Lemon Cake

I’ve been staring at this menu for the last five minutes. I don’t recognize any of the food items. They all seem like made-up words to me. There are no pictures either. I don’t know why James brought me to this restaurant. It’s my birthday today so he wanted to surprise me. I appreciate it, but he could have picked a better place. He went here last week with his coworkers and loved it. I really question his taste sometimes. There is nothing special about this place. All the walls have this disgusting brown color. The atmosphere is so depressing. Not to mention that there’s barely anyone here.

“You can stop staring at the menu Susan. You know I’m gonna order for you,” he says.

“Was just trying to figure things out,” I reply.

“It’s confusing. I get it, but trust me, the food here is delicious. Look, the waitress is on her way.”

A tall skinny blonde woman comes by. She looks like she wants to be somewhere else. Honestly, I don’t blame her.

“You’re all ready to order?” she says apathetically.

“Yes, we’ll both have number 20 please,” says James.

She grabs our menus and walks away.

“What did you get us?” I ask.

“You’ll see,” he replies.

To my surprise, the waitress is already back. She gave each of us a piece of lemon cake.

“Enjoy,” she says as she walks away.

“Happy birthday,” says James.

“Thanks.”

Did he just brought me here to eat lemon cake? I mean, it’s my favorite. It looks good, but why are we starting with dessert? Something doesn’t feel quite right.

“Aren’t you gonna try it?” says James impatiently.

“I will, it’s just…”

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

I see people from other tables looking at me. They all have a look of disgust on their face. The restaurant seems more crowded all of the sudden. Seats that were empty before are now occupied. Where did these people come from? What’s their problem?

To make things worst, they started whispering. I can’t understand what they’re saying, but it’s getting louder and louder. James doesn’t seem bothered by any of this. In fact, he starts repeating himself. “Aren’t you gonna try it?”

I’m just there staring at the lemon cake, looking away from everyone. I’m trying to ignore the whispers, but it’s becoming unbearable. I want to get this over with, so I grab a bite.

The whispering stops. It got so quiet; you could hear the tiniest noise. Everybody in the restaurant, including James, is waiting for my verdict.

“So how is it? Do you like it?” James asks.

I feel sick. I get up and run towards the restroom. The people around me got angry and started calling me names I've never heard of before.

As soon as I open the door, I started vomiting. What kind of cake was that?

Someone knocks on the door. “Is everything alright?” James shouts.

“I’m fine, just give me a moment.” My stomach is turning. My throat hurts really bad as well. I’ve never felt this awful before. At least for now I’m away from all the chaos.

A couple of minutes went by. I can’t say exactly how long. Was it 10 minutes, 15 minutes, or 20 minutes? Regardless, I feel a little bit better now. I no longer hear anything. Things seem calmer now.

After finally collecting myself, I open the door. I notice that everyone’s gone, except for James. Strangely, his head is on the table, as if he was taking a nap. Half of his lemon cake is eaten. I’m slowly making my way back. As I get closer, I see that his eyes are wide open. Blood was coming out of his mouth.

“James!?” I panic. He’s not moving. I started screaming. “Is anybody here!? I need help!”

I yell multiple times, hoping there would be someone to hear me. Nobody is answering. I’m looking for my phone but then I remember that I left it in the car. Suddenly, gas was coming from the kitchen. The smell is terrible. I quickly run to the exit door, but it’s locked. I started to feel dizzy. I’m trying to find another door, but the atmosphere is getting more and more suffocating. Next thing I know, I’m on the ground. I can’t feel my body. Everything is pitch black.

I can barely open my eyes. There seems to be some people around me. It’s hard to look at their faces since my vision is somewhat blurred. How long was I asleep for?

“This is the patient you’ll be helping us to take care of.”

Who is this woman? What’s going on? What is this place? Wait, I think I’m getting my vision back.

“What happened?”

“She just had another episode.”

“We’ve been trying all kinds of medications for months; they don’t seem to work.”

Is that…the waitress? Why is she wearing a doctor’s uniform? The others…they seem like nurses.

“Her condition has gotten worse since we brought her here.”

“What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know.”

“They should have sent her to prison for what she did to her husband. She doesn’t belong here.”

“What did she do?”

“She poisoned him.”

Poison? I didn’t poison James. No no, she got it all wrong.

“Let’s bring her back to her room, we’ll see what else we can do tomorrow.”

I’m trying to speak, but I can’t. Are these side effects? Who knows what they've put in my body. I need to get out of here. Why are they saying that I poisoned my husband? I would never do that. I need to find the real killer.

They brough me into this dark room with no windows. The door shuts abruptly and now I’m all alone. I’m attached to this bed, and I can barely move.

I need to get out of here. I need answers. I’ll try closing my eyes and think. I have to remember what happened. Who put poison in the lemon cake?

I hear whispers.