Short Story: Lemon Cake

Lemon Cake

By Amy Moloney

 
She floated into the room, an apparition, holding a delicate china plate. Her soft voice rang in my ears with a sing-song lullaby.
 
“Please dear, try some lemon cake. It will soothe the edges of your pain.” She said with a hint of sorcery.

“Thank you, Mrs. Teagarden. It looks divine.” I was under her spell before the first bite touched my lips.

“Madame Teagarden, dear. And it is divine. Made by the Goddess herself.” With that last part she winked and I saw a radiant light emanate from her fingers as she held them to her mouth in a shush gesture.

As I lifted the first bit of soft, creamy lemon cake to my eager mouth a darkness fell over the room. A complete darkness that always made everything feel colder.

“The Feedlings are here, dear. You have a decision to make. Eat the cake. It will make things easier.” Madame Teagarden was as calm as ever. I could hear her fluttering about the room at ease in the darkness.

“Who are the Feedlings?” With my mouth so full of cake that it sounded more like I said “Ooo er da eefigs?” The cake was more delicious than I had expected. I truly believed that a goddess had made it. Nothing has ever felt so perfect in my mouth.

The lights flickered for a moment then came on with an audible electrical buzz. She was across the room holding a beautiful glass wand the color of the afternoon sky. The tip glowed violet. She waved it in the air, sparks of sunshine following in it’s wake.

“That’s better. Isn’t it, dear?”

“Yes. The room seems brighter than before.” My mind was floating in a state that reminded me of the twilight time when I am just waking up from a vivid dream. The room was brighter and slightly out of focus. I could see movement at the edges of my vision. Little flashes of light flying just to my peripheral.

“It’s time, dear. You must choose.” Then she held out a small serving tray with three cards face down. On the back of each card was written the word Lonliness.

“I’m confused. What do these cards mean?” I didn’t feel particularly lonely right then. I remembered feeling lonely before Madame Teagarden came into the room. In fact, the loneliness was suffocating.

I remember it being blinding, obscuring the little things around me. The sweet little things of life that can otherwise be glorious experiences. It reached inside of me, inside my very soul. Erasing memories, replacing them with bitterness. Distorting the truth of what they once were. I allowed the loneliness to get it’s claws deep inside my skin. A succubus slowly dissolving the breath within my lungs. Constricting with each inhalation, a python breeding misery.   

I took another bite of lemon cake and felt numb to the memory of loneliness again.

“Do you choose loneliness, dear?” Her voice slightly less calm.

“What? Who would choose loneliness? I am very confused.” I was swimming in a sea of detached emotion. Why would I want to be lonely? Suddenly the visit from Madame Teagarden didn’t seem so divine. Fear was beginning to bite at my skin. I could feel it, sort of.

“Hurry dear, the Feedlings are here. If you do not choose a card they will feed on your loneliness. I do not think you would want that. It is a far worse fate than loneliness.” She was losing her calm and speaking a bit faster.

The Feedlings appeared suddenly before my eyes. Little flashes of light expanded into brilliant vortexes of fire. Each with a mouth as big as their spinning center. Fangs dripping with glittering liquid, beautiful and sinister.  It was impossible not to become entranced by the Feedlings. They were like nothing I’d ever seen.

I heard them speaking into my mind. Promising to take away the crippling pain of loneliness. Their voices sang together like a choir. It was irresistible. I was opening my mouth to answer them when Madame Teagarden came at me with the lemon cake in one hand and the wand in another. She laid the lemon cake on my lap before tracing a circle around my chair with the wand.

“Eat the entire cake now.” She said it with authority. Squeezing the words through gritted teeth. She was either angry with me or frightened. I couldn’t tell which in my current state of detachment.

I was frightened. That much I knew. I ate the cake, devouring it. It was still delicious, but stung my throat on the way down. I felt emotion slowly descending upon me once more. I was myself again.

I could see the circle Madame Teagarden had drawn around me. The feedlings were hungry, frantically ramming the circle with their teeth trying to get through. Under the plate with the cake was the tray holding the three cards. I looked at them closely. Above the word loneliness on each card was another word written in a smaller print.

I chose the one that read Accept Loneliness. When I turned the card over there was a picture of my face staring back at me.

The Feedlings became irate. Their singing became howls of anger. They continued to assault the circle around me, chipping away at it. I saw threads of light crumbling, fracturing the barrier.

Two Feedlings made it into the circle with me. They were close enough for me to feel the suction of the vortex pull my hair into their mouths.

One bite of lemon cake was left on the plate. I picked it up with my fingers and put it into my mouth. As it melted on my tongue I whispered the words, “I accept my loneliness as a part of who I am.” I do not know where those words came from, they seemed right. I closed my eyes and prayed for the Feedlings to go away. I wanted my emotions back, the good and the bad. I wanted to feel like me.

The Feedlings disappeared with a popping noise. The circle dissolved and Madame Teagarden was nowhere to be seen. I looked down at the empty plate, the card with my photograph, and the blue glass wand. My hair was singed a bit on one side and there was a ring of smoke rising from the carpet around my chair. But every entity that had been there moments before were gone. Except for me.

I laughed at the sudden quiet exaggerating the loneliness of the room. The loneliness that somehow felt right. I picked up my purse, checked myself in the mirror, then went out for the night.

 

 

**While writing this story the following song kept playing in my head. If you haven't heard of The Jane Austen Argument, I suggest you listen. They make me happy. And this is a great song to accompany this story. Enjoy, my lovelies.