Toyebox Collection:Bedtime Stories

My Neighbor is a Gummy Bear

My Neighbor is a Gummy Bear

Jared slammed the paper down, knocking his favorite figurine to the ground. The loud crash startled his cat Winfred. The rain slowly dripped down his window leaving patterns of small rivers upon the glass. The bright flash of the lightning and the crash of thunder reminded him of the storm that now threatens to rain him out. “I am insane” thought Jared as he dressed in his bright yellow rain slicker. “I am going to pedal all the way to the newspaper, just to get laughed at. On top of all of that, I will do so while dripping wet.”  He slowly stripped himself of the rain slicker and sat upon his bed. A large sigh escaped his lungs, leaving room for more depressing oxygen to fill him up.

            If only they would believe me, then we can do something. Mr. Sandlewink. That’s who is behind the disappearances. Jared slowly moved the curtain to one side spying on his devious neighbor.

            Mr. Sandlewink sat down on his recliner, a jar full of Gummy Bears perched on his lap. Another perched on the arm of his chair. Jared watched in horror as a fresh jar of Gummy Bears got sorted into “his collection.”

            The next morning, Jared got ready for school. As he got out of bed, he remembered what he had seen from the night before.” If more Gummy Bears have been added to his collection, than more people will be reported missing.” He thought.

            Jared pulled out the small jar that rested in the top drawer of his dresser. Memories came flooding back to him like a dark tidal wave smashing the island shorelines. Inside the small jar was a Gummy Bear. A red Gummy Bear shaped like his best friend Robert. The sweet candy is all that remains of his friend, another victim of his neighbor, the Gummy Bear.

            They walked to school together the day before his disappearance. Robert was very excited about his allowance this week.

 “Mr. Sandlewink just got a shipment of exotic Gummy Bears in. The Striped Cane Candy Shop has always had specials Jared, but this one is a doozy. The first fifty people this week will get two for the price of one. I can’t wait! I will go right after school lets out. You wait and see, Jared, I will be in the first fifty. Then me and you will be in Gummy Bear heaven.”

The cool wind on an Autumn day, the clanking of the metal can being kicked all the way to school, and Robert’s dream of being in the first fifty is the last memory Jared has of his best friend.

School let out that day, and Robert was off to gain the prize of his dreams. With allowance in his pocket and a bicycle under him, he went into the Striped Cane Candy Shop never to return. The next day, Jared stopped by the candy store and bought a bag of Gummy Bears on his way to school.

As he sat in class eating his sweet treat, he noticed that half of his class was missing. Out of twenty-one students, only twelve showed up. He waited patiently for Robert, but Robert never showed up.

 “I will check on him first thing after school. I bet he stayed up all night eating candy, I bet they all did.”

The bag crinkled in his hand as he pulled the last Gummy Bear out of the bag. The red candy glimmered in the florescent light as he looked at it. “I don’t get what the big deal is, candy is candy, or so I thought.” As he opened his mouth to devour his last piece of candy, something caught his attention.

The bear looked just like Robert, there was a small scar that was grooved onto the head of the candy in the same place as his friends scar. In a blind panic, Jared did something very unexpected; he fainted.

He awoke in the nurses office, little confused, but seemingly okay. His last piece of candy still clutched in his hand.

Jared shook his head, willing the memory away. The small jar felt cold in his hand as he stared at his friend one last time. He plunged Gummy Robert back into the dark chamber that is now his home.

“No more, Mr. Sandlewink. No one else will fall to your Gummy Army, I will find a way to stop you.” The growl in his voice, and the sheer determination and strength of it surprised him.

Jared ran out the front door, with an empty backpack strapped to his back. He jumped on his green BMX and pedaled. He pedaled fast, he pedaled hard, he pedaled right past his school. “No school today” he thought as he hopped the curb and headed towards The Striped Cane Candy Shop. “Today, Mr. Sandlewink, I will stop the madness.”

When he arrived, the store was dark and silent. The bright purple door was locked in the front. Mr. Sandlewink hasn’t opened for the day. Jared parked his bicycle around the back, hiding it inside the large shrub that separated his store from the tiny strip mall next door.

He tugged, he pushed, he tried everything to get inside the store but couldn’t gain access. “An impenetrable fortress for the perfect Super-Villain” he thought as he tried one last time. Then, something caught his eye, a really tacky fake rock stood guard on the cement near the back door. Jared picked it up and looked it over. Inside was the key to the fortress of doom.

“A very dumb Super-Villain,” he chuckled to himself as his first crime was committed. He slid through the back door with ease, being careful not to make a sound. Inside the dark room was hundreds of shelves full of individual Gummy Bears.

Jared slowly walked the rows, examining every last jar. He recognized many little Gummy faces, one of which belonged to Ms. Horn, his math teacher. The tiny Gummy glasses slid down to the very tip of her Gummy nose. The once golden chain that held her glasses in place, was now nothing more than a tiny Twizzler chain upon the ears of the Gummy.

CRASH. Jared froze in place. He listened as something stirred from inside the front of the store. He slowly poked his eye through the beam of light left from the crack in the door. What he saw surprised him.

It was Mr. Sandlewink. No not Mr. Sandlewink. It was a very large Green Gummy Bear. Mr. Gummywink. The Green Bear started laughing maniacally as he counted his collection of prisoners.

“Struggle my little Gummy prisoners, for soon the whole world will belong to us. No one can stop us, Humans will fall and the Gummy race will rule all.”

Jared gasped for his breath. Fear knotted inside his throat.

“What am I going to do? How do I stop something like that?”

He looked around the storage room, looked for something that could kill a Gummy Monster. He saw jars, he saw paper, pens, and a bullhorn.

He snatched the bullhorn up and darted out the back door. A plan to defeat him sprang into action. Jared jumped the hedge and ran into the center of the tiny strip mall.  He raised the bullhorn and thought carefully at what he would say.

“For today only, starting right now, The Striped Cane Candy Shop is running a special. For the next twenty minutes, all you can eat Gummy Bears are free!”

He watched and excitement built as over a hundred adults ran into the Candy Shop devouring every last Gummy in sight. Poor Mr. Gummywink never stood a chance. His arms were devoured, his legs were devoured, and finally his face was eaten by an over anxious adult. The rein of terror was over.

The town misses it citizens, but over time it was better than ever. The house across the street was sold to my new neighbor. He seems nice enough, but has an obsession with Jolly-Ranchers.