Sweet Dreams

Chapter One: The Happily Ever Before.

It was January 5th, 1989, when I turned 8 years old. I was a gleeful ball of energy, bouncing off the walls through the entire day. The day itself was wonderful, except for the part where Susie Denmark snitched on me for pulling her hair, but I digress. I had it pretty great, coming home to loving parents and a big, beautiful house, my favorite food for dinner, and a huge chocolate cake for dessert. My life was perfect, much more perfect then it would be in the future, anyways. I struggled with grades and had a bit of a habit to shout out during class. I also teased the other children, but it was nothing, absolutely nothing compared to what was to come.

Anyways, after eating a fantastic birthday cake, I went upstairs to wash the fudge off of my face and brush my teeth. Soon afterwards, I'd come downstairs and have my mother brush my hair entirely against my will. I'd then put baby blue onesie, and go to bed, filled with happy thoughts, drowsiness, and chocolate cake. I closed my eyes, went to sleep, and dreamt of nothing at all. Boring, yet peaceful.

Good god, I wish that happened. Enough of me pulling your leg then, let me tell you what really happened when I went to bed that night.

As I closed my eyes that night, I had absolutely no idea what was coming. And neither did I when I opened them again, and woke up in an entirely different world. The colors were bright, the children were smiling and playing, and the stones in the ground were made of chocolate. Surely I was dreaming, but it was all so tremendous, I almost didn't believe I was capable of dreaming up something like this. I stood there, frozen in awe, until a sweet voice behind me snapped me out of it.

"Excuse me Kyle, are you lost?" she said.

I flinched and turned around to respond to the speaker. A girl who happened to be the most colorful girl I've ever seen. She had a poofy, colorful dress of pale pink and blue, sporting hints of chocolate brown on the sleeves and in the lace. Her sleeves looked like balls of ice cream dipped in chocolate syrup, and her left eye was covered in a swirly pink and blue lollipop. She batted her pointy brown ears that stuck out of her pink hair, resembling those of a cat, and wagged her bushy brown tail. "I guess," I said. "Why do you have a lollipop on your eye?" I asked, immediately forgetting about my previous concerns.

She giggled. "Oh, how rude of me!" she said. "I should introduce myself, shouldn't I? I am Candy, and this is my world of wonder! I hope with all my heart that you absolutely love it here!"

"I don't care." I said cheerfully. "Why is there a lollipop in front of your eye?"

Candy stared at me and blinked a few times. "I-"

"Wait just a second," I cut her off. "How did you know my name, anyways? Do you have E.S.P.?" the idea of her having E.S.P. was much more interesting to me than whatever Candy would have to say.

Candy somehow managed to look enraged, yet she still kept her wide, toothy grin, as she asked "So how is it here in the Dream World? Are you enjoying it here?", changing the topic once more.

"I..." I thought a little bit, before chirping, "I like it here! There's... a lot of things though. Like, a lot..."

"Well somebody sounds a bit overwhelmed!" Candy exclaimed, her grin starting to look less angry and more relieved. "That's okay, plenty of people do when they come here for the first time! If you want, I could give you a tour of the area so it can start to feel more like home!"

I shrugged. "Sure, I guess." A tour isn't necessarily the most exciting sounding thing to an 8-year-old most of the time; or at least it wasn't to me. But despite that, Candy had me in awe through the entire thing. She showed me the Caramel Castle, which was the heart of Truffle Town, the main living area of the Dream World. Everybody we passed would smile and wave at us as we walked by, and I started to feel less left out. Candy showed me Pastel Park, Licorice Lake, Sugar City, and the Happy Hills, which you could get to by taking the Rocky Road. The world was so big, and there were so many sights to see, but as I saw each one of them, Candy kept me wide-eyed and laughing through the entire time, and we became the closest of friends.

Or, so I thought.

The tour seemed to have whizzed by in a matter of seconds, though looking back, it must have actually taken forever. We were looking down at the world from the tallest out of the Happy Hills, the lemon yellow sun starting to disappear as the sky faded to orange, the rosy clouds looking to have been made out of cotton candy. This must have been the most wonderful way I could've possibly ended such a wonderful day. Just sitting next to my new best friend, watching the sunset, and enjoying the sweet breeze.

"I forgot to say happy birthday, Kyle." Candy said, breaking the peaceful silence. "You're 8 years old now, hm?"

"Yeah!" I perked up. "Pretty neat, huh?"

"Very neat!" Candy said. "Very mature."

"Not really," I said, looking at her, confused, almost. "I haven't even learned how to multiply yet."

"Oh..." Candy said, her voice trailing off.

"I know what 2 times 2 is, though!" I chirped. "I'm way smarter than all the other kids, even if my grades aren't so great."

"I'll bet you are." Candy said, making me smile even more. "Did you get everything you wanted for your birthday, then?"

"Aw, yeah! My mom got me that Transformers figure I've been eyeballing for like, forever! His name is Optimus Prime, and he's the leader of the Autobots, and he's the coolest character! Well maybe not the coolest, I LOVE Soundwave..."

"Ah, yes, transformers..." Candy said, as if she was only absentmindedly agreeing.

"Though..." I started, looking up into Candy's large, bright blue and pink eye. It only just occurred to me then how long and dark her eyelashes were, it made her look just like a doll.

"Yes?"

"Today was great and all, but like... I kinda wish I could just stay here forever, you know?" I said, looking back down at the perfectly minty green grass. Candy's eyes widened to the point where it was creepy, and her toothy grin stretched across her face even wider.

"Oh, you do?" She said, her voice seeming much higher than it had before.

"Yeah," I said. "Everything's just so nice here. I don't really have any friends back in.. um, the other world, but here I have you, and I don't need to worry about homework. I don't have to worry about chores, or getting bullied, or anything here! It's all just perfect!"

Candy tilted her head, perhaps just a tad bit farther than what would be natural. "Well, I don't see why you can't stay here forever, then, if that's what you really want, Kyle." she pointed out, with a shrill, silvery tone of voice.

My eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Of course!" Candy said, starting to giggle. I noticed that behind her lollipop, a black liquid started to trickle, as if there was an eye underneath, and it was crying blackness.

"Candy, what's that?" I pointed at the liquid and cocked my head. It was only black water, as far as I knew, but something about seeing it invoked a cold, dark fear within me. I instinctively backed up. Candy ignored my question, or she didn't hear me or something. She just smiled and stared at me. I started to feel a bit uneasy. She continued to look right at me, her large eye twitching just a little bit. "Umm.. Candy? What's your deal?" I demanded.

"You want to know what this is?" She whispered, still staring at me, as she pointed to the liquid blackness on her cheek. "Let me show you."

I don't remember what happened after that. All I remember was that I screamed, and I blacked out.