moonlight shadows ☆ stray kids

☆ prologue ☆

"Oh, wow!"
Soyoung walked reverently into what would soon be her own little café.
She had already seen the premises online, but now that she was actually standing here, she realised for the first time that she was about to fulfil her lifelong dream.
"It's perfect! This is exactly how I've always imagined it." Full of admiration, she turned round once herself.

"There will be a cosy little seating area at the back..." with a sweeping gesture, she pointed to the corner on her right. "And that's where the bar will go, just big enough to be flush with the door to the kitchen. Oh, and the window front will be fitted with upholstered benches, which will of course also be equipped with super-soft cushions and blankets. And of course, the most important thing is not to be missed..." The 24-year-old turned to the door with a smile; "A little bell needs to be fitted above the door."
In her head, she was already selling little tarts, cakes and all kinds of other treats to her future customers, so vividly could she imagine what her café would look like in the future.

Slowly returning to reality, Soyoung turned around and looked apologetically at her companion. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to seem crazy or anything, it's just... I've wanted to open my own café one day since I was a little kid, and now that it's within reach..."
"Oh, don't worry. I understand; I've helped out in the café since I was little and always dreamed of taking it over one day."
A melancholy smile came to the older lady's lips as she thought of her happy childhood in the small family business.

Back in the present, the still-owner of the shop looked at Soyoung and held out her hands to the young woman with a smile. She accepted the invitation and placed her own hands in them. "I'm delighted that another café is opening here, and by such a dedicated young woman." The kind words also brought a smile to the younger woman's face.
The two women seemed to understand each other without words and looked around the room silently, one of them visualising what it looked like two months ago, the other what it might look like in two months' time.

Finally, the older of the two pulled herself together with a sigh and turned back to her successor. "How about I show you round the kitchen? Fortunately, we were able to preserve parts of it, even if I'm afraid it won't make much of a difference."
Soyoung nodded in agreement; "That would be great, thank you very much, Mrs Moon."
"Oh please, why don't you call me Ella?" The two walked through what was once a doorway to the kitchen and could now only be described as a hole in the wall.

Admittedly, the kitchen, or what once was the kitchen, didn't look much better than the front room. Plaster was crumbling from the walls everywhere, old scraps of wallpaper were hanging from the ceiling and there was a hint of mould in some corners. But in the furthest corner, there was still a remnant of what must have once been a beautiful, antique kitchen unit.
"It's a real shame that more couldn't be preserved. But the masses of water were just too much." With a regretful smile, the passionate baker looked at what was left of her kitchen, the centrepiece of her once wonderful café.

The old building had not been able to cope with the last storm and parts of the roof had collapsed. The result was immense water damage, which was only partially covered by the insurance.
For Mr and Mrs Moon, who had run the café for the last few decades, the cost of rebuilding was far too high. As Mr Moon had also unexpectedly fallen ill at the time, the couple had decided to sell their café and retire by the sea.
"What about the flat upstairs? Has it been restored, or has it also been sold?" Curious, Soyoung looked at the huge stain on the ceiling that showed where the roof had collapsed, and the water had run down to the lower floor.

"Oh, it's not a flat that's above us!" Surprised, the younger girl looked at Ella, who smiled mysteriously. She had simply assumed that the couple had lived just above the café and had decided to leave their home and move to the sea because of the destroyed flat.
"You'll find the remains of a library up there. It was only set up there years after my parents opened the café. The entrance to it is at the back of the house. Not many people knew about it, and even fewer used it. It was always dark up there, and some of the books must have been several hundred years old. I used to play or read there as a child, it's the perfect place for romantic vampire stories."

Her eyes turned nostalgic as she thought of the mysterious place where she had not only met her husband for the first time, but where he had also proposed to her years later.
Now Soyoung could no longer hold back. "A library? Can I see it?" She felt like a little kid at an amusement park, her voice had become so shrill. Somewhere in the back of her mind, her reason told her not to get too excited, after all, she knew about the water damage, and after all, they were talking about books!
But the book fanatic in her told her to get there as quickly as possible and save everything that could still be saved.

Ella Moon was infected by this enthusiasm, and less than two minutes later the two of them were at the back of the house. They gazed in awe at the staircase that ran along the wall of the house and ended in a small canopy overgrown with ivy. A rather small door made of dark wood was hidden behind the green vines and with every step they took towards this door, Soyoung's excitement grew, and she felt as if she was entering a mysterious fairytale world through an invisible barrier.

The steps creaked as she took the first step, and the old wood gave way slightly. The banister was also made of old, dark wood and already looked quite rotten, but was as stable as if the wood had only just been felled and the whole structure had been assembled today.
Finally, she stood in front of the door and turned to Ella with a questioning look, who followed closely behind her. As she nodded in agreement, Soyoung reverently stroked the ornaments embedded in the door with her fingertips. They had only become visible from up here and their golden colour had already faded and partially flaked off.

Taking a deep breath, the young woman reached for the cold knob, which was also gilded and seemed to be calling for her. Following the call, she turned it to the side with a soft squeak and pushed lightly against the door, which swung to the right with a heavy creak, revealing the old library.
In her dreams, Soyoung could never have imagined what she saw there.