Cold Storage by Nathaniel Hirai

"Grar!" The terrible roar echoes through the white hall. "I am Meatloaf! Bow down to my protein rich servings!" The snow peas trembled in their pods, the onions cried, and the butter melted. "I rule this refrigerator with a giant meat sword!"

            "That's naughty." Laughed the Cucumber.

            "How dare you laugh at me? Of all of you I am the most fresh and plentiful."

            Soy Sauce spoke up, "But because you are so fresh and tasty, you will be eaten as leftovers before any of us are gone."

            "Surely you jest. Why would the creators choose to rid themselves of me so soon after my very creation?"

            "Don't you remember?" asked Mashed Potatoes.

            "Remember what?"

            "Last night. We were served together. There I was…" His voice cracks. "Freshly mashed. I was steaming, stupid me always trying to show off! They attacked me with spoons, tearing me apart. I saw you too. I… I can't believe you don't remember. They cut you up with a knife, over half of you. The boy, he… he even dipped part of you into me." He breaks down. "Oh God! Why!" Mashed Potatoes bursts out into sobs.

            "No! No, it can't be true! It just can't!"

            "Face it," said milk. "They took bites out of you. Just look."

            "Oh my God! Where are my legs? Where are my legs? What happened to me? What is this plastic over me? Oh my God! I'm suffocating. Help me!"

            "He is going into shock!" Milk said, "Quick, someone get the wise one. He will know what to do." Milk looks earnestly at meatloaf who now lays on his side in a puddle of his own grease and tears.

            "Sniff, sniff… It's so cold…" Meatloaf looks up at Milk.

            "It is okay Meatloaf. We are in a refrigerator, it's supposed to be cold."

            "I just wish I was back in the oven! Everything was so much simpler there."

            Just then an old carton of sour cream moves towards Meatloaf. "Are you alright son?" He asks.

            "No! I'm not alright. Those, those animals ate me! And now they are probably going to come back and finish the job!"

            Sour Cream looks off into the distance, as if in deep thought. Then says, "This fear does not suit the mighty meatloaf, that just two servings ago ruled this great hall."

            Meatloaf wipes the tears from his eyes and sits up. "You are right Sour Cream. I have no need to fear a mongrel race of bipedal beings. For I am the all powerful Meatloaf." With that he raised his giant meat sword up to the sky as if defying the gods. But in his moment of confidence, the refrigerator door opened and a hand grabbed the meatloaf out of his comfortable room. All that could be heard from him was screams as the door slowly closed once again.

            "Why would you give him false hope like that Sour Cream?" Milk questions.

            "For it is not our place to questions when we shall be consumed. We must acknowledge the fact that it is our duty to serve and that our ends may be met at any time. Some may last for what seems like eons. Soy Sauce loses a part of himself about twice a week, but he perseveres. I once knew a Butter who sat in this very refrigerator for over three months. He began to think he was invincible, and in that very moment of his hubris the overlords decided to bake cookies. You, assortment of vegetables, you are perishable, try as you may eventually you will go bad and rot away. Even I cannot escape this destiny. I have lingered in this stainless steel refrigerator for over a year. But I know, that one day, perhaps not long from now, they will make baked potatoes. And when they open me, they will find my once pure innards have molded over. And at that point I must succumb to a new environment in the trashcan. So I tell you all. Wait, pray, but know that today it was Meatloaf, but we all shall fall."