The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Waldorf Salad 
by Elaine Pascale

Darla was always asked to bring Waldorf salad. It had been a staple growing up and it had been bequeathed to her, just as dessert had been awarded to Suzie. Just once, Darla wanted to wow everyone with a truffle or a seven-layer cake. No one was wowed by a salad.

Even a Waldorf salad.

She began peeling the apples. Ribbons of red fell away to reveal the white meat beneath. She had just been ruminating on how her body was the opposite—white on top and red beneath—when her hand slipped and the peeler mowed over her index finger. She stopped and looked at the symmetrical slices she had made in her flesh.

Blood appeared, but it was not red. It was the sugary, fluffy pink of the cotton candy she used to beg her parents for at the county fair. She brought her finger closer to her face. It smelled like the icing on the cupcakes that had been served at her tenth birthday party. Tentatively, she touched her tongue to the cuts. She tasted otherworldly. Moreover, sucking on her finger made all of her anger and anxiety melt away. She no longer cared that she was staring down the barrel of a Thanksgiving family gathering or that Suzie would be the center of attention while she was the recipient of passive aggressive remarks.

She had never felt so calm; her brain had never been so quiet.

I’m magical, she thought, I’m made of sugar and spice and everything nice.

The Waldorf salad came out as all Waldorf salads do and Darla spent the time remaining (before having to get in her car and fight traffic) making small slices in her arms and hands and sucking the elixir to maintain her serenity.

The contentment did not last as she crossed the threshold of her parents’ home. They had apparently decided to have an ugly sweater contest but had neglected to inform her. They were also celebrating Suzie’s promotion and new condo; Darla had known about neither.

“I’ll just put the salad…” Darla didn’t finish her statement as no one was paying attention to her. She went into the kitchen and placed the salad on the counter. A large carving knife had been laid out in preparation for slicing into the turkey later. Darla slid the knife across her palm and sucked down the pink blood that appeared.

It didn’t hit like it had before. She needed something stronger to survive a holiday in her parents’ home. Something so perfect, so infallible…

“You hiding in here?” Suzie chastised as she came into the kitchen to open a bottle of wine. She clumsily struggled with the corkscrew. “I’m no good at this.”

“You’re amazing at everything,” Darla whispered.

“Ugh,” Suzie grunted, pulling the corkscrew out lopsided and dragging it across the hand that was clutching the bottle. A small dot of purple blood appeared; royal purple like the blueberry ice cream and purple velvet cake that had been relegated to special celebration status. Darla had only once tasted the cake and that had been when her aunt had finally gotten engaged at the ripe old age of forty-five.

“What a mess,” Suzie said, grabbing a napkin to dab at the tiny puncture wound. She dropped the napkin onto the counter and Darla quickly snatched it. She pressed it to her nose and was immediately delivered from past traumas to soothing peace. As her blood was no longer working for her, she craved Suzie’s.

“If I’m magical, you must be God-like,” she sighed.

Darla heard her mother scream as she found her daughters in the kitchen. Darla was sucking on her sister’s neck while clutching a bloody knife.

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Fiction © Copyright Elaine Pascale
Image courtesy of Pixaby.com

More from Elaine Pascale:

The Kitchen Witches

The women of Cape Cod have a story that is dying to be told. If only they could live long enough to tell it.

When Fiona Walker is contracted to write about a party attended by her social circle, her friends begin dying. She captures the competition and misery of the women around her through three different stories.

In Wishes, Melanie Voss discovers a Time Between Time where nothing that happens counts. Initially, Time Between Time is a welcome escape from a life spent watching the clock while doing chores for her family. But something sinister is in the Time Between Time and it is headed straight for Melanie.

Death and Taxes tells the story of Nashville DeCota, the Cape Capo. Nash swears that she is not the Island Impaler, nor the Tooth Snatcher, but she has just as many skeletons in her closet. When her husband, Derrick, is kidnapped, she has to come clean about her crimes if she ever wants to see him again.

Fiona tells her own story in Hazing, where she finds that the real source of evil behind the deaths of her friends is worse than she could have ever imagined.

Available on Amazon!