“The world appears wonderful into the eyes of a wonderful person,”

Winter woke up surrounded by the darkness of her room. As she took in the scene and sounds of her surroundings, she let out a trembling sigh and hugged herself tightly. She felt melancholy all of a sudden. It feels like the worst fate in the world has been put on her back. This whole ‘waking up in the dark’ had happened before. But the feeling right now is much worse than she could have ever imagined.

  The last time she recalled such a feeling was the time her mum left. She was freezing and on the brink of death, lying on the wooden floor of their cottage house, until the wood faeries, or, should she say, the Homewoods, had found her.

  She’s not fond of darkness. It's frightening. And it constantly reminded her of how lonely it was to be left behind. Though, despite all the things she’d experienced, it also, somewhat, gave her a bit of comfort. A lingering feeling of longing — she’s not quite sure what. Absolutely ironic, she might say, which is very baffling.

  Winter continues with the activities that she normally does in the morning. Opening one of the windows of the cottage house. Taking in the view of the morning night sky while feeling nothing but contentment. Tumble Town was in its warm and gentle season, swaying away in a mellow tune.

  She took her quilted jacket and a pair of trousers from her wardrobe and proceeded to go outside with her muddy wellies. She was planning to gather some wild berries as a present of apology for Mrs. Dolly and Molly for running away yesterday without saying goodbye. She also broke her promise to Molly by not tucking her into bed after her shift. 

  After she gathered enough wild berries, she proceeded to fill Matilda's food bowl with the leftover turkey and wasn’t baffled by the thought that they weren't still rotten.

  Opening the shop early in the morning was not her usual morning routine. She just wanted to watch the sunrise as she stood still, admiring, and feeling the summer breeze on her face, as it tried to ease her worries away.

  She was jolted out of her daydream by a scratching sound that resonated out of nowhere. She looked at where the sound was coming from. She watches as Matilda stands by one of the windows as she attempts to break in. She proceeded to open the window to let her in.

"You should probably consider inviting me to one of those private gatherings you have going on." Matilda simply just mewed in response to her as if to indicate that she understood what she had said.

  Winter was aware that Matilda ventures outside every night, but she doesn’t know where her cat goes during those times. It piqued her interest a little bit. But given that she was always exhausted after her shift, it wasn't something she could look into at the moment.

  Winter loves fantasy stories. Especially those urban stories that her mum always tells. Even if Ms. Darbus says it’s completely rubbish and unrealistic, she doesn't care. There’s just something so utterly special about it that she couldn’t fathom what it was.

 She always wonders how Lady Matilda McMuffin and the council of cats resume their evening gatherings. Probably plotting the very end of the human race, she presumes. 

  It was an urban legend that never failed to amuse her.

“The meeting was held by the King of Cats, Cait Sìth. A well-known celebrity among men and women back in the old days.”

  Winter had wondered and questioned the age of the so-called celebrity, only to be scolded by her mum not to go running around the neighborhood asking people’s ages just to satisfy her curiosity.

“It was said that Cait Sìth was a casanova who had wooed every woman and man in England. It's just a rumor, though, but we'll never know.”

  Which she then ended up saying how much of a man- Cait Sìth was for the lack of decency. But having a smart mouth is something that her mum doesn’t want to commend. Especially if one uses some derogatory words for the lack of a better term.

“There's also another rumor circling around, saying that he’s immortal and that he'd been living on this planet for hundreds of years now. He abducted humans to live in his world — once you have been chosen — you can never go back.”

  Those were the very words her mum said before she tucked her into bed. Not acknowledging any of her side commentaries.

 Stories are just stories. Even though there was no way that those urban legends could possibly be true, Winter desperately wanted to believe that they were, at least the child in her wanted to.

✦

The temperature continued to rise rapidly as the hours ticked by. After she dropped the berries at the Homewood residence, she didn’t stay any longer because there were no people in the house. She left a sorry note near the bouquet of white lilies and promised that she'd visit them later after her shift. 

 Before she ventured out, she first eyed the white lilies weirdly. She reasoned that the Homewoods might go to a funeral later since why would someone buy white lilies if it wasn't for a funeral?

  Everything seems to be in place, and Cafe Guifi was operating normally on its usual afternoon. Familiar faces of the customers were still present.

Nothing has changed.

  Except for the Persian cat that was dozing next to her on the counter.

  Winter still hasn't had a good night's sleep. That's why she's in the middle of fighting an urge to take a nap. It was really strange to hear the sound of a train in the middle of the night. She was so curious. She might have asked the Homewoods earlier about it, but unfortunately, they weren’t there.

 Her mother always used to entertain her with stories of the Galaxy Express Railway. It was a train that traveled the Milky Way within a year. No one knows where the train is going . Only the passengers who boarded the train knew. She couldn't help but wonder if the sound that she kept hearing each night was coming from the Galaxy Express Railway or not.

 The sound of someone opening the front door jolted Winter out of her sudden reverie. Matilda, on the other side, suddenly popped her head abruptly to look at the newcomer.

 She took her time, lingering her gaze to meet the person in front. There he was, the gentleman from yesterday. His appearance seems to brighten the inside of the cafe. The moment he walks in, everyone's eyes are immediately drawn to him.

  Winter was unable to fathom the reason behind it, but there's this intense aura that makes the latter luminous in a dim place, to which she concluded that if this place succumbed to eternal darkness, he could be the only source of light that they could hold on to. It sounds disgustingly cliche, but it is what it is.

 He flashed one of those enticing smiles while locking those ocean-like eyes with her. He greeted Winter with “Good afternoon, and it's nice to see you again, Winter,” before sitting down at a table close to the counter.

 Winter makes a mental note to herself not to stutter, but she ends up doing it anyway when she says, “G-Good afternoon. What can I get for you today, sir?”

 The latter simply chuckled and responded, “You're too formal, Winter. I've got a name too.” Winter is perplexed as to why this particular gentleman always causes her to feel so tense.

"It's Cait," He stares at her with much intensity. Winter can feel herself being drawn to those deep aquamarine eyes. "Sith," he finished.

"Cait ㅡ Sith..." she echoed, "You have a celebrity name," she joked.

  The other person just laughs and says, “I guess, I am.”

"Alright. What can I get for you today?"

 Cait ordered the same beverage yesterday. Winter proceeded to make his request. For some reason, she wanted to get out of his sight. She feels like the atmosphere is suffocating her. For some reason, droplets of cold sweat were gushing down her forehead. The weather is hot, but why does she feel so cold inside?

 After mustering up the courage to face the latter, she placed the order in front of him. After that, a sight caught her attention.

"Matilda, what's wrong?" Matilda can't seem to tear her gaze away from the person in front. Cait seems to notice that. They held each other's gaze.

He chuckles p