The Lollipop Man

The sky is grey and gloomy, depressing the scenery. The trees surrounding the shopping centers' car park are swaying in time with the strong gusts of wind. Puddles of old rain water fill the cracks of the slick tar.

I'm hobbling to the car, struggling with four heavy plastic shopping bags filled with lollies, chips, drinks, dips and any other type of junk food you can think of. It's all for the Halloween party I'm hosting tonight. I awkwardly pull my keys from the brown, suede handbag that hangs loosely over my right shoulder. I press the small black button on my key-ring, the car beeps and its lights flash to notify me that it's unlocked. I open the boot and "gently" chuck the shopping bags into it, then slam it closed maybe a little too violently.

I hop in the front seat and text my best friend Leila that I finished shopping.

Me: Hey, I just got in the car. Driving home now x

Leila: Okay, cool x I'll come over in about an hour to help set up, that good?

Me: Yep. Cya then xx

I grab a black hair tie from my glove box and put my long auburn hair into a messy bun to get it out of my face. I put the keys into the ignition and start the car.

I pull into my driveway, pull the handbrake up, pull out my keys from ignition, and open my door. I take the four shopping bags out of the boot and lock my car. As I struggle up to the front door with a tonne of groceries in each hand, well that's what it feels like anyway, I manage to free one of my hands to open the door.

"Hellooo?" I call aimlessly into the empty doorway, to which my cat replies with a grumble as he weaves sneakily in between my legs. Him doing so puts me off balance and the next thing I know I'm in a heap in my doorway with my cat on my lap playfully looking through the fallen groceries. I groan as I rub my temples with my fingers, I get to my feet, only to squat down again to be eye level with my cat.

"Is there anyone else home, Grumpy?" I ask with a baby voice, to which my cat ignores and continues to rummage through the groceries, hoping to find something worth eating - or destroying.

As I venture deeper towards the kitchen, groceries in hand, I notice Grumpy's footprints leading from my father's study.

"What've you got there Grumpy?" I murmur. I bend down and study the footprints. They're a red-brown and the substance that grumpy left behind has already dried. It almost looks like blood... I gasp and slap a hand over my mouth. I stand up shakily and tread ever so slowly into my dad's office.

"Dad..." I whisper as I look around the room. I scream when I see my dad's white leather computer chair dripping with blood onto the cream carpet and my dad sitting in it. His eyes open, yet vacant, his arms have fallen on either side of him in awkward positions, his skin a weird pale-blue colour and his whole form is limp.

"DAD!" I scream, crumpling to the ground. Tears start falling involuntarily and I try to hold myself together. I whimper as I stand up on shaky legs and dare to venture closer. Red and purple colour his swollen left cheek, blood stains his perfectly creased, crisp white shirt and his black slacks. I notice the wound he's bled out from is a stab wound in the centre of his chest, and in the middle of that is what looks like a large lollipop stick.

At that moment my stomach can't hold up any longer and I sprint out of the room towards the bathroom. I vomit up today's lunch in the toilet bowl and hold my hair back away from my face. Once I'm done, I walk slowly to the sink and wash my face and hands. I look up into the mirror at an unfamiliar pale face. The girl in the mirror has lifeless cockroach brown eyes, slightly puffy and red from crying, her facial expression is scared and frightened and her hair that was once in a messy bun now resembles a birds' nest. She reaches forward at me and our hands meet at the mirror.

Run. She says. Run. Now. Keep running until your legs don't work, and even then keep running.

I break contact with the girl in the mirror and stumble back hitting my head on the wall behind me. I head to my bedroom, but find myself wandering into my parents' room. I look up with drowsy eyes and take in my surroundings. More blood. More screaming. More dead eyes staring at me. Just like dad, my mother is laying lifeless on her bed in a pool of crimson liquid and two white lollipop sticks are sunk in her chest. I fall face first onto the floor and cry, for what seems like hours, days, months, years, it doesn't matter and time stops, not relevant enough to keep going.

I hear a cry and at first I think it's all in my head, but then I hear it again, louder. It's a baby's cry and when I pull my head from my hands to look up I notice it's coming from the baby monitor.

Felicia.

That cry is my baby sister's.

Before I know it I'm up on my feet bolting down to the end of the corridor, to Felicia's bedroom. I open the door slowly and it creaks. There she is standing up, in the middle of her wooden cot looking at the doorway with tears in her eyes, but a smile on her face and... and a... lollipop in her mouth. Relief and anxiety wash over me as I run to her and pick her up, not taking notice of tears streaming down my face. I pull out the lollipop from her mouth and it's shaped like a dagger. I drop it instantly as if touching it burns. I pick up her still warm bottle and hand it to her.

We go to my room and I put Felicia on my bed, happily sucking away at her bottle. I grab my phone from my pocket and try turn it on, but it doesn't which is weird because I had 87% of battery left last time I checked. I place it on my desk and sit down on my computer.

Just at that moment I get a notification from an unknown email.

Look Up.

"What?" I question aloud. I spin on my chair to check on Felicia, but... she's gone.

I hear her giggle and it sounds like she's right above me. I look at my computers screen again.

Look Up.

Those two words taunt me until finally I give in to my curiosity.

And I look up.

And what I see is my last. A man with an evil grimace on his face, a ski mask over his face, I can't see many of his features in the dark corner, but I can tell he has Felicia in one hand and a sharp lollipop dagger in his other hand. He drops. I scream. I feel the dagger penetrating the soft layer of skin of my neck.

Bye Felicia. I'm sorry.