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Speaker 1: Fast Food Horror is an abbynormal production written and created

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by me E J.

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Speaker 2: Miller.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to Fast Food Horror, where we serve up the

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most deliciously rancid, tasty horror short stories to satiate your

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creepy appetites.

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Speaker 1: This month, we welcome our newest cast member, Rachel Cunarzik,

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who will narrate our latest creepy disturbing tale titled that

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was by design.

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Speaker 2: Let's face it, he couldn't help himself. Like a bug

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circling of venus flytrap, the allure of the flower, its fragrance,

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sweet nectar, the bright bloom. It was too much for

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him to ignore all of the warning signs, the sirens

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that should have been going off in his head, the

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instinct every animal has for self preservation to stay alive,

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warning him of the perilous danger he was about to

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find himself in if he didn't flee immediately, not to

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proceed any closer. And for that reason what happened was

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all his fault. Every year, the Hollands Pocket Chamber of

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Commerce has a garden Walk. It is a huge draw,

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a three day celebration that not only do the residents

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of Holland's poet turn out in Mass four but from

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the surrounding communities all over the county as well as

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does the media. There are various awards given to the

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participants for the gardens they create, covering every spectrum of gardening,

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but none so prestigious, none so desired as the Blue

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Orchid Award, given to the gardener with the best flower,

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a title every gardener can brag for a lifetime to

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have been awarded. Families have told stories of relatives who

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have been awarded it in the past with pride. Former

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winners have had signs erected in their yards with the

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title of Blue Orchid Award winner resides here but the

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year or years they won. A few have had it

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etched on their tombstone. It also doesn't hurt that it

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comes with a twenty thousand dollars cash prize. Needless to say,

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the competition every year is fierce and every year for

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the past twenty the award has gone to Cedric Botsworth,

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the third. He has delivered every year the most stunning

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flowers with the most beautiful blooms and exotic colors that

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anyone has ever seen. His flowers after judging retail in

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the hundreds for the smallest bouquets. No one has come

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close to delivering the quality that he does on the

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day of judging, because on the day of judging coincidentally,

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his nearest competitors have had a stroke of bad luck

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just before judging, like the one year during the middle

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of the night, his main competitor's irrigation systems broke, dumping

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gallons upon gallons of water on their flowers, drowning them all.

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Or the year when someone informed the local authorities that

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three of his main competitors were growing marijuana in their greenhouses.

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On the morning of the judging, the local sheriff showed

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up with a warrant in hand, shut down the properties

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for the entire day, stopped through their greenhouses, and confiscated everything,

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and disrupted the delicate environments my grandfather had built for

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them to survive and thrive. In Or last year, on

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the very morning of the judging, a weed and lawn

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care company was contracted to spray everything on his competitors' properties,

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including the gardens. It was even spelled out specifically in

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the notes to the company. Every bloom wilted. When the

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company was questioned as to whom contracted them out. They

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could only report that it was a mister Blue and

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he paid with a prepaid credit card. My family has

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been on the receiving end of the strokes of bad

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luck more times than not, and was on the receiving

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end last year. It's the one that pushed my grandpa

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over the edge. Months and months of hard work caring

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and growing the flowers his babies just taken away. After that,

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he decided he wouldn't be participating anymore. I think it

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really hurt him to see his beloved flowers wiped away

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time and time again. Not because he lost, he never

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had a chance to even participate. The night he decided

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he was done, I started my plan. I had been

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at my grandpa's side for years, watching, listening, and learning

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how to cultivate flowers, taking in a priceless lifetime of learning,

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of experience and love. I would use all I had

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learned to win and put an end to Cedric Botsworth

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the Third's Rain. I'd use my bachelor's degree in botanical

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sciences with my miner and botany too. I set about

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listing all the best flowering plants, from blooms to fragrance

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that I could reasonably attain. I wanted a flower that

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was appealing to the eye as well as the nose,

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something that could not be ignored, that was captivating. I

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wanted something intoxicating to the senses. In a separate list,

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I listed the best characteristics of every plant. Their strengths

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from how quickly it takes them to grow, to how

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long their bloom would last, the resistance due insecticides, bugs

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or fungus, how sturdy their leaves and blooms were, and

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how adaptable they were to changes of climate. You see,

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I wasn't just going to select a plant that scored

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high on my list from the plants available. I was

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going to take the best quality from every plant and

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make something entirely new. It's not as hard as you think.

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Nature has been doing it since the beginning of time.

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It's a practice that dates back to almost nine thousand BC.

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For humans. A great example is broccoli. Broccoli, that long

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loved favorite of children everywhere, does not occur naturally. It

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was made by humans by selective breeding of the wild

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cabbage plant over thousands of years to get the desired

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traits to the delicious vegetable you know today, I did

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not have nine thousand years to get the plant I wanted.

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I had twelve months. I would help the process along

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with some new science, the GMO type of science, genetically

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modified organism. I would, through genetic engineering, select verosh traits

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from each plant's DNA and grow my own superflower with

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the wanted characteristics, my own beautiful Frankenstein's monster m probably

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a bad example, oh Jurassic Park, my own beautiful creation

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without the rampage of destruction. I won't bore you with

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all the steps, the long nights, and failed trials. We'll

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just fast forward to now, the dark hours before the

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sunrise on the new day, the day of the judging, judging,

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and not just for the flowers. I had surveillance cameras

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installed around my property, specifically around the greenhouse, with alarms

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that would alert me of any intruders, secured doors with

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key padlocks, and my favorite, a fairly large privacy fence.

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I kept access to the greenhouse at a very very

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strict minimum, all to protect my secret, my baby, my

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prize flower. And I let everyone know it about all

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the steps I had taken to keep my entry secret

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and safe. Because nothing spreads faster in a small town

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than gossip and rumor for months, everyone speculated what was

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I growing in there? It was all anyone could talk about,

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the town scientist and her mad secret laboratory. I was

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equally as public yesterday at the town Cafe, the public

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forum where everyone always went to that the power was

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out at my property, that my computers were down, and

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I lamented and worried over the safety of my entry

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into the contest. It wasn't The power was just fine.

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It was all in act. I just wanted, oh, oh,

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you'll see. I watched his approach from the shadows, trying

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to stay hidden in the darkness, trying so hard to

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remain stealthy, to blend and not draw attention, slowly moving

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from the tree line into the tall grass, waiting patiently watching,

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before quickly, with spring like legs, vaulting over the fence

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and into my yard. As he landed, I watched as

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he scanned the area, looking for movement, waiting to see

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if any response to his presence was forthcoming. Before, in

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a crouch, he made his way to the greenhouse wall

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and inched along its sides, the shadows almost obscuring him

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from view. Almost I watched as he entered the door.

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I switched the camera feed and watched him with rapt

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attention as he walked deeper and deeper in passed rows

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of common daffodils, mums and geraniums, passed the tomato plants,

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the cucumbers, and the peppers, passed a small collection of

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fruit trees I have been nurturing, still too young, still

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too small to bear any fruit, till he reached the

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entrance to the rear room of the greenhouse. I watched

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as he opened the door, and the doorway was filled

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with a purple glow. I stared as I saw his

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eyes grow wide. I knew what he saw. He couldn't

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take his eyes from it. That was by design, his

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jaw agape. He stepped slowly into the room, and I

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saw his chest rise with a deep inhale. As he

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closed his eyes. I knew what he smelled. That was

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by design too. It was intoxicating the fragrance. I watched

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as he walked slowly further and further into the room,

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staring straight ahead, not taking in any other information other

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than what was directly in front of him, and I watched.

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I watched as he extended his right hand and touched

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its leaves. I watched as he ignored the vines start

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to flex. I watched as he continued to walk closer

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and closer to it, reaching out his left arm and

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touching another leaf, reaching out again his right and stroking another.

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I watched as the vines slowly, ever slowly, began to

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encircle him from behind. As the glow that phosphorescent purple intensified,

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the vines, flexing, pulsating. Then I held my breath. The

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vine snapped with an elastic like whip around his body,

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encasing it, enveloping it in a crushing embrace. Every inch

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of his body covered by vine and leaf and flower

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as it slowly devoured him, squeezing the life from him.

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As the enzymes emitted from the plant began the digestive process,

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I watched as he spasmodically, shook and convulsed before stiffening,

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and the only movement was the pulsing and flexing of

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the vines. That too, was by design. It was all

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his fault.