The Candy Man



(Credit for this story goes to Robby Midgett)

Parker and I wandered through the aisles of Kroger, searching the isles for Reese’s cups and anything else delicious. It was almost Halloween, after all.

“Hey bro, did you see that big, dark red van outside with ‘Candy’ painted on the side? That was really pedo-bear-ish, wasn’t it?” Parker said, grabbing some Pocky off of a shelf. He dropped it in the cart and I nodded.

“Yeah, that was creepy. Let’s hope we don’t see the owner of that van.” I said, picking up a case of Mountain Dew and sliding it under the buggy. We were about to walk out of the aisle, when we were stopped by some tall, black-haired employee with glasses.

“What do you kids think you’re doing?” He said, not letting the cart pass. I shrugged and gave him an ‘are you retarded?’ look.

“Purchasing these items, what does it look like?” I said, trying to get the buggy around him, out of the aisle.

“I can’t let you two kids purchase all of these… unhealthy… items alone.” He said, grabbing the cart. “Please, get whatever adult you are with and-“

“Damn it man, I’ve got myself a job and you assume that I’m too young to buy myself some snacks and drinks? You know what, I’m a paying customer, and I’ll report you to management.” I said, looking at the name on his tag that said ‘Tim.’ I tried to push on the handle of the buggy and get past him, but he still never budged. He wouldn't move. He pulled my buggy away and started walking down the row of aisles to the left. I, without thinking, ran over and kicked him in the shin and took the buggy back. I tried to run back to Parker, but I was being pursued. Suddenly the man stopped, and out of the aisle, pointing to him, was a hand and the edge of a colorful sleeve.

“Tim… come…” The voice creepily whispered. Tim raised an eyebrow and walked down the aisle. I took this as an opportunity to escape from Tim, so I rushed back over to Parker and chuckled about our victory. We checked out and headed out the doors with our stuff, then sat and waited for our ride. Suddenly the van Parker mentioned before pulled up, and the back doors opened. Suddenly, I blacked out. Here I am now. I just awoke. I’m tied up in a basement somewhere. All I see is the corpse with the plucked out eyes that used to be Tim, a furnace, and a chocolate fountain. Suddenly, I hear Parker yell behind me.

“Robby, you’re awake! Thank god! Your ropes look loose, try and pull your way out of them!” He says. I try to look behind me, but can’t see. I pull my arms apart from each other and tear the rope off. I try to stand, wobbling a little, and turn around. I turn around and see Parker with his hands tied to a rope that is hanging from a hook. I grab him by the sides, lift, and pull, getting him off of the rope. I untie his ropes and look around. I want to find a weapon. Then I hear something… eerie.

“Who can take the sunrise? Sprinkle it with dew? The candy man can, the candy man can.” I hear a gruff, disturbing voice sing. The basement door opens, and down the eerie, creaking wooden stairs, I see a figure in a creepy mask. The mask looks like a 1940s advertisement character, and has a creepy smile. The eyes are cut out, and I can see his real eyes. His eyes are brown. He is carrying a cleaver in one hand, and a colorless lollipop in the other. He walks right past me and Parker, and over to the corpse. He uses the cleaver to slice the corpse’s wrist and dips the lollipop in the blood. He then runs it under the chocolate fountain.

“Run…” I whispered to Parker. He rushes up the stairs and out the open door. I begin to follow, but rush so fast that I fall down the stairs. The candy man turns to approach me. He slowly makes his way toward me. I can’t see him, but I can hear the footsteps. I hear them coming closer. Closer. As I pull myself to my feet, I can hear him breathing right behind me.

This is it, isn’t it? No happy ending. I’m dead, aren’t I?