The chocolate cake was a little too gooey. A little bit too burned. Even a smidge too intense in color.

Yes—Mrs. Cooper wasn’t labeled as the ‘perfect mother in the world’ even if she looked like one from the distance. She messed up. Frequently. But she did try her best on this special occasion. Just to make young Susie happy.

——

Mrs. Cooper at first glance appears quite odd. Quite _different _from all the other mothers gathered in the neighborhood.

But once you get to know this woman with bloody-red lipstick that covers half of her face, and two round fleshy eyes—you can atleased confirm that it’s true.

She doesn’t just appear odd, but in fact she is odd.

Odd in a ‘bad’ way.

——

The cake gave off a stench.

A horrible kind, to be exact.

It filled the room, and made your mouth dry. The kind of smell that reminds you of something….quite unpleasant.

Something quite—dead.

“Alright dears, Susie come blow the candles now,”

It was fresh out of the oven. Twenty minutes earlier she had prepared the cake herself, made with nothing but fresh ingredients and a spark of love.

“But mama, we need to wait for Ella!”

Susie’s head popped up from behind the counter.

Ella was her best friend. How could she blow the candles without Ella?

“My dear, Ella won’t be coming—“

“But she was just here!”

Susie burst into confusion.

“But she needed to leave early, honey,”

——-

Mrs. Cooper cut the cake into perfect little squares for each of the six—well five, children at the birthday party.

The taste was quite _odd. _Just like Mrs. Cooper.

Quite different from the rest of the cakes you would eat at normal birthday parties.

Maybe it wasn’t enough coco powder? Or maybe the chocolate was expired? For sure it didn’t taste anything like a chocolate cake….

It had more of a “meaty” taste, than normal pastries would have. Nothing sweet in it, no, rather something raw. Something horribly weird.

Something unimaginable.

Mrs. Cooper licked her lips with perfect delight, cutting herself another piece of the cake.

“Mama, I dont like this..”

Susie ran up to Mrs. Cooper, her cheeks green and eyes red from the disgust.

“Eat up, eat up, my love.”

Mrs. Cooper giggled,

“It would be a shame to waste Ella like that!”