Candy Store

Chapter 1: Raindrops And Lollipops

"Son of a Mitch!"

Lapis angrily struggled to close the hood of her car, after having opened it to be greeted by clouds of black smoke erupting into her face. Finally, she managed to aggressively slam the hood shut, before pouting and looking around at where she had gotten herself stranded. She knew jack squat about cars, so there was no chance of her fixing the broken-down vehicle on her own, but she seemed to be stuck in the middle of nowhere, without a single mechanic in sight.

To an outsider, it probably would have been amusing to see this tiny, four-foot-ten teenage girl shouting non-expletives at her car as she struggled to figure out the issue, but to Lapis, this was no laughing matter. She was finally out of her hometown, ready to start a new chapter in her life and leave the old one behind, but instead, she quickly realized that the only thing she would be leaving behind was her jacked-up car.

There didn't seem to be a single gas station in sight, and she had lost her phone a few hours earlier when she stopped by to use the bathroom at a McDonald's. Her only choices seemed to be either to wait and hope that someone found her, or walk around and see if she'd be able to run into someone who could help her. After thinking about it for a few more minutes, Lapis finally decided that it would be better to try and look for help.

The only problem with that was, help seemed to be very far away from wherever she had gotten herself stranded. She had no idea how long she would have to walk for before she found even the slightest hint of other people around, but she told herself to power through it. So, she began walking along the dusty sidewalk, looking around at the tan dirt and green cacti that made up her surroundings. She would occasionally stop to kick a pebble, or brush her hair out of her face, or swat at a small fly, but for the most part, she didn't stop moving until she was able to find help.

A little while later, maybe about thirty minutes from then, Lapis realized that she probably wouldn't even remember where her car was located if she had to walk that far away from it, and still hadn't run into anyone. The glare of the sun in her eyes, the feeling of sand grinding underneath her shoes, and the vague smell of compost was already starting to get to her. Her legs were already starting to get tired, and the muggy weather was starting to make her feel sick. No wonder she couldn't find anyone around- that place was unbearable!

When she started to notice that gross, sharp feeling in her head and her stomach that she would usually get when she hadn't had anything to drink for a while, Lapis took her water bottle out of her bag and started drinking it. She hadn't realized how thirsty she was until just then; it was a bad habit of hers to not keep herself constantly hydrated. Still, she had made it so far in her journey, and she refused to die now because she forgot to drink water.

As minutes of Lapis's walking quickly turned into hours, she slowly started to notice changes in her surroundings. For one thing, despite how humid the weather had been all day, the air suddenly felt incredibly cold. Sure, it had started to get dark out, but Lapis didn't think it was normal for the temperature to change so drastically in one day. She also started to notice lush, green grass, and lots of bushes and flowers around where she was; not a single cactus in sight anymore.

Still, she had yet to find so much as a 7-Eleven, and she was beginning to feel tired. Her outfit, which had made her feel very cute and confident at the start of the day, was now making her feel stiff and uncomfortable. She had finished her water, and had eaten the entirety of a granola bar that had been sitting at the bottom of her bag and had been crumbling faster than her remaining optimism. Just as she had predicted, she was too far away from her car to remember where it had been. Lapis now felt like all hope was lost; she wasn't going to get anywhere.

Suddenly, she spotted what seemed to be a small store in the distance- and she was just barely able to make out the fact that the lights were on. Finally, she had found someone!

Adrenaline pumping through her, Lapis ran as fast as she could, nearly tripping over herself. She was so excited when she finally got to the shop, that she had nearly crashed into the glass door like a confused bird. Brushing herself off, she peeked inside, and saw someone sitting at the cash register at the back of the store. Struggling to contain her glee and keep her composure, Lapis opened the door, causing a little bell to ring and alerting the person at the register of her presence.

"Hey, there! How can I help you?" He asked, resting his head in his arm on the counter and smiling at her.

Lapis smiled back at him, trying to match his bright and friendly energy. He was blond, with blue eyes that were fixated on her. He was definitely in his teens, most likely younger than Lapis, as evidenced by his youthful face and small acne scars that were barely visible on his cheek. Overall, Lapis thought that he was good-looking, and she was glad that he was so polite. Glancing over to his nametag, she saw that it had "Len K." written on it.

"Hello! Sorry for the awkward question, but my car broke down a few hours away from here, and I was wondering if there was some way I could contact someone and ask for help?" Lapis wasn't sure why she felt embarrassed about the situation, but she had always felt a bit awkward about having to ask strangers to lend her a hand. To distract herself from the situation, she looked around at the inside of the store, which appeared to be a candy shop.

The shelves were all lined with different kinds of lollipops, cotton candy, jellybeans, chocolate, just about every sweet one could think of. She looked over at a huge, pink bag that was full of fruit-flavored gummy candies, and she noticed a huge assortment of gum flavors sitting near the cash register and a landline phone; ranging from apple flavored, to a spicy cinnamon flavor.

"Sorry, ma'am, but you won't be able to contact anyone here." Len replied, only sounding slightly sorry. "I don't have my phone with me, so there's not much I can do for you."

"Wait, but what about this phone-?" Lapis asked, gesturing to the telephone that was sitting on the counter.

Len sucked in his breath. "Oh, god- I knew this would come back to haunt me." He said, sounding way more regretful.

"So, a few months ago, I had a mishap when I was cutting out the labels to put on the jars of gummy bears, and... uhh..." He held up the phone, showing that its cord had been cut clean off.

Lapis was dumbfounded.

"BUT- If you PROMISE not to tell anyone, I can take you to the hotel that's only a few miles away from here. They have a working phone over there, so you can use it for whatever you need to do." Len got up, walking away from the counter. "So, promise?"

Lapis had nothing to lose at that point, and besides, why did she care if Len was going around cutting cords off of telephones? "Promise!" She responded, just happy to finally have help.

As Len showed Lapis around the small neighborhood that she had landed herself in, she felt far less tense than she had a few minutes before. Her day had been so stressful, and she had started to regret her decision to drive away from home, but she didn't feel that regret anymore. Soon enough, she'd be able to call someone on the phone, find another mode of transportation, and continue on with her journey. Things could only go up from there!

Little did Lapis know, that her life was about to go downhill very quickly.