Beware the Candymaker

Synopsis:  A malicious entity from another dimension who turns people into candy for consumption.   It cannot be killed.  It can change genders to suit manipulating its victim.   It’s favorite form—a huge spider, bearing 10,000 beady eyes with an unhinging jaw.   

Chapter 1—A Quiet Day at the Lake 

Buckley and his old high school football buddies were laid back, kicking their feet up on a much-needed fishing trip.   It had been a trying summer and the small group of varsity players reminisced on their salad days and how playing pro had taken a toll on them. 

‘I’m just happy I can get my kids through college.   Man, that shit is expensive.’, Boyd said, distastefully disapproving of all institutions, feeling that they were nothing more than high-paid penitentiaries that indoctrinated young minds, stifling them from their true potential.   Luckily his daughter, Layla had made the decision to go to Harvard, while his son, Clement, went to Yale.    

Otis felt a tug at his line.   From what he could sense, it was a whopper.   Most likely, it was a gargantuan catfish and he was aiming to catch it.    Alone, he couldn’t get the monster fish, but with the help of Buckley, they pulled the honker inside and marveled at how big the fish was.   Otis eyed the catfish over and saw that his hook had marred the maxilla of the catfish badly.    He felt guilty for having caught it and in a moment of rueful sorrow, he returned the behemoth from whence it had come.     

Overhead, there were some ominous cumulonimbus clouds beginning to be stirred up. 

‘I think we should go.  It’s getting late anyway.’, slightly nervous and nerdy Felix said, running his hand through his short-cut raven hair.   Felix had been the one to suggest the trip in the beginning and currently he was feeling like a proverbial coward.    

‘Felix is right…I just saw some bifurcating lightning.’, Gino, a storm chaser commented. 

‘We can’t take our chances with a storm bearing down on us.’, Buckley agreed.   

They rowed into shore before the monsoon began.   A brilliant bolt of lightning illuminated the sky and fell upon one drenched soul.    She was wearing brilliant colors, as if she had just come from a circus performance.   Her clothing suggested this as well, but she looked a bit more like a trapeze artist or acrobat.   

‘Thank you all so much for accompanying me.   It can be so dangerous for a young woman alone by herself.   All you strong men are true knights of chivalry.’, the woman said.   As they took her back to where she was from, or at least where she had ‘said’ she was from a small town that had an old-fashioned honkey tonk, which wasn’t too far from where the fishing hole was.   

Reginald froze when he saw the woman’s eyes become reptilian or feline.   They looked as if they had an extra layer of skin that shut vertically in the middle.   He could hear the ‘swif-swif’ noise those eyelids made, and it nearly caused him to gag.  

‘Guys…This woman isn’t human !’, he whispered to his friend Bertram.    Bertram was an expert on all things paranormal and horrifying.   He had only captured a glimpse of what Reggie had witnessed and thought Reggie was of sound mind.   The light had been dim, but he knew what Reggie saw was perfectly legitimate.    He tried to get the strange lady out of the car, but her hands had formed into talons.   Her jaw sharpened into jagged incisors.    The driver had already begun looking gelatinous and transparent.  

‘The sweetest of you is my first aperitif.   The rest of you are my main course !’, she said, devilishly.    The car began to veer side to side until it crashed.   Most of the former varsity players tried in vain to escape the car, only to be turned into different pieces of candy.   Reggie and Bertram had been the only ones that escaped, and they witnessed their friends sliding down the gullet of that brutal alien creature.    They called it the Candymaker, for lack of better definition or understanding.    All the two surviving friends were aware of is that their friends were dead and they had to keep running while Candymaker was distracted, or else, they would end up just as their friends had.   

Chapter 2—Legend of the Candymaker 

From this little fishing tale came what was known as the ‘legend’ of the Candymaker.   Little kids loved to scare each other with it, leaving out the more adult twist that the Candymaker could shift gender to the victim’s liking.    Candymaker wasn’t bound by gender or gender norms, and in a newly rebranded society where ‘political correctness’ was king and nearly anything went, it fit in wherever it wanted.    

Little kids on playgrounds had a little rhyme surrounding the Candymaker when they were surrounding a campfire or telling scary stories on the playground.   It was a gruesome rhyme, but terribly catchy, and it went like this, 

Candymaker, Candymaker 

Where are you ?

Candymaker, Candymaker

Peak-a-boo !

Candymaker, Candymaker 

Maker of sweets 

Just be careful you’re not one of his treats !

In the woods playing hide-and-seek

Don’t fall for his tasty treats 

‘Cuz at the moment you’re most weak 

Down his gullet, you’ll become his sweet 

Heed my warning, hear my tale 

Candymaker’s real, skulking these trails

Lest you meet him in the night

It will be your last goodbye.  

Kids, in their innocence, being delightful kids, had unknowingly created a spell to summon the demonic Candymaker.    Every time it heard the chant, it would teleport from its hellish alter-realm and make a visit to the human one, wherever it wished.    

Candymaker wasn’t choosy when it came to its ‘snacks’.   It lived based out of survival, and it consumed without preference.    Even babies were no afterthought for this cruel, heartless demon.    Some people were catching on to the fact that the Candymaker wasn’t at all legend.    It was a living, breathing abomination that consumed humans for sport.    As for killing it, no one really knew if there was any method of destroying it.    It was a nightmare that truly had no escape to be found. 

Chapter 3—Little Baby Milly Goes Missing 

Frenchie Grace had just gotten her driver’s license, but like most teens, she didn’t have the cash to buy her own car.   She worked hard and sacrificed most of her social life just so she could afford the car she wanted.   Her friends understood and most of them chipped in to help her with the money.   For a part-time job, she baby sat.   Frenchie was magnificent at it.   She was well-liked by little kids.   She didn’t even mind changing a dirty diaper here and there.   She had done so for her cousin Randi many times and seen Randi begin to transform her life into something incredible.  

Frenchie took pride in being the most requested babysitter in town.   When called upon to take care of Milly Malone, she was delighted.   Milly was only a toddler and she had just begun speaking, but she was still shy.   Frenchie was able to get Milly to open up to her right away and they were playing as if they had known each other their whole lives.    Frenchie adored babies and she hoped to become a mom someday.   Seeing Milly only cemented the fact someday she would become a stupendous mother.    

Frenchie never took her eyes of any of the children she babysat, but a phone call from her mom had distracted her momentarily.    

‘It’s almost time for your bath, Milly-billy.’, Frenchie said, sweetly.   She searched high and low for the little angel everywhere, but not even an errant hair could be found.   

She then heard a blood-curdling shriek and then a babble of glee.   Feeling uneasy, Frenchie raced outside and found only a shoe lying on the ground. 

‘No.  Not today.  I have to find out where Milly disappeared to.’, she thought, rushing to her favorite hiding spots.   

Fortunately, in the playground not far from the Malone house, Milly was being pushed by a very kindly grandmother.    Frenchie could tell that the grandma couldn’t be trusted.  Calmly, she took Milly from the swing and sneered at the elder.   She didn’t mean to judge the woman, but she got a bad feeling in her stomach being around her.    The woman’s intentions were assuredly bad and all she wanted to do was protect little Milly from any malintention.   

Chapter 4—A Sigh of Relief 

Although she wasn’t a mother herself, Frenchie’s matronly instinct took over.   She wasn’t sure how to deter the creature that clearly wanted to do something to Milly.   Thinking quickly, she threw gravel at the woman’s eyes, and fled.   She was sure she saw a second set of eyelids open and close when she had thrown the gravel into its field of vision.   Even if it did, none of that mattered.   The unusual woman lingered for a while until some faraway noise lured her away.    

‘What did I tell you about talking to strangers ?  You could’ve been hurt !’, Frenchie said, reprovingly.    Milly grabbed Frenchie and cried softly.   Frenchie swept up the toddler into her arms and softly sang, 

Hushabye, don’t you cry 

Go to sleepy, little baby 

When you wake you will find 

All the pretty little horses 

Blacks and bays, dapples and greys 

All the pretty little horses 

Just like that, darling Milly fell fast asleep into Frenchie’s arms.   Frenchie couldn’t help wondering if what she had seen was what her friends around the school were whispering about.   She had heard the urban legends of the Candymaker.   One boy at school had been rumored to have said the chant that was supposed to call it into being. 

‘Really, though, could they be that imbecilic ?’, she mused, putting Milly into her bed, covering her up and tucking her favorite Raggedy Ann doll under her arm.   Milly made a contented moan and snuggled closer to her doll as reveries overtook her.    The more she thought of it, the more it irritated her. 

‘Great, now I won’t get any sleep tonight.’, she thought, until she decided to call her boyfriend Evan and get more information out of him.  

Chapter 5—So, Is It Real ? 

Evan had heard more about the Candymaker, being in touch with everything unusual and bizarre.    Evan adored creepy lore and had a penchant for the obscure, so having knowledge on this demonic entity didn’t really surprise Frenchie at all.  

‘You saw it ?’, Evan’s friend, Val asked.    Val was a purveyor of everything goth, so she was more interested in Candymaker than even Evan and Frenchie were.  

‘I don’t know, Valerie.   I could’ve sworn it had extra eyelids…’, Frenchie said.    Evan gulped.  

‘It has reptilian features but is most definitely not of our realm.   As your intuition pointed out, it is a sinister being and one not to be trusted.’, Evan said.    Val crossed herself and said a little rosary. 

‘Just thinking of the entity gives me shivers.’, she said.   

‘What if it comes here and tries to consume us ?’, Frenchie asked.  

‘Vulnerable or not, I don’t think it can get past electricity.   Seems that small distractions and noises it finds alluring might be enough to drive it away.’, Evan noted.    The high school was surrounded by surveillance and electric fences although the community itself was quiet, crime was low and very few disturbances occurred there.   The latest strangeness to happen was the Candymaker, but not many of the residents were frightened of its presence.   

Chapter 6—Others Disappear 

Since the notorious fishing incident, there had been reports of other people from many random walks of life that were vanishing.   Whether it was from a common grocery trip, a doctor’s appointment, car repair or simply visiting a neighbor for sugar, the Candymaker had made itself known and it wasn’t welcome in the small-town community of Templeton. 

Everyone had become fed up, particularly since fall festivals had kicked up and residents were simply looking for reasons to celebrate after a trying year under rule of mandatory quarantine.    Candymaker made itself right at home, melding in with the other entertainers and consuming all it could.    When it was caught in the act dangling an innocent baby no more than a few weeks old over its unhinged, whirring jaw, it reverted to its original form. 

‘Well, blast.  I was finishing off my meal with dessert when you found me out.  The problem is… I’m still hungry.’, the Candymaker said.     With a loud metallic shink its hands turned into deadly claws.   Its mouth returned to the circular rotating maw, and it let out a terrible roar of rage.   One by one, the townspeople fought but one was smart enough to have holy water in his possession.   It was Evan, Frenchie’s boyfriend.   He had known the methodology of creating it himself and had read Psalms over the water over and over again.  It wasn’t only edified, but it was fortified and potent, packed with God’s grace, truth and love. 

‘What’re you going to do, spritz me ?  How cliched.’, the demon guffawed, throwing back its head in a manic cackle.    The super soaker full of holy water definitely did the trick, however.   Candymaker’s flesh began to sear and melt from its body.   Knowing now that it was doomed and doing whatever it could to repair damage done to itself, Candymaker began to run and Evan hit it from behind with the super soaker.    

Candymaker emitted an ungodly wail as it melted into goop from where it originally stood.   

‘Guess the Candymaker CAN be killed.’, Evan said, a bit cockily.   Frenchie ran to him, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him deeply.   It wasn’t known if Candymaker could replicate, like most demonic entities could.   Even if it had that ability, Evan had a gut feeling that he had gotten the only existing entity and it had been wiped out for good.   The small town could breathe easier and conduct their festivals without any trouble.   Halloween now took upon a totally new meaning this year, and Thanksgiving would feel different with so many people slain so mercilessly by the sinister creature.    They couldn’t be brought back, but at least they had been avenged and could rest in peace. 

Epilogue 

Though rumors circulate that the Candymaker still exists, it isn’t known whether the chant evokes it into being.   Being curious creatures, humans are prone to delve into matters they should leave alone.   Thus far, however, the Candymaker hasn’t been heard or seen since the time it was hosed down with a holy water infused super soaker.    It could still be lurking somewhere, waiting to lure an unsuspecting person into an early death, but I suppose we’ll never know if it’s out there, waiting to get its fill of oblivious human candy.  

The End (?)