Dark tales from the Loudverse
Tale : Meals at "Charlotte's" house
Chapter 3: Meat consumption
It was a quiet Friday on Franklin avenue, the neighbors who usually longed for some peace in the afternoon wished nothing but the usual cacophony of screams and music instead of this oppressive silence
2 days since that dreadful day, their mother came yesterday and spent almost all day hugging everyone of her kids and crying on the room of the twins hugging Lana, Lana sickness persisted until Friday morning.
Lynn father, Lori, Luan, Lynn jr and Albert spent most of the time outside, searching for her, giving flyers and asking to no avail.
The other kids with exception of Lisa were downstairs, watching the news and waiting for the police to call with information of their sister.
Meanwhile Lisa had a nap and several papers on a wall, the map had annotations, possible routes and what could interfere with the signal of the chip. Some gps or gsm blocker was out of question, she saw the signal for a few seconds jumping like crazy.
What could have caused the signal to behave like that? She has to experiment with multiple factors and take in considerations the known disadvantages of the chips.
She had contact with the police department ready in case the signal returned, she wasn't all that into faith or religion but this time she was hoping for some miracle to happen
Saturday came too slow for her, she dreaded the day
Lola was resisting the urge to eat the last candy. She was really hungry, she could barely sleep last night and had a horrible headache.
The sound of the metallic door opening catch her attention, then the smell of food, she turned and saw Charlotte wearing a chef attire and the mask of a calico cat, she had a bowl in one hand and a basket in the other, behind her a tall man dressed as a waiter and a white mask devoid of features, then a waitress holding a basket with glassware and plates, holding a camera on the other hand, she also had that eerie mask
"Bonjour Petite fille, is dinner time" she sounded excited and took her place in her side of the table
Bread, she could smell it, and some kind of meat and cheese, she went to the table without thinking and took seat.
"What is… who are they" She pointed to the other figures who were serving the plates
"Just some servants, don't mind them"
She takes a keyring and gives it to the woman.
"When we meet I asked if you preferred Chinese or Mexican, you gave me no answer so we are having Ukrainian food" She gives a signal to both of them when plates are served, the man goes to the exterior and returns with a bag. The woman grabs a tray with food opens the gate of Lola's 'room' and enters, before Lola could enter the door is closed again
"Remain there petite fille and don't speak or move until I tell you" Charlotte voice lets her false sweetness go away, she leans closer her voice filled Lola with dread even with the glass between them.
"This is a free country dear" Lola crosses her arms and turns her back to Charlotte "and what about the camera?"
A gunshot behind her could be heard, she turns quickly and see the waiter pointing a gun to one of the walls and a wicked smile on Charlotte
"My friend there also has one petite fille, so be a dear and do as I said, ok?"
"S-sure" all the bravado she had vanished, she turned to see her kidnapper and sat still
"Good, now begin recording" her false smile returned
The waitress began advancing towards a nervous Lola, she quickly and efficiently set the table as she filmed everything.
Lola was still scared but a bit impressed by the dexterity of the woman, in from of her was a large glass with ice and a yellow liquid and what look like slices of fruit, in a small bowl was a red salad, salt and pepper shakers, a plate with 3 breads and by the smell of it some cheese sauce
"Good, this is inspired on their cuisine, I made some little changes here and there." Charlotte grabs the bowl and shows the comments as she stirs it " beet, potatoes, pickles, carrots, peas blah blah blah, just a salad, now this" grabbing one of the beads and breaking it in half.
"This is a Pirozhki, i grounded the cuts i consider the best and seasoned it with coriander, black pepper, dill and cinnamon, made some gravy from our meat, made a fine layer of mashed potatoes, the grounded meat, gravy and cheese, i also made a basic cheese sauce for you to dip your meal if you want"
Lola can't help but salivate, the forced fasting, the smell and how the melted cheese looked… she sighed and tried no to drool.
"And this, is Uzvar, made with dried fruits and berries, and sweetened with honey, i added some spices to give it an extra touch" Charlotte put the pirozhki on the plate and a more genuine but still kinda off-putting smile on her face "please begin eating petite fille, i took pride on my cooking skills to make this an unforgettable experience"
Shyly at first Lola began filling her stomach, the salad was good but nothing special, the drink was something special, but the bread, she was not an expert on gastronomy but she could tell that extra effort was put on this than the other dishes.
She didn't even notice when she the waitress mounted the camera on a tripod, or when she left her cell to retrieve the bag and comeback, or when the other left the room, she just filled her stomach and finished her meal.
Charlotte eat too, chuckling softly each time she bite on her bread.
Once Lola finished she began to feel sleepy, but refused to sleep until she was alone. There was something unsettling on the way the waiters moved and turned their heads when the dinner took place, and the constant giggling of Charlotte.
"That wasn't that bad right petite fille?"
" I guess not..."
"Did you enjoyed the meal?"
"kinda, it could been better" Lola gulps
"I'm intrigued, how could it be better?" Charlotte leans closer and tilt her head
"i have a large family, i need some noise, maybe music on the background?"
"Oh, i could fix that, now tell me, what do you think of the meat we just had?"
"It was good i guess, you said it was pork? it tastes nothing like that."Once those words left her mouth she watched as that creepy smile spread on Charlotte face and giggled once again, she glanced quickly to her right and noticed how uncomfortable was the waitress, obviously she was also creeped to a certain degree from how Charlotte behaved
"Good, good, petite fille, im so glad you enjoyed our meal, now we are equals so i have some gifts for you my dear, on that bag is a change of clothes, some magazines, candies and photos of your family, they need to be more weary of who they befriend of on social media" She lets another chuckle out "and some more pirozhki, this are sweet ones not the ones we ate today, have any questions?
"Just one, i had the dinner you wanted, can i go home now? Wait… what do you mean equals?
"Not yet my dear, just one more dinner and depending on how you behave and react at it you maybe could go, after the next dinner I'll tell you what I meant"
Lola just wanted to sleep, but the small news that she could go home soon gave her the extra energy she wanted, also the opportunity to see her family even on photos was exciting for her, she really missed them so she just smiled
"Pot roast, BBQ, hamburgers, something else? What do you fancy for our next dinner?"
"Being home, or pizza"
Charlotte smiled, turn to her helper and clapped her hands two times and the waitress stop the recording and grabbed the camera and the plates and exited the room
"See ya Monday at 5 pm petite fille, but don't worry, i won't let you starve again, she will bring you meals until then, it won't be long pig because i dont trust on their abilities and i want to deliver the best experience, Au revoir."
Lola was once again alone, a bag full of Jolly rancher, a expensive dress, a couple of those breads but filled with cherries and others with apples and the photos, photos they all had on their facespace or chripper, she let some tears flow before falling asleep hugging one photo of all the family celebrating hers and Lana's sixth birthday.
Author notes:
We are reaching the final lap with this story, the last chapter will be an epilogue and that will have a preview to our next story.
Some of the stories will be shorter, others will be longer.