The Best of Intentions

by Amanda Lawrence Auverigne

Adele licked her fingers as she placed the finishing touches on the three-layer cake. She took a step back and looked at the rows of blue, sugared flowers, green gumdrop leaves and golden balls of sweets that lay on the cake. “My, My. I do hope they like this cake,” she muttered.

Adele moved forward and fingered a small, blue rose that lay atop the confection at an odd angle.

“Hey Mom. I got the buns you wanted,” a short freckled girl said as she rushed into the room.

“Good. Good,” Adele said. “Everything is nearly ready. Bring in the meat dish, Sara. And the appetizers. And I will bring in the cake.”

Sara nodded and she grabbed at an assortment of dishes near her. She moved towards the swinging doors and as she pushed the barriers open the sound of voices filled the brightly lit kitchen.

“Mmmm. Almost ready,” Adele said as she looked at the cake.

Sara rushed into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl of punch that lay on the sink. “We’re almost out of punch.”

“That’s the last of it. I’ll have to make some more if that runs out,” Adele said.

Sara nodded and took the large bowl through the doors.

Adele hummed as she grabbed a handful of golden balls and placed them on the cake. “Good,” she said as she stood back and looked at the cake.

Sara rushed into the room and grabbed two plates of bread from the counter. “Come on, Mom. They’re waiting.”

“Oh. Alright.” Adele clapped her hands together as she stared at the cake. She let out an excited sigh as she rushed forward and grabbed the lower portion of the cake dish.

Adele held the cake in her hands as she moved through the swinging doors and stepped into a dimly lit room. She saw dozens of pairs of eyes staring in her direction.

“And who would like some cake?” Adele asked.

Loud cheers filled the room.

“Uh-oh.” Adele said as her foot struck something soft.

Adele looked down and saw a pile of severed limbs on the floor. She looked up at the wide-eyed guests around her. “Who didn’t use the trash can?” she asked.

Adele tilted her head in an animated fashion as she watched small groups of scale-ridden creatures around her shake their heads and mumble in disapproval.

“I got it!” Sara shouted from across the room.

Adele watched her daughter rush from a cluster of green-skinned creatures who were looking with disdain at the pile of quivering limbs on the floor.

“It was probably one of the Sullen Ones. They’ve always been known to eat and run,” a tall purple-skinned creature said as it sipped from a glass in its hand.

Sara fell to her knees and gathered the bloodstained limbs in her arms before she rushed to the kitchen.

Adele stepped around the smear of blood on the floor and made her way to the food-laden table. She stared with a smile at the dishes of steaming meat, platters of cheese and bowls of roasted vegetables.

She looked up at the top portion of the table and she saw eight severed human heads resting atop the white linen of the table. She glanced at the glassy eyes of the heads before she set the cake in the middle of the table.

“Honestly,” Adele said, “if we would like to continue to have these massacres, one has to act with a bit of decorum. No disembowelments in the dining room. If you wish to continue to enjoy my hospitality, you must remember that eviscerations and dismemberments are allowed only in the basement.”

Adele took a step away from the food-filled table and smiled at the assortment of foodstuffs. As she clasped her hands together with a satisfied sigh, the sound of a loud scream rose up from the floorboards and filled the room.

“Now that the tongue-lashing has reached its conclusion, who would like some cake?” Adele turned to her guests with a wide smile as she pulled a long steel knife from behind her back.

The creatures in the room clapped their hands and cheered.

Sara appeared beside Adele and held a stack of gold-rimmed plates as her mother cut the confection.