A/N: As usual, I would recommend putting the video on loop.

Almost. They were so close. Both of them had been friends since high school, clicking during their first class together: physical education. Neither of them were either the type to exercise beyond the point of simple stretches and maybe the occasional short jog around the neighborhood. By occasional, it meant maybe, possibly less, once a week. So when they tired out easily during class and were part of the group that sat out early, they began to talk and hit it off.

In general, their aspirations for life were quite different; however, they realized that they could combine them into something that they both loved: cafes. While Anita loved to cook and bake, (f/n) enjoyed managing, organizing and finance. During their various classes, which during their first year they shared practically all of them and during the following years tried to share as many as they could while meeting their own interests, they often would be seen helping each other. Anita excelled in arts, chemistry and English while (f/n) was better in math, economics and physics. As for their other classes, they weren't terrible at them, but they weren't the best either even when they worked together on assignments and studying.

Once they graduated high school, which was half a semester early, Anita entered a four-year culinary program, and (f/n) pursued a bachelor's in business management. At the end of their higher education, both intended to start a café together. It was a long process, but, finally, they were seeing the fruits of their labor.

Deciding upon a location to open their café wasn't easy in the slightest, but they both ended up choosing a location a little ways away from the city they both grew up in. The town, Duskriver, wasn't large, and it wasn't known for its food either. Anita saw that as a perfect opportunity to start a café and help to build up the town's reputation for food. She wanted their café to be the reason people came to the town. From a business standpoint, (f/n) saw that as a good angle, but they certainly would have to market online to draw in people from outside the town and market locally to draw in the residents.

Another perk of the location was Anita and she had found a spot that had housed a restaurant in the past, so the appliances already would be in the building, and wasn't expensive to purchase. Not to mention that a large enough kitchen would be there too. After their business brought in some money, they could invest in better equipment since it hadn't been changed for quite awhile. Part of the reason they could afford the property was because it had been on the market for about fifteen years.

Of course, that meant that they needed to do some serious cleaning and invest in new equipment as soon as possible. The other perk of the property, however, was that there was a living space above the restaurant area, so they wouldn't need to purchase separate housing. Both of them had borrowed from their parents and had student loans still hanging over their heads, so they didn't want to take out too much more money. Thankfully, their parents were supportive and receiving a few scholarships over their higher education careers certainly helped reduce the amount of loans they owed.

Was opening a business right out of college and with loans risky? Yes, it was incredibly so, but they both were determined to succeed, and they'd combine their skills, like they had over the past years, to make it work. It did take about two months to clean up the property and move in fully before they were ready to open. During that time, Anita also had been developing a menu that would appeal to local tastes as well as including a few unique items to draw in others, and (f/n) had been building their restaurant online as well as locally. By the end of the months, most of the town knew that they'd be opening their business soon, and they already had received a small following online.

So with hope, they should receive a large group of people on grand opening day. That day was tomorrow, and it already was six in the evening. Given the late January weather, it was dark outside already, and the heater was on within the establishment. The place, though, was all ready to go. Small white metal round tables were spaced out around the two dining rooms while a few larger tables were present for bigger parties. Light pink and green curtains were drawn closed for the night, and light from the black and white chandeliers reflected off of the polished black and white checkered tiles. On each of the tables, clear vases held flowers from the local florist. Roses, pink and white, and baby's breath were in each one.

Thankfully, they didn't have to purchase all of the furniture and decorations. Some of it, like the tables, chandeliers and vases, were already in the building. They just needed some cleaning up. The tiling came with the place too. Outside, though, they did have a custom wooden sign made with the name of the café: Café Rose Tea.

Very happy with the result, both friends relaxed at one of the tables for two. Anita was resting her chin on the palm of her left hand. A grin was on her lips, and a glass of whiskey, no rocks, was in front of her. "It's finally ready, (f/n)." Only the three chandeliers in the room they were in were on. She took a sip of the drink, used to the burn it brought her throat. "We can open tomorrow." There was excitement very evident in her voice, but the tiredness present kept her from shouting her excitement. Instead, her voice came out in its usual smoothness that (f/n) would describe as soft as a flower petal.

Anita pushed back a couple strands of jaw-length, wavy and black hair. Light brown eyes met her friend's (e/c) ones happily before she took another sip of her drink. Her chef's attire was still on her since she had been working in the kitchen earlier, making sure that everything was ready for tomorrow. Realization hit her, though, and she snapped her right middle finger and thumb. "Right!" The tiredness left her for a moment as her eyes widened. "I forgot to bring up the coffee for tomorrow's breakfast."

Laughing lightly, (f/n) quirked a brow. "You know that you can bring it up in the morning. It won't take that long." She leaned back against her chair, a glass of white wine off to her right. It was about halfway full. (F/n) smiled. "You should just relax. We've had a long month."

"I know, but what if I forget again. Plus ..." Anita trailed off, her eyes averting to the nearby curtains and a pout forming on her full lips.

"You don't like the storage space." She looked back to her friend and nodded. (F/n) sighed and smiled. "Fine. I'll go get it." Anita smiled instantly and held up her glass. Rolling her eyes, (f/n) clinked their glasses together, and she took a sip of her wine before she headed down to the storage area.

Admittedly, it was creepy, but the building was old. It had been around since the fifties, but its upper floors had been renovated before it went vacant fifteen years ago. As for the storage area, it hadn't. Not to mention that it was a very odd space. In all honesty, it looked like someone had built a stone hallway and just decided to stop there. The area was essentially one long rectangle, with enough room for several boxes against the back wall of the space. There was single light fixture, but it certainly didn't make the area feel less unsettling.

Despite this, (f/n) just told herself that it was an old building, and it would have its peculiarities about it. Besides, Anita was more freaked out by the hallway than her, especially since she wasn't a fan of smaller spaces. Walking down the stone steps, (f/n) flicked on the light switch, and the hallway below became illuminated. It didn't take long to reach the boxes at the back of the hallway. She found the coffee soon after and picked up a several bags. They probably wouldn't need that much, but it meant that they wouldn't have to come back down for coffee.

They always could store the coffee in the kitchen, if there were room, and there only were their two bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs. Neither of them wanted to have boxes of various food and drink items in their rooms, though. In the end, they had to pay the price of using the creepy storage room, which meant that more than likely she would have to come down into the room more often than Anita.

Sighing, (f/n) thought that as long they kept the light working and the door opened at the top of the steps it'd be fine. Even if the door was closed and the light decided to blow out, it'd be fine. There was nothing wrong about the building, and she wouldn't let ghost stories she heard over the years get to her.

With the coffee in hand, she walked back up the steps. The light turned off, and the door closed soon after as she made her way back into the one dining room. Anita smiled up at her and raised her glass in thanks. (F/n) shook her head in amusement before she placed the coffee bags in the kitchen. She returned to the table shortly after and continued to relax and talk with her best friend.

While they conversed about tomorrow and what could come of it, neither of them noticed the other sound in the establishment. Neither of them knew either that the storage area never had been used by the prior owner since he had gotten a horrid feeling from the space also. Of course, that wasn't put into the property information.

Regardless of that, the sound was quiet. Well, more that it was muffled. Within the darkness of the storage space, hands retracted from stone, and limbs creaked a little from lack of use. It had been so long since he had seen anyone. This past month was the most he had seen anyone in years. At first, it had been both women. Nowadays, though, it mainly was the one called (f/n). Not that he minded. She still was someone, and that was better than no one.

Then again, he could be exaggerating. He wasn't exactly sure how much time had passed, but both women certainly were wearing different clothing than he was used to seeing on women. Whatever the case, it meant that he might be able to get out. And if he managed to trick her, or them, into letting him out, he could return to his old ways. In fact, he'd be even better.