PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot
Blanche’s predilections were closing in. She’d had them under control until she met Cushman. Cushman’s addictive personality was contagious, and soon she was infected. Spending with plastic at overpriced boutiques, gorging on junk food with wild abandon, riding everywhere in a limousine, Tinder trios and EDM clubs seven nights a week; her Puritan sensibilities drove her guilt into toxic overdrive.
Cushman was Blanche’s biggest addiction. He had to go. She tried to kick him a couple of times but relapsed. Cushman was in her life for good, unless…
Dr. Lo positioned the orbitoclast on her temple and raised the mallet.
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields is the illustrious host of Friday Fictioneers.
Tao Talk 
Dear Lisa,
That ending made me cringe. Doesn’t seem like a viable solution to me.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Rochelle, me neither. The character is desperate and desperate people often do desperate things. Thank you for reading and commenting.
Sincerely,
Lisa
LikeLike
An excessive solution to a problem of excess
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly, Neil!
LikeLike
Eeeyow!
A bit drastic…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Indeed. Thank you for your comment.
LikeLike
I enjoyed the flow of this, but Dr Lo sounds dangerous to me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Michael. It’s chilling to think this used to be considered a viable option for anything healthy.
LikeLike
Doctor Lo sounds a little like Doctor Freeman. “I cured Rose Kennedy of her waywardness,” he claimed, driving his Lobotomobile from town to town. Well done.
LikeLiked by 1 person
OMG, J, are you serious about the Lobotomobile?? Trying to understand how this reality fits into sanity. Thank you very much for your comment.
LikeLike
An extreme solution, not sure it’s the way to go. Besides, sounds like she was having a blast anyway with Cushman! :-)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Just like The Narrator and Tyler Durden in Fight Club. Maybe they’ll blow up a skyscraper next! ;)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Disturbing the things that sometimes pass for medicine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
History is filled with a House of Horrors that pass for cures. Fortunately much of it is in the past, but unfortunately not all of it is. Thank you for reading and commenting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have had several lobotomy procedures performed on me and I never enjoyed any of them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope and pray you are joking, Jim!
LikeLiked by 1 person
There is the ending I was looking for! Of course not in real life but that came out of nowhere. I liked it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good, I’m glad you weren’t expecting it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Everyone is going to think I’m sick lol but I love those endings!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well I have to be sick to write them, so we are in the same boat. I have to wonder about writers who are known for horror, like King and Rice. Where do they get their ideas from?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad to share the boat with you.
I wonder about King…his childhood was different…I read where a kid he knew got killed by a train that hit him…sounds like Stand By Me
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting. Trauma does do things to the mind.
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, Blanche! Switch doctors right now!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Too late. Blanche doesn’t remember Cushman — or her own name — anymore :(
LikeLike
😲 yikes, poor Blanche!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Christ, I had to googlee that one! I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a full frontal lobotomy.
Great stuff
LikeLiked by 1 person
You and me both, Shrawley! Cheers!
LikeLike
Dr. Lo seems a “tad” excessive… Methinks we should try therapy first? ;-)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Methinks you’re right. Thanks for reading and commenting, Dale :)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Alas! Blanche may never see Cushman again. Her good days are probably going to be over.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I fear you are correct.
LikeLike
it was an ending i didn’t expect. i find the action of the doctor very suspicious. :)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lots of that kind of suspicious activity used to be going on with doctors — and still is!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Eek! Maybe a self-help group might have been a less extreme place to start…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think so also. Maybe Blanch had some soul searching to do instead of turning it over to a ghoul to fix.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Awesome! Your talented!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Carol :)
LikeLike
She needs to find some better friends and a better psychiatrist. Kicking Cushman to the curb is a wiser plan than getting a lobotomy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
All better options than the excessive one she chose, you’re right! Maybe Cushman is the real her and she just needs to get him under control?
LikeLike
Hmm, good point!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ouch, that was drastic. I didn’t see it coming.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for reading and commenting :)
LikeLiked by 1 person
well, ouch. That kind of therapy seems to cause physical pain!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Guilt does very strange things to people. You hint that it was her guilt that drove her to such a drastic action, and I think you’re probably right. She felt she deserved horror as a punishment or expiation of her ‘sin’.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly, Penny. She had been conditioned that fun was wrong, so when a part of herself decided to have too much fun…
LikeLike
Guilt does very strange things to people. You hint that it was her guilt that drove her to such a drastic action, and I think you’re probably right. She felt she deserved horror as a punishment or expiation of her ‘sin’.
LikeLiked by 1 person
She IS desperate to get rid of her addiction. Drastic measures, for sure.
Isadora 😎
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for reading and commenting, Isadora.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oooo. Shocking way to release an obsession.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dr Lo may be the answer. It’s worth a try. That or self-restraint.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Blanch needs to sort a few things out, for sure.
LikeLike
If she goes through with that procedure she’ll get rid of much more than Cushman. I hope she prepaid for a room at a nice sanitarium where she can spend the rest of her days. A good story with building tension, Jade. —- Suzanne
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Suzanne. I don’t think getting rid of Cushman is the answer.
LikeLike
Addiction, if all else fails the mallet to the head will do the trick. A bit drastic but effective.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sure to an addict it feels that way sometimes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Whoa, what an extreme measure to take! Sounds like a desperate last resort. I suppose she must’ve taken all sorts of medication and gone through lots of therapy, to no avail.
Your story’s reference to lobotomy made me think of the one Rosemary Kennedy underwent, leaving her unable to care for herself for the rest of her life.
A good build-up of tension in this story.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Magarisa, I don’t know her whole story, I just know she had reached a point where she was willing to do whatever it took to make it stop. As she was a creature of excess, she chose an extreme remedy :(
LikeLiked by 1 person
She certainly seems to be prone to extremes, so that would make sense. A fascinating character.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you :)
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome, Li. :-)
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is certainly an extreme reaction. Ouch
LikeLiked by 1 person
The story is a study in excess, isn’t it. Thanks for reading and commenting, Laurie.
LikeLike
Hold the mallet, please. Minus the junk food, it doesn’t seem like such a bad life for the short term. Though, I can see why it’s not sustainable long term, and why she would want out. Addiction is a horrible, dangerous thing. Then again, mallets can be, too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are a kind soul, thank you. She may reconsider :)
LikeLiked by 1 person
That measure might be a little to drastic.
LikeLiked by 1 person