Uncharted Aromas: Paul's Courageous Journey into the Mystic Bakery

Paul was trekking through the desert on a quest to find the meaning of life.

"I just want to feel something again. I can't go on like this," he said to himself. "All my friends left me, and Dad won't let me date until I'm 30."

He sat down for a moment, disappointed in himself for failing yet another day of not finding the meaning of life. He began to cry into his arms. A gust caught his scarf and sent it flying into the wind. He got up immediately to chase after it but never found it.

"Damn it!" he cursed himself and then scolded at the sky angrily.

In that moment, he noticed what seemed like a little bakery in the distance. It was almost like an apparition taking form from the bottom of a mirage. He thought about going there because he had heard that people sometimes get lost in the desert and end up trapped there for years eating nothing but sand, so maybe he could find some water there instead, but also because he wanted to eat some fresh bread before dying of dehydration.

"Fuck it," he finally said and walked towards it with nothing left to lose.

It wasn't long before he realized that the bakery wasn't an apparition after all. It was real alright - a real ugly, rundown thing standing all alone in the middle of nowhere with nobody around it except for one old man sitting outside reading a book, probably waiting for his bread to bake or something like that, Paul guessed as he approached him.

The sun was beating down hard on him, and now that he was closer to the bakery, he could smell something delicious wafting out from inside its dusty windows - maybe chocolate or peach pie or something like that, Paul thought; by God, how many hours has it been since I last ate anything?

He walked over to the old man and took off his hat politely before asking him: "Pardon me sir, do you know if you have any water you could spare?" The old man looked up from his book as if ignoring him for a moment before looking back down at it again as if nothing happened at all. Paul cleared his throat and asked again more loudly this time: "Sir!? Do you have any water!?" The old man didn't seem to hear him at all this time either and continued reading his book quietly as if trying to ignore him even more loudly than before by pretending not to be able to hear him at all anymore which made Paul quite frustrated indeed because he needed some water desperately so now he had no other choice but shout at top of his lungs: "SIR! DO YOU HAVE ANY WATER!?" The old man raised his head slowly up from his book again and stared right into Paul's eyes without saying anything at all which made Paul very uncomfortable indeed because now this whole situation felt very creepy indeed in addition to being really frustrating because now they were just staring at each other silently for several minutes which made Paul wonder if this strange old man was even alive at all or maybe somehow undead which would explain why he couldn't hear or see him at all anymore because maybe this place was cursed or haunted by ghosts or vampires who knew? Well whatever the case may be Paul wanted some water badly so he finally shouted right back angrily: "DO YOU WANT ME TO DIE SIR!? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT!?" Then suddenly everything went black...