Fulfillments
an excerpt

The food must have been poisoned or laced with hallucinogenic drugs. Maybe there was something in the water. How else can you explain mass delusion? It was delusion, right? It must be. It must. This simply couldn't happen--not in real life.

Diane had prepared for this party for weeks. Her family and friends gathering at her place for an intimate dinner under the stars. "We always get together at holidays, why not a little 'un-holiday' get together. I'll cook, we'll talk and laugh, no pressure. Just all of us together sharing a meal," she explained to her brother as she was convincing him to come and bring the kids. Diane was single with no kids and over thirty, she wanted kids and a family but it just never seemed to work out for her. Her father often intimated that her standards were too high. But Diane didn't believe in that kind of thing--she believed in magic and expected nothing less than. Diane is the heroine of her own story. So, this dinner was a way to occupy her time, and fulfill her need to feel an intimate connection with her friend and family. She invited her mother and father, divorced and remarried, and their respective spouse. She invited her younger brother, his wife and their two kids, both boys. Also, her little sister and her husband were called to come and show off their new infant daughter. Her step-sisters were invited and their families. Her sole living grandparent, Nana was invited. She also invited over her closest friends, Margie, her husband Calvin, Trina and her girlfriend Sissy, and Peter and his wife Lindsey. Twenty-five guest, twenty-six dining, including her self.

She made lists and meal plans. She consulted her magazines for centerpiece ideas. She covered all her bases, could she have poisoned her guests? How else could you explain it? The fiery explosion over head, the spinning stars and the sickening feeling of the sky zooming over head forward and back as if the universe was folding over on itself--then the little slips of paper--suddenly--appearing in their hands?