Shakoze's Favorite Jello

This story was written for the Summer 2023 Fruity Flavors Zine, which can be found with bonus content here and without bonus content here. However, I messed up the title so in the zine it's called "Landon's Favorite Jello." Either way, it and the rest of the zine entries are really good so please check it out if you get the chance.

To a noise demon like Shakoze, solid food was a mystery at best and a downgrade from the human emotions they snacked on at worst. They didn’t understand the appeal of food that had to be chewed, swallowed, and digested. Why wasn’t the sensation of one’s stomach breaking food down into nutrients disgusting to humans? Shakoze certainly didn’t like it. They could intimately feel the way their gelatinous body tore apart and absorbed food, and the experience was repulsive. The flavors of solid food were better, but not good enough for them to ignore the process of digestion.

And yet, they always enjoyed the smells. A plate of buffalo chicken wings smelled just as good as someone with a spicy attitude. So, every now and then, they stepped out of their comfort zone and got their hands on a new human food to try. One day, they’d find the perfect food, something with a satisfying texture and taste that rivaled the quality of its smell.

Today, they were trying jello. They’d heard advertisements for the unique food on televisions and radio, seen illustrated adverts in magazines. Apparently humans loved forming jello in different shapes, and sticking all kinds of other foods in it. Any food with that much versatility must appeal to demons too, Shakoze figured. They didn’t have any money, so getting their hands on some jello took some extra steps. First they entered a small-town corner store and swiped three boxes of jello. They didn’t care if the CCTV caught them, because the second step was squeezing themself into the speaker of the store’s payphone and teleporting to a house dozens of miles away.

Shakoze poured out of the kitchen’s telephone in their true form, a small blob of liquid static with a pair of round, white eyes. The kitchen was empty, but just in case they re-entered their human form — slender limbs, a long face, and dark skin — and let out a loud whistle. No confused humans or pesky pets came running, so they had the house to themself. They laid the boxes on the wooden counter. They’d grabbed three flavors, strawberry, lemon, and lime, to see if there was a type of jello they enjoyed best.

Shakoze decided to start with the strawberry jello. They skimmed the instructions on the box and promptly decided they weren’t important. Water and gelatin powder mixed with a spoon — who needed instructions to do that? The ads had taught them everything they needed to know. They dumped the powder into a mixing bowl, then added some water directly from the tap. They stirred it with a wooden spoon until they got bored. The mixture was bright red like the jello on the box, but something seemed off. It was as thin as fruit punch. Shakoze stuck a finger in the concoction and licked it, then wrinkled their nose at the taste. It tasted like water, and they hated the taste of water. If the taste was this bad, then the texture would be even worse. They dumped the crappy jello into the sink, rinsed out the bowl, and tried again with the lemon jello.

This time, they decided to add less water. This jello turned out much thicker, but it didn’t wobble at all. They scooped some out with the spoon, stuck it in their mouth, and frowned. It tasted better, but something still felt off. The citrus-y flavor was good, but the snack caught in their throat and uncomfortably slid down to their stomach-like cavity. The texture activated their gag reflex, and they hunched over the trash can and spat the jello back up.

Jello was turning out to be a middling food so far, but there were still two things they hadn’t tried: the lime flavor and actually reading the instructions. This time, before mixing anything, they carefully read the directions on the back of the box. They had to read the tiny words out loud to process them. There were a couple they didn’t recognize, but they got the gist. Apparently they were supposed to use both hot and cold water and let the jello set in the fridge for a few hours. Waiting at someone’s house for that long was risky, but Shakoze had time to kill and they wanted to make this jello right. They made the lime jello according to the instructions, mixing it with a whisk that had been hanging on a rack on the wall. The instructions suggested adding fruit, so they decided to give that a shot. After nosing through the kitchen, they found a jar of maraschino cherries in the fridge. They poured some in and stirred the jello one last time. Even now, it smelled better than their first two tries. 

Shakoze placed the bowl of jello in the fridge and waited for two hours. After taking the jello out, they tapped it and were pleasantly surprised at the way it jiggled slightly. That was the result the commercials promised, so it must be ready to eat. They found a spoon and plunged it into the jello, then shoved a massive scoop into their mouth. 

The taste was divine. The lime flavoring was a total upgrade from the lemon jello, still sour but with a unique twist that Shakoze didn’t have the words to describe. The cherries were like saccharine bubbles that popped in their mouth with each bite. Best of all, the citrusy taste complemented the smooth texture perfectly. Before they knew it, they’d eaten half of the jello already. They resolved to steal more and make another batch after finishing this one.

Shakoze’s meal was interrupted by a panicked shout. A human had returned home, and he was angry with his sudden intruder. The man yanked a knife from its block and aimed it at the demon without a second thought. Physical attacks didn’t hurt them at all, but they still didn’t want to be stabbed. They grabbed the jello and spoon with a wink and dived back into the wall phone just before the man threw the knife.