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Adventure Mystery Fiction

"Layla, can you pass me the flour please?" Janet said. It was 3:00 in the afternoon at Sweet Treats Cafe. People were rushing in just to get one little lick of those beautiful cakes. 4:00 PM is usually when people start clamoring in, but they were an hour early!

"Will everyone form a line please? I don't need another cake incident like yesterday." Janet informed. "And everyone stop fighting!" It got quiet in the bakery so Layla put some Christmas music on. People were either bopping to the beat or just dancing. "Thank you Layla." Janet whispered.

Janet poured 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of sugar in the bowl. She added baking powder and baking soda. And a pinch of salt. She mixed it all together with the whisk. Layla started working on the wet ingredients. She put eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and heavy cream. She mixed it all together.

"Layla can you pour the wet ingredients please?" Janet asked.

Layla grabbed the wet ingredients and poured them into the dry ingredients. Janet turned on the stand mixer. 3 minutes passed by and Layla went to go check on the mixer. She lifted up the top part of the mixer and took out the bowl. She set the bowl on the counter and grabbed the cake pans from the cabinet. Then she prepped the oven and set it to 350 degrees. Layla went back to the counter and poured the cake mix into the cake pans.

"Layla! What's going on back there!?" Janet asked from the front of the store. "I am putting the cakes into the oven!" Layla shouted back. She grabbed the cake pans and put them into the oven. Then she went back to the front of the store with Janet. "Cakes are in the oven Janet." Layla informed. "Took you long enough. You know I can't do the lunch rush without you. It would be chaos!" Janet joked. Layla suddenly spotted a man wearing a black mask in the street. She tried to tell Janet but she was too busy talking to a customer. Layla went to the window and tried to see what the man was doing. She couldn't quite see what it was because all the snow was in the way. Then she went back behind the register with Janet.

"Janet, can I talk to you in the back?" Layla asked. Her and Janet went to the back of the store. "What's going on?" Janet asked.

"I saw a man wearing a black mask walking in the street. I didn't see where he was going but he might be trouble. Robbers wear black masks Janet." Layla said worried. "No one is going to rob the bakery. And plus, if somebody did rob the bakery the alarm would go off and the police would be contacted immediately." Janet told Layla. "We and the bakery, will be fine." Janet went back to the front of the store to take orders.

It was 8:00 PM and the bakery was closing. Layla was cleaning up the kitchen in the back while Janet was locking up the front. "Tough day, right?" Janet said. "There were so many customers. I couldn't handle them all. Then you saved me." Janet acted like a princess. Layla laughed. "Yep. And I think I am getting better at cake making. I frosted that vanilla cake good." The store was locked up and Layla and Janet went up to bed. They both slept in the same room. They put on their pajamas and hopped to bed. "Goodnight Layla." Janet yawned. "Goodnight Janet." Layla turned facing away from Janet. They both closed their eyes and went to sleep.

A few hours later, a big crash came from downstairs and Layla woke up. She turned around to see that Janet was still sleeping. CRASH! Another loud noise came from downstairs! Layla went into her closet and grabbed her baseball bat. She also grabbed her baseball helmet that covered her face, and she put it on. Then she quietly opened the door. She went downstairs quietly and had her baseball bat in defense mode. She got to the bottom of the stairs and looked over the railing. She saw the man with the black mask looking through the family cookbook! The man looked over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of Layla staring at him. Layla ran towards with her bat held up. "HA!" Layla swung at him, but he caught the bat! The man took the bat out of Layla's hand and pushed her! She tripped over a bowl and fell back. She hit her head on the couch and got knocked out. Meanwhile, the masked man grabbed the family cookbook and ran out of the bakery.

It was 6:00 AM and Layla finally woke up. She looked around and saw pots and pans and food all over the floor. She got up and went into the kitchen. Then she noticed that the family cookbook was missing! "Oh no. Oh no no no. This is bad. Really bad. We make all of our treats with that cookbook. If we don't have it, then we can't make anything. And if we can't make anything, we'll go out of business. Sweet Treats Cafe will fall to the ground!" Layla said panicking. How am I going to keep this from Janet? Layla thought. I can't keep this from her. She's just going to find out anyway. Layla went back upstairs to check and Janet. When she got their, Janet was gone! "Janet? Janet where are you?!" Layla yelled. She looked for Janet in the bathroom but she wasn't there. "Janet this isn't funny." She checked in the laundry room but Janet wasn't there. Layla went downstairs to check the basement. "Janet?" Layla said scared. "Janet are you in here?" A spider came down from the ceiling and was right in front of Layla's face. "AHHH!" Layla screamed. She ran back up the stairs and locked the basement door. She grabbed her phone from the counter and called the police.

"911 what's your emergency?"

"My sister is missing! Last night I heard some crashing down in our kitchen. I went to check and I saw this guy with a black mask. I tried hitting him with a bat but he grabbed it and knocked me out! He stole my family cookbook too! I woke up at about 6:00 AM and I went back upstairs. I checked everywhere and I can't find my sister!"

"Ok. You said a guy with a black mask?"

"Yes!"

The police told Layla that they have seen that guy before. The police immediately arrived at the bakery.

It has been 1 hour and they couldn't find any clues linking to the black mask guy. No fingerprints or footprints. Just a wrecked kitchen. "Maybe we should check his old hangout. That's where we found him the last time." A police officer said. The police and Layla went to the back masked guy's old hangout spot. They investigated and found a fingerprint. "Run it on the scanner!" A police officer yelled. They found out that the black masked guy's name was Leo Watson. They kept investigating.

After 2 hours of investigating, they had some clues that linked Leo to an old warehouse. Layla and another police officer were outside waiting. The police arrived. Every police officer was armed and ready to shoot at all times. They barged in the warehouse and spread out. Suddenly, they saw Janet tied up to chair! "Get her out of there!" The police untied Janet and took her back outside. "Janet!" Layla cried. She ran to Janet and hugged her really tight. "Layla..I..need to..breathe!" Janet said muffled. "Oops." 5 other police officer went back to the warehouse and looked for Leo. CLANG! They heard noise coming from a back room. They silently approached the door and BANG! A police officer kicked it open. They saw Leo and quickly cuffed him. "You're going to jail for a long time buddy." A police officer said. One officer saw the family cookbook on the ground. She grabbed it and headed outside.

Layla and Janet were back home with the family cookbook. The kitchen was fixed and they just kept on serving customers. They were so glad to be back.

December 10, 2020 20:56

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2 comments

Michael Boquet
14:57 Dec 17, 2020

Clear story telling I could always tell what was going on. I wish you had set the stakes a little bit more at the beginning of the story. The recipe book isn't mentioned, nor its importance to the bakers, until after its been stolen. It also would have been nice if you'd given the thief a recognizable detail, like a tattoo or scar or red shoes. How would anyone recognize a man in a black mask? The whole point of a mask is that it hides the wearer's identity. Decent story, but there are a lot of details that could have been flushed out.

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Lunarr Space
11:00 Dec 18, 2020

Thank you Michael Boquet. Now I know what I can improve on.

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