It was a cold Sunday afternoon, as Mira was reading her book in her makeshift tent at home for a comfortable reading, she was slowly falling asleep. It had been raining so, the weather was gloomy and she was feeling sleepy for a while.
Light rumbling sounds of thunder woke her up, she stretched and got up with a sore neck and suddenly she realized her surroundings were not familiar anymore. But still it had a somewhat resemblance from what she read from the book as Gwen's room and Gwen was the main character's best friend. She was terrified, she tried to go back to sleep but every time she woke up in the same place.
"This has to be a dream!" She exclaimed.
"How do I get out if it's not one?" She thought to herself.
But the idea of a dream soon vanished when there was a knock at the door.
Mira's adrenaline was rushing and she didn't know what to do but she finally with her hands shaking, opened the door.
"Gwen, I can't explain what I've been through the last couple of days." Dahlia, the main character from the novel said with a sigh.
Mira thought she must be dreaming, the character in front of her cannot be real and how can she be Gwen, she tried to pinch herself out of the dream.
"Ouch" She winched in pain.
"This is not a dream" She muttered.
"What are you saying?" Dahlia asked.
"Nothing, you were saying?"
"So, I found out Charles is not my real father" Dahlia said.
She went on a trip with her parents as Mira had previously read in the book.
"What, how can that be?" Mira asked curiously.
Dahlia started explaining everything, how Charles adopted her when her mother and he got married when Dahlia was only two years old. Her mother did add that her biological father is not a bad man and she should not think of him as one, he just had different dreams to pursue and hence, she let him go.
"He lives in London and I want to go, Gwen." Dahlia said.
"I want to know why he left me and I am sad, will you come with me?" She asked.
Mira thought to herself that maybe reuniting Dahlia with her father may transfer her to the actual world and that is why she agreed to go on this journey. She was being a bit selfish but somewhere deep inside her heart, she wanted to help her too.
They were standing in front of the address Dahlia's mother gave her and it was a bakery.
"John's Fresh Bakes." It read.
At the sight of this bakery something in Mira jolted, her long buried feelings for baking. She used to love baking when her brother used to be around but now, she doesn't even have baked goods.
"Let's go in" Dahlia said.
"I'll stay here, you go in." Mira said.
"I know it is hard for you to go in but please" Dahlia pleaded.
Mira thought how did she know about her disliking towards baking. Gwen didn't hate baking, she did. It was rather strange but she couldn't just say no to her. So, they walked in.
"How may I help you?" The person behind the counter asked politely.
It was a cozy looking place, with artistic paintings and teal green chairs for seating, the tables were of cream color and had a golden border around them. There were books at the other wall and soft music was playing.
"I am looking for John Atkins" Dahlia said.
"Let me get him, please wait." The person said.
Mira noticed her nametag and it read "Felia".
"Sure." They said.
"Those are my paintings." Dahlia whispered to Mira.
"Seriously?" Mira asked in confusion.
"Yes, I will obviously recognize my artwork."
"So, maybe he is not as bad as you think."
"We'll see that" Dahlia sighed.
The man finally arrived and instantly his eyes lit up, Mira smiled a bit. The man was clearly joyous to see his daughter, Mira thought.
"Dahlia" He said, his voice was heavy and his eyes were glistening.
At this time, Mira thought now she'd travel back to her actual world but she didn't, what can be the reason, why can't she still travel back, she thought. She wants to go back to her real world, in the comfort of her home but nothing that sort happened. Rather, Dahlia's father continued.
"Let's sit, shall we?" John said.
They all started talking and lost the track of time. Her dad was a humble man but he had to leave as her mother and him used to get into fights, at times when her father got frustrated. He wanted to achieve his dreams and study baking and open his own bakery but he couldn't do that there and hence, one day her mother and him, they decided to go pursue their own dreams and hence, he came here.
It was a long talk of how he couldn't visit her often as he was studying and everything and finally, he stopped visiting altogether.
He did keep taking information from her mother of how she was and her wellbeing but he didn't want to visit again and intrude a family who were already happy.
"So, you buy my paintings, I see" Dahlia said after digesting everything.
"Yes, they are amazing and they perfectly match my ambiance." He said with a smile.
"I have an idea, if you girls don't mind." He said.
"Please go ahead." Mira said and Dahlia nodded.
"Why don't you two stay here for some weeks and help me bake, then we can all bond together and have some fun by going out in the evenings too?" He asked.
That feeling was back again inside Mira, the weird feeling in her chest.
"But..." Dahlia said and looked at Mira.
Mira was in her kitchen baking when she got a call from her brother's friend. He was at the hospital.
He got into an accident while he was rescuing someone from a building, Jake was a firefighter and Mira knew it was a worrisome job but she never thought that she'd have to let go of her brother that soon. She just turned eighteen and couple of weeks back and they celebrated massively. She just couldn't believe what happened and since then her entire life changed, she had to work and study both to get going and she slowly and completely forgot about baking. Later, whenever someone asked her to bake or even have baked goods, she refused. She couldn't bear the idea of her baking anymore.
The silence fell over as Mira was lost in her own thoughts.
"Okay, I won't pressurize you girls, check the city out and then you can decide if you want to stay or not, maybe?" He said.
John had a faith in his voice that Mira observed and she didn't want to ruin the only chance of Dahlia bonding with her father.
So, when they both came back from their little tour of the city to the bakery, Mira was ready with an answer.
"I think we'd love to stay and help you out." She said smiling, although her heart was paining.
"Are you sure?" Dahlia whispered to her.
Mira nodded.
Every day, they used to bake things in the morning and then start selling them. By the evening, everything used to vanish from the shelves. At first, Mira was terrified at the sight of the oven and everything related to baking but after some days she finally started feeling what she felt when she was younger. Her long-lost passion was back and then she started inventing new things.
Dahlia's father was so impressed with her work that he wanted her to stay there and bake with him.
After they'd finish their work Dahlia and Mira would go out every evening for sightseeing. The city was absolutely beautiful and filled with amazing stores and bakeries. Mira's mind suddenly got a weird idea but she didn't share that with Dahlia. It was to open her own bakery but she shrugged those thoughts off.
One day, Dahlia screamed, "Tom Holland is in the city, we've got to go!"
"It is going to be crowded, no" Mira said.
"Please come on, you know he is my favorite." She argued.
"Alright, alright" Mira nodded.
"Papa can we go?" Dahlia asked her father. She started calling him papa after a week of bonding and that filled Mira's heart with joy, she even shed a tear.
"Of course, you can go but be back soon and be safe." He said with a smile.
Dahlia was dressing up like it was a date she couldn't choose which dress to wear and kept complaining that she should've brought more clothes with her. Mira just chuckled.
"Come on now, Dahlia, just wear that floral dress, it is not a date, he wouldn't probably see you."
"Stop kicking my hopes down, girl" Dahlia said.
"Alright, I'm going to change too then."
"There he is, there he is!" Dahlia screamed with hundred others. Tom was coming out of this coffee shop and there were almost hundred people waiting to get a glimpse of him. Mira was already annoyed as it was drizzling and her hair was getting wet and she hated when her hair got wet. Just then Mira got face to face with her brother's best friend, Terry. He was right behind her and they both recognized each other in a glance. He motioned her to get to the side, so, they could talk.
"How have you been?" He asked. Terry left town right after he helped Mira get into college and everything. He said he needed to get out. Him and her brother use to work together as firefighters but that awful day, he didn't go to his job as his mother was not well.
How can he be here in this dream/fantasy or whatever this is, Mira thought.
"What are you doing here?" Mira asked him.
"I am on my book tour." He said. Yeah, he is a famous writer now, and Mira reads all of his books.
"And you?"
"Just visiting." She said.
"Well, I was thinking of going back to town and settle there, I have been out of there for a long time and I miss everyone." He said.
"Sure, I'll see you around." And she left.
"Who was that?" Dahlia asked as soon as she met her, all chirpy.
"My brother's best friend" She said calmly, she doesn't need to tell her what she felt for that guy, the liking seemed to come back again now that he said he is coming back.
"You like him, don't you?"
"No." Mira denied.
"Your voice was too calm." Dahlia said.
It was almost at the end of two weeks; they had already packed everything.
"These weeks have been amazing papa." Dahlia said to her father.
"Yes, thank you for having us sir." Mira thanked him.
"It was my honor; hope I see you guys here soon." He said smiling.
The day of their departure arrived rather quickly and all of them were a sad.
"Here, I got these bracelets for both of you girls." John handed them two bracelets.
"These are wonderful, papa." Dahlia said.
The bracelets were silver in color and had charms dangling and the charms were all baked goods.
"I want you both to remember me with something." He said teary eyed.
"We'll come back soon, papa." Dahlia said.
In the plane ride back home, Mira played with her bracelet, they talked their entire way back and didn't get any sleep.
When Mira finally reached Gwen's house, she was exhausted and right after taking a warm shower she fell asleep.
The sound of the birds chirping woke Mira up and she sighed a sigh of relief when she saw her surroundings. She was back in her tent and she believed it was all a dream. She rubbed her eyes with her hand and then she saw the bracelet.
She jolted up and finally registered that everything happened for real and it was not a dream.
She found her novel lying out there with its last page opened, and Mira's face had a soft smile. She realized it was not a dream, after all.
Now, twenty years later, sitting at her own bakery and writing everything in the book she was going to publish with her husband she revived all of these memories. Her husband on the other hand, had no clue that all these things were true, but he could definitely recall their meeting.
Whenever he asked about this, Mira replied, "A story for another time." And smiled.
Her bakery was a small cozy one and it is almost like John's.
She named it "Mira's World of Baked Goods."
She was almost finished when her husband called from inside the house and Sheila came barking with him.
"Mira, dinner's ready come on." Terry called.
Yes, she married him when one day, Terry very politely asked her to marry him when they were sitting in the park, a month after he came back home.
Mira smiled and gave a kiss on his forehead and Sheila her belly rubs.
Mira closed the notebook and looked at her bracelet. She still had it as it is something precious and unreal to her, a lifechanging souvenir.