Not So Sweet Candyland

XXXVII: Something Special

The night time was engulfing the world in darkness, and Berry was up, the insomniac that she was while Chade was sprawled out on the floor. She sat by him for a while until she saw a limitless of rainbow stars in the sky.

That's when she got closer to them, she extended her hand up and she started to levitate up into the world above.

She walked up onto the clouds of grey and was welcomed by an unfamiliar voice.

"What is it that you want? Make a wish and close your eyes."

Berry closed her eyes and folded her hands.

"I want something special."

"What is that something special?"

"I Don't know, really."

"Love? Fortune? Power? A chance to visit your past memories. You have a world that you can change all within a wish, the world could be all yours. Open your eyes."

Berry opened her eyes and the empty abyss turned into an abyss of memories, and on both sides of the wall, there were thousands upon millions of memories. She started walking through the hallway and looking back on every memory that she had. From being born to loosing Taffy and her mother, she nearly lost herself in the process.

She stopped at a memory that was playing when she was about 12. It was her in her castle room, a knife inches away from her throat. Berry remembered that memory vividly. The disappearance of her mother traumatized her to the point where she started to experience traumatic thoughts, and because her heart was so empty, so there was no reason to live if nobody cared for you. There was a window that blowed like the wind. The curtains fluttered with the light gust and that's when she remembered her mother jumping out of the window. Berry looked around, got up, shouted "fuck this world" and threw clothes on that made her look like the darkness.

She jumped out of the window with nothing on her and that was the beginning of the many times she would have left the castle. And while at first, it was a secret, eventually, it became routine for everybody in the castle. Berry would disappear, but nobody would care as long as she wasn't being destructive.

As Berry ran through the night, tears rolled down her face, and she gasped the air every step. She couldn't move anymore and stopped and screamed to the sky.

"Why couldn't you take me, mom?"

At the moment, she stopped running and walked instead.

In an instant, she walked into Licorice City and the atmosphere was a lot different from the rest of Candyland. The nighttime world was a lot different, but Berry never experienced the world at night die to her being sheltered in a castle her whole life and only going out for royal parades and business.

In the city, Berry was afraid. Lonely, scared, cold, worried. She kept her head down and looked at the ground and her footsteps. The people all looked at her like she was an alien. She never liked attention on her, even if she wanted it or not. Berry could hear the whispers of the town people. And she hated it.

That's when Chase's voice suddenly came in.

"What happened that made you see things like this?"

"I don't know, Chase." Berry said while looking at the memory.

"I wish I could change the past, so that's all that you wouldn't have to hear about me. I wish to tell you more about my life other than my mother left to go to the real worlds."

Still in the memory, she was in the streets. There was a strong man that she bumped into and fell.

"WHO ARE YOU?"

"I-I'm sorry sir. Please forgive me." She got up and dusted herself off.

"Why does that voice sound familiar?" The strong man wondered as he looked down at Berry. She was a child who had sad eyes and was trying not to cry in fear.

Berry ran away from him and ran into the city more and more. Being hidden, she did not  want people to see her, because she was a child in an area of scary, intimidating, and different people. People that she was never used to. Her sheltered life made her think that there was only one type of person. And that people couldn't have attitudes, sass, different body types, and people that could live off of slum life and making their weird businesses and having friends that weren't forced on them. People that were free, in Berry's eyes.

"Excuse me." Berry quietly asked a lady, who turned around and wore an eyepatch.

"Yes? Oh, you're a child. What's wrong, my dear?"

"Where am I?"

"You're in a place called Licorice City. Why are you asking?"

"I heard my mother saying that she went there, which is here. Do you know her? Her name is Marissa."

You could see the emotion drain from the girl's face.

"Your mother..... was the queen of Candyland?"

Berry nodded.

"She went back to her home, the human world. She told me that she had a daughter, but she never said much about you. I guess that you were the daughter that she said in her words..

"When I can and when I know that Berry can handle herself, I will come and save her from this hellish dimension. It might be a few days of a few weeks, a few months, or a few years."

Berry remembered the promise. She remembered that promise because that was the promise that her mother broke. As much as she loved her mom, that promise broke her, because it was the most important promise that she ever made to her daughter. And when she never came, Berry thought that she failed as a daughter.

As the vision faded, the voice came again.

"What is it that you want?"

"There are too many of my problems that can't be changed. I'm sorry, it's just me reliving the same experiences over and over."

The world slowly faded and Berry floated down to where Chase was. She laid some little stars on his cheeks.