Candy teeth

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The air was thin inside the small metal hallway. rows of shining silver doors seemed to go on forever on both of my sides and so did the crumby dangling rectangles of light, some flickered quickly while others were casting dark black circles on the floor. the winter holidays were soon coming and the 6 anxious bidders were tightly tucked into thick black and grey coats, some with soft colorful scarves poking out from the high collars. i ,however, broke the uniform by wearing my old leather jacket decorated with tan cracks making it look much older then i was. my dark blue jeans were too big for me and my coat hung loosely, always serving as a dreadful reminder of the past physique i lost to the now lingering effects of malnutrition. my hair was brown and jaggedly cut with house scissors but was still acceptable enough to leave the house. one of my skeletal hands fiddled with with a used tissue in one pocket while my left shifted and counted the 2 20$ bills in the other. the money came from my small retail job, i saved everything for weeks and ate nothing but cabbage.
i had one thing going through my mind as the doughy and bearded man spat numbers in reply to the fast raising mittened hands: find something for scarlet. she's my daughter, she was 7 years old at the time and every year she would wake up to nothing on christmas. me and my wife sometimes would think she was unaware of the holiday completely. but every December a wrenching pain of guilt would twist into my gut knowing i couldn't afford to the father i wished so much to be.
the small group of people shifted to the second to last unit and i fallowed, hoping this would be my lucky day. the plump man unlocked and lifted the tin garage like door and 4 coated people mumbled under their breath with crinkled noses and moved to the next door, waiting for the man to move on. the unit was small and had a strong scent of ash and mold. there was some cardboard signs with ' 1$ FOR 3 PLAYS! ' and large painted clowns eating several different kinds of carnival foods with big cheery red smiles. there was also colorful clown costumes made from cheap materials, wooden boards with circles cut out for playing hacky sack, but most importantly, there was dolls wearing little blue frilly dresses that had cherry colored yarn pigtails. i assumed she once served as a prize as there was several others all with unique burn marks and mold. i picked the cleanest one i could find out of the cardboard box and stared into it's dark button eyes, she was perfect for scarlet. the other interested bidder was a short young woman, she seemed intrigued until she lifted one of the large signs and became sickly looking, she dropped the sign with a loud thud and quickly walked out to wait for the next unit, trying her best not to make a scene. i shrugged it off and thought she may have just seen more mold, the auctioneer looked at me with small beady eyes waiting for my price. i tightened my grip on the doll and looked at him sheepishly until i muttered out, ' i'll take it for 20$'. he groaned a little but soon realized that this was the best he'll get out of it. 'fine, pay at the front later and it's all yours'. he said and then moved to his next auction.
2 hours passed, i had paid my bid and was now trying to put everything together so i could put it in the back of my run down truck. i was given a few free trash bags which i used to throw away the moldy prizes, making sure to keep the acceptable ones in their own pile, and broke a few of the half burned signs over my knee before placing them in an another bag. after awhile, i worked my way to the pile of signs that made the woman so ill. i slowly pulled back the the old wood and bit my inner cheek at the sight.
an animatronic clown with grey glassy eyes was staring back at me. the thing wreaked of burnt plastic. it had big red triangles around its eyes and a large classic red nose. the plastic that was was made to cover it's bottom jaw seemed to have broken off revealing a dark grey endoskeleton and a few white teeth. his tan costume had peach colored stripes and white lace ate his sleeves, 3 small red cotton balls were sewn to his torso, a red and white neck ruffle was carefully tied around his neck with a big cartoonish bow in the back. his outfit was also affected by fire as well, in one leg of his pants there was a large hole that burnt through, the other side was completely burnt off. the rest of his body was mad of the same plastic as his face, almost all of it's limbs had marks where the plastic had bubbled and warped by the fire. he was almost as tall of me. after fully studying my mind couldn't think straight, maybe it was the fumes of chemicals getting to me, but i felt something pull in my chest, i needed it for something. he was horrifically important. i bit my inner cheek again before carrying and plopping it in the back of my car and began to load it up with everything else i wanted to keep.
days passed, christmas was 2 days away and i had kept the robot and the dolls in a tiny closet always making sure scarlet didn't find a way to peek inside. my mother had flown in yesterday along with my wife's parents. our apartment was small, almost embarrassingly small, but everyone could find somewhere to sleep. even if that meant i had to sleep on the floor for a few days.
"Liam, what are you doing?" my mother asked. i shot up quickly and whipped around to meet her eyes "i was checking on the closet, making sure nothing moved. you know..." i then mouthed the words ' scarlet's gifts'. " liam!! how could you not tell me!? let me see!! ohh she's going to be so happy this year-" she shoved me out of the way and her eyes met the clown, lifeless and slouching against the back wall with small dolls by his feet. her face instantly drained of all happiness and her thin, ring covered, fingers touched her mouth softly. " i never thought i would see you again'' she said it louder then she meant too. "what-" "where did you get him?!" she looked at me with more fear than puzzlement. ' i won a little auction, he was just in the back and i thought someone would like him. but look and these!" i desperately picked up one of the dolls and held it out to her face trying to make her a little more at ease. it failed, she turned her head again to the robot and frowned. "do you.. know anything about him?" i asked it without even thinking, quickly biting my lip out of anger for myself.
"sit down, i'll tell you what i remember." she said in a rough tone. i sat at the dinner table and waited cautiously for the story to begin. my mother softly shut the door and sat in the seat in front of me, then began to speak a tale that haunts my dreams to this day.
"it was summertime, me and your father we're only 16 and thought it would be a good idea to go to the carnival. it was hot and dry inside the big red and white striped tent that held the event, but kids still ran around and parents still dragged along. there wasn't much to do, just some food vendors and small usual carnival games like ring toss and hacky sack toss. people walked around in big clown outfits, handing out candy and speaking cheerful nonsense to the kids. the only thing that made the place off-putting was the tall robot clown that was hidden in a corner. the one you bought. he stood on a grey box and if you gave him 2 quarters he would make you a balloon...he would also spit out a piece of candy into your hand. it was strange concept so kids hated to even look at him. he always stood there, waiting for someone to entertain but no one ever came. on the box, there was his name painted in rainbow letters. his name was: 'candy teeth the clown'. even when i was teenager it freaked me out just being a few feet to him. but then, as we were sat at one of the many wooden picnic tables, a little girl ran to him giggling with 2 quarters in her tiny hand. she put them in the slot and then waited for him to perform, rocking eagerly on her heels. something was wrong though, he made her a big pink smile face balloon and handed it to her as usual. but when it came time for him to give her candy, his jaw made a sharp metallic screech and the candy fell to the ground. she picked it up and ran back to her father, who tied to balloon to her wrist gingerly and stared at the small blue colored candy cautiously, then handed it back to her nodding. she ate it and after awhile she turned pale, the candy was so old. a blue, slime like, liquid oozed through her teeth and stained the skirt of her dress. her father quickly picked her up in his arms and ran out of the tent. then, almost as if the clown had a mind of his own, he began to twist and shake violently, his head span in circles faster then he was made too. every joint on his body was working and making that horrible screeching noise again. his jaw loudly snapped up and down. the plastic covering his fingers broke off with ease revealing sharp metal talons. " she paused, shaken by the memories.
"sparks began to fly from his creaking joints. catching onto the tent's cloth. the whole place was going to be burnt down. the air quickly became black with smoke, it filled my lungs and i started loudly coughing. it felt like my skin was going to start sizzle with the heat. i could barely see anything, all i could hear was yelling and muted cries from small children as they tried to find their parents. the only thing that pierced the smoke was candy's bright white eyes. they were like spinning searchlights. fire caught to the food stands then soon the tables. i threw myself out of the bench and tried to crawl my way out. then i heard a horrible metallic noise unlike anything he made before. he had broke off of his stand was began to stomp around, moving to fast for his old machinery to process. he looked like a wind up toy. the stomping was faint, then became so loud a covered my ears in pain. my mind was filled with the horrific sound of screeching metal and sizzling plastic. i laid there with my knees under my chest, boiling hot tears streamed down my face and the clown started to slowly approach me. i had to move, or run or something so i shot up with sense of fear i didn't think i would ever feel. i ran out of there as fast at i could but i ending up running right into him, one of his sharp claws ripped a jagged line through my shirt, leaving a horrific scar i still have today. i stumbled back and ran back trying to find my way out. i fell onto my knees and began to to crawl out of the small opening i found. crying, my face and clothes was covered in soot and dry dirt... i was supposed to die that day. your father almost did until the police found him caught to the table. he still had the burn marks the day he died from his condition." her face began to contort, not with sadness but with burning anger. she walked out of the room, running her hands through her hair trying to hold my anger and tears.
after the holidays my mother went home. that's when i started becoming more curios about "candy teeth". i looked up the name and several police reports came up stating different things. it turns out the clown had moved through many carnivals before being shoved into the unit, never to be seen again. reports of the candy making kids sick, the same horrific colorful ooze would run done there face from their nose and mouth. some kids would get large cuts from his long fingers because they got too close to the robot, sometimes it was hot outside the candy would melt in his metallic throat, showing an illusion of vomit, and concerned parents saying there kids would have horrible nightmares of him. candy teeth had been to 8 different locations before going into hiding.
after hours of reading the stories people told the police and viewing what seemed like hundreds of pictures of kids and teens experiencing the affects of candy teeth's treats. my computer showed an email notification, the loud ding was so sharp compared to the soft sounds of the night, it made me almost jump of my skin. i opened it, the names was a strange business email and it read:
'hello Liam,
it appears you have found my creation. you must be so confused, i can take him off your hands for free. i will take much better care of it then you would by just keeping it in your little home. after all, you wouldn't want the new carnival to not have a clown would you?

pleasure doing business with you,

Ross Robotics'

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