Death By Chocolate

Death by Chocolate

By Joshua Wheelon

Chris sat in the break room of the bakery. She was shaking profusely and even sweating a little bit. She had seen the dream a thousand times. Nightmare actually. Where she was murdered by a mysterious hooded figure. The dream was so blurry that she did not know how he murdered her, just that the scene was the same every single time, her lying dead in a pool of chocolate. Of her two jobs, this one was the place she would have a more likely chance of getting murdered. She gazed around the old break room which had one long table and a counter with a sink and a coffee maker. An old cupboard above with one of the doors open half an inch. Between the sink and against the door was a large garbage can that was half full and a broom sat next to the can. She then heard the footsteps of her boss coming towards the break area.

She got up and quickly went into the restroom. Chris did not want to Janet to see her like this, or to know about the dreams. Janet was not a very caring boss, asking her to work extended hours, denying PTO, and always passing her up for promotion.

Chris had been with the bakery for ten years as a second job to pay the bills after her husband, Ken, had been brutally murdered. Her day job was a secretary at the Police Department about two blocks down. Normally Chris could live on that job alone, but she had three teenagers to raise. And she wanted to save to help her youngest get into Havard. Her oldest is now in Harvard, but he got in on a basketball scholarship and was more than likely to make his way to the NBA.

Chris grabbed some paper towels to wipe the sweat off and then looked into the mirror as she gathered her thoughts. Her Caucasian skin had a few wrinkles and her black hair was mostly gray now and tied up in a pony tail. She washed her hands and face; and then quickly flushed the toilet to avoid giving the impression that she was hiding. Finally, she opened the bathroom door and Janet was eating some almost expired pastries.

“Hey, Chris. I’m going to need you to work a little late tonight. My folks are in town so I’m taking them out for dinner. I would like a chocolate cake ready in two hours for me to pick up and take home. My mother really wants to try the double dip chocolate cake ever since I have been boasting to her about the incredible taste.

“Okay.” Chris nodded as she pushed the nightmarish thoughts to the back of her mind. “But I can’t work late tomorrow. I’m watching my son’s basketball game.”

“Off course. I’ll have Esther close tomorrow so that you can leave early to make up for this.”

“Oh, thank you.” Chris smiled. “I’ll get right to work.”

Chris walked out to the front part of the bakery and seeing no customer within sight, she turned and opened the fridge to gather the ingredients. Eggs, raspberry jam for the middle. Then she set them out and got flour, espresso powder, vegetable oil, sugar, hersey kisses, cocoa powder and cake molds for the shaping of the cake.

She set them out and looked them over with the feeling that she forgot something.

“Buttermilk.”

She went back to the fridge, opened the door and pulled out the buttermilk.

“Excuse me.”

A large hand touched her shoulder and she turned around and gave a start to see a figure in a dark hood standing in front of her. She gave a quick start as the image changed to a tall handsome, young man with a beaming smiled and neatly combed dark brown hair.

“I apologize if I startled you. I wanted to get some help before you close.”

“Of course, no worries.” Chris smiled.

Chris knew she could not go on like this much longer. Otherwise, she might have a heart attack. Being fifty-five and too skinny for her five-foot-eight inch frame, she was definitely at risk.

“How can I help you, sir.”

“Well, I am getting married in about a month and my mother, Sherri Hodges, told me your bakery makes the best cakes.”

“Oh, I know Sherri very well. Great customer. Congragulations-“

“Otto.”

“Otto. That’s right, her third oldest. The older two are married already.”

“Yes. Anyways, I was hoping to schedule a testing for next Friday.”

“We can definitely do that.” Chris reached down below the counter and pulled out the appointment book and opened to the slot for that Friday.

“We have an opening at two o’clock in the afternoon.”

“That would work fine. Thank you very much. I’ll take one of those bear claws. Too delicious to pass up.”

“Absolutely.” Chris put on plastic gloves and pulled out one of the bear claws from the display shelf. She placed the pastry into a big and punched some numbers at the cash register.

“That will be $3.50.”

Otto paid with a card and took the bag. “Thank you very much. I’ll see you at the tasting. He turned and walked out as he pulled out his phone and began calling someone.”

Chris saw that the time was at 7:02. Two minutes past clothing. She took off the plastic gloves, made her way to the door and locked both nobs. She also turned the open sign around so that the closed sign was facing out.

Chris turned around and walked back behind the counter. She was about to put new plastic gloves on, when she heard her phone ring and quickly pulled the phone out of her apron pocket. She looked at the caller ID. Unknown. So she pressed the ignore button and put the phone back in her pocket. Once again, Chris started to reach for the plastic gloves on the glove holder by the door to the back. This time she got a text alert and pulled her phone out again.

As she read the words of the message, her eyes widened with terror.

I WILL KILL You!

After being frozen for a couple of minutes, the single mother quickly called 9-1-1 and reported the threat to them. The dispatcher’s assured her that a unit was on the way to the bakery.

Chris decided to begin making the cake while she waited. She got as far as getting the mixture together for the actual cake and got that in the oven. She had just started mixing the frosting together when she heard a knock. She turned around to see two officer’s standing out front. She took off the gloves, washed her hands and quickly ran over to the door and opened it. Both officers stepped inside.

The first was Deputy Lionel Pierce, a good, tall man with an impeccable smile that made him recognizable anywhere. The second was Sherri Hodges. A petite woman about the same age as Chris with curly gray hair.

“Thank you officers for coming.” She smiled nerveously. “And congratulations on your son’s upcoming wedding. He came in today.”

“Thank you, Chris. I knew this was the right place to send him.”

“So Ms. Reid.” Lionel spoke. “You said someone threatened you in a text message.”

“Yes.” Chris pulled out the phone and showed him the text. “I’m not sure who though. And I’ve actually had nightmares about someone murdering me here.”

“Seriously,” Sherri frowned. “You need to get some rest. Working these long hours can really have an effect on the mind.”

Lionel wrote down the number of the texter and then called his dispatch.

“Yeah. This is deputy Pierce. I need you to run a number for me. Uh hu. 360-751-8050.” He waited a minute. “Right. Just as I suspected, thanks.” He hung up. “Belongs to a repeat offender named Jason Miller. He is one of a few kids pulling death threat pranks. Do you have FB?”

“Yes.”

“Is your number visible on there.”

“I-I don’t know.” Chris shrugged.

“I’m guessing so. Because that’s probably how he got your number. I would update your privacy settings.”

“Okay. I think my daughter can help me with that.”

“Ok, great. Well we are now going to pay the young kid a visit. It’s juvy time for him.”

Lionel and Sherri left and Chris went back to mixing the frosting till the right amount of creaminess was met. She set the electric mixer down, pulled off that handle and began to lick the chocolate off. Then her eyes widened. She forgot to lock the door she turned and came face to face with a large man in a dark hood.

She blinked with the hope that his form would change to that of someone else. No such luck.

“Why do you want to kill me.” She backed up against the fridge as he grabbed her. She punched at his chest but nothing happened and he squeezed around her neck. She reached around the counter and grabbed the electric mixer and turned the device on. She waved the object towards his face but her shook her and she dropped the mixer onto the floor. He turned her around and moved her over to the counter. Than he forced her head down into the frosting and began to drown her.

She struggled, hit and kicked at anything she could as she slowly began to lose strength and oxygen. Her hands beat against the counter less and less until she finally breathed her last. Her arms fell limp against the counter.

Satisfied with his victory, the hooded figure pulled her head out of the frosting and let her drop to the floor. He picked up her hand as he pulled out a large knife. He quickly cut off her right pinky. He wiped the blood off of the knife with a dish cloth and then put the knife back in a holster under his hood. He pulled out a Ziploc bag, opened the freezer and put some ice in the bag along with the pinkie. He closed the freezer, turned off the oven and then picked up the frosting mixture. He dipped his finger into the bowl and put the frosting to his mouth to taste it. He nodded in satisfaction and then dumped the whole mixture onto the upper body and head of the lifeless body at his feet. He set the bowl back down and walked towards the front door whistling a joyful tune as he went.