Chocolate, I Love You

Maggie bent over to peer into the refrigerator. The most perfect chocolate cake looked back at her, sitting on the middle shelf by itself. Thick white icing, dark chocolate shavings pressed against the sides and cherries nestled in swirls of whipped cream along the top. She hadn’t taken any short cuts and now her mouth watered at the mere sight of it. She had used her favourite recipe; the one where the chocolate is melted, and hot water is added to the batter. It made the cake extra moist. Maggie had made it for her sister’s birthday, but Jana was working late and would not be home for at least a couple more hours.

Closing the fridge, Maggie paced the living room in frustration. Past the cartoonish bull cookie jar filled with coins, the lava lamp that cast a soft green light, and the pear tree that had never produced any fruit sitting in the corner of the living room. She didn’t want to be angry about her sister delaying their plans for the fourth night that week. Maggie decided to go for a walk instead, maybe the frustration over how distant her sister had been would dissipate with exercise. Slipping on her runners and tying a jacket around her waist Maggie opened the door. She paused next to the potted marigold flowers. A suspicious package wrapped in brown paper sat on the welcome mat.

Picking it up, Maggie gave it a gentle shake, holding it next to her ear. It only had the house address on it, not even a postage stamp or anything else marking the brown paper. Thinking it was likely a gift for her sister she stuck it inside and locked the door. The woman walked quickly down the street, soon working up a sweat. Even with her favourite playlist in her ears she couldn’t stop thinking about the package, the cake, and her sister. Things with Jana had been tense ever since she had brought her new boyfriend home to meet Maggie. Maggie didn’t like him from the first minute she saw him—he wasn’t good enough for her sister. She liked him even less when Jana started cancelling all of their plans to spend time with him. Normally they did everything together. Shopping, cooking, watching tv, gossiping about the neighbours—Jana wasn’t just Maggie’s sister. They were best friends.

Until now. Maggie paused to pull out her phone when it chimed.

“Won’t be home until tomorrow.” The message from Jana read. Furious, Maggie scrolled through Instagram, searching for an explanation. She found it almost immediately—a photo of Jana kissing her boyfriend. It had been posted twenty minutes ago. Storming home, Maggie dropped the suspicious package on the table and slid the cake from the fridge.

She grabbed a large butcher knife, carefully cutting the cake in half and then plopping a large slice onto a dinner plate. Maggie snapped a photo of it, the knife sitting on the plate covered in white frosting and chocolate.

“Happy birthday bitch,” she muttered as she posted it to Instagram, tagging her sister in it. Maggie ate her feelings one bite of chocolate cake at a time. She had intended to only stop at one slice but when her plate was empty, she went back to the cake at the kitchen table. Muttering angrily about her sister, Maggie cut off another sliver, running a finger along the knife and licking off the whipped cream. When she scraped her plate clean of crumbs for the second time Maggie abandoned the knife and plate all together. She dug her fork into the remaining cake. She placed a cherry in her mouth, tugging the stem off and relishing its sweetness.

Her stomach protested but she continued to fork bites into her mouth. Less than half of it remained when she remembered the package. Chocolate smeared at the corners of her mouth, Maggie wiped off her hands and spun the box around. It was carefully wrapped in a way that the tape could be easily peeled without tearing the brown paper. She pulled it off, revealing the plain brown cardboard box. Opening it, Maggie found a scrapbook. The cover was decorated in paper cut out flowers.

Sliding the chocolate cake aside, Maggie thumbed through the pages. Tears wet her chocolate smeared cheeks. Jana had made this scrap book and filled it with their memories. It went back as far as when the two of them had been babies sitting in the bathtub together. They were only a year apart and had always been extremely close.

Feeling sick from the sugar rush and flooding emotions, Maggie ran to the bathroom. She barely made it to the toilet in time, dark brown bile staining the toilet bowl. Maggie sobbed into a towel, fear rising inside of her as she got up to check her sister’s bedroom. The door swung open slowly. It was empty. Just a bare mattress on the bedframe and a dresser. A few plastic hangers still in the closet.

Maggie continued to sob into the towel as she curled on the bed. It was impossible to eat these emotions away. She knew she wouldn’t look at chocolate cake the same way ever again. When she woke with a sugar headache early that morning, Maggie found a text message from her sister, “I love you. I’m sorry I couldn’t find a way to tell you I’m moving out.”

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Written by Kelsey Reich on July 17/2021 in Ontario, Canada.