Unfortunate Fortunes

2024 Write Now Winner - Grades 7 & 8

Drizzling beads of rain gently rolled down the tin roof of Dragon Dynasty, a Chinese eatery nestled deep in the bustling streets of Chicago. Behind its windows, fourteen-year-old Tashi was alone, diving out of the deep pool of sleep as her alarm reverberated. Its digital face read 4:30 am. Yawning, Tashi picked up her pen, determined to finish writing fates and destinies for the restaurant's fortune cookies before the sun peeped its head above the city’s towering architecture.

Before, she would have been with her best friend Luna, whose parents owned the restaurant. But Tashi’s life shattered on the day Luna had been found lifeless in Kelmer’s Grocery Store with a receipt for dish soap in her hand. The police had declared it a cold case; the camera footage was useless. Ever since that dreadful day, Tashi had been sneaking out to write fortunes as a way to cope with Luna’s death.

Tashi was writing “Always be aware... of who’s behind you” in loopy cursive, when her nostrils suddenly were invaded by a potent burning scent coming from the kitchen.

“My batch of fortune cookies must be overcooked!” panicked Tashi as she scrambled to open the oven door. When the hinges creaked ajar, a dense cloud of smoke erupted from the stove and paraded around the tiny kitchen.

“Now I have to bake a new batch of fortune cookies,” sighed Tashi as she slid the disastrous tray into the dishwasher. The rain poured down slightly harder while Tashi grabbed ingredients for the next batch. Soon, the kitchen in Dragon Dynasty became a whirl of flour and sugar. The whisking sound of egg whites produced a melody, while the vanilla extract sang the harmony. With a smile, Tashi stared at the oven, willing the batter strips to bake into a golden brown. 

Then, thunk. Her heart skipped a beat at the sound from the back of the room. She whipped around and scanned the restaurant, not seeing anything unusual. The timer dinged and she composed herself as she pulled the crisp cookie confections out of the oven. 

Tashi noticed that one was undercooked, but what she did not notice was the shadowy figure standing behind her. 

Tashi was pondering how fortune cookies had traveled from their Japanese origins to Chinese take-out places, until a tap on her shoulder dropped her soul to the floor. Without turning around, Tashi tore apart her lips to scream, but not even a whisper escaped. Sliding her suddenly parched tongue carefully over the inside of her mouth, she tried unsuccessfully to make any signal for help. Tashi’s heart pounded into her throat as realization set in; she was alone with no voice, paralyzed in position, and like a bird in a cage, she was no longer free. 

With a swift kick on her calf and a pull backwards, a woman’s muscular arm soon had Tashi trapped. Tashi gasped, eyes full of fear as she studied the alarming face that was peeking out from behind a fluttery black cloak and hood. 

“If you do what I say you won’t be harmed,” the words seem to bounce out of the woman’s lips.

“Just write ‘34th Street’ in one of those fortune cookies, then deliver it to the security guard at Kelmer’s Grocery before dawn. Tell no one, you live. Decide not to do it, you die,” she said casually, releasing her death grasp off Tashi. 

“W-w-whatever you say,” Tashi stuttered, her body trembling with intense fear as she watched the woman sharpen a knife’s metallic blade. But as soon as she had arrived, the woman was gone without a trace. Tashi scribbled down the message into a fortune cookie, having a terrifying sense that she was being watched. Overwhelmed with panic, she exited with the message and found herself panting in front of Kelmer’s Grocery. Trying to escape the situation immediately, Tashi flung the cookie into the room marked “Security” then let her legs soar her back to the safety of Dragon Dynasty. 

But something was amiss. 

“I need to go to 34th street,” Tashi muttered, confronting the thunderstorm that was now raging outside. Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she sprinted through the downpour, her calves burning. When Tashi arrived in the eerie 34th street alley, her ears detected voices conversing from behind a dumpster. As she crept closer, her drenched shoes splashed a puddle vehemently.

“What was that?” whimpered a man who was the security guard from the grocery store.

“Stay focused! Here’s the money I promised, but you have to keep the murder footage deleted,” hissed the same malevolent woman that Tashi had obeyed. 

“Of course, at Kelmer’s Grocery,” he snapped. Suddenly, Tashi’s breath snagged in her throat in horrid realization; Kelmer’s Grocery was where Luna was murdered! With racing eyes, she fit the puzzle together and felt the hunger for justice burning in her soul. Before Tashi could act, the man greedily snatched the money from the woman. Then, three bangs detonated and he collapsed to the ground motionless. 

Tashi courageously cried, “Don’t you know what you’ve done? You killed the security guard that I delivered the cookie to! Wait- you killed Luna.”  

“It wasn’t part of the plan,” dripped the woman’s icy voice. “That girl found MY bottle of radioactive dish soap. I needed to pay my debts by creating a disguised poison for someone, but she ruined it.” 

Tashi discovered, “You ‘paid’ the security guard so you could murder Luna to get your poison back and escape the camera’s eyes!” 

“You’re… correct.”

A pistol slipped into the woman’s gloved hand, and she aimed it directly at Tashi’s head. Her finger pulled on the trigger and Tashi ripped a blood-curdling scream. Suddenly, a crackling beam of lightning struck the gun, exploding white-hot pain into the woman. Tashi gasped and ran towards the body, searching for a pulse with tears of shock in her eyes. 

Instead, her hand found a soaking black strip of fortune cookie paper reading, “Vengeance is mine, darling.”