Flesh and bone reborn anew, adopting a candied hue. An addictive sweet, a Halloween treat, the staple of the season.
Mira found herself hooked on candy corn from the moment she first consumed its sugary goodness. Her fingertips couldn’t help but reach until the bag was empty, and when she registered the crinkle of nothingness, she begged and begged her mother for more until the addiction was satiated.
During fall, they stocked up on candy corn, Mira itching for another taste. But before she could tear yet another bag open, her mother stood in her path, shaking her finger as she issued a warning.
“Don’t eat too much candy corn at once, Mira. If you do, you’ll regret it.”
Mira shrugged off her mother’s warning, daring to laugh in the face of her concerns. But there was an itch in the back of her mind, an anxiety:
What if her mother was right?
Late into the hours of Halloween Eve, Mira lay awake in bed, tossing, turning, and groaning as she tried to find reprieve in the midst of her sleeplessness. But the ache only seemed to grow, festering and churning until it felt as though she were rotting from the inside out, her very flesh rejecting her soul.
Mira, unable to stand the pain a moment longer, crept out from her upstairs bedroom and down into the kitchen, careful to open the pantry as quietly as possible to not wake her mother.
And there it was before her, the reprieve in the midst of this storm.
Mira tore open the bags one after another, the thought of restraint hardly crossing her mind. She chewed and swallowed and shoved fistfuls of sugar down her throat with such speed it made her head spin and teeth ache. No matter how much she tried, Mira couldn’t bring herself to stop, her body moving before her mind, fingers on autopilot as she indulged until the very last piece.
But she couldn’t shake the feeling, the desire.
Mira needed more.
Before she could realize what was happening, her skin began to change, from a warm beige into a triad of orange, yellow, and white. She rushed up the stairs, hiding away in her bedroom, and forced herself to look in the mirror.
Her entire body had turned into candy, hardened and glistening from the tips of her hair down to her toes. She shed her clothes, which hadn’t turned to sugar, and stared at her candied body with an unprecedented hunger, mouth watering.
Mira bit down on her arm, and where she once would’ve tasted flesh and blood, she found the relief of delicious candy corn. Again and again she bit into her skin, tearing away at the parts that made her whole. She moaned in satisfaction, craving more and more until there was nothing left of her body to give. Her left arm was consumed, legs torn apart, and torso in bitten pieces.
Yet still she craved, yearned for more.
Perhaps tonight she’d pay her mother a visit.
Bryanna Bernice is a writer and aspiring author born and raised in the United States. From a young age she found a love of literature and story-telling, her dream to turn a lifelong passion into a career.
Featured image by Debby Hudson on Unsplash.
