Dreaming of Cake

A car speeds along a suburban street. The brakes screech as it hastily comes to a halt in front of one of the houses. David jumps out, runs to the front door, and knocks relentlessly until she opens the door.

“David? What are you doing here?”

“I love you, Claire!”

She stares at him.

“What are you talking about?”

“I love you. I choose you.”

“You can’t do this.”

David walks through the doorway and into Claire.

‘She’s going to hate me’ Claire says, half backing away, half staying.

“She already does,”

David laughs and closes the door behind him.

“That’s not the point,” Claire starts giggling as they begin to kiss.

David wakes up alone in Claire’s bed and pushes aside the blankets groggily. He yawns and stretches and makes his way out of her bed. He sluggishly walks to the kitchen. Brews up two coffees, into yellow-spotted mugs, and heads into the lounge. He reels. He drops the coffee and smashes the ceramic mugs. The debris and brown puddle spread across the tiles and meet red. Claire's mutilated body drenches the couch in her blood.

“Please don’t tell me that’s decaf”

David turns and a baseball bat makes contact with his face.

“Wake up sleepy head”, a soft female voice says.

David pushes through the pounding in his head and opens his eyes. He feels her weight on his chest. She’s wearing a dress. A wedding dress? Completely drenched in blood. She smiles.

“Well, good morning”

David screams but his lips are held shut. “You don’t want me to rip this off, it’ll really hurt,” she says.

He tries to move and grab her but he’s bound. There’s tape around his hands, arms, and ankles. He panics and tries to break free before realizing where he is. He’s back on Claire’s bed but now in a tuxedo. Fear and confusion wash over him and heat rise in his body.

“Okay, I guess I better break this down for you”

He flings himself around beneath her weight but she just pushes down on his chest.

“My names Stacey, and we’re having the wedding you promised”

David freezes and stares up at her.

“Not to me of course,” she laughs, “the one you promised Hannah, remember her?”

Stacey gets up and starts pacing around him, looking at the clothes, the underwear, the condom wrappers, grinning.

“She spoke vividly about what you did in her Instagram post. Thousands of people have seen it, liked it, and commented already. You’re probably going to lose a lot of followers”, She pouts mockingly.

She walks over to the dresser and picks something up. David arches his neck and tries to see. She smiles and turns around so it’s in plain view. David’s stomach lurches.

“You broke her heart, David”. She points a cake knife directly at his face, its handle decorated with white ribbons and glitter, its edge going brown from liquid stains.

David looks around screaming into the tape. Stacey jumps on the bed and squats near his face.

“Oh stop it, we can’t do the vows if you’re acting like this. Shh, shhh” she strokes his hair with her free hand and runs over the bump from the baseball bat.

He looks at Stacey, pleadingly. He relents and goes quiet and still.

“That’s right. Don’t try anything stupid now. Or else.’ She laughs and looks at the knife like it has a mind of its own.

She kisses his bump and rips the tape off. “That’s better? David’s eyes water as he gulps in the air.

“Help! Somebody hel-.”

Stacey’s hand launches straight to David’s throat with a vice-grip. “I said don’t try anything stupid”, Stacey whispers.

David kicks and flails his legs uselessly on the edge of the bed. His eyes widen in fear. Stacey releases his throat. David gasps for air, coughing and spluttering on the side of the pillow.

“It never had to come to this, all your plans with Hannah were laid out. Everything could have been perfect.”

“Whoever you are, let me go.” He rasps.

“Let you go? You promised to be with someone forever. You can’t just leave days before the wedding, ruining their entire world.”

“I made a mistake, I’ll go back to Hannah. I can fix it”

She tapes his mouth back up. Leans in close to David, with the knife to his throat.

“The hurt, the abandonment, you can’t fix that shit. The pain never leaves”

Stacey gets off the bed, cuts David’s feet free, and pulls him up. She puts the knife back to his throat. “Now walk to the kitchen. I’m not dragging your heavy ass again”.

David catches the sight of Claire’s mutilated body as he’s pushed through the living room, sobs.

“Oh stop your crying, I did you a favour. If she could make you cheat, then she could cheat on you too.”

They walk into the kitchen and Stacey throws David against the back door. His head spins from the movement and the pain and he slides down to the floor. She walks over to the kitchen bench and pushes the knifepoint down. Her face hidden, she begins talking.

“God, you know I used to dream about cake? Like, all the time. I would crave just a single slice. But no matter how often I would have this dream, in the end, I always woke up hungry.”

Stacey picks up the cake knife, turns to David.

“Do you also have those dreams?”

David stares at her trying to figure out the answer she wants, he shakes his head. Stacey smiles like she knows something he doesn’t. She turns back to the bench, and on a steel oven tray she begins cutting a chocolate cake into quarters.

“Getting married was the day I looked forward to, almost all my life. I had everything planned out in my head.”

The knife slices the body of the cake smoothly, tapping the tin at the bottom. Although this is no cake to be proud of, an ugly mess to say the least.

“The older I got the more I realized I wouldn’t end up having that fairytale wedding I’d spent so many hours of my life planning.”

She gradually turns her head to face him, but this time she looks different. No menace or snarl. She looks like a vacant child., “No father to walk me down the aisle, no mother crying with joy, no family photos.”

She turns abruptly and picks the cake off the bench. When she turns, the vacant look is gone. She steps over to David and crouches down in front of him, “Turns out, I wasn't meant to have any of it. I had to settle for reality. I had to settle for this shitty, chocolate cake.”

With her free hand, she peels the tape off his lips, leaving it hanging down on one side. David keeps his lips closed tight. Stacey huffs, tilting her head to one side. She puts the steel tray with the cake on the floor, puts her hand on David’s shoulder and punches him in the stomach. David keels over, winded. While he gags, Stacey grabs a slice of chocolate cake and shoves it into his mouth. David groans, drooling cake and snot. She forces another slice in, pushing it down so he has to swallow. Then another slice. She keeps going until there’s one piece left remaining. She picks that last piece up and begins to eat it. Stacey gives him a wide grin, her teeth flecked with brown.

“You need some water to wash that down?”

She polishes off the slice, licks her fingers and gets a glass from the cupboard. She fills it with water. David looks around, and her can’t see her. Suddenly he feels her pull his hair back, tilting his head and begins pouring the water down his mouth. With every drop gone, he looks drowsily up at her. She let’s go of his head, allowing it to drop down in front of him.

“There, we did it. No more need to be hungry”

David feels all the energy leave his body, unable to lift his head.

“Everyone deserves to be loved, David”

David’s eyes gradually close, he passes out as his body falls to the floor.

-----

David jolts awake to the banging of a door. It’s dark now, but the kitchen light is on. David slowly comes to and feels something in his hand. His eyes move in and out of focus before he sees it. A cake knife. He recoils. He moves to his feet. All the tape is gone. There’s chocolate cake all over his fingers. He looks around to find the steel tray on the floor, covered in crumbs and what's most definitely pieces of grounded-up marijuana. He wipes his mouth, and can see icing on the back of his hand.

The banging stops. The front door suddenly bursts open, lights and shouting fills the house. A squad of police storm in, and pin him to the ground. One officer leans down, handcuffs David and reads him his rights. David wants to speak but he’s trying not to throw up. He’s pulled to his feet and led through the living room with the empty couch. No mutilated Claire.

They take him out to the street and David finally vomits. He keels over vomits amongst the police cars and onlookers. He looks up and notices at an ambulance, with a medic and Claire sitting at the door. He makes eye contact with her. She recoils and the police immediately break their sightline.

The officer forces him into the back of the car quickly. He laughs, descending into hysterics.

“Something funny?”, The officer asks, climbing into the front seat.

“I have never dreamed about cake.”