Joanna grinned as she pulled the last batch out of the oven and set it on top of the oven to let the cookie sheet cool down while the cookies themselves finished setting up. They had turned out perfect this time! While she wasn’t a clumsy person normally and she was usually pretty attentive when she was cooking something, usually there was something that went wrong with the holiday cookies. They were either misshapen a bit, a little bit more cooked then they were meant to be, or a certain someone would come along and swipe them before they were completely finished.

This time though, this time the several batches of cookies she made turned out perfect. Most of the cookie batches were already carefully set inside the cookie containers, each kind of cookie having its own container so they weren’t all mixed in of course, while other batches were in the process of cooling down enough for the icing to be added on or to be put away. She gave them a once over to make sure there was nothing she was forgetting at this time then, when nothing else was amiss, she left the room to take care of the next chore on her list.

As she walked though, Joanna couldn’t help but be surprised that the smell of gingerbread followed her through the house. The gingerbread cookies she had made hadn’t been that strong in smell, no stronger than the rest anyway so she should be getting a mix of the cookie smells rather than just that one kind. Either way she didn’t think too much on it at first as she moved into the laundry room to toss in a load to be washed. Just as she closed the washer door and reached for the dials the hair on the back of her neck rose and she could almost promise she heard something.

Looking around the room provided no answers so, uneasy now with the feeling of being watched, Joanna finished setting the washer to the right settings and turned it on then left the room. Every room she went to it was more of the same, the feeling of being watched, the smell of gingerbread, the only difference was now she could make out words from time to time instead of just whispers. You can’t catch me. It kept getting said over and over whenever the voice spoke up and frankly, the blond was this close to powering up to make sure nothing had followed her home.

Just when she was about to do so though, finally having enough with the mess, the smell went away along with the feeling of being watched. She stood there between the door frame of the kitchen and the living room, paused to see if it would come back but thankfully it never did. Instead she went back to taking care of the now cooled down cookies, setting the gingerbread ones in a container and setting them off to the side. Maybe she would just give those ones away soon…

Word count 511