The Dark Witch: The Nox Haven Series

Chapter 1: Breaking Point

Caddie's POV:

Lust.

It was a four letter word that meant a strong sexual desire, for me it was the reason I wanted to puke in the wastebasket.

The atmosphere stirred with multiple emotions stabbing at me for attention. There were the most simple of emotions like happiness, I thought as I stared at Sarah. She was the new employee who wore flowers in her hair and put 'special' mushrooms on her sandwiches. Then there were the harder emotions, like anger. My eyes shifted to Zach, he was seventeen and going through his 'I hate the world phase'. He took a knife out and started chopping at a ripe tomato aggressively. Seconds later pain erupted through my body. Glancing back at the kitchen, I saw that Zach had cut himself in the middle of his fight with the tomato.

Shaking off the pain I turned my thoughts back to lust. In front of me stood a six foot man who smelled like rotten cheese and had a pillow stuffed stomach. He stared at me as if I were the last cheeseburger at barbecue. I quickly jotted down his order and scampered away.

"Is Lonnie scaring you again kiddo?" Marcy asked across the counter. Her eyes darted behind me as she shot the lecherous customer a scathing glare.

I smiled kindly at her before reaching for the coffee pot in her hand. Marcy was a strong, independent woman with a sweet southern accent. Her long brown hair was swept into a messy bun, strands of loose hair framed her doe-like eyes. She had a round face with a button nose and thin lips, and carried a bit of extra weight on her hips. However, that was to be expected since she had just returned from having a baby.

"She's fine Marcy. Crazy scares the customers away, not the other way around." Bertha hollered from the kitchen and let out a loud cackle at the sour expression on my face.

Bertha stomped towards me and crushed me in a big bear hug. I immediately flinch away from the close contact, but that didn't stop her from squeezing the living daylights out of me. I despised the nickname she had given me even though I knew she was only joking. Bertha was a robust woman who loved to taste every meal she cooked. She used to say that a good cook always tastes the meal before the customer, to determine whether it was good or not. She hardly needed any reassurance though, everyone in town loves her food as much as they love her. She was a beautiful woman with skin as dark as the coffee in the pot I held in my hand.

Releasing me, she flashed her usual bright smile. I wonder how she's able to do it. Most people only pretend to be happy when in reality they feel sadness, anger and hurt, but not Bertha. It's always like a sunny day when I'm with her; everything feels happy.

"Her name is not Crazy. It's Caddie. Stop acting like she's crazy!" Marcy snapped and nudged the older woman's hip. She gave her a meaningful glare before leaving the confinements of the counter to take care of new customers who just walked in.

"Oh you know I'm jus' jokin," Bertha drawled before she stumbled back into the kitchen.

I sighed and walked begrudgingly back to the dining room. The problem is that I am looney, as Bertha so kindly put it. When I was only five years old, I was diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder or RAD for short. Contrary to it's cool acronym, it was most certainly not rad at all. It meant my behavior and mood was deemed unstable to society. I won't dispute the fact that I act weird, but it's hard not to when I can feel the emotions of others. Ever since I was a young child I was sensitive to other people's emotions. My father already had a hard enough job trying to raise his daughter alone, it didn't help that I cried every time he hurt himself.