Chapter 1

The wind blew making leaves dance. It was a cold autumn evening, so she wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck. Short hair didn’t help much either. But at least they didn’t bother her as much. It was foggy and hard to see much farther away. But Emma knew the town; she grew up here after all.

Despite the late hour there were quite a lot of people on the street. She wondered why. Maybe, some are heading home like her. Maybe some are meeting people they care about. Maybe, some simply don’t have anywhere else to go.

She liked watching people, wondering who they were. It was a part of her job after all. To be an artist – to observe.

Her mum was probably worried right about now, seeing as her phone had been broken this morning. Amber did her best to make sure of that. Was she mad at her little sister? No. She could never stay mad at her for a long time. And as a matter of fact she wasn’t in a hurry to get home at all. In fact, she deliberately crossed the bridge, which led in the opposite direction, after getting off the bus to make her trip last a little longer. She’ll tell her mum the bus was late or something.

Emma started shivering because it was cold, even the coat and the gloves do not help in such a weather. Damn Starbucks was closed, but no matter. The café she was nearing had a sign “Rosso”. Emma entered to have some hot chocolate and warm up. As she came in, a small chime rang lightly. A few people looked up expectantly. But they immediately lowered their heads as it wasn’t who they were expecting.

Emma went straight to the counter, where a young girl not older then her was serving coffee. She bought a cup of hot chocolate and sat by the window. Her favourite place in any café.

This particular café was pretty nice. Quite music, lights not too bright, so that the shadows were lurking all around. But not the scary kind of shadows. They were cozy shadows that make you sleepy and warm and maybe a little bit dreamy.

Emma sat there for a time drinking her hot chocolate and thinking. It felt safe. She didn’t know how much time had passed. When she was done with her hot chocolate, she went outside and was on her way again. Because that’s what we do, right? Just keep moving, wherever we are going, stopping only for a while to drink a cup of hot chocolate and maybe look around.