Horrific

Candy Apples

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" The young boy squealed as he ran in through the front door with candy and a smile plastered to his face. "Look how many candies I got!" He cheered, opening his pillowcase for his mother to see.

His mother, Marisa, looked down into the nearly full pillowcase with a smile. "Wow Carter, that sure is a lot." She said and ruffled his hair.

"He's got to give the dentist something to do." His father said with a smile, following him inside and taking off his fake plastic hook. Marisa greeted her husband with a kiss before looking between him and Carter.

"I think my manly pirates should go get changed so we can pass out candy to the trick or treaters, what do you think?" Marisa asked. "Yeah!" Carter exclaimed. Answering the door and passing out candy had always been one of his favorite parts of Halloween so Marisa knew just how to use it to her advantage.

"Can I have a Candy Apple mommy?" Carter asked excitedly, lifting one that he had gotten while trick or treating. "Sure hon, it's Halloween. Knock yourself out." She said with a smile, watching him run off down the hall before turning back to her husband.

"Have fun?" She asked, sticking a sucker in her mouth and smiling. "Definitely." Brent replied genuinely, "Carter had a blast and there weren't any problems. It couldn't have gone better." He said with a huge content grin.

"Well I'm glad. I wish I could have been there. I got Julia to go to bed just before you got here." She said nodding towards the back bedroom. "Hopefully she stays asle-" she began to say. But before she could finish, an ear shattering scream pierced the air.

In seconds Brent was racing across the house, towards the sound of the screaming. He reached a speed that can only be achieved when a father's child is in danger. He ran down the hall, Marisa racing behind him.

The scream seemed to shatter the sound barrier itself, surely scaring off any trick or treaters approaching the house. In Between gasps for breathe, a baby could be heard crying. Brent fell to his knees where Carter had fallen in the hall, laying on his back.

The sight was horrific. Carter lay on his back, gasping for breathe then letting it out in long, high, pained screams. Marisa stood behind her husband as Brent bent over and tried to sit Carter up. It did absolutely nothing to stop the screaming.

The good old parental instinct kicked in in both of them. Brent worked like a machine, checking him all over for injury and moving him gently how he felt would help him best. Marisa mentally went over all the possibilities. Was he choking? Was it some kind of allergic reaction? Asthma maybe? Had he fallen or maybe been injured somehow?

With both parents on their knees by their son now, with the sound of their daughter's cries making it all that much scarier, Carter continued to struggle for each breathe. Low, pained, and unnatural noises came from his throat as he began gagging like he was about to vomit.

Marisa had taken a health class incase something like this had ever happened back when she had gotten pregnant with Carter. "Turn him on his side!" She said urgently to Brent. "If he's going to vomit we need to let him. Otherwise he could choke on it." She explained rapidly more to herself than Brent.

They did exactly that, turning him onto his side. And he did exactly what Marisa had predicted by vomiting all over the floor. Marisa was not the least bit concerned about the damages, only her son's health. She could not see his face with him turned over but she could tell by Brent's response that the result was not a good one.

"Oh my god.." Brent muttered, still holding Carter and leaning him onto his sides and allowing him to vomit. Marisa couldn't see and stood immediately to understand and to help. It wasn't as much that she wished she hadn't looked but more that she wished it hadn't been real. The floor was covered in blood.

Carter was back to screaming again but this time you could hear the absence of something in him. Whether it was the lack of blood or something more, they couldn't say. The blood had alarmed, even shocked Marisa. But it had been what was in the blood that had forced her to let out a scream.

Sitting in Carter's pool of blood were dozens of razor blades. The candy apple was no treat. It was a trick. And a deadly one at that. Carter spit out one last mouthful of blood before sputtering and and going limp in his father's arms.