The Bakery

|PAUN|

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH~" A blonde girl sighed "I love the smell of freshly baked bread at minute to three in the afternoon"

The girl was named Paun, often called Paun Paun. Whether or not it was a slight relation to the French word for bread she didn’t know. She didn’t doubt it. In fact, she could be of French decent. She lifted the pan from the oven bringing it up to her nose and inhaling the aroma of her creation. She loved bread, well any food really but especially bread. She turned placing it on the stone countertop. Her entire house was made of stone. And it was just as she liked it. She also loved baking even though due to some odd circumstances she was given the power to create food out of nowhere. However, such a thing was supposed to go against the rules of magic. She sometimes she just preferred good ole fashioned baking.

She smiled and turned to close her oven then looked back at the bread fondly. Because of this power she could feed the poor children of Project 21. Not just poor in the sense of having no money. Poor as in there was a war going on and all the food was being taken away. The children were fighting for survival in more than one way. Just as these thoughts passed her mind, the bracelet on her wrist started flashing.

"THE SCANNERS!" she cried and immediately ran about trying to fix thing. She had to act normal. Paun stowed the bread away and sat near a window. Through it she could see other faces. Paun squinted as the scanners passed by her house. Her fingers dug into the window sill in fear as she watched, waiting and hoping, that it would pass on. She held her breath, breathing in and out slowly. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Her bracelet shut off.

A sigh escaped her almost like a sob. She really hated the scanners. They had taken too many children. She noticed this when they stopped coming to her house to get food. She owned the bakery, and pretty much had all the food that wasn’t otherwise spoiled in project 21. She covered her mouth trying not the cry at the thought of what potentially happened. Those adorable smiles were to die for….die for…..She slumped near the window clutching her chest. She stayed like that for a few minutes, before taking a shaky breath.

"I have to be strong" she reminded herself "For them."

|PAUN|

A dizzy haze overcame her as she slumped to the floor. Something held her tight restricting her breathing, What was this that she felt, fear? Adrenaline? She didn't know did she want to know? Her blonde hair was in her eyes, frightened childlike eyes. Innocent but wide like they had seen far too much for a child. The air was thinning the light fading. Is this death?she thought vaguely, staring unseeing into the darkness, unable to breathe.

Paun Paun let go of her breath. A sharp gasp of pain as she realized she had been holding it the whole time. Was it a dream?She blinked rubbing her face and sat up. She was lying on the floor of her bakery, nothing had been disturbed. No... No Adults here. but she was still on guard. Paun was so paranoid always thinking the Adults were right there after all she had a close encounter when she was younger she had seen first-hand the torment experienced the pain. She had seen far too much for someone so young. The kind of thing NO ONE should ever have to see.

She lifted a shaking sweaty hand to wipe the hair from her face the strands were sticking there. After a moment she hoisted herself to her feet, still breathing as if it were dangerous to. Each breath was a fight. She gazed dizzily into the room. Cooking pots, vegetables, and a small kennel sitting in the short distance, "What was I Doing before this" She asked herself. She took a step toward the kitchen and with a wave of dizziness collapsed into a chair.

She blinked opening her eyes slowly and closing them again. Not too long after a small timer clock rang indicating it was time to make food runs. She opened her eyes and sat u. Paun knew that not many Children could get to her shop, and therefore not many would be able to get food. Despite it being the year 2149, Project 21 had no other food stores. Therefore it was up to her to make sure that everyone got an adequate amount of food each day.
Lucky for Paun, her power made it wonderfully easy to travel. Unlike most delivery services, she did not have to carry anything with her. Her hands blindly found a pad of paper and a pen scrawling a neat, but hurried note reading

"I Will be back in at least an hour or so"

In case anyone comes she thought, then lifted herself to her feet gathering her skirts and walked about doing a few last minute things. She left the bread on the counter with a cover over it, as well as the other food in the open but protected. If a child showed up she wanted to be sure they received what they were looking for, with or without her present. She and pulled herself to the door.

She wandered outside into the maze of Project 21. She had a path she would follow every day, and would go to visit each house. In this way, she was usually one of the first to know if anyone had disappeared and who. As she walked a figure stumbled towards her. He had a hand extended as if he had been looking for her and had just found his target. She frowned and caught the boy’s hand.

“There there, You made it just fine. I know what you need.” . The child looked at her helplessly before his face broke into a grin. He must have been travelling quite a distance to get there. Paun smiled and closed her eyes, in an instance a large amount of food appeared in a box. Paun handed the box to the child and pat his head. “I suggest you rest inside before taking a journey back”. She told the child before bowing her head and hurrying off to feed the rest of the kids.

About forty-five minutes later she was rounding onto another street that always amused her. She had just met up with a few Children who were teleporters. They would assist her in her getting food to all the Children, since she could not do it alone. The street was lined with metal and odd contraptions here are there. It was completely unlike the rest of the town. This particular one led up to The Shop , owned by a boy named Dex.

Paun always enjoyed visiting him, because he always had a story to tell or something to converse about. Her shoes clacked against the metal bridge that led across a lake up to the metal dome with many colourful and blinking lights as well as pipes attached to it. She was amused by the oddness of it, and wondered if Dex had made it himself. She approached the door and rapped a hand on it, causing the metal to clank loudly.

”Food Delivery!~" She called out as she could already hear noises in the building to show he knew someone was there.