Hitch Hiker was waiting for his turn to be interrogated in the other room, which was located just behind the bakery. His nostrils flared as it let in the sweet scent of sugar, icing, and bread. The place he was in was painted pink and purple and decorated with hundreds of stickers. They gave him a comforting feeling inside his heart, though it didn't fill what was truly in his heart. He looked around nervously and looked at himself in a mirror. He was wearing a green tie and a green suit, followed by green neat pants, which he had bought with the funds his parents had left him. The door opened, and his name was called. He winced when he heard a sharp voice that said it was his turn to enter. He then found himself in another place where the walls were a dull grey and had nothing to decorate them, making it look and feel unpleasant to be in. There was an elderly woman who was looking at his job application and other papers he had sent her.
"So," she began sharply, and Hitch captured the fact that she wasn't a woman he could joke around with. "You are Hitch Frederick Hiker, twenty-one, and came into this world on the thirteenth of October nineteen-eighteen, right?"
"Yes, ma'am," he said clearly.
"Funny name you have... Hitch Hiker," she said it with a note of curiosity floating in her voice. "Did you know why your parents gave you this name?"
"No, ma'am," he said honestly. "Because they died when I was twelve in a collapsing tower where I then had a huge head trauma, and it made me forget all of the memories before the accident."
"I'm sorry to hear that," she said as she scanned his face and specifically his eyes to see if she could fish out a lie from what he had told her. She seemed to trust his story as she stopped scanning his face. "So, you've been in a high school and you took cooking and baking classes, and it says here that you were able to score the highest mark in baking class, and you marked a really high score in cooking!" She said, sounding impressed.
"Yeah, and I paid like five thousand Rowls in a private baking class led by one of the most famous bakers in the whole country: Alern Rosier!" He said enthusiastically.
"No way!" She said with disbelief in her voice. "You actually met him? How was he? Was he as handsome as he was in those magazines he always appeared in? Was he nice?"
"Well," began Hitch nervously, "he was really strict and always aimed for the best cake or bread in the class. I was in third place in my class because I think that while the other judges didn't think that my cake was worth being in third place, he convinced them to place me there!"
"Well, if he thought that you were worth being in third place, then I think that's all I needed to know about you," she said with a note of finality in her voice.
"Well, thank you for your time, ma'am." He then left the room and walked passed the door and was greeted with a beautiful, ginger sun shining upon the dark road, which still had traces of morning dew on the side of the road. He then smiled at the sight that he was welcomed with.
Hitch was doing some paperwork in his office in the house where his two younger sisters lived. It was the house that his late parents had left him. He was just filling out the forms, which would allow him to work in the bakery that was just five streets away.
Then came a knock on the door.
"Enter," he said dully.
Then the door opened, and there was a woman who looked to be around the age of eighteen. She was wearing a dress that came in the color of ancient red, painted all over it, but there were white spots that were engraved on the dress.
"Hey, Hitch," she said anxiously, "I just wanna tell you that somebody sent you a chocolate box for Valentine's."
"What?" He said as though he didn't hear what she just said.
"Yeah, there was no letter or anything from it!"
"All right, Erika, just put it on my table," he said sharply.
"Sorry to disturb you," she said apologetically.
He then continued to fill out the paperwork. He glanced at the chocolate box, and it was in a heart shape. It was a red wine box and had a dark rose heart pinned to the center of the box. He then wondered who could be sending him a chocolate box for Valentine's.
He then stopped filling out the paper as his hand began to become sore. He then left his seat, and he could feel the warmth from his rear vanish instantly. His legs were quite stiff, but then he paced around the room for a little bit of time to make them move more comfortably with his legs.
He then took the chocolate box in his hand and could feel that it was filled to the brim with chocolate. He then looked behind the box and noticed something. It was a strange symbol that he swore he had seen somewhere. But then he thought not much of it and then opened the box. It was full of chocolates, with each having different shapes and sizes. There were milk chocolate, white chocolate, and dark chocolate.
He took a small milk chocolate and placed it in his mouth. It was melting in his mouth, even though he didn't even begin to savour it. Then he bit into it, and it broke into a few smaller pieces. He then experienced the sensation of warmth and comfort in his mouth. The chocolate was sweet and undoubtedly potent to make his whole body relaxed. He then swallowed everything and could feel his throat burning lightly. He then paced around the room and found what he wanted. He grabbed a water bottle and drank several gulps of it. He then let out a sigh of relief as his throat had now become as it used to be.
He then noticed that there was a small letter that was lying on the grey carpet. He then thought that it might have been in the chocolate. He had opened it while he concentrated on the chocolate and probably didn't even notice the letter falling out of it. He then opened the letter slowly, and it felt soft when he gripped it. He then opened the letter and found a poem inside it. It was in a casual, non-cursive handwriting. Hitch had expected to be written in cursive because he thought that it might have been more romantic.
I saw your face, and my heart plummeted in space. The moment I saw your face, I knew that your heart would be what I'd chase. The moment I saw you play with a spade, there was no doubt about your huge grace. The moment I saw you, my soul went out in space. Then, if you would like to reply to my letter, that would be the biggest gift you could ever offer to this person.
He didn't know whether it was a well-thought-out poem or not. He then looked at the wall where he had put all of the final tests of the semester. There were papers on all subjects that a school could offer to a student. He then looked at the paper, which was the literature test, and sighed heavily as out of all of the papers on the wall. It had the lowest score.
He then closed the paper and put it in the chocolate box before he sealed it with the cover. He then went to continue filling out paperwork.
Several days passed by, and he arrived at the bakery just before it opened. He then arrived at the back of the building. He saw a door and entered it with a key that the owner of the bakery had given him. He then unlocked the door and began his day as a baker.
He was making bread with a few people in the back who helped him in the process of making the dough and baking it. He also took charge of making sweet cakes, pies, tarts, and other sugary products that you could find in a bakery. He worked through his day and wrote everything the clients bought manually (because the bakery didn't have the budget for computers). Every time he came here, he was always greeted with the pleasant scent of sugar, icing, bread, and other baker's products.
"Hey, I need to talk to you about something," said Merika sharply to Hitch.
"What is it?" He asked anxiously.
"This isn't the place to discuss; we need to be somewhere more private!"
She had called him to counter where she always took people's orders, while it was his job to write them down to send them to the boss so that they could know whether they had made a profit or not each day.
"Come with me," she said sharply.
Hitch decided to follow her, and they entered the back of the bakery, where there were all sorts of ovens to bake cakes and bread. They then climbed the wooden spiral stairs and arrived at the second floor. The second floor gave the impression to Hitch that he was rather in a living room than a bakery. The walls were painted with all sorts of colors imaginable. There were contemporary paintings glued the the walls, which added a little nice touch that gave a sense of oddity in the place where people would rather associate with comfort or a sense of belonging. He then sat on the green sofa, which was just next to the table. Merika followed his action and sat next to him.
"So, what do you want to talk about, Merika?" Hitch asked curiously.
"Well," began Merika, "I want to talk to you about this guy who kept visiting the bakery every day."
"So why is there something terrible about the fact that we have a daily client?"
"Well, yeah, that's what I would have said if it weren't for the fact that I always saw the guy around when I came to work. He's always there, on his phone! Not only that! he looked around as if he were waiting for someone! I think that we might have drug trafficking happening under our noses!" she said alarmingly.
"Whoa, whoa, hold your horses, Merika! This is a small town, so I highly doubt that there would be drug trafficking would happen around here!"
"Yeah! But then it would have been the perfect plan to traffic drugs because nobody would suspect it happening in a small town!" she shrilled.
"Yeah, but then why don't you contact the police?" Hitch asked anxiously.
"Well, I did tell our boss about my suspicion of that guy. But she refused to call the police because the nearest one is fifty miles from here! She said that if we called them on him and said that he was just some random guy who was just minding his business, we would have to pay a huge fine for disturbing the police!"
"How much would the fine be?" Hitch asked inquisitively.
"It's between one hundred thousand to five hundred thousand Rowls!" She said she sounded as shocked as Hitch to this fact.
"Jesus Christ! I didn't know that the fine would be so hefty. I understand why our boss doesn't want to disturb the police because the bakery only makes about one thousand and a half Rowls per day! I only get paid like one hundred Rowls per day!"
Hitch then seemed to be deep in thought. Something then snapped inside of him. An idea sprang to life in his consciousness.
"Did any of you approach this guy and accuse him of your suspicion?"
"No, nobody dared, and not even I dare! Do you know who this guy is?" Whispered Merika.
"No, I don't know. Because we do have our usual customers who come basically every day. Are you talking about Mr. Hooks? Or maybe Mr. Clevin? Or is it Mr. Calvis?"
"No, it's the one who's always in the corner and scans the whole menu without saying anything. He rarely put down the paper and rarely glanced around."
"I never even noticed that there was a guy in the corner! Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention."
"Yeah, but I saw him outside the bakery and he's huge! He's easily six and a half feet! He's extremely muscular, and he's really huge in width, too! His limbs are really huge and thick!"
"Don't worry, I will talk to him and ask him why he always comes to the bakery," said Hitch reassuringly. "Now, where is he?"
"I think he's outside somewhere; he can't be far from the bakery. And can I come with you so that if he tries something, I can get help!"
"Yes, that sounds like a neat idea, now, Merika. I'm going to be on my lunch break in five minutes, and can you please call your assistant so that she can replace you for at least thirty minutes, and then she can enjoy her time with her grandmother," said Hitch neatly.
"Yes, I will do that," she said softly.
She then reached for the telephone, which was hung on the wall, and began entering the phone numbers as Hitch descended the spiral stairs.
Hitch and Merika both went outside the bakery. They looked around the street but couldn't find the suspect. Not even around the blocks. They asked people politely whether they had seen a huge, tall, muscular man. They didn't find anything after they searched him for over half an hour. Hitch had asked people gently whether they knew him or not. But nobody seemed to know him. Even though Merika had described him with long blond hair and blue eyes, and his rather extreme physique. People always shake their heads and go on about their business.
They both returned to their bakery with disappointment. But Hitch then noticed a group of people that he could have recognized from anywhere. There were Piers, Antoin, and Marcus. Hitch then felt a rush of hatred spread through him rapidly, but managed to get it under control. He then noticed they glanced in the direction of the bakery. He then sprinted into the bakery and went behind the counter to continue his work. He hoped that they didn't see him back there. Because they were much taller and bigger than they were before.
It was nearly dusk when their boss, Mrs. Kaloth, sprinted down from her office to announce to everybody. She seemed as if she was going to burst with joy and excitement. They all looked confusedly at each other and then at her. She then inhaled and exhaled sharply.
"Tonight's going to be a special night, everybody!" She announced joyfully.
"What is it, Mrs. Kaloth?" Asked one of the bakers anxiously.
They knew that whatever could be good news to her would be bad news for them.
"I just got a huge order of over a hundred chocolate cakes and one hundred apple tarts! Don't act as if tonight's going to be miserable, people! Cheer up! You know what this means, don't you?! Well, now what are you people waiting for, me to collapse perhaps? Get to work now!"
They all rushed quickly because even though they had thirty of each order, they needed seventy more of each other. Mrs. Kaloth opened the shop passed the closed time. She then also helps them in baking the cake and the tarts. They had five hours to complete before the people who would arrive came to pick up their order.
The scent of apple tart and the sweet scent of chocolate filled their lungs with each breath they took. Hitch nearly salivated when he was packing the chocolate cake, but he stopped himself from eating it.
"Jesus Christ," grunted Marco, "who would need so many cakes and tarts?" He mumbled to Hitch, who was helping him bake the apple tarts.
"I don't know, they must have ordered it for a huge celebration or something," grunted Hitch.
"Yeah, but I hope that tonight we will get paid better because we're literally nearing midnight now. It will probably all be finished when it's two o'clock in the morning."
"Less talking and more baking!" Barked Mrs. Kaloth.
Two hours passed slowly for all of the bakers; it was as though somebody had slowed their sense of time. They were all sweating and had to use bath towels to wipe the sweat off their face. It was quite hot inside where they work, even though they stopped the ovens five minutes ago. The people who arrived to take all of the chocolate cakes and the apple tarts had come with a huge van, where they all struggled, but with the help of the baker, they were able to fit all of those sugary products in the van. They waved the people who came to pick up as they disappeared into the darkness beyond the town.
"All right, today, I'm feeling generous, so I'm going to give every one of you today three hundred Rowls!"
They all cheered, even though some of them thought that overworking wasn't worth three hundred rowls. Hitch then collapsed into a nearby wooden chair, and then he received his payment. They all picked up their stuff from the locker room on the third floor of the bakery. It was chilly in the locker room, and they all laughed at the joke Marco made about Mrs. Kaloth's nose.
Hitch was the last to leave as they waved to each other goodbye. He then locked the door from behind the building. The night was colder than he had expected (he shivered loudly after everybody was gone), and the scent of everything they had just made vanished as he walked into the street, with the only thing that enlightened his path was the dozens of street lamps. He then looked around and saw three people who had bats in their hands and were smoking in an alleyway. Hitch decided to mind his own business. But then he heard them calling him names.
"Hey, come here, faggot!" Barked Piers.
"Yeah, don't just try to hide from us, fag! Barked Antoin
"What were you doing in that fucked up place anyway? Sucking dicks?!" Barked Marcus.
Hitch sighed heavily and turned his head to see them smirking. He thought that it might have been the lights that distorted his vision, but he had the impression that they looked uglier than the last time they saw them.
They looked incredibly disproportionate. One of them had his left eye twice as big as the other. One of them had lips that weren't even straight. One of them had his left side of his head smaller than the other. One of them had ears like the elephant Dumbo. One of them had a hooked nose, while the other two's faces looked squashed. They all had disproportionate teeth, and they were an ugly shade of yellow. They were all smirking, which added another layer of ugliness to their already ugly face.
"What is it, people?" He asked bravely, even though they were cracking their knuckles and swinging their bats in the air.
"We heard that you are living here. Is it true?" Sneered Piers.
"Yes, indeed, it is," said Hitch coldly. "Is it just the light, or are you guys getting uglier every time I see you?"
"Keep talking like that, and maybe we will give you the beating of your life. But then wouldn't you enjoy it, seeing that we are men?" Leered Marcus.
"Yeah, it's not my fault that you guys were expelled from the school. You guys should never have set that poor kid's hair or clothes on fire."
"Yeah, but if it weren't for you," sneered Antoin. "We wouldn't have been caught! You were the one who called security on us!"
"Yeah, you guys are right, it's always the other's fault and never yours!"
"Yeah, but we never would have thought that a faggot would have got us chucked out of school!" Jeered Marcus.
"Well, what are you guys going to do, have sex with me perhaps?!"
"Hah! I'm going to make you wish that you were never born into this world, filthy faggot!" Barked Piers as he brandished his bat.
"At least I'm srighter than your lips," mumbled Hitch silently. "I don't know," he raised his voice. "I already regret coming into this world, so if someone's going to help me see that I didn't belong in this world, I would gladly accept their aid," said Hitch coldly.
"You shut your big mouth! Maybe you want it to be as big as your asshole!" Sneered Antoin.
"By the way, why are you guys here anyway? I thought you were supposed to be at St. Igor's school for special needs adolescents. It's like forty miles from here!"
"Our father sent us here to help with our grandfather," snapped Piers. "I can't believe that he's making us plant trees and vegetables with him on a hot sunny day. That old dinosaur!"
"Yeah, you can finally open your small ass eyes to the struggle of people here. I highly doubt that the three of you are employed anyway around... especially with a fascinating history that spread like...fire," said Hitch coldly.
"Yeah, guys, let's beat his ass and make him sorry for what he did to us!" Barked Antoin.
They then approached Hitch menacingly with their bats, brandishing them in the cold night air. Hitch's breathing rhythm was getting faster and faster. He had an impression that he was going to be beaten up by incredibly ugly ogres. He wanted to run, but his legs stood frozen as though his shoes were glued to the road. He closed his eyes and feared that the worst was going to happen any second now. Then he heard sprinting from behind him, and heard somebody yell from behind him.
"Hey, leave him alone," the voice was deep but gentle.
Hitch then looked behind him and saw something that he had never laid his eyes upon. The person was wearing only a tank top and a small pair of tight shorts. He had long blond hair that resembled a lion's majestic mane. He had blue eyes that pierced Hitch's soul just at the slightest glance. His body was extremely muscular, and his limbs were indeed huge. His chest was puffed out and perfectly round. Hitch could see his abs underneath the tank top. Hitch couldn't stop himself from admiring the guy. He then realized who he was. It was the guy that Merika had talked to about. He was very tall and extremely muscular, which fit the description that Merika had given him.
"What did you just say?" sneered Antoin.
"I said, leave him alone!" He yelled. He then stepped in front of Hitch, and Hitch felt suddenly small being so close to this guy.
"What are you going to do, defend this faggot?" Leered Marcus.
"Stop using that filthy term, dickheads!" Barked the tall man.
Hitch couldn't stop himself from having the small impression that he had met this person before. He remembered those eyes from somewhere he had seen in school.
Then, Antoin, who was the closest to the tall guy, swung his bat. He aimed for his head but did terribly so because the tall guy just evaded that swing and then uppercutted Antoin. He was sent five feet into the air before he landed hard on his back with a pained groan. Then Marcus ran with an angry yell before he swung at the tall guy. He once again evaded that simple attack. He then avaded several, but seemed to have gotten bored with being the one who was doing something impressive, he then kicked him right in the stomach. Hitch swore that he heard something crack inside the bigot. He flew high into the air before he dropped like a doll onto the hard ground. Then Piers, who was helping Antoin get on his feet, left Antoin and ran to his brother's body and dragged him while Marcus was groaning painfully. They then walked lousily in the other direction and disappeared from view.
Hitch then looked at the tall guy who spun around. He looked worried.
"Are you all right?" He asked warmly.
"Yes," replied Hitch.
"I really hope that they would learn their lesson, Hitch," said the tall man coldly.
"How did you know my name?" Hitch asked anxiously.
"Don't you remember me?" He asked nervously. "We met in school together, and you saved my skin!"
"I don't know, what's your name again?"
"Well, my name is Noah!" He exclaimed excitedly.
"Noah..." whispered Hitch, "that name does ring a bell...."
"You were the one who saved me in school when they set me on fire!"
"Ah! Yes," There was a hint of guilt in Hitch's face when he recalled what had happened. Noah, however, didn't notice it and just smiled happily when his hero recognized him. "But you looked so different when we were at school. Before you were this awkward, small, chubby guy with no friends. And now..."
"Well, I've just spent more time in the gym than usual. I spent at least like eight hours a day in there! Look, now I've got huge, round pecs!"
He then made his round, huge pecs bounce, and Hitch was reminded of those muscular guys who always showed off at school.
"My god, it seemed you have a huge glow up!" said Hitch, sounding impressed.
"Yeah, well, I've saved you! So now we're even!"
"But it's really late, Noah. What are you doing at two o'clock in the morning like this? Before you ask me why I am here, it's because I've got work to do, and we worked overtime because there was a huge order from the bakery."
"Well, I was just wondering at night, gazing at the stars. They're brighter than usual," said Noah honestly.
"Thanks for saving me," said Hitch gratefully.
"No need to! You've saved me, Hitch! I'll never forget that!" He exclaimed gleefully.
Before Hitch could even move a single string of muscle in his body, Noah approached with such speed that Hitch swore that the guy literally teleported to be just a few inches from him. Noah then wrapped his huge, muscular arms around Hitch and lifted him off the ground. Hitch yelped softly when his feet departed the ground. His head was now resting on Noah's left round pec, and he could feel the guy's heartbeat traveling from his heart to Hitch's heart. He felt a warmth that travelled down his spine, and it gave him goosebumps. Noah's arms were still wrapped tightly around Hitch's slim body.
"Oh, I've always wanted to talk to you, but I wasn't able to muster the courage to talk to you!" Noah cried happily.
"Okay, Noah, but can you let me go? It's getting harder to breathe!" Hitch murmured.
"Okay," said Noah. He then put Hitch on the ground.
"So that's why you always came to the bakery! Jeez, Noah! We thought that you were trafficking drugs here in the bakery!"
"Well, I just wanted to talk to you and how much I was grateful that you saved my ass back at school. It's just that after the day you've saved me, I was still hospitalized, and then I realized something: that you can't wait for someone to be your knight. After I got out of the hospital, I decided to always go to the gym and work out every day and every time I got the chance to! I stopped myself from eating junk food and then started on protein shakes! You've changed me, Hitch! And I've wanted to thank you for that," he exclaimed happily.
"Yeah, you looked as if you drank tons of protein shake every day to get that kind of muscle," said Hitch jokingly.
"Well, it's kind of true, because I drank about two gallons every week!"
"Why are you here in this small town, Noah?" Hitch asked curiously.
"Well, I'm not supposed to tell you, but there's a tournament coming in here!" He said excitedly. "I've signed up to be one of the ones who're going to stay on the longest possible!"
"What kind of tournament is it?"
"Well, it's about a week. The town's going to organize a huge tournament to determine who can stay the longest on a raging, bulging bull. The reward's one hundred thousand Rowls!"
"Jeez, that's a lot of money!"
"Yeah, and I wanna win this money to help with my grandmother, who lives just in the next town!"
"Have you graduated?" Hitch asked seriously.
"Well, yes, but I'm just being a sports coach from town to town, and I'm really underpaid because I'm still eighteen even though you're officially an adult at sixteen. I hope that the money I'm going to win from that tournament will help me with my grandmother because she paid for everything: my healthcare, my education, my rent, and other things. I hope that I could return the favor to her!"
"Where are your parents?" Hitch asked curiously.
"Well, they lived in a white marble castle, and they're quite at peace! But I didn't talk to them for a long time. I don't know whether they had decided to cut me off. But I know at least they didn't need to worry about their son because my gran is taking care of me!"
"Well, Noah, it's getting late and I've gotta returned home," said Hitch imperiously.
"Yeah, I gotta go home too because I've gotta go the the gym and teach some people the proper way to exercise! I'll see you at the bakery on Monday!"
"Yeah, see you," said Hitch, waving goodbye before Noah jogged and got out of sight.
Hitch then arrived at the front door of his home. He took out the key from his pocket and slid it into the keyhole before he opened the door. He then walked passed the threshold and got inside the house. It was slightly warmer inside, but still chilly nevertheless. He then pocketed the key. He then climbed the stairs without any difficulty. He then arrived in his bedroom. He undressed himself and dressed himself in his colorful pajamas. He then landed softly on the bed and let its softness engulf his body. He then thought of when Noah hugged him. They barely knew each other, yet he felt a warmth of closeness and love that Hitch hadn't felt for anybody in his life. He then clutched his heart and winced at the pain he kept inside of him.