Coffee

From Create Your Own Story

The War is finally over. Life is finally back to normal.

At least that's what they tell you. Life for you will never be the same again.

Your name is Joasia Kava and you're now a single mother of three young children since your husband died in the War just a few months ago. They're still very young, Lucja being 14, Roza being 8 and Cyryl being only 2. You had suppressed all grief you had for the loss of your husband to be there and comfort your children. Now that you've lost the love of your life, they are all you had left.

The War was brought to an end by your country, Svalkia, surrendered after a catastrophic bombing of it's capital city, Kjetpol. It was in this bombing that your home had been completely destroyed, not a brick left standing. The nations of the world have allied together and are putting in place a democratic system, something your nation has never yet seen. Most people were feeling optimistic about this, about having more rights, but after the devastation of your entire life, you couldn't care less about being able to take part in an election. You and your children are living out in the countryside with your mother in the village you were born and grew up in, Takczin. You've been here since the war broke out for it's so much safer for the children. There is a good school for them and a few small shops. There's very little in the shops due to rationing, but your mother taught you how to make things go far and not to waste. You managed to survive, but the café your mother owns, which takes up the entire first floor of the already small house, had to close during the War. She simply could not get any supplies of coffee beans. You all had to survive for years on your mother's savings because there was no other work.

Now that the War is over, you can see a lot more life. People seem happier, the shops seem fuller, and coffee bean supplies had finally become available again. But your mother has become unfit to work, she fell one night and now needs a hip replacement, something you cannot afford at all. Her savings have run dry and you spent the last of it on a bag of coffee beans to get the café running again in the hopes that you can get your family's life back on track. Mother is in bed, Lucja and Roza are at school, and you have to tend to the café by yourself while you look after Cyryl.

You flip over the sign in the window from CLOSED to OPEN. It's the first day. You stand behind your counter, Cyryl in a crib by your side. The first customer comes in, a shady looking man who makes you instinctively want to throw him out immediately. He smiles at you, it's a wide toothy grin that terrifies you even more.

Do you:

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