The walls were white. The floor, the ceiling, everything was painfully pale, light bouncing off every surface. Where was the light even coming from? Ellie sat up and put her hands over her eyes but that didn't stop the uncontrollable force that the light had; it was in every nook and cranny, seeping its way through her fingers and blinding her brain itself.
"Robin?"
She stood up and tried to open one of her eyes, immediately closing it again. Her hands outstretched, she took a cautious step forward. She didn't know where she could be going but Robin had to be somewhere.
Ellie took another step and suddenly she was falling. Never stopping, only falling. There was no wind on her face or sound in her ears but she knew there was nothing beneath her. In a panic, she opened her eyes -
"Mark?"
"Welcome back to the land of the living!"
"Wait, what?"
"You fell asleep and now you're awake again? It was meant to be funny."
Ellie rubbed her eyes and yawned. "What time is it?"
Mark looked at his watch, "It's quarter past eleven so there's still a little while until the shop opens, don't worry. Besides, I would have woken you up if you were still snoring by then." He laughed and the brunette punched his arm.
"Sorry, I totally forgot what we were talking about. Was it something about my Dad?"
"It doesn't matter, it was just small talk really. I guess you stayed up late to be so tired today then?" A smirk grew on Mark's face.
"I did, but not for the reason you're thinking of so you can stop those thoughts right now," Ellie said, holding up a finger, the way she would tell Bailey off.
Mark laughed a little and tightened the grip on his coffee. "So what kept you up? Anything I can help with?"
"No it's ok; I just had a few things going through my head so I couldn't get to sleep. Bailey is coming down with a cold as well so he was crying most of the night; Robin did her best to keep him quiet for me so I've left her to sleep for now."
"I can give you a hand at the till of you need to sleep for a bit?"
Ellie shook her head and shuffled in her seat. "I couldn't ask that of you and besides, you don't know coffee like we do. No offence."
"I get what you mean. Well how about this then," his eyebrows were raised, a cheeky glint in his eye. "I'll help you by using the till and basically cover Robin's job and when she inevitably wakes up and insists you go and sleep, I'll help her. How does that sound?"
Ellie glanced out of the window and saw the crowds of regulars heading towards the shop from the high street. "Ok then; I'm going to need help of some sort. Don't you have work today?"
"It's a Sunday; I think you're the only shop in the area to open every day of the week. The rest of us have a day to rest."
"It's not work if you enjoy it," Ellie said, pointing to one of the blackboards behind her. At the top of the list of 'specialist' coffees were the words she had just spoken, little hearts and stars surrounding it.
"Fair enough," Mark said, downing the rest of his coffee. "But we'd best get ready for the heard of customers I can see heading towards us."
Ellie looked over her shoulder and gasped; sure enough, a large trail of people was heading straight for the coffee shop, just as the people on the other end of the street were. It was going to be a very busy day.
A/N: Bet you thought I'd forgotten! But no! I hadn't! Anyways, hope you like this chapter and let me know in the comments if you'd like to see anything happen in particular or fandom references etc. I'm open to suggestions :) Enjoy folks!