Eldritch Guidance

Side Story 1 - The Baker Next Door

Content warning - Domestic Abuse

-Twenty years ago. A few weeks after John came to this world.-

Lindsey was going about her day of preparing dough. It's what she did every day for the last eight years. It was not something she really wanted to do, but she needed to make a living.

Over the years she had converted the ground floor of her home into a bakery. Old bookshelves had been converted into makeshift displays for the bread. She had refurbished an old cash register she had found in the garbage, and moved the oven out of the kitchen to the front to watch customers while bread was baking. Everything was old and grimy and mostly second hand, but it was the best she could do to run a legitimate business.

The establishment itself would not offer the impression of a well to do business, quite the opposite. It was, however, not struggling due to Lindsey's efforts, but her husband. Her husband Dave was a drunk, spending a lot of the money she managed to make on booze or gambling.

It was frustrating for Lindsey. They lived on the east end of the city, which meant her customer base were people that were bordering on poverty, and people who were outright impoverished. This meant her margin for profit was incredibly narrow, and then she has a husband that would spend that money on drinks rather than help run the business.

Thinking about such things made her so angry. She would then take that energy and beat the dough a little harder.

Tim: "Mom, is everything OK?"

Lindsey: "Oh Tim. Your home. When did you get back from school?"

Tim: "I've been home for a while mom. I called out to you earlier, but you were too busy with bread making to hear me."

Lindsey: "Oh. Sorry about that. Is there something moma can do for you?"

Tim: "Can I help?"

Lindsey: "What?"

Tim: "Well you look tired and i thought i could help you around the store."

Lindsey: "No no no. Don't worry about that. You just focus on your studies, or go play with your friends if you have your homework done."

It looked like Tim was about to say something else, but stop.

Tim: "Ok... "He said with a sad look in his eyes.

Tim went upstairs to his bedroom. As soon as he was out of sight, Lindsey went back to kneading dough. Getting lost in her work again.

Lindsey knew she wasn't fooling anybody, even her eight year old son could see she was tired. She didn't want to worry her son, but was failing at that.

The truth of the situation was that Dave was getting more rowdy lately and has been hitting her more often.

Dave found a new bar selling cheap booze and has been going to it. The problem was that when Dave got drunk, he could get violent, and cheap booze meant it was more likely to happen. In the past, she knew how to defuse him when he was in a drunken state, but now that he was coming home every other day drunk. It was too much for her.

Ding.

She just wanted to leave this place and never return, but she couldn't. She couldn't leave her son here. Lindsey herself was prepared to live on the streets to get away from that man, but that was something she would never put Tim through. So, in secret she was hiding money in preparation to run away with her son, but was still far off from having enough to do so.