Aliya’s POV

“ Aunt Crystal hurry up it’s about to start. ” I yelled over to my aunt in the kitchen. “ Alright am coming,” she said coming out of the kitchen with snacks stacked on her arm.

“ Aunt we don’t need all that, it’s too much.”

“Non-sense there can never be such a thing as too many snacks.” to my aunt the most important part of a movie is the snacks don’t matter if the movie is good or not just as long as the snacks are there.

“ Did you get the blanket? ” she asked sitting down next to me.

“ Oh I forgot, let me go get it,” I said getting up and going to my room to get our snuggle blanket.

My aunt and I have had this tradition since I was 10yrs old. That’s the time she took me in after my parents passed away in a house fire. I can never remember what happened that day or how my life was before the incident all I know about my parents is what my aunt told me about them.

She would tell me stories about how she and my mum grew up and how my mom met my dad, and how my mom played hard to get when my dad flirts with her. She would show me some of the pictures she had of them when she told me their stories, that’s how I know how they look like they always looked so playful in the pictures. I wish I could remember their voices or even how they laughed but I can’t.

“ Aliya? ” my thoughts were cut short by the sound of my aunt walking into the room. She walked over to me taking my hands in hers. One of her hands came up to my face and wiped some of my tears. Was I crying?

“ Are you OK honey bee? ” I nodded.

“ Yeah, don’t worry about it. ” I said wiping my eyes dry. I walked over to the bed and took our cuddle blanket.

“ Let’s go before the movie ends,” I said pulling the aunt of my room. She laughed allowing me to drag her to the couch. We cuddled under the blanket enjoy the movie and the snacks.

The movie ended with my aunt asleep, clutching an empty bag of chips in her hands. I chuckled at my aunt’s cuteness.

“ Aunt you have to go to bed the movie ended. ” I said shaking her a little to wake her up. She made a small noise of disapproval but still sat up eyes closed.

“ Go to bed I’ll make sure all the doors are closed,” I said guiding her to her room and tucking her in.

My aunt and I lived on the second floor of her coffee shop. After making sure that all the doors are closed, I made sure that my aunt was still in her room sleeping which luckily she was. The last time I left her asleep in her bed and when I woke up for a snack I found her asleep on the kitchen table, I don’t even know how she managed to sleep comfortably there but she did.

I went back to my room did my nightly routine, switched off the lights, and got in bed. I only slept for a little while when I was woken up by the sound of someone calling my name.

“Aliya.”

“Aliya.”

This time I heard the voice coming from out my door. It must be my aunt.“ Five more minutes aunt. ” I said still half asleep. I pulled the blanket over my head willing myself to get a little more sleep in.

“ Aliya…”

I forced myself out of my warm cozy blanket, looking around my room only to find no one was there. What the fudge!! I took the phone off my bedside table to check the time only to find that it was 3 am in the morning. Why would my aunt wake me up at such a time? I walked out of my room to find my aunt only to be met with a dark living room. OK now am scared.

“ Aunt? ” I called out to her. I walked over to my aunt’s bedroom to check up on her. She was hugging her pillow with drool running down the pillow and the duvet was on the floor. I chuckled before walking over to her and covering her with the duvet once again. While making my way out of the room I heard someone calling for me again.

“ Aliya… ” I quickly turned around, only to find my aunt sleep talking.

“ Aliya go check on the cookies or they’ll burn,” she said. This time I couldn’t help but laugh out loud, I can’t believe how I forgot that she sleep talks. Luckily my aunt is a sound sleeper once she sleeps, not even the apocalypse could wake her up.

“ I will aunt Crystal, goodnight loves you,” I said kissing her on her forehead. For anyone who’s curious about what cookies she’s talking about, I have no idea. Not gonna lie though I was a little spooked, I mean wouldn’t you be if you heard someone calling out to you in the middle of the night. I decided to go back to bed and enjoy the remainder of my sleep.

The next morning I was woken up by the sweet smell of bacon, eggs, and pancake. I slowly dragged my tired body out of my bed and into the kitchen to find my aunt all happy and singing as she made breakfast. How is she always happy in the morning, and on a Monday too.

“Good morning honey bee. ” she chirped.

“ As good as I’ll ever be. You have got to tell me your secret.” I joked.

“ What do you mean honey bee? ” she asked with a sly smile on her face.

“ You know what I mean. ” I said.

“ The secret is…” she froze trying to hold up the suspense. I swear she always does this.

“ Come on aunt tell me.” I wined while laughing at her still frozen self. The Toaster suddenly went off making me jump a little.

“ And that’s how you do it,” she said with a proud smile on her face. At this point, I was literally on the floor clutching my stomach, leave it to my aunt to make your morning.

“ OK let’s finish up quick so we can go open the shop,” she said setting down a plate filled with food in front of me. After breakfast, we both went and did our morning routine and made our way downstairs to the cafe. We had already baked cakes, bread, and cookies yesterday morning, so all that was left was to simply open up the cafe.

It didn’t take long for people to start coming in as it was already nine in the morning. We normally don’t have too many customers so I and my aunt can always handle it. She would work the register and I would take orders and serve the customers. We always prepare the pastry a day prior or in the evening before closing, so that the only thing left is to prepare the drinks for customers.

I heard the bell at the door ring meaning we had a new customer. “ Hello, welcome to Angel dust cafe. ” I said as he sat down at an empty table. I couldn’t help but admire how attractive he is. I quickly composed myself before asking for his order.

“ What will you be having? ”

“ Black coffee no sugar,” he said. And damn if his voice is not just as hot as he is.

“ Alright, I’ll bring it right now. ” I said before walking away to make his order.

“ Is there anything else you’d like, muffin, cake, or cookie? They are really good.” I said trying to persuade him, I mean black coffee no sugar? Who drinks coffee like that, psychos that’s who.

“ Yeah, this place. I wanna buy it. ” What the fudge.

“ Excuse you? ”