Not So Sweet Candyland

I: The Candy Pearl

A warm and sunny day. The small town in a mountainous region sets the scene of the beginning of a story.

A boy is wearing a Thrasher black hoodie while doing tricks on his skateboard. His brown hair and brown eyes sparkle against the contrast of his fair skin tone.

He goes around the town on his skateboard, without a care in the world.

To him, he's just an average teenage boy from Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Living in the year of 2020 on May 26th. He takes in the sun and does a kick flip with his wheel.

After riding around, he meets his friend group outside of school.

"Sup." He says nonchalantly.

"Chase!" One of the guys gives him a bro hug.

This is the life that Chase Villanova has always known. He skates and hangs out with friends when he's not in school. Just a normal teenage boy, that's what Chase thinks he is.

And his friend group is a diverse mix of people and personalities.

Guys and girls, the shy and the funny, the stupid and the smart. About 9 of them, including Chase.

All enjoying the sunny day after a long day of studying and schoolwork.

They, in reality were  just mostly kids with no true personality. How they let one hobby or their parents describe them. Chase, even had no personality of his own. He just skates. Just being an average boy, not getting into too much trouble, although he has a mouth and brain of his own. He doesn't use it well.

Among the group of empty souls was a girl by the name of Guin, the player, going from one friend to another, playing with them until she got bored. Chase was next for her. Talia, a peppy girl that has parents working in the United Nations. Mari, who came from a large family and believed that she had to have a large family. Felicity, an aspiring writer who seems to have potential, but is dragged down by her business and lawyer parents constantly. Braydon, a psysics nerd that isn't actually smart at all, Nathan, a man that believes that photographing questionable things is a way to cope. Spenser, one who can't make a joke for his life, and finally, Lance, mother is dead, father is a mad scientist, Lance wishes to be like his father.

Even if you looked at them from several different angles, you wouldn't see nothing wrong, right?

Wrong.

So much wrong under the surface that after years of abuse, could never be fixed.

Abuse between friend groups? How could that be?

They're all so empty and ended up forcing themselves into group roles so that they wouldn't seem weird. In a sense, they were all people pleasers. They were scared on how others would judge them based on how they really acted. And so, none of them know the truth about each other. What are they really like under the surface?

After meeting at the gates of school, all of them separated but Lance and Chase. Lance had a massive box in his hand.

"Hey Chase, I want to show you something."

He opened the box to reveal a large, pink Pearl the size of a basketball. It had a tiny glim when the sun shined on it.

"My father found this at his workplace. His job also requires him to mine and find materials. He let me have this one because he found a smaller one. I don't really know what this is."

"It looks like a Pearl." Chase said.

"It could be, but pearls do not have this round of a shape. And, they're more white and not pink."

"You're holding it like it's cursed."

Lance gulped and looked away.

"I don't think you should touch it. My father, Dr. Gezahagn said no. It might be dangerous and it seems suspicious. No direct contact, and you will be safe."

"How do you know that?" Chase asked.

"They must do examinations on this Pearl, to see what is truly is. I have no idea what this really is, but I am not touching it, and neither are you."

"Come on, loosen up a little, Lance. It never hurt anybody."

"The last time I got loosened up, I got 30 lashes. By. My. Grandmother."

"Have some chill, won't you?"

"I'M NOT ALLOWED TO BE CHILL! OK, I WANT TO BE LIKE MY FATHER! I HAVE TO BE!"

"You have to be like your father? Don't you have dreams of your own?" Chase said deeply.

"I'm not allowed to think like that." Lance looked away.

Lance started to go into a speech about his true intentions and Chase started to zone out. He couldn't see Lance's face anymore and his words sounded like distorted background noise. The Pearl was so tempting, Lance looked away as he spoke. Slowly, Chase's hand went to touch the Pearl, and his pointer finger finally felt the hard but round Pearl. A sudden shock went through his body.

"Are you ok?" Lance finally snapped at him.

Chase was in a daze.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I should go now." Chase said. He left Lance confused.

That night, Chase wasn't feeling like himself. He started to develop intense migraines, and he was seeing shades of pink, green, and yellow flash across his mind. Not even a drink of water would help.

On top of that, he felt his eyes twitching like crazy and started feeling fatigued.

He was sitting on his bed, holding his hands to his head, trying to stop the headaches. He tried to scream, but his vocal cords seemed to shut down.

Maybe he should just go to bed, maybe he just needs some sleep.

But's it's only 8:34pm.

Why not? He'll just wake up early the next morning.

Chase slowly started to go into his covers, hoping that this weird feeling will go away. The sleepiness started to take over him. He felt his eyes closing and his body shutting down. The colors still flashed even as his eyes were shut.

He felt his body moving in his dream, a falling sensation, a change in himself. Like his soul was being transported to another dimension. Was this all because of that Pearl? Chase doesn't know what's going to happen next.

Neither would anybody else when they realize that he disappeared.