Taken from Writer's Digest. The writing prompt was as follows...
One day you come into work and find a cookie mysteriously placed on your desk. Grateful to whoever left this anonymous cookie, you eat it. The next morning you come in and find another cookie. This continues for months until one day a different object is left–and this time there’s a note.
A single cookie was sitting on his desk one Monday morning
about a month after the break-up. Cooper
had no idea where it came from. He
didn’t trust a random cookie sitting on his desk so threw it away. The next day another cookie was waiting for
him. Again he threw it away. After a week of cookies, he finally started
to accept the gift and eat them.
One day you come into work and find a cookie mysteriously placed on your desk. Grateful to whoever left this anonymous cookie, you eat it. The next morning you come in and find another cookie. This continues for months until one day a different object is left–and this time there’s a note.
While most people dread Mondays or going to work all
together, Cooper enjoys coming to work.
He hadn’t always felt this way.
He used to be cynical like a lot of his co-workers in eligibility. They come to work with fake smiles and
complaints about their significant others; but over the past ten weeks he’s
overcome the depression he began to deal with after Jenn broke off their
engagement.
The happiness started again with a cookie about ten weeks
ago.
And they were delicious!
He started looking forward to coming to work because of the
mystery cookie. He always felt it was
that cute clerk girl Megan, but the cookies kept coming after she was fired for
assaulting that guy Russ in claims.
The cookies made him happy because it made Cooper feel
appreciated again.
Cooper approached his cubicle with the same expected
excitement he had every morning now. He
slung his backpack on his desk but didn’t see a cookie.
In its place was a manila envelope. Cooper was slightly
disappointed but intrigued with this unexpected surprise.
He opened the envelope and emptied its contents on his
desk. A clinging sound got his attention
first as he picked up a ring that came to rest next to his keyboard. He held it between his thumb and fingers to
examine and realized it was the ring he gave Jenn when he proposed.
“What the heck??!?”
He read the accompanying note:
“Dear Coop. I hope you enjoyed the cookies. I saw how upset you were after the break-up;
I felt you needed hope again. Jenn
actually helped me with the cookies, well she WAS the cookies. She turned out very sweet. I was thinking of using some of her for your
birthday cake next month. LMK. Megan.”
Confused, Cooper flipped over a picture and vomited as he
recognized Jenn’s mutilated body in the background of Megan’s selfie.