Creative Writing - Appetites - Essay Example

? Experiment 4: “Appetites” Word Count: 2,881 (10 pages) Experiment 4: “Appetites” Every relationship has something representative of the unique dynamic of their relationship. Well, for Sebastian and Kate there were four simple rules: 1. We must eat every meal together. 2. Never talk about what happens at meals. 3. Never eat a meal with someone else in a one-on-one setting. 4. Never start a meal before the other. These rules were written in a very traditional cursive in a black font on fancy, rough, cream paper. It was written with such precision and intricacy that it looked like a calligraphy, which was written multiple times until it was perfect. This list of rules was in a black, handcrafted frame that really accentuated the font, causing the rules to pop off the page when anyone looked at it. Kate and Sebastian thought it would be appropriate to hang this list of rules in the dining room, since that was what the rules were in reference to and it was also the most sacred room in the house. When looking around Sebastian and Kate’s house, one might not see this document as having great importance, but that is far from the truth. These rules were the cornerstone of their relationship. If one were to break such a rule, for someone else it might be equivalent to cheating on your spouse by having sex with someone other than your spouse. Every week they have a theme, a country, that dictates all of the food they eat for that week. The themes start on Sunday and end that following Saturday night. Saturday night is always the biggest meal of the week. They always save the most exotic dish from that specific country for that Saturday meal. The Saturday meal always took huge preparations. They would switch off every other week putting on the Saturday meal. The person responsible for putting on the Saturday meal would be responsible for selecting the table covers, silverware, and preparing the food. Separately they would both pick out their outfits, which were supposed to mimic formal attire that would be worn in that country. This week’s theme was going to be South Korea. Sebastian was responsible for putting on the big meal that Saturday. This was a going to be a huge week for both of them, and they both were extremely anxious. It took weeks to fully prepare the menu for this week. Once they did that, they had to order all of the food and make sure they stored it properly. It was crucial that whoever was responsible for preparing the food knew how to properly prepare it or else the consequences could be fatal. Since a lot of the meals that they would eat on Saturday evenings had the potential of being dangerous, allowing one spouse to prepare the food demonstrated the ultimate trust within this relationship. Sebastian really wanted to make this meal a special one, since it was a country that they had both been anticipating for months. He thought that Sannakji, wriggling octopus, would be a good choice given its unique texture and its lethality. Sannakji is a mild-tasting, lightly seasoned delicacy that is known for choking individuals. It is prepared in a manner that the octopus’s legs are removed while the octopus is still alive. This causes the legs to wriggle around on the plate like a pile of worms. The tentacles’ suction cups can stick to your inside your throat or to your cheeks. The lights were dimmed, giving a very romantic ambience to the meal. There was a small two-person table in the middle of their dining room. There was a candle in the middle of the table that gave off a lavender aroma throughout the room. The candle was in a very nice, sterling silver candleholder. The tablecloth had a very strange texture; it was leather with animal fur on top of it. The very coarse hair was cream with a yellow tint to it. The chairs, which were made of mahogany wood, had seat covers on top of it that matched the same material of the tablecloth. There were two table settings; the napkins and placemats both matched the tablecloth and chair seats. There were two beautiful, ornate yellow plates with sterling silver chargers underneath the plates that matched the silverware. Sebastian placed a small bowl of kimchi at each place. Then, he took off his white cook’s apron. Sebastian went to the bathroom and straightened the collar on his blue button-down shirt. He also combed his gelled, slicked-back brown hair. His face was nice and clean-shaven just like Kate preferred. He had both of his silver cuff links in his shirt. He wore Khaki pants with a black dress belt. His black dress shoes were nice and shiny just like he always wanted. He had forgotten to spray his cologne on. The norm was, that after everything was set the way the designated chef liked, then the chef would go get the other person from their room. Fortunately enough, he didn’t have to go back to their bedroom in order to get his cologne. He left his cologne in his workout duffle bag, which was in his car. So, he went and sprayed that on his two wrists and on his neck. He was ready, so he went to the bedroom. Kate was wearing very unique attire. She had on a red Hanbok (the term literally translates to “Korean Clothing”), which is the traditional Korean dress. Sebastian came over and gently kissed Kate on the cheek, and then said, “Shall we?” She said, “Yes, let’s.” He took her by the hand, leading her to the dinner table in the dining room affixed to the kitchen. Kate was breathless when she saw how meticulously prepared everything was—from the hand-rolled “kim-pap” sushi, to the kimchi placed on the plates atop the sterling silver chargers, to the delicate orchids that were the centerpieces of the table. The silver chargers shone from the light coming from the dim lavender candles. The very aroma of the lavender was intoxicating. Sebastian took out her seat for her. “Please, after you, mi’lady.” He smiled gently. Kate started in on her spicy kimchi. “I love this stinky cabbage. Mine is a little spicy though.” She started choking vehemently, taking long sips of water out of her 16 oz. balloon goblet water glass. Sebastian was coolly sipping on his white wine, seeming a bit—well, reserved was probably the proper word for it. “Are you okay, darling? I absolutely love the kimchi, hmm? How ‘bout you?” Kate was still choking. Sebastian, not lifting a finger to help out his wife, thought, My God. She might actually make it to the Sannakji. Kate soon stopped coughing, apparently the difficulty with the spiciness having passed. She asked, “What’s next, Babe? I think we should just move on to the next course if you’re finished.” Then Sebastian served her Korean sushi which he had prepared himself by hand—seaweed, white rice, faux lobster meat, and sweet yellow beat. Oh, and a touch of arsenic. But just a touch. It wasn’t like he was giving her cyanide. The arsenic had been put into her food three alternating Saturday nights in a row. He was wondering when it would start to kick in—would it be this Saturday? He couldn’t keep this up much longer. Kate, however, must’ve had a stomach built of iron. Even though Sebastian had put a little more arsenic in this week than usual, he was pretty sure it still might take a little while to get into her system. By the time they were both ready to move to eating the octopus, Sebastian was so excited because he had let the octopus be served as-is. He was just going to tell her that the octopus wiggling around was basically moving due to nerve endings that were still working—similar to how a chicken can still run around after having its head cut off due to the nerve endings still functioning. He was pretty sure this was going to be the end of her. Sebastian, however, had fully cooked and properly prepared his own Sannakji. Oddly enough, Kate got through the entire meal without a hitch. She didn’t even seem to notice that she was eating live octopus. Frankly, he started having second thoughts. Maybe she was like a cat—you know, she had nine lives. She had eaten a completely live octopus! He almost wanted to tell her, and then thought the better of it. He didn’t want to ruin his plan. Even though Kate was, by no stretch of the imagination, a beautiful girl—Helena was a woman. Sebastian only thought of Helena throughout the whole time he was watching Kate choke on that kimchi. Strangely enough, however—the fact that Kate had survived three weeks of having been fed arsenic in her Saturday meals and now had even eaten spicy kimchi, in addition to live octopus—these events turned him on greatly. Finally, Sebastian and Kate retired to bed, where they would make amorous overtures until Sebastian claimed he was so tired from cooking. Kate acquiesced, thinking it might be a lie. When Sebastian thought Kate was asleep, he slipped quietly out of the room and changed into his other clothes, which he had prepared in advance. Sebastian did not know that Kate was just playing “Possum.” She was really awake. She decided to follow him to the specialty sushi bar that was downtown, named Akai (pronounced ah-kah, which is Japanese for the word “red”). Kate knew for some time that Sebastian had somewhat of an obsession of late for sushi—as evidenced by him having prepared Korean sushi as one of the three dishes at dinner that night. Kate tried to make herself look as inconspicuous as she could—finally securing a place by the bar wearing a hat and her reading glasses, the quickest disguise she could come up with while running out of the house to be able to follow Sebastian. Kate saw a beautiful, tan woman walk into the sushi bar. She had gorgeous bleach-blonde hair. Those boobs were obviously fake. She had a nose job, too—it was rather obvious by looking at the bridge of her nose. Whatever was going on between Sebastian and this woman, she was obviously giving Sebastian a snow job. There was no way she would have been someone that would’ve been interested in Sebastian, with his cheap knock-off Ralph Lauren and tacky tweed suit. He just looked like another guy in a bar trying to pick up chicks—he looked like a professor in that get-up. One of the dishes Akai was known for was its famous signature dish—fugu. Also known as puffer fish, or the blowfish—fugu could be lethal if not prepared properly by the chef, due to the level of tetrodotoxin that could be released. Also known as TTX, was a neurotoxin that would paralyze the person who had ingested it, leading to a slow death by asphyxiation. Kate could clearly hear Sebastian order some puffer fish for himself and his “date,” as well as some sake. Kate knew immediately what she was going to prepare for next Saturday’s meal. Time for some Japanese sushi, baby. When next Saturday rolled around, Kate told Sebastian they would be doing things a little differently this week. They were going to sit on tatami while eating—which are Japanese bamboo mats. Much in the style of a ritualistic Japanese tea ceremony, Kate had prepared the meal with all the care of a real chef. She made sure that she left the tetrodotoxin inside the fish, even making sure that the entire puffer fish was soaked in tetrodotoxin from a third fish she had bought. This way, there was no chance that Sebastian would miss it. As she prepared dinner, she thought about all the good times she and Sebastian had had—their ski trip to Colorado for their honeymoon, their vacations to Hawaii and Paris. But now, she put all that out of her mind as she watched herself pour some tetrodotoxin onto her plate of fugu fish as well. Before dinner, Kate wasn’t feeling very well. She wondered if she was just nervous. But, she didn’t feel nervous. She was totally intentioned and serious about murdering Sebastian. Just the fact that he ate the exotic fugu with another woman made her blood boil. Well, he would surely find out what it was like eating fugu fish with a real woman. Just in case things went awry, Kate took out Old Faithful. Old Faithful was an authentic samurai sword made by Masamune that she had bought while she was in Japan. It was an antique, but a dealer gave her a deal because he thought she looked like a celebrity. She was able to get away with a great deal. Kate also made sure to place some kitchen knives from the Japanese city of Sakai in the dining room for added protection. Sebastian came home from work, not really being very aware of much—he was so tired, having worked at his dead-end sales job all day trying to get people to buy vacuum cleaners over the phone. He was so tired, he sat down and started drinking some sake. Kate had only said that tonight was going to have a Japanese theme and that was it. Sebastian started to apologize. He started by saying, “Honey, I have something to tell you.” Kate just stared at him coldly, saying, “Babe, just eat first. Think later.” Sebastian took a huge bite of fugu fish before saying, “Mmh. This is, omigod delicious. What did you do to it? Baby, I just wanted to say that you are the greatest wife ever and I wanted to apologize.” Kate said, “Apologize? Apologize for what?” “There’s no easy way to say this, Kate.” He paused. “I’ve been having an affair. I told her last night that it’s over, I just…I want us to be exclusive again. I met Helena and thought she was so great but I,” he started to choke up a bit, “I only love you.” “You want to apologize, huh?” Kate said. “Yes, with all my heart. Kate, I’m having a difficult time breathing…” “Serves you right, bastard. How long was this going on?” “I can’t…I can’t…” Kate calmly and coolly reached for the phone. “I’m dialing 9-1-1.” “Hello?” “Yes, please come to 415 Walnut Drive immediately.” The operator said, “And the reason you’re calling, Ma’am?” “There’s been a murder.” Kate hung up. As Sebastian began to start to have difficulty breathing, he also started to be unable to control his motor functions, ultimately laying there, having spilled his sake all over him. He was pitiful. Kate opened the door so the paramedics could get in easily. She took Old Faithful out of her sheath, and took off Sebastian’s pants. As she held the sword above Sebastian’s now-helpless body, she put his hand on the sword and proceeded to make a calculated swipe towards his manhood, which made a successful (read: clean) cut. Sebastian was horrified. Just as Kate picked up the samurai sword to impale herself, she fell in a heap to the floor. The paramedics arrived, putting Sebastian on an IV and pumping his stomach. They rushed him to the hospital. Sebastian woke up with his hand cuffed to the rail on the side of his hospital bed. He also had bandages on his pubic area, and was in a lot of pain. The doctor stepped up next to Sebastian’s bed. “You are a very lucky young man, Sebastian.” “Unfortunately, we were not able to save your male parts. Otherwise, you should be able to fully recover. You were only partially paralyzed for a short time. However, the police came to the scene and found that your wife, Kate, died…of arsenic poisoning.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Can you please have someone call at this number and tell the person who answers the phone to come see me?” “Yes, of course,” the doctor said. “Now, Officer Ridley would like to speak with you.” A burly policeman entered the room. “Is he awake?” “Yes sir.” “Once you are released from the hospital, you will be charged in the murder of your wife, Kathryn Lane of 415 Walnut Drive. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be used against you in a court of law…” The cop’s voice trailed off as Sebastian slipped into a fitful sleep. When the nurse came into Sebastian’s room the next morning, his sheets were soaked red with blood. He had slit both his wrists and had impaled himself with a scalpel. The nurse screamed, yelling, “We need some help in here!” Other medical personnel came running, just as Helena arrived. She came to the doorframe and took one look at Sebastian dying in his own self-made blood bath. She uttered the word “bastard” under her breath, and then turned around and walked out of the hospital forever, her 5-inch red stiletto heels clicking on the floor as she made her exit. The fluorescent lights and sterile white walls were all that was left—bright, but empty and alone and blank like Helena’s soul. Read More