No Name Flavor



 I’ve never believed in monsters or the scary tales from around the campfire. Or at least I didn’t; not until I met The No Name Flavor. Just thinking about my encounter makes me cry and I get the urge to vomit. I’m not doing this for your sympathy but more for the last little bit of sanity I have left. This is the last you’ll ever hear from me. Even now as I write this I can feel that thing coming for me. Mr. No Name warned me about telling anybody of his master’s 'special ingredient. 'I have nothing left to have taken from me and my fear has turned to pure bitterness. Even as I sit here in this white room, with no windows or pretty pictures, I feel him watching me. I don’t have much time, so let me just get straight into it.

 I was twenty eight weeks pregnant and it wouldn’t be too long now before I got to meet my little Penelope. My husband and I had been trying for some time now to have a baby and finally our prayers were answered. The doctors had said that it wouldn’t be possible for me to carry a baby, so when I came in with the news, they said there was a good chance I’d loose it. Nothing like that had happened and Penelope was growing into a healthy little baby. She was our little miracle child or she would have been had I not gone to that ice cream shop.

 My husband Danny and I were pure western. We would wear our cowboy boots with faded jeans and the hat to match. We lived in the small little town of Luckenbach, Texas. There were not many people living there but we were all family and neighbors really were neighbors. Everybody knew that we were trying to have a baby with little success, so when we brought home the news that there would be a new edition to the family, there was a party. That was joyous day and the joy lasted all the way until that life changing day.

 Back to me being twenty eight weeks pregnant. I was having very strong cravings and the newest one was ice cream. Not any particular flavor, just ice cream in general. I had heard of a little shop that was supposed to sell really good ice cream; I think the name was Sugar Babies. I had wanted to check it out for some time and this was my excuse to have Danny drive me there. “Hey Dan, I really want some ice cream. Ya know that lil’ place called Sugar Babies? Let’s go check it out!” I yelled to him from across the living room. He came in from the kitchen and rubbed his hand on his forehead before giving me a lazy smile. “Awright Ginger; if ya wannit, ya’ll have it” he said before giving me a kiss on the nose. I’ve hated myself for that decision ever since.

 We got in the car and drove off into downtown looking from shop to shop hoping to spot our destination. Finally, we came across a bubble gum pink hut with the smiling picture of a baby on the front and a faded wooden sign that read Sugar Babies in curly writing. It didn’t look like much but there were quite a few cars outside so I figured the ice cream must be good. Danny got out of the car and came around to help me on to my feet. He gave it a skeptical look before turning to me and holding out his arm so I could use it for support. “Ah can’t say it looks purty but if it’s what ya want, it’s what ya’ll get” he said before we entered the building.

 We walked inside and were surprised by how nicely decorated it was on the inside compared to the outside. The walls were a pearly white with pink poka dots and everything was sparkly. Behind the counter was an old man that looked like he was about 68 years of age. He had on a bright smile and greeted us when we walked through the door. “How ya’ll doin’ this fine mornin’? Mah names Mr. Sugar” he said happily. He seemed to be eyeing my stomach but I assumed it was just my imagination. “We got all kinds of flavors here and especially those classic favorites like vanilla and chocolate but I recommend you take The No Name Flavor Challenge.” he said. This last bit peaked my interest and proceeded to ask him what it was. “I see I’ve gotten ya interested. Well lemme tell ya then. Ah have one ice cream here that has no name. It’s mah secret recipe! If ya’ll will be brave and taste it, you can have yur ice cream fer free!” he told me. I considered this for a moment before putting on my game face and accepting the challenge. He handed me a spoon with a sickening looking goop. It was brown with swirls of dark red. It didn’t look the least bit appetizing but I had already accepted the challenge and wasn’t going to chicken out now. I closed my eyes and shoved the spoon in my mouth. I wish I never had.

 It was delicious! I couldn’t describe what it reminded me of but it was absolutely wonderful. I sucked on the spoon with a smile on my face and gave the man a thumbs up. He looked pleased and as promised we got our ice cream for free. I got more of the No Name Flavor. The thought of me enjoying it disgusts me and makes my stomach turn. “What’s in this here ice cream?” I asked, mouth full of ice cream. He gave me a smile and shook his finger. “Now now miss, that’s mah secret recipe. Ah just can’t go giving it away to every gal who asks for it!” he replied. I gave him a pout before smiling and stuffing my face with more of the ice cream. Danny wouldn’t touch the stuff telling me it looked like it came from his rear end. Perhaps it’s the reason he wasn’t hurt. This is the last happy memory I can recall before it came for me.

 That night was a lonely one. Danny had gone out with his friends and I was left alone with only the television for entertainment. Seeing as there wasn’t much on TV I decided to go to bed early so I wouldn’t be so bored; besides I was feeling a bit more exhausted than usual. I yawned and climbed into bed. “Goodnight Penelope” I whispered while caressing my stomach lovingly. I shut out the lights and began to drift into sleep thinking of all the wonderful times I’d have with my little girl. Just as I was about to drift out of consciousness, a happy little music box tune started to play. Now this was odd seeing as I had no music boxes in my room. I tried to turn on the lights only to find that they weren’t working. Fear started to work its way into my brain sending me into full paranoia. Suddenly, a sweet aroma filled the room. It smelled like vanilla. The music continued and the smell just got stronger making me nearly joke on the thick and heavy air. I stuck my hands out in front of me and they made contact with something cold and sticky. The substance started to pour on my hands and down my arms. One light suddenly flickered and gave me just enough time to see the face that haunts me to this day.

 I saw these white sinister eyes that seemed to bulge out of the head of this gooey, ice creamy mass of a person. It had on a psychotic grin and licked the ice cream that dripped from his lips. I tried to scream but found that everything in my body was frozen. It put its finger to its lips and shushed me, all the while the music playing in the background. “I am Mr. No Name,” it hissed “my master, Mr. Sugar, needs more of his special ingredient and you have that of which he needs. You ate the No Name Flavor and now you need to give back what you took!” Its eyes traveled down my body and stopped on my stomach. I was instantly horrified when I realized what it wanted. My mind started racing, thoughts flying in and out of my head. Finally one scenario pieced itself together and my face drained of any color it had left. The special ingredient in the No Name Flavor ice cream was babies and I had just offered myself to this creation of Mr. Sugar’s by accepting his challenge and eating his foul concoction. I then thought of the name of the ice cream shop, Sugar Babies, and nearly vomited and passed out. Now that I think about it, it would have been better if I had been unconscious.

 I tried to get away but realized that my hands were glued to the bed by this ice cream sludge. Mr. No Name oozed onto my feet gluing them to the bed as well. I was a sitting duck. All I could do was wait and pray that this was some kind of bad dream from eating too many sweets. He eyed my stomach crazily and then produced a rusty knife from… I’m not sure where. My eyes widened as I tried desperately to free myself. Seeing that my efforts were fruitless, I began to cry uncontrollably. The thing just laughed maniacally and plunged the rusty knife into my belly. I let out a loud scream as he began to cut downwards messily. Blood poured from the incision and the stench filled the room. I cried even louder as the ripping sounds made my skin crawl. He took his hands and spread apart the flesh to reveal the innocent little baby resting in my womb. “Please, please don’t take mah lil girl. She’s mah everything. Don’t hurt mah precious lil girl” I pleaded hoping that this creature would take pity on me. It looked at me with those white, crazy eyes and shushed me again. He plunged the knife into the amniotic sac sending fluid flying everywhere and ripping another scream from my throat. He then proceeded to remove the fetus from my uterus and saw at the umbilical cord. I sobbed loudly as the pain began to overtake me. Suddenly, everything went blurry and I couldn’t cry anymore. The last thing I remember is seeing that thing disappear into the night and the sound of the music slowly fading.

 I woke up in a hospital bed feeling groggy and sick from the pain killers. Suddenly all the memories started flooding back to me and my hand flew to my stomach. It was deflated and I could feel the staples that had been used to seal me up. I began to cry loudly begging for my Penelope back. I started screaming and a bunch of nurses and doctors came in to restrain me. After I had calmed down, they proceeded to tell me the damage. I sat there crying silently as they told me that I was lucky to be alive but couldn’t find the fetus anywhere. “Where’s mah husband?” I demanded. They all exchanged awkward glances and then looked back at me. “Danny doesn’t want to see you.” one of the nurses said. I gave them a shocked look. “Well why the hell not” I yelled. The doctor proceeded to tell me that after I inflicted this kind of damage onto myself and the unborn baby that Danny had said he never wanted to see me again. Self inflicted damage? They thought I had done this? I was outraged and made sure they got the correct story. I proceeded to tell them about last night’s events not knowing how badly things would turn against me. When I was finished everybody was looking at me with worry and skepticism. I looked from face to face and realized they all thought I was crazy. “You think I’m lying? This is the cold hard truth!” I screamed. I began wretching and screaming again. I picked up the pitcher of water next to me and hurled it across the room. The nurses were on me again trying to restrain me. All of a sudden a felt a sharp pain in my arm and saw that the doctor had injected me with some kind of drug. The room immediately went blurry and I started to fall from consciousness. “It will be alright Ginger, just go to sleep” I heard someone say before everything went black.

 I was released from the hospital a week later and taken to the county prison. I was charged with second degree murder of an infant and was sentenced to the life in a psychiatric ward on accounts of insanity. I’ve been here ever since and that was over a year ago. I don’t know what happened to Mr. Sugar but I have the feeling I was not his first victim nor would I be the last. That thing, Mr. No Name is coming for me. Even as I write this I can hear that music beginning to build in sound. That sinister little melody that has plagued me with nightmares. I can feel his icy stare on my back and I know he’s smiling in that murderous way. I don’t have much time left now. I just hope that my little angel is waiting for me when it’s my time to go. There still so much I need to warn you about if I could just have some more tim…

 SHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

 I am a doctor here at the Houston Psychiatric Hospital. We found the body of 27 year old Ginger Hunter in a bloodied, mangled mess. Her stomach has been cut open, her entrails spread out next to her, and her limbs severed and cast aside. The most prominent feature though was her horror stricken face which is now permanently on her face. We are unsure of how this happened seeing as there are no weapons in Ms. Hunter’s room and no windows for anyone to enter. We checked the security footage only to find nothing except for a strange music box melody faintly coming from Ms. Hunter’s room. We found this message scrawled on the walls. The strangest part though is that there seems to be some strange type of white, sweet smelling liquid on Ms. Hunter’s body. We believe that this was some elaborate suicide although were not sure how she could have accomplished all of this. The police are coming in to do a more detailed investigation. Many of our nurses couldn’t bare the gruesome sight and ran from the room in tears. I was able to hold in the contents of my stomach although I couldn’t help but feel as though I was being watched as I wheeled Ms. Hunter’s corpse out of the room. I’m sure it’s nothing but I now have to get home. My wife and unborn child are waiting for me and my wife bought some ice cream from this little shop in town. I can’t wait to share it with her.