It was a fresh and tepid summer morning; nothing short of bliss. Wind rushed through Celeste’s elegant hair as she strutted the court toward her favorite coffee shop.

Celeste had a sort of buoyant personality, easily accustoming to any venue she entered. She was dressed comfortably, her black stockings resting snugly beneath her combative green turtleneck.

Celeste boldly sashayed her way into the café to purchase her sunup beverage, when she immediately observed the high saturation of the bistro’s customers. She started down the long passageway, glaring at the multitude of patrons that stood in her path. As she approached the barista behind the counter at the end of the corridor, she promptly read his name-tag, which displayed an eerily familiar name.

“Good morning, my name is Ted. How can I help you today?” The barista uttered.

Celeste decided to carry on with her order and shook off the thoughts she suppressed from noticing the name-tag. As she snapped open her mossy green clutch to locate her debit card, the barista gawked at the thick bundle of twenty dollar bills that sat inside. Celeste noticed the barista’s peeping and tossed a crisp $20 bill onto the countertop.

“I’d like a tall, half-caff, soy latte at 120 degrees please.”

The barista coyly nodded his head and grinned as he wrote down her laborious order.

“I couldn’t help but notice you have a bleach stain on your right shoulder.” He mentioned.

“I’m in a bit of a rush this morning, I don’t really have time for chit-chat.”

“My apologies, ma’am. Just the coffee will be $5.79, will there be anything else for you today?”

“No, thank you. Keep the change.” She hawkishly mentioned as she snapped her clutch shut. She proceeded to the line of customers waiting for their orders when she remembered the name of the barista.

“Ted.” She whispered under her breath.

Celeste peculiarly peeked back at the barista once again, and noticed he had already vanished from behind the counter, leaving the long line of customers waiting. Curiously, she darted her eyes around the coffee shop looking for him.

Eventually, Celeste spotted him towards the front of the line of customers. She noticed he was adding an unusual fixing to someone’s drink, something that resembled black tar. Before she could decipher what the additive was, the barista threw the lid on and ran back to the front counter, where the line of waiting customers still stood.

“Tall, half-caff, soy latte at 120 degrees!”

Celeste was skeptical of how fast the employee made her drink, but felt a sort of comfort in her heart when she read his name-tag. She stared at his name-tag, reading the name it displayed dozens of times in a row.

“Thank you.” Celeste remarked.

She grabbed the coffee from the man’s hand, reading his name-tag one last time.

“Why’s there a bandage on your arm?” He boldly asked her.

Celeste glanced down at her lower left wrist, noticing the bandage that protected her wound.

“My boyfriend and I got in a fight.”

“Ted would never hurt you.” The barista creepily uttered.

Celeste’s heart immediately dropped as memories of her dead boyfriend flooded in.

“How do you-“

“Next, please!” The barista shouted.

She swiftly exited the establishment, still anxious about the sketchy barista. But, as she walked down the court toward her car, she started to feel like her confident self again. She took a large swig of her coffee, excited to feel the caffeine run through her body. As she felt the energy rush in, she noticed a missing person poster on the wall outside of the coffee shop. She nervously read it.

“MISSING- THEODORE BERGMAN- APPROXIMATELY 5’ 11”, RED/ORANGE HAIR, LAST SEEN WEARING A-“ She stopped reading when she noticed what he was wearing in the picture. A green turtleneck, with a bleach stain on the right shoulder. She smiled, and continued walking to her car, when she felt a sudden dizziness in her brain. She started stumbling, and tripping over her own two feet. She dropped her coffee on the ground and tried to run into a big field of grass behind the line of buildings on the court. She ran as much as she could, until she hit a point where she couldn’t anymore. She collapsed into the wet and muddy field, and died on the spot.