The Cake of Lowland Park, Part II

This is the second part of my newest short story: “The Cake of Lowland Park.” Free and only available here on my blog! If you have not already, make sure to read Part One first. If you enjoy what you read here, please share with your friends— it helps me immensely!

It was now late afternoon in Lowland Park. Shadows began to lengthen as the squirrels skittered back to their dumpsters, the birds settling into nests made of cigarette butts. Eventually the streetlights flicked on, spotting the park with blue green light. Throughout all this, the cake kept its perfection. It did not melt, it did not sag or gain pests. It was as if the cake existed inside of an invisible perfect bubble. If anyone had been watching the cake consistently, they may wonder about its flawlessness. But no one did.

A few more people passed by the clearing. Just after the sun went down a middle aged man jogged through the park, but to him the cake registered as nothing more than a white blur. He was lost in thought-- his daughter's 16th birthday was coming up and she had been so sad lately, so crushed and insecure. He couldn’t remember the last time he saw the girl smile. He racked his brain for a gift that would cheer her. Maybe a painting class? She had always loved art. His thudding footsteps disappeared. 

A woman on her cell phone, congratulating someone on a promotion, didn’t see the cake either. Nor did a dog walker, though the greyhound took a passing interest but proved to be better behaved than Meadowstorm. 

It was almost fully dark before anyone else took notice of the cake. It was quiet through the park as a young man walked by the clearing. Eugene was an odd character, a thin and nervous man wearing a long coat despite the warmer weather. He adjusted his thick glasses as he looked this way and that, creeping towards the clearing as if anticipating a sneak attack. 

Eugene worked from home, but liked to walk in the park at night when there was no one there to rob him or, worse, catch a virus from. It took Eugene a while to see the cake because he had been staring at the ground as he walked, vigilant to avoid any discarded hypodermic needles or rattlesnakes. 

Eugene practically bumped into the table before he saw the cake. He recoiled in horror at the sight of it, a scream rising from his throat. 

A cake? Some kind of wedding cake, left out alone? The nefarious possibilities were endless. Eugene began to sweat as his mind raced to comprehend this cake’s potential arsenal. Obviously it must be poisoned. Maybe a maniac had filled the cake with arsenic, like Halloween candy or those aspirin tablets in the 80s. Everyone who ate a slice would die an agonizing death! Or perhaps the cake was filled with some super-potent narcotic, capable of causing an immediate and crushing addiction. The possibilities are endless! 

Eugene circled the cake like a bomb tech. Even if it wasn't poisoned, the cake was certainly infected. Sitting out here in the sun, with all the people breathing, sneezing, coughing near it. It likely was covered in viruses; everything from flu to meningitis. And that's not even getting into the bacteria growing! Why, this cake was deadlier than a hydrogen bomb! He could be in the hospital for weeks! 

Eugene fled. He tripped out of the park, certain the fright had given him a heart attack. He was fumbling with his phone, calling his doctor's office for the 3rd time that day. 

The cake remained. 

As the stars punched through a dark velvet sky, things in the park clearing started to change. The air around the cake began warp and dilate, as if an invisible hand stirred the very reality around it. A red glowing circle appeared in the grass, faint at first, and then bright and hot as fire. The circle rotated at a rapid pace, sparking unholy sigils that burned brightly through the night air, a miasma of hot metal and incense rising from the portal. 

The ground flexed, heaved, and gave birth to a demon. The great and terrible Lamia rose up from Hell, flicking sparks and embers from her hair, her unholy skin steaming in the night. Her upper body bore the appearance of a beautiful woman with great horns, her lower half being that of a serpent.

 Lamia was pissed. 

“SERIOUSLY?” She screamed, her voice a jagged tear in the night.  “No one was tempted by the cake? Not a single mortal? REALLY?” 

There was a bright flash from the other side of the table. Out of a glowing, suspended and rushed portal dropped an angel. 

He landed on the grass with a thunk, lyre bouncing away into the bushes. He didn’t look like an angel…he looked like a bureaucrat. A small man in a brown suit with thick glasses. It was only Yurba’s great beating wings that gave away his divinity. 

Yurba hurried after his lyre, trying to get his bearings. Larnia did not notice him. She was too busy having a fit, her fearsome serpent body wrapped around the park table as if she meant to crush it. The cake sat placidly, immune to the heat of her demonic rage. 

“Not a single bite, no one even stopped to taste the frosting! That's the best part!” 

Yurba, having retrieved his instrument, looked cynically at the cake. 

“So, what was the trap again?” Asked Yurba dryly “The mortals are lured by the cake, eat it ...then what? Do they turn into a pile of snakes or something?”

“No one does snake spells anymore, you winged cabbage.” Larnia sneered, “This cake is full of scorpion dreams and hatred, driven by the power of a fallen human soul. Each bite has the power to cause instant possession. I'm talking spinning heads, speaking in tongues, cursing priests in Latin, agonizing death, the works. BUT NO ONE ATE IT”

Larnia unleashed a wail and threw herself on the ground, thrashing. Where her body touched the earth, the grass sizzled. Yurba had to dodge her flinging tail, trying not to roll his eyes. Demons were such babies. Sure they were pure evil incarnate, but as soon as something doesn’t go their way, it's waterworks. 

Yurba had been assigned demon monitor duty as punishment.

Despite his appearance, Yurba wasn’t great with forms, and had accidentally switched up some divine orders a few months back. As a result, a baby that was supposed to be the next pope was given to an atheist couple. He had argued that the atheist couple were still pretty good parents, but that just made his bosses angrier. Yurba had been stuck with Lamia ever since. 

“Come on, get up off the ground. You look ridiculous,” Sighed the angel. Lamia, taken aback, glared up at him from where she wallowed in the dirt. “Come on, up, up. You got 5 souls this season, fair and square. Besides, you were foolish to think this would work. Even you have to admit that this is a pretty hack plan.” 

“I coulda gotten that kid” Sniveled Lamia. Yurba let out a laugh like a church bell on a cold Sunday. 

“Really? That was your great plan of corruption? Tempting a baby with candy? Wow yes Lucifer himself would have rolled out the red carpet for that amazing feat. Besides, I wouldn’t have let you keep it, you know children aren’t allowed. Not even that one. Now get up.” 

Lamia rose on her tail and shook like a dog, eyeing the angel warily 

“And are you….trying to comfort me?” She hissed. Yurba shrugged, fluffed his wings. Lamia growled with amusement

“Well, I’ll be damned again. It's the first time an angel has tried to comfort me on a bad hunt. Oh well, better pack it in.” 

Lamia snapped her ember fingers. The sound reverberated, filling the air with a faint hum. The cake began to levitate and blossom like a cursed flower. First came unfolding layers of frosting and pastry, then glistening human viscera burning away to reveal an impossibly bright light in the center. It was some kind of trapped creature–-glowing and boiling and turning. Once released it burned out like a match. Gone forever. 

Lamia leaned in and sniffed the soul smoke left behind “This soul must have been a prude in life. Ah, that was the trouble. Needed a real slut to pull off this kinda spell. Well, live and learn.”

She rotated her upper body towards Yurba, “Wanna get a glass of wine in purgatory before calling it a day?”

Yurba checked his dogmatic watch and was reminded that time was an illusion. He wasn’t in the habit of mixing work and pleasure, but one glass of one wouldn’t hurt. Yurba nodded and the two disappeared in a flash of light. 

Lowland park became quiet and stayed that way. 

Like what you read here? Please share with your friends! And stay tuned for the next post, where we will discuss Oceanic Horror