I’d like to tell you a story:
Once upon a Halloween night, a tiny, gloved hand reached into a cauldron full of treats. The hand swished left and the hand swished right, sending Bubble Yum and Jolly Ranchers tumbling out of its way. When it finally withdrew, it had in its grasp, the thin, white stick of a Tootsie Pop.
A quick gulp of air was all the Pop had time to grab before he was dropped unceremoniously into the dark, cottony chasm of a pillow case.
But he hadn’t come alone.
Stuck to the Tootsie Pop’s wrapper was a rogue Candy Corn–a treat who had already broken free of one plastic bag in an attempt to escape her Halloween fate.
You see, every Candy Corn hears the tale; they know what happens on Halloween night. But this slightly lopsided triangle of sugar had other ideas. She knew she was destined for more, but she couldn’t do it alone. She needed the Tootsie Pop’s help to reach her happily ever after.
Your mission, teen writers, should you choose to accept it, is to write me an escape scene:
How does the ambitous Candy Corn and her reluctant Tootsie Pop sidekick escape the bite of their Halloween fate?
Leave your answers here in the comment section and be sure to come back through the weekend to cheer your friends on and to see what they’ve come up with. I can’t wait to read your replies!
Shannon Dittemore is an author and speaker. Her books include the Angel Eyes trilogy, a supernatural foray into the realm of angels and demons, as well as the fantastical adventure novel Winter, White and Wicked. Its sequel, Rebel, Brave and Brutal is due out January 10, 2023.
Shannon’s stories feature strong female leads grappling with fear and faith as they venture into the wilds of the unknown. She’s often wondered if she’s writing her own quest for bravery again and again.
It’s a choice she values highly. Bravery. And she’s never more inspired than when young people ball up their fist and punch fear in the face.
To that end, Shannon takes great joy in working with young writers, both in person and online at Go Teen Writers, an instructional blog recognized by Writer’s Digest four years running as a “101 Best Websites for Writers” selection.
For more about Shannon and her books, please visit her website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
“Follow my instructions if you want to live.”
“What?” The Tootsie Pop thought he was alone in… wherever he was… the walls were made of loose fabric and he felt like he was moving, swinging back and forth. Who had spoken, though?
“I said, follow my instructions if you want to live.”
The Tootsie Pop turned. It was too dark for him to see anything. “Who’s there?”
“Me.”
That’s when he noticed the sensation that something was stuck to his back. “Who?”
Whatever was stuck to him dislodged itself. “Turn around,” it said.
The Tootsie Pop did as he was told, and through the darkness, he could make out a tiny triangular shape. A Candy Corn. What was she doing out of her bag? Where were her fellows?
“We don’t have much time,” she said. “Do you know where we are? Do you know why we’re here?”
“No.”
It was then the Candy Corn explained to him the concept of “Halloween”, their purpose in it all, and the gruesome fate that awaited them once their human child captor completed their hunt.
“So that’s… that’s our destiny? That can’t be it!” The Tootsie Pop protested.
“I thought the same thing myself,” the Candy Corn said. “That’s why I left my bag, and that’s why I found you. The other candy corns say that this is simply the life we are meant to live. But I refuse to believe that. There’s a whole big, beautiful world out there. And if the humans get to see it, why can’t we?”
The Tootsie Pop hadn’t the foggiest idea as to what this “whole big beautiful world” might be, but the half a second between the bowl of other candy and where he was now had been quite nice, and he wouldn’t mind a chance to experience more of that.
“So what do we do?” he asked.
“I have a plan,” said the Candy Corn. “We’re gonna need more help though.”
Before the Tootsie Pop could ask who would help, they heard two loud high notes ring out, followed by a chorus of human child voices saying “Trick-or-Treat!” Within seconds the roof above opened up, and three mini Hershey bars fell through the hole of blinding light before they were sealed in darkness.
As the night went on, the bag filled up, and the Candy Corn recruited three more lolly pops and a handful of assorted mini candy bars to her cause. She then wove her way through the crowd until she reached the bottom of the pillow case and found a loose seam. She and the candy bars lined up the lolly pops with their sticks poking into the seam, and the pushed and pushed until finally the seam ripped, and candy cascaded through the tear into the cold night air.
The Tootsie Pop his the sidewalk hard, and he thought he felt himself crack a bit beneath his wrapper. But there was no time to think of that now. Everything was chaos. Candy was scattered all over the side walk, rolling wherever they could to make their escape.
“Over here.”
He turned to find the Candy Corn lying on the ground a few inches away from him. “Follow me,” she screamed.
The Tootsie Pop rolled after the Candy Corn, through the scrambling crowd dodging the human hands that tried to reclaim them. Finally, they reached the grass at the edge of the side walk and took shelter there.
“Now what?” The Tootsie Pop asked. He looked around at the tall silhouettes of the grass blades that flanked him and his new friend, and up at what appeared to be a navy blue blanket pin pricked with light. “What’s that?”
The Candy Corn looked up and smiled. “The sky.” Her near-breathless voice brimmed with the joy of someone who’s just had their deepest wishes granted. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
“It really is.” The Tootsie Pop was transfixed. How had he never known this existed before?
“There are so many more beautiful things to see,” the Candy Corn said. “The sky changes colors throughout the day. And there’s forests and the ocean and mountains and who knows what else.”
The Tootsie Pop was astonished. He didn’t know what any of those things were, but if they were half as beautiful as the sky, he was excited to find out.
“Come on,” the Candy Corn said. “Let’s go see who else made it out. From there, the world is ours!”
CC frantically peered at her fellow doomed captives. They all were curled in their wrappings, trying to ignore the world. CC heard a groan from nearby. She squinted through the darkness at a figure huddled as far away from everycandy else as possible. The word HERSHEY’S was printed on its side. Horrified, she crawled off Tootsie Pop and rolled over to the chocolate. Whimpers came from inside the wrapping. CC tapped a side and the chocolate oozed away from her touch. CC gasped. This was candy cruelty. What monster had disobeyed the no-chocolate rule? Even while still in the store CC had seen the signs saying not to pass out chocolate on Halloween. The hot Florida air would melt them before the trick-or-treaters returned home.
CC felt a thick, warm liquid spread over her. A small hole had appeared in the Hershey’s wrapping and chocolate was oozing out of it. Gagging slightly, CC tried to brush the chocolate off. For melted chocolate, it was surprisingly sticky. The Hershey groaned again, and CC stopped trying to rid herself of the chocolate. It started whispering and CC dropped closer so she could hear.
“Well, it’s better to go this way I suppose. I really didn’t want to get eaten. At least it’s warm here. I don’t like the cold”. If candy could cry, CC would be sobbing. She started stroking the Hershey, whispering encouraging words that she would not remember later. The whimpers diminished as more chocolate leaked out of the hole. When all noise had stopped, CC rolled back over to Tootsie Pop. The chocolate stuck to her and slowed her movement, but it gave her an idea. CC crawled up Tootsie Pop and stood on its head.
“Attention all candies!” she called. Most looked up at her, but a few didn’t move from their huddled positions. CC sighed. She had hoped that everyone would respond, but… well, at least she got a few. “I don’t know about you, but I do not plan to get eaten. I have a plan to escape, but you may not like it.” confused looks followed her statement. CC pointed at the melted Hershey. “A few moments ago, one of our fellow doomed departed. He was a brave Hershey and didn’t deserve that fate. What is done is done, however. If we cover ourselves in his chocolate, we may be able to escape. I don’t think the humans will keep us if we are stuck together”. One candy, a Starburst, spoke up.
“Do you know how rude that would be? Covering ourselves in chocolate? No thanks”. Another candy, a Jolly Rancher, poked the Starburst.
“It’s not as if the Hershey needs the chocolate anymore. If it will get us out of here alive, I would cover myself in ANYTHING”.
CC looked down at Tootsie Pop. “What say you, good sir?”
“I’ll do it if you get off my head” he grumbled. CC smiled.
“Then let’s go!” She jumped off Tootsie Pop and rolled over to the melted Hershey, a crowd of candies behind her. CC had just started spreading chocolate over her when she felt a glob of it hit her back. She turned around to see Tootsie Pop.
“That’s for standing on my head”. Grinning, CC scooped up a glob of chocolate and took aim.
——————————-
“MO-OM! MY CANDY IS COVERED IN CHOCOLATE!”. CC froze as a hand reached toward her. She sighed in relief as the hand recoiled in disgust.
“Throw it out then. You can share your sister’s candy”
“What? I don’t want to share my candy. It’s his fault for getting chocolate on his!”
CC felt something scoop her up. She felt a flash of fear as she was dropped through the air, but she soon landed on something soft and squishy. She glanced around at her chocolate-covered candies. They all appeared to be present and unharmed. They were standing up and gazing in wonder around them. CC turned around. Banana peels, paper towels, dog hair, and dead pens surrounded her. She noticed that the other candies had started to use paper towels to wipe the chocolate off them. Smiling, CC followed their lead. They had escaped. They were safe.