candy queen of sin

chapter one (molly)

people expect the world to end in fire or ice. people expect the world to end because of a specific event in the distant (or not so distant) future. People expect could the world possibly end another way? could it end because of something we've already done, something we are still doing, something that seems harmless?

If being chased by sugar zombies down a dirt road at 4 in the morning is anything to go on, then yes. yes it can.

Let me go back to where this story begins.

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the story begins in an old town in practically the middle of nowhere. it was a normal, unassuming day. the sun was shining, the neighbors dogs were barking, and the bees were outside just trying to make honey only to be killed by humans who wanted nothing to do with them.

people who were out on their porches looked up at the sight of a moving truck coming into town. it struck them as odd that someone would want to move into this old town because it was pretty secluded from most of modern civilization. there was only one store in the middle of town. there was frequent power outages. And there was not a single internet tower in sight.

as our junky car pulled up behind the moving truck I could already see that most of these people grew their own food. someone's chicken had escaped into the yard of the house we were moving into. yep, I could already tell this was going to be one interesting move.

"do we have to move?" My brother had been complaining this whole time about the move. But it was inevitable since our mom had left us and took half of everything in the divorce. we couldn't even afford to live in a studio apartment, assuming we could find a landlord that would let all three of us stay in one.

"How many times have we been over this, yes. we have to move out here. we can't afford a studio apartment in the city. at least here we can have our own rooms." my dad looked at the old building in thought, "but it is weird the guy selling this place only wanted a dollar for it."

my dad wasn't wrong. I watched the exchange. it seemed like the guy was glad to be rid of the place. but a singular dollar? surely a property is worth more than that, even without the decrepit old building we were moving into.

To be honest, I think the guy may have been a murderer and he sold the place real quick so if someone finds the body the blame would be put on the person who owns the house. If that is the case, I respect the guy for being smart about it. Not the fact he murdered someone, if he did that's just terrible.

We got out of the car and started moving our stuff inside. I was genuinely surprised that despite how old the building is and how no one has actually lived in this place in years how clean and put together the inside looked. there was even a glass table in the middle with no dust on it. and in the middle of the table was a glass chess set.

"the chess set is going in your room." my brother was quick to say that because he knows our dad wouldn't let us get rid of a perfectly good board game, they are a valid source of entertainment, he would always say. and alexander definitely didn't want some creepy old glass boardgame in his room. it's probably for the best anyways because my older brother isn't exactly careful with his stuff.

"No objections there." I carefully picked up the board and set it in the corner until we could get my bed and nightstand set up in there.