trying to get my heart rate down from ‘about to explode’ to ‘only slightly dying.’

That’s when I realized something — I didn’t even know who she was.

“Who are you?” I asked, my voice scratchy and weak. “You just... showed up outta nowhere.”

The girl hesitated, like she wasn’t sure she wanted to answer. Then she sighed, brushing her hair back from her face — her hands were shaking.

“It’s me. Mel.”

I blinked. “Mel...?”

“Mel Thompson. From school.”

Oh. OH. My brain, which was still running at 2% battery, tried to process that. Mel. I knew that name. We weren’t exactly friends, but I’d seen her in the hallways. Quiet, kept to herself. Always had headphones in.

“What—how—why are you here?” My words came out in a mess, all the questions I wanted to ask crashing into each other.

Mel bit her lip, eyes flicking to the door like she expected it to fly open any second. “Because I know her,” she said softly. “I used to.” The room felt even colder, like the walls were leaning in to hear better.

“You know her?” My brain could barely keep up. “Who even is she?”

Mel’s fingers curled into the hem of her hoodie, knuckles going white. “She used to be... someone else. Before she became that. Before she started—” Her voice cracked, and she shook her head like she couldn’t say it out loud. “She’s been collecting people. For years. And now she wants you.”

My stomach twisted. “Collecting people? What does that even mean?”

Mel’s eyes darkened, her voice dropping to a whisper. “It means if we don’t get out of here, you’ll be part of her house. Forever.”

I wanted to ask more — wanted to understand how the hell Mel knew all this, how she even found me — but my mouth was dry, and the shadows in the room were already moving again. And somewhere outside, barely louder than a whisper, I could still hear her voice.

“Leo… I know you’re in there.” My whole body locked up like my muscles were made of ice. Mel must’ve heard it too because her hand shot out, grabbing my arm in a death grip.

“Don’t listen,” she whispered, voice shaky but firm. “Don’t answer her. Don’t even think about her.”

Easy for her to say. My brain was doing backflips trying to process everything — the creepy house, the endless hallway, her voice curling around my name like it was her favorite toy. My legs were jelly, my chest was tight, and my head felt like someone was tap-dancing on my skull. I took one step — and that’s all it took. The whole room did a fun little spin, the floor tilting sideways like the house was about to flip over. My vision blurred, the walls melting into a mess of colors — gray, black, sickly purple — and my knees buckled before I could even think about catching myself.

“Whoa—Leo!” Mel’s voice felt like it was coming from the other side of a tunnel. She caught me before I face-planted, half-dragging, half-carrying me toward a couch — or at least something couch-shaped — pushed up against the wall. It was gross. Covered in torn fabric, stained with stuff I didn’t wanna think about, but it didn’t matter. The second I hit it, my body gave up completely. Mel was saying something — I could see her mouth moving — but her voice was getting swallowed by this weird buzzing noise in my head.bMy eyelids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. The last thing I saw before everything went black was Mel’s face — worried, scared, but determined — leaning over me. Then, darkness.