Chocolate and Death #WEPFF Flash Fiction

https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2023/07/wep-august-challenge-chocolat-post.html

Flash Fiction

Chocolate and Death

By Jamie Dorner

*TRIGGER WARNINGS= Murder-suicide, alcohol, language, pedophilia, abortion laws, cancer, house fire.

Tagline: A tragic, controversial, trigger-heavy realistic fiction.
MPA 950 words

I start the fire on a pile of split wood dipped in kerosene outside. A slow burn will give me time. I march into the house. His bowling trophies adorn the mudroom. I knock each one over, watching the precious awards break, stomping on them to be sure none survive. I tip the vodka bottle over the shattered remains. 

"Cheers to your victories, asshole." 

I remember the first time he celebrated a win after I moved in. I was ten.

"Just like the number of pins and frames!" 

I cried harder that night than the months before, when I was mourning my parents. I tried to tell, tried to get help. Everyone cut me off, saying how grateful I must be that my Uncle Cyprus took me in. 

I pour more vodka around the kitchen as I search. There's always a box hidden somewhere. 

The den has a pile of unopened mail. Bills from the hospital. Bright red envelopes from collection agencies. Three stacks of envelopes from places that will never get paid. Cyprus has no life insurance. I take a swig of the vodka. No reason not to drink. I rub my abdomen. Nope, no reason at all. 

Once the desk drawers are flung about, and the vodka is poured out, I leave the room. I grab another bottle from the liquor cart in the living room. There must be a box somewhere, but I haven't found it yet. I knock all the pictures off the mantle. Cyprus with my dad. Cyprus with his bowling team. Cyprus with his car. No pictures of me. My parents' mantle had many pictures of me, of us together, and of their wedding. Love and hope, reasons to live. I soak his pictures with alcohol. I wish I could erase him from the world, to destroy all proof he existed. 

I yank his autographed baseball bat off the wall and head to the bathroom. I take a quick chug from the bottle before I start smashing. Seven years of bad luck for breaking a mirror? I've already had those! I glare at the motion-activated cameras he has hidden and flip them off. Let his perverted subscribers see. My final showing will be one of death and destruction. 

The smoke alarm blares as I head down the hall. My slow-burning fire has finally gotten inside. Good. But I still want to find a box.

I go into his room. This is where I made my choice. I kick his bloody body. "I know you've got a box of them somewhere. I'm going to find them. The very last box ever."

His corpse remains silent. I throw dresser drawers on him as I search. Finally, in his nightstand, I find the treasure. His Bible, as if he has any idea what that book is about, a clip of extra bullets, and the last box of chocolates. I take the box and kick the bullet hole I put in his head. 

"Told you I'd find them." I take another swig of vodka and then pour the remainder of the bottle on him and his drawers of clothing. 

I head to my room. On my desk are printouts from the doctors. Most are about my cancer and the treatment plan. Then there's one which states that I'm pregnant and thus ineligible for cancer treatment. Next is an official state document warning that I will face murder charges if the pregnancy isn't successful. Except, without the treatments, I won't survive into the second trimester. The paper on the top has a fuzzy ultrasound image attached. The fetus is deformed and underdeveloped because of my cancer. 

Humming to myself, I fill my stolen needle and then inject each chocolate. I look at the teddy bear with the webcam eye.

"I wanted to live. Just four more months and I would have been eighteen. I could have left legally. The cops brought me back three times before. But as an adult, I would have been free! Getting me knocked up might have held me back for a little longer. It's illegal to cross state lines without permission while pregnant. But my cancer-ridden body is murdering the fetus. It's illegal to grant needed medical care here in my condition. So, since I'd be dying while imprisoned for murder, I saw no reason not to kill Cyprus."

I pop a chocolate into my mouth. It oozes on my tongue. The poison stings, but the chocolate still tastes sweet. Puffs of smoke sneak under my bedroom door. 

"This is gonna be a snuff film. I hope you all get caught watching it. I hope the authorities find each and every one of you and lock you up on charges of child pornography." I eat another chocolate. "I sent copies of his computer stuff to the FBI and six news agencies. Hopefully, someone bothers to check."

It's harder to enjoy the next chocolate. The poison is fast-acting. My damaged bedroom door has tiny flames in the cracks. 

"Please know that I do not regret my choices. If I could have prevented him from molesting me, I would have. If I could have avoided him impregnating me, I would have. I'd gladly do any cancer treatment offered. I would have fought to live. And I'd have left without killing him. Yes, I thought about it. That murder was absolutely premeditated. I am grateful to be guilty of it. I might have left him alive. This is better." 

The last chocolate passes over my lips. It sticks to the roof of my mouth as my eyes close. The world fades away as the treat he always denied me mixes with my final breath. 

---

This story takes place in America. 

It may or may not be currently legal for a pregnant minor to cross state lines. There was some debate as to if human beings are the property of a state, or if that would be similar to the terms of slavery. Also, it's difficult to enforce as there's not much separating most states. 

Miscarriages may or may not be illegal, and may or may not come with a murder charge. The removal of a fetus which has a failure to thrive and has no signs of survival is also called abortion, but not removing it causes toxins that kill the host.

In some states, a pregnancy test must be done before anyone with a vagina can receive any healthcare treatment (like an Xray) that could risk a potential fetus, even when not getting that treatment immediately can mean the patient dies.

Many treatments can be denied in certain states even if there is absolutely no possible way the fetus can survive long enough in a dying host to be a viable birth -- which is the case in this story. She has been denied cancer treatment because of the pregnancy, but the fetus would never have been born anyway, it could never develop lungs or other needed organs, and the cancer will win. If she were permitted to have treatment, she might go on to have many children, maybe become the scientist who cures cancer, who knows. The fetus is no longer viable at the start of this story. The main character is dead at the end of this story. 

I'm sure there are people out there who believe cancer patients deserve to die if they're impregnated against their will. I don't. So I wrote this. 

Here are a few links, if this story doesn't seem like "realistic fiction" to you:

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/19/travel-abortion-law-missouri-00018539

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/idaho-criminalizes-helping-minors-travel-out-of-state-to-get-an-abortion

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/03/01/1158364163/3-abortion-bans-in-texas-leave-doctors-talking-in-code-to-pregnant-patients

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59214544

https://www.npr.org/2022/07/03/1109015302/abortion-prosecuting-pregnancy-loss
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/09/us/politics/ohio-abortion-issue-1-takeaways.html

I'll close with a comment I left on a NanoLand post on Facebook about a political fiction story idea that amuses me. Fiction, because there's no possible way a strong Latina and a Drag Queen will win a presidential election anytime soon. I mean, I'd vote for it, but the MAGA Reps would sooner start a war.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/NaNoWriMoparticipants/permalink/10167992311155637
https://www.ocasiocortez.com -- AOC website
https://maebeagirlforcongress.org

Protect Reproductive Freedom, End Underage Marriage, and Improve and Mandate Reproductive Education

 Please share or retweet!

 https://twitter.com/openletterbot/status/1613944160092065797

Re: Protect Reproductive Freedom, End Underage Marriage, and Improve and Mandate Reproductive Education 

Please do all that you can to protect reproductive rights and freedoms, and the clinics that serve the poor and any person who shows up in need of whatever ob/gyn services they need. It's easy to forget that the same service provided to the financially stable are ignored by protesters from the ""pro-life"" group.  An increase in unwanted or unhealthy newborns  among those who cannot afford to take care of them, or are uninterested or unable to do so, serves no one. Our current child placement system for surrendered youth is not in such excellent shape so as to be able to handle a huge influx in need. CPS will require much more funding. Programs such as WIC and CHIP will require a massive increase in funds. Taxpayers will face a huge financial burden to raise the surrendered infants to adulthood. 

But please do vote for mandatory protections and full and complete coverage for every pregnant person. No matter if the pregnancy is healthy or a complete attack on the individual, there should be no limit to the care that person receives to get back to healthy. This includes mental and emotional health as well. 100% coverage for all, no matter the outcome, from the moment the pregnancy test is positive. 

And please create a national minimum marital age no lower than the adulthood age to be held accountable for signed contracts, purchase alcohol, get a tattoo without parental approval, and rent automobiles. Anyone not old enough, mature enough, or responsible enough to do THOSE things is certainly not prepared for marriage, civil unions, or other lifetime binding commitments between consenting  adults. It's time to stop bad parents from selling off their "child brides" in this country. And to prevent them from having their children impregnated to get around current regulations. 

It is time to put more effort into educating people about consent. Especially young men. It's time to create far better reproductive health classes with better biological research and facts, and for the Department of Education to take that seriously and require such knowledge be assessed and verified before a child is permitted to go on to high school, or be eligible for a GED, or a seat as an elected official! There is a serious gap in education and knowledge among many elected officials in America. They're being asked to pass laws regulating something which they might have had no or incorrect education about, and that must be stopped. 

Please vote to give science a chance to help our country before many citizens are alienated by foolish laws with no root in provable or true reality. 

#atozchallenge The West Wing and Bowling

The West Wing
1999–2006

The Bartlet Administration. 💕

CJ and Josh help the president address the public over rising fuel prices and the president's part in controlling or influencing prices. Abbey works with a medical professionals' rights group to create a presentation for Congress on the importance of menstruation products being available for free, pap smears and HPV screenings being fully covered, and a guaranteed right to put one's own health and body first before any cell clumps.

---

(Including the right to make the choice to fight cancer rather than die pregnant. BECAUSE WE WOULDN'T WANT SOME STATE TO OUTLAW THE RIGHT OF A LIVING AMERICAN TO FIGHT CANCER FOR THEIR OWN SURVIVAL. NO, WE WOULDN'T LET SOME LAW EXIST THAT DECLARES A PERSON WITH A DEADLY DISEASE LOSES THE RIGHT TO TREATMENT IF THAT PERSON BECOMES PREGNANT- INCLUDING NOT BY CHOICE PREGNANCY- AND THEREFORE, THEY ARE CONDEMNED TO DEATH AS IS THE FETUS. AND NO, THEY AREN'T ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE STATE, EITHER. 😤 Can't imagine that happening 15 years or so after this show went off the air.)

Texas

Several States
Missouri 
"laws that clearly violate an individual’s constitutional rights, rights that have been recognized and protected for decades, are now going into effect and impacting whether people can get care,” said Emily Wales, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood affiliate."

---

While his wife is at it, the President presents a bill requiring any state that creates a law forbidding a pregnant person from leaving the state (for any reason, including possibly getting a medical procedure), must present that law in plain language to every potential person, and any family coming with them, who is being recruited to their state for research, employment, or schooling. They must be made aware that if they move to that state and become pregnant, they might not be protected by the laws of the United States. 

Then another bill to declare that a miscarriage is "an act of God," and therefore may not legally be considered a crime. Any state found trying to subvert this is subject to a billion-dollar fine per incident. And EVERY penny of the fine is donated to Planned Parenthood. (That's Billion with B. 💰💸)

Then Bartlet and the crew go into the White House basement for a bowling tournament. Leo wins.

 

My brother is in the Redneck shirt, dad is in the white shirt.

Long Shadow #WEP #WEPFF #essay #prochoice #crime or #PunxsutawneyPhil Pics

WriteEditPublishNow

My birthday is on August 21!

Picture from a birthday party in 2016.

There are two topics for my Long Shadow post. The first involves abortion (trigger warning). The second is just a collection of happy pictures from a place where a shadow matters once a year.

Long Shadow

(564-word essay)

Crime rates rise and fall from many factors, some that take decades to reveal themselves. There are ways to impact the crime rate immediately, such as altering laws, improving crime prevention measures, and giving law enforcement better training and resources. It has been postulated that permitting abortion and expanding birth control have a long-term impact on crime rates.

The reason behind it is that children who are wanted by someone with the means to properly care for them are less likely to fall into a life of crime. (The study may have focused on "blue-collar crimes" instead of "white-collar crimes.") Most notably, the odds of becoming a prostitute, drug dealer, or burglar decrease.

The idea is that someone who is prepared for the responsibility of parenthood is more likely to provide a good education, proper nutrition, a stable home, and the mental and emotional love a child requires. An excellent book to read on this topic is Freakonomics.

Some people are willing to trade a higher rate if it means abortions and birth control are more difficult to access. A fair amount of those people also do not view rape, child molestation, pedophilia, or sexual slavery as crimes. There are even some who wish to make human trafficking legal, particularly in regard to the sale of female children. Rather than as fellow humans, females are often seen as objects to them.

This type of thought may explain why so many "pro-life" protesters in America march outside of free or low-cost obstetrician clinics, intimidating women who are seeking pregnancy care as well as those considering abortions. The same protesters are less likely to stand outside of upper-class locations with obstetrics residency training, which is where the medical procedure is generally learned. Training tends to include the procedure because not all pregnancies are viable, and sometimes can result in the imminent death of both the mother and baby. However, some people strongly believe that life begins when cells can mimic a beat, but a woman of childbearing years should die if her pregnancy goes poorly, even when medicine makes that death avoidable.

Death as a predestined outcome. This means that, perhaps, some unwanted babies need to be born to grow up to become killers, sexual-assaulters, robbers, gang leaders, drug dealers, etc. Perhaps Americans need a certain amount of crime so that there are "bad guys" and thus the possibility of "good guys"?

Legal arguments as to which medical procedures a qualified medical professional should have the option of offering to a patient could be based on how it impacts society as a whole. Do religious morals have the same impact for people who do not believe in them? Should the religions and cultures of others be imposed upon people who do not share them? Where do laws come from, and do any exist for non-religious reasons?

If a law allowing abortion and expanded birth control were firmly in place, no longer teetering on the edge, would it cast a long shadow of reducing crime? If so, is that worth having some people sacrifice their moral or religious beliefs that what someone else does impacts their own afterlife?  If science could remove a fetus in the first trimester and grow it to term, would that be better? Would that help or hurt the hundreds of thousands of children in the US who are waiting to be adopted?

---

You want to talk about a LONG SHADOW?
Punxsutawney Phil is a groundhog in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. I was in Punxsutawney a few years ago. (Not on Groundhog day. Sorry.) Here are a few pictures from the town where, for one day a year, a rodent's shadow is newsworthy.

"According to the tradition, if Phil sees his shadow and returns to his hole, he has predicted six more weeks of winter-like weather." ⛄❄

Tourist Phil

Tourist stuff in town.

Me with Liberty Phil

Me with a hand-carved Phil statue

Dentist Phil

Faith or Hate

Imagine being hated on sight without having done something.

You probably don't have to imagine, because I'm pretty sure that's everyone now.

If someone asks me if I'm a Christian, my immediate gut response is, "Yes." But now I pause to think about it. Am I?

The Nazis, the Klan, the Crusades... sounds like Christians are terrorists. Am I a terrorist? No. I don't want to be part of a hate group!

I do want to keep my belief in Jesus, God, Heaven, and Hell. But I don't want to be associated with a hate group. Which matters more to me: my faith, or not being associated with a hate group?

Hang on. Why is that a choice?

When did religion become something that makes you part of a hate group?

To make matters worse, religion is also cited as the rationale behind the war on women and non-cis people. I am a woman. (A human being who identifies as female, was born with a vagina, and still have a vagina. That is me, in my case. But more importantly, I am NOT a "host body," not some laboratory equipment filled with embryonic fluid.) Several of my friends are LGBTQIA+. A handful of my friends are Jewish. I have one friend who follows Norse paganism. And another who is an atheist. I would have Muslim friends, but I don't know that I've ever met any. (Had a penpal who was, and know some from online groups, but that's more acquaintances.) I don't want to have to hate myself or my friends, or be associated with those who do.

I've seen some horrible memes lately. "Stop terrorism by hanging bacon on your doorknob and rubbing it on money." I don't want to be associated with any groups that find that funny.

Mocking people who have faith. Declaring that anyone who doesn't want to touch a pork product is a terrorist. I haven't seen them, but I'm sure there are memes of the same nature aimed at Christians.

Though, if one pays attention, the Christians from the Middle East are just as hated as the non-Christians. Not sure piggy is the problem. 🐷🥓 Where was Jesus born? Bethlehem near Jerusalem in Isreal? Wait, isn't that in the Middle East?

Wroot-wroo, Shaggy! Looks like Google Maps just dropped a hard truth.

I want to keep my faith but not be part of the hate my faith spreads. And, frankly, if the Christian Heaven requires hate to get in, not sure I'd want to go. I mean, when I read the Bible, it sounded a lot like "Love Thy Neighbor" and "Love one another" and "judge not lest ye be judged" and I swear it mentioned something about "Thou Shall Not Kill."

But, apparently, other people read it and it says, "treat women like a sub-class of living things, something with less worth than an animal; but treat fertilized eggs like Heaven's Royalty up to the second they are born." (Because the second the cord is cut, they're a drain and should be ashamed for living. Already breathing our air, creating a carbon footprint, using resources. The nerve of that one-second-old! Should know better. How dare it not come out of the womb carrying 25-carat diamond to pay its way!)

Never mind what people think it says about others who are living as they were made. They're supposed to be lying about who they are? Covering for what Christians are deeming as God's mistakes? Or are we still pretending that someone else creates some people and makes them different so as to offend Christians? Or is this something about God being too weak to defend against his creations, so some Christians are doing it because they think the Almighty isn't mighty enough but are trying to phrase it so it doesn't sound like that? (Gotta tell you, that seems pretty offensive. Pretty sure God can handle business. But I read the part about Noah. I missed the part where it said to kill off anyone who doesn't agree with certain interpretations of some sections.)

See? I'm not good at this faith. I'm not. I don't believe in hating people for being who they are. As long as it isn't violating the consent of another being (who is able to give that consent because they are of sound mind and body, and at the age of adulthood), I don't much care what people do.

Does that mean I have to be an atheist? Or have to switch religions? I've been asking that for years. I still don't know.

I doubt I'm the only one who feels this way. Wondering if abandoning religion is a way to not be hated, or associated with hate groups. Is that even enough? 

To Bad We Won't Be Voting On This

What if America's 2016 election had some of these items tossed in?

1- People who want to start a war,  especially because they are feeling intolerant,  are required to fight in it. Can't fight? Must volunteer some other way. Can't do that? Donate several thousand dollars or be jailed for intolerance.

2- Pro life protesters would be required to adopt one child for every protest they take part in. No swapping kids- you get what you get. Can't afford the kid? Should have thought of that before spreading your legs to walk to that protest. The kid tries to kill you,  or is related to someone who has harmed you? Good. Social services will stop by to make sure you're parenting well.

3- We are going to need more space in prison thanks to the first two. So weed will now be legal but restricted like alcohol. You only go to jail if your involvement with it harms another. Also,  there will be a tax on weed. (Tax evasion is still a crime.)

4- Gun owners are required to donate 10 hours a year to teaching gun safety- 5 hours if taught to more than 20 children. Must include reasons NOT to shoot.

Just a start. Not that these would be on the ballot. Easier to just blame whoever wins than take any responsibility.