In honor of the mid-autumn festival tonight, I dedicate this story to my family and friends who have taught me so much.

Mooncakes are so delicious and come in many varieties.  Red bean paste mooncakes are my favorite. It's rich, creamy, and the sweet taste lingers in your mouth with each bite. 

My mom's bakery always makes these every year. Lotus Seed paste has been the most popular. It is so expensive to make, mother would say. So, I never got to taste these sweet cakes. 

Mooncakes could practically be filled with anything. I couldn't wait to grow up to be just like my mother. Last year, we made many mooncakes. The snow skin mooncakes were the easiest to make. The westerners seemed to like them the best.

Lately, we had more westerners in our store. Our Roast Pork mooncake would sell out the fastest. We did not know if they knew of the importance of the mooncake. However, we were all too happy to share.

This year, mom's shop fell on hard times. We couldn't afford to make a variety of mooncakes like last year. Instead, we just kept making our roast pork mooncakes mixed with sesame seeds.

The bills stacked on my mother. Money was low and she knew soon the shop would go under and we would have nothing. We found ourselves eating the leftover things she could bake. The thing we couldn't sale this year was the mooncakes. 

Maybe everyone got used to the taste. Night fell fast as momma tucked me into bed. I soon found myself able to dream. I awoke to the sound of my mother crying.

Peering from the doorway into the shop, I could see a man pointing a gun at my mother. I knew we had no money to give and in fear, I let out a whimper. The gunman turned towards the direction of my sound. 

He smiled, and behind his smile, peered no soul. He aimed the gun in my direction. My mother finding some sort of resolve pulled the knife from her pocket and stabbed the gunman in the neck.

Blood spewed like a fountain onto her clothing and onto the shelves of the pastries. He hit the floor with a thud as my mom stood in shock, knife in hand. 

She grabbed me by the arm and took me to bed and told me this must be a secret or the police will take her away. I didn't want that to happen. I would be all alone.

So I went to sleep and pretended like nothing happened. The smell of bleach violated my nostrils. I knew momma was up cleaning all night. 

The next day, momma acted as if nothing happened. In fact, she was cheerful and even bought me the toy I had my eyes on for a while.  Today the store had a few customers. 

They looked over the Roast Pork mooncakes momma had made this morning. I was glad they didn't ask questions as to why most the shelves were empty. Then again, you can't exactly say the food was showered in blood. 

Momma smiled and she gave a free sample to try. The people seemed to like the roast pork. It tasted better than last time.  Before, I knew it we were selling the cakes faster and faster. We could not keep them in stock.

That night, momma decided to make some more. I felt eager to help as I rushed to the freezer. Opening the freezer was the one thing I regretted. There was the gunman's body. Pieces had been cut from him.

Who would have guessed humans tasted just like pork? I kept quiet. I could not tell anyone. I did not want to be alone. I did not want my mother to be taken away.

Days went by. Days turned into weeks. The feeling of guilt inside me was overwhelming. I knew what they were eating. Mother stood outside handing out free samples. 

My stomach wretched as I watched people take a bite. I felt nauseated when they went to buy a box of the pork mooncakes. Every part of me wanted to scream no, don't do it. But, the other side kept strangling me with the words alone.

After a month went by, the nightmares of the gunman kept haunting me. I could see him with pieces of his face sliced perfectly away. I could see the stub of his arm dripping with blood. His eyes stared blankly at me, but his face forever frozen in shock.

With him being horribly dismembered, I knew his soul would never rest in peace. The next morning, I was supposed to walk to school. Instead, I found myself standing in front of the police station.

I was hesitant to walk in. I do not want to be alone. The face from my nightmares flashed in my head. I pushed open the door and told the officer the horror story that had unfolded.

 Returning from school, I saw my mom waiting. Apparently, the police officer did not like me telling such lies. Mama grabbed my hand and assured me everything that I thought that happened, did not. 

"Ling," she said," you are welcome to look with me in the freezer. I got new meat." Seeing my mother's gentle smile I knew she was not angry with me. 

I took her hand as she led me to the freezer.  Opening the freezer door, I was stunned to see the room so empty. Confused I looked at my mother and asked," I thought you got new meat?" She clutched my shoulder tightly and pulls the knife from her pocket.

"I did."

The next day she had more mooncakes, but no one saw Ling again.