Dark And Gray

A House Made Of Candy

Can you guess which bedtime story this came from?

Lucinda happily skipped down the stairs, her small suitcase pulled by her left hand creates a thud every time it hits a step. She smiled happily to herself, she's finally free and finally out of the orphanage. She's out of the shit hole she called home. After seven years she can finally go out to the real world.

"Good riddance," she heard one of the workers sigh. Lucinda didn't mind, for her, its freedom that's waiting for her just outside the door.

She flung the door open and happily walked over to a man in a suit. The man, according to the head mistress of the orphanage, is supposed to pick her up and take her to her new family. Lucinda smiled at him and he smiled back. He gestured to the long, shiny black vehicle behind him. Lucinda's jaw dropped, she had heard about these cars before, limousines they were called. The man helped her put her suitcase in the trunk and up the seats inside.

"Hi," Lucinda greeted with a wave.

"Hi," the man returned the friendly gesture. "My name's Matt. What yours?"

"Lucinda"

"Lucinda, what a nice name"

"Thank you"

"No need to thank me. I only here to drive you"

"Why do you talk like that?"

"Talk like what?"

"Your. Your words are not complete"

"Its a long story"

"I got time"

"You ain't got no time Lucinda"

Silence enveloped the limo after he said that. Lucinda couldn't put her finger to it but his words gave her chills running down her spine. She felt her sweat ready to race down her forehead. She was about to break the silence but the man did it first.

"Say, Lucinda? How old are you?"

"I'm twelve"

"Good. Any idea how your mommy will look like?"

Lucinda thought for a moment before speaking but her chauffeur beat her to it.

"You ain't gonn be having a daddy. Know why?"

"No"

"Because your mom ate him"

"Are you trying to scare me? Because if you are. Its not working"

He turned around right when he stopped in front of a house in the middle of the woods.

"It ain't gonn be a joke when it done," he said in a creepy tone. "We here actually."

Lucinda looked around. Trees everywhere. The path they came in is a gravel and dust road lined with tall grass and beyond the tall grass are trees. Lucinda gulped but she womanned up and got out of the limo before her chauffeur can get to her. He helped her with her suitcase instead.

"This your new home. I don't never wanna go there. Gives me chills," the man said before going in the driver's side and accelerating off. The limo kicked up gravel and dust as it swerved down the path once more, disappearing in a curve amongst the tall grass and small trees.

Lucinda looked around the property. Dying lawn, a rusted car beside a broken fountain standing inside a dried up pond with only a few stray weeds growing along the cracks of the inside. Gnarled trees skinned to the bone lined another gravel stone path leading to what Lucinda will soon call her home. Maybe her ending isn't a happy ever after after all.

But she still need to check the house out. She has been engaged in a conversation with her chauffeur she have no idea where she is. She gulped to herself and walked to the direction of something colorful.

Weirdly enough, the house looks like it jumped right out a fairytale book. Lucinda's fear left her body as soon as her eyes fell on the colorful and inviting house.

Colorful swirls of paint decorated the walls from bottom to top. The windows are heart shaped and the windows sills painted a bright pink with potted tulips sitting in them. The door looks like two giant dark chocolate bars and the stairs leading up to it looks like lollipops. The roof looks like three waffles stacked top of each other with the syrup still dripping from it.

Lucinda walked over the lollipop stairs and ran her hand over the white fence and the swirly pillar on the porch. To her surprise, the fence felt soft to her touch and the pillar sticky. She touched them again and was surprised to get the same feeling. She tore a piece of the soft fence and it came right off easily.

"Feels like marshmallows," she whispered to herself. She brought the piece up to her nose and sniffed. She quickly dropped it and gasped. "It is marshmallow!"

She glanced up at the door. Lucinda wondered if they're really chocolates so she walked over and tried prying a part of it off when it suddenly creaked open. Cold wind blasted from the inside, hitting her face and blowing her burgundy hair out of their places.

"Hello?" She asked. The fear she felt earlier came back when she saw pitch black darkness on the inside. She pushed the door open and was met by a grotesque face of a woman.

That was the last thing she ever saw.

And the last thing she heard was the voice of the man who drove her earlier saying, "I told you so"

Her ending isn't a happily ever after after all.

Any idea how the ending would be?