Bogleech.com's 2019 Horror Write-off:

Inanition

Submitted by Shakara

How long has it been? Wandering… Cold and tired through the grey spaces, battling the rain and buffeting, sharp winds. Shelter in view at last. Your home.

Slamming the door behind you, you’re fit to slide down the wood and pass out there and then.

Sniff. A scent wafting from the kitchen. Something… cooked?

Oh, Fortuna be praised!

Food!

Your empty stomach leaps for joy, growling like a ravenous beast. Nearly breaking your fingers on the handle, you force it open and lay eyes upon the silver tray.

There’s barely a pause in your stride as you rush toward it, forcing an unleavened cake into your maw-

 

Your joy is short lived. The combined mix of sour rot and dry, bitter ash mingles upon your tongue. Clutching your throat, you spit out the foul concoction, watching the loathsome mouthful sitting upon the floor. Your hack and cough, as if trying to purge your body. You don’t even have enough bile nor saliva to expel. It has been too long without eating, but this… this! Total poison! 

Who has done this?

Your question fades upon your lips as you realise- this is not proper food. At all. But something blasphemous. Thick, dark ichor dredged up from beneath the Earth. An offence to everything that Gaia stands for!

As you collapse into a faint, your undernourished brain finally makes the connection of what disgusting sin dared to touch your tastebuds.

“Oatmeal… raisin… cookie…”