Page 1 of My Sleep Paralysis Demon

Chapter One

Seren

“Welcome to Starlight Bakery. My name is Seren. What can I get for you?” I asked, a smile plastered on my lips. The corner felt the aching of my tiredness.

“Mhm.” The older woman looked over the glass case to my right of the pastel pink counter where I stood. “I think I will take six of your donuts. My grandkids will love them.”

“Of course. What kind can I get for you?” I slipped on plastic gloves. The bright lights of Starlight Bakery burned my dried eyes.

“One Oreo hot fudge, one strawberry frosted, one cinnamon cereal, and one plain glazed… and…” she said, scanning through the donuts left for the day.

My fingers carefully squeezed the donuts into a small box for six.

The Oreo hot fudge was filled with delicious chocolate fudge and topped with an Oreo and crumbs on vanilla icing. Strawberry Frosted had a glazed, hard-shelled caramelized strawberry on top of soft pink frosting.

Cinnamon Cereal made my mouth water when I picked it up. It was my favorite. It had crumbs of Cinnamon Toast Cereal all over the vanilla icing with a drizzle of caramel. Our award-winning glazed was anything but plain, but it didn’t come with any toppings, just a sweet icing glaze.

“And… What is also a good one?”

“Cinnamon Roll is a great one,” I answered with a beaming smile. It was a donut but made with cinnamon roll dough. The top was frosted white, pipped in a swirl with cinnamon dashed on top.

I swallowed the saliva welling up in my mouth. I could almost taste it, just by looking at it.

“Perfect then. I wanted to give them a variety to taste,” she said, smiling at me.

I rang her up after bagging her donut box and told her the total, and she was on her way, giddy to give her grandkids a hyper night.

“When’s the last time you got any sleep?” a voice asked beside me.

I twirled around, pink strawberry hair following my movement. “Why? Did I say something wrong?” And just like that, the conversation that the lady and I had was out of my head.

Had I said something wrong? I know that sometimes my words can get jumbled because of the lack of sleep. It was like my brain had no more battery juice left.

Bex, my co-worker and best friend, raised a brow at me. Her arms crossed over her chest and pushed up her breasts through her 90’s style apron. Hers was striped black and white with the Starlight Bakery logo in twinkling light on the sternum. The pinup girl style suited Bex and her pin-straight but curled-at-the-bottom black hair. “No, but you look like shit.”

Scoffing, I rolled my eyes, moving through the swinging door that separates the bakery’s front and back. “Oh, yeah. Thanks, bestie.”

Bex was my best friend turned employee turned manager. She was the only employee that could tell me I look like shit and get away with it.

Huffing and puffing, I grabbed the bowls from our long prep table and took them to the huge sink. Some chocolate clung to the sides, the little bit I couldn’t spatula out. I needed to make sure that this station was ready for the morning. I had cakes, cupcakes, donuts, and cookies all to make.

It sounded overwhelming to do—the hundreds of bakery stuff I make daily—but this was my dream. To have my own bakery, and I was willing to spend all day,every dayinside of it. I would do the tens of thousands of dishes we do daily. I would deal with the customers complaining about prices and “Can I speak to your manager” bullshit.

Even though I was the owner, I’d still get Bex for them.

“How about I come in early tomorrow, so you can sleep in? I’ll do the prep,” she said, grabbing the lid and placing it on the sugar container.

“What’s in it for you?” I deadpanned. Bex loved her morning sleep up until the afternoon.

She scoffed, hand moving to her chest. “I am offended. I am doing this for you.”

My brow cocked as I leaned on the stainless-steel prep table.

“I just… I have a date. But you seriously look like you haven’t had sleep in days, so it’s perfect. I can open and you can close after you sleep in.”

My mind wandered, and I couldn’t remember the last time I had solid sleep or slept in at all. I sighed.

“Bad dreams?”

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