There are no words to describe how sorry I am. I thank everyone who has stuck with me through this blackening whole called 'Hiatus', and I hope eventually you will forgive me. This chapter I hope will prove to you that I am done abandoning stories, and even if I lose interest, I will stick it out and deal with it.

I love you all, and I hope you enjoy this chapter:)

Apple White took a deep breath as she gazed at the hurricane trailing them.

Nearby, Apple noticed cars and trees, wreckage from the dump and ruins of houses, all swirling around in the depths of the hurricane. Natural disasters were so catastrophic.

Is it really a "natural" disaster? Apple couldn't help but wonder. She quickly swatted the thought away; it was too horrible to think of. And yet the idea kept tugging on her head, a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach she could not get rid of.

Blondie Locks yelped. "Is that it?!"

Vincent hurriedly nodded. Apple quickly looked ahead and saw the Beanstalk Cafe coming into view.

The car sped up even more, and the hurricane sucked in the license plate.

Nearby, Apple noticed cars and trees, wreckage from the dump and ruins of houses, all swirling around in the depths of the hurricane. Natural disasters were so catastrophic.

Is it really a "natural" disaster? Apple couldn't help but wonder. She quickly swatted the thought away; it was too horrible to think of. And yet the idea kept tugging on her head, a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach she could not get rid of.

"Ah!" Briar shrieked.

The car pulled in, and Vincent opened the door right away. "RUN!" he yelled.

Damien picked Apple up again, and the group sped inside the building. Vincent slammed the door shut, and ran down the nearest pair of stairs, which led to a storage room littered with all sorts of sweets and baking materials.

"Wait a minute." Blondie panted. "Aren't we intruding?"

Raven let out a dry laugh. "Since when would you care about that?"

Blondie frowned.

Apple scanned the room, and spotted the Candy Witch (who was the owner of the cafe) sitting on a crate of sugar. The Candy Witch's eyes were red from crying.

Sitting next to her on a sack of flour was Ginger Breadhouse. She had bright pink hair tied back in pony tails, dark skin, hazel eyes, a denim jacket, and was fiddling with her pink glasses. A cauldron purse was sitting on the ground next to her.

She was too busy trying to comfort her mom to notice the group of people who had just arrived in their storage room.

The Candy Witch didn't seem to notice them. "My cafe! Ruined!" she moaned.

Damien put Apple down on a sack of sugar next to the Candy Witch.

Ginger finally saw them. "Hello… I see you took shelter here?"

"We're sorry! It was just, like, the only place to hide from the hurricane." Raven explained.

"No, it's okay!" said Ginger. "My mom's just, erm, sad about how the cafe that she spent her life's work on is going to be destroyed…"

"It's okay...after this hurricane is gone, I'll have you built another cafe!" said Apple, trying to cheer the Candy Witch up.

"You don't understand! I've put sweat and blood into this!" the Candy Witch exclaimed. Apple White only hoped she meant her own.

The Candy Witch cried louder.

"Wait!" Briar whisper-shouted. "Listen."

They couldn't hear the roaring sound of the hurricane anymore.

"I'll check." Raven and Damien said at the same time. They walked slowly and anxiously up the stairs.

Raven looked out the window, followed soon after by Damien. The hurricane was gone!

Raven raced into the basement one more time, and shouted excitedly, "It passed us! It's gone, the hurricane is gone!" The Candy Witch ran up the stairs faster than you could believe, then fainted.

Later, Ginger found Apple some old crutches to use.

Apparently the cafe doubled as an inn upstairs, so The Candy Witch let them stay there for the night.

Ginger Breadhouse and The Candy Witch were so happy that the hurricane passed the house that they made twice as much food as normal. They're normal amount of food was way more than eight people could eat, so multiply that by two and you still are hardly even close to how much food they made!

Halfway through the dinner, Apple scanned everyone at the dinner table, and remembered her old daily routine. She searched her pockets for her birthday notebook.

It's Raven and Damien's birthday birthday! she thought.

Then she grinned, and started singing. "Happy birthday to you guys, happy birthday to you guys!"

Everyone at the dinner table joined in, except for Damien and Raven.

"Happy birthday Damien and Raven, Happy birthday to you guys!" Raven had completely forgot that it was her birthday.

Apple looked at the ground sadly.

"What is it, Apple?" Briar asked.

"I'm sorry, Raven and Damien." Apple sighed. "Right now I have nothing to give you."

"What?" Raven asked. "No, it's totally okay! I don't need anything for my birthday!"

Apple White believed everybody deserved something for their birthday, but it seemed Raven wouldn't allow anyone to give her a gift. As for Damien, even when Apple and Raven insisted, he agreed with Raven and didn't want anything.

As luck would have it, Raven and Apple got to room again, since there weren't enough rooms for everyone to have their own. The room was a pale brown, and it radiated such warmth Apple imagined it as a newly baked Gingerbread house, freshly out of the oven. Yum…

Raven, on the other hand, couldn't stop thinking about the hurricane, and of course, the reason Apple had run away.

Eventually, she just couldn't help asking Apple a question.

"Apple...I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but what are you gonna do now that Daring has rebelled?" Raven asked.

Apple White turned on her other side, the warm feeling gone. She then mumbled a short, "I don't know…", and "went to sleep".