• Ecila in Candyland
    By Autruna



    “Can anyone tell me what the phases of the moon are?” Miss Alice was young and it was another of her random unrelated questions. She did this everyone once in awhile. The students sat still, blinking… someone would answer. One student at the front hesitantly raised his hand. ‘Suck-up… teacher’s pet.’ Ecila could practically hear the thoughts of the other students, not that she wasn’t thinking the same thing. The teacher smiled graciously.

    “Yes Michael?” she asked. “New moon, first quarter, full moon, and last quarter.” The boy answered proudly. Yep, definitely a teacher’s pet.

    “Very good.” She smiled again and the boy stared at his hands on his desk. It was easy to tell the guy was only a teacher’s pet because he liked Miss Alice. ‘Stupid hormones.’ There was no reason for the girl watching him from the back row to like this teacher, at all. In all her seven years of school, she’d never seen an old man or woman teaching, they were always young and too friendly. Ecila was just passing the class by doing the bare minimum. Why? The answer was easy, she hated school and school hated her. So, at the very least, she would pass and graduate and be done with this. Bad way to start her Junior High career, but that what how it always had been for her since kindergarten. She did what she had too, nothing more.

    The teacher’s voice faded into oblivion as the girl stared out through the large window next to her. She could swear that she was seeing things… unless there really were giant gummi bears jumping from the giant oak in the school yard and bouncing across the school yard. She squeezed here eyes shut and looked again; they were still there. The big candy bears were about the height of a normal human. This was just weird. She leaned closer to the window… they seemed to be heading in the direction of the auditorium. She shook her head in disbelief.

    “This isn’t happening…I’m going crazy…” she whispered. As if it heard her, a yellow gummi bear turned and looked straight at her. The hollow gummi eyes and empty yellow face held more menace than the most evil of demons. It had no eyes and there was barely a mouth. Chances were that these things couldn’t speak. Slowly the girl tore her eyes away from the evil-looking yellow bear and raised her hand.

    “Yes, Ecila?” the teacher asked, watching her from over the top of her glasses.

    “I… uh…” Ecila hesitated for a moment and glanced at the window, the yellow bear seemed to have rejoined the others, “I need to go to the bathroom.”

    “Go ahead, but please hurry back. And refrain from falling asleep in my class.” The teacher that everyone called Miss Alice nodded her consent. Ecila nodded her thanks and stood quickly, unconsciously grabbing her rather large purse. A few of the girls chuckled assuming it was ‘that time of the month’ for her, others blinked in confusion. Ecila just felt safe with her purse, she clutched it tightly as she made her way for the door.

    She stepped out of the room and turned to head to the bathroom, just in case someone peeked out and watched her go. She took a step forward and bounced into something. Her eyes widened as she took in the form before her. At the height of a man, before her stood a red gummi bear, glaring down at her with the same empty face as the others. ‘This is like a scene from a bad horror movie.’ She abruptly turned the other way, only to meet with a green one farther down the hall. She glanced behind her, the red one was bouncing along toward her and the green one stood in front of her. With little time to think, she produced a pen from her purse and jammed it into the gummi before her. Something changed in its face, but it didn’t make a sound. She didn’t bother to stick around to see its reaction; instead, she darted around the gummi with the pen in it and fled toward the doors of the school building.

    As she approached the doors, she could make out a figure standing in the middle of the hall… it was yellow. She glanced behind her, red and green. Without thought, she reached into her purse and her hands closed on a pair of flip-flops. Stupid school dress code forbade them, but she changed after school. ‘Well,’ she thought, ‘no need for them now.’ With that thought, she chucked the shoes at the yellow bear in front of her. One fell short, but the other hit it in the face. She nearly froze as the gooey substance of the bear seemed to absorb the shoe, then the shoe was gone or rather it was floating inside the body, like that fruit stuff does inside a jell-o mold. There was nothing else… Ecila broke into a sprint around the yellow, shoe absorbing gummi bear. She burst through the door, only to find the creatures surrounding all exits except straight forward, toward the theatre department’s auditorium.

    ‘I don’t care if it’s where they want me to go!’ she told herself, hoping to convince the nagging voice in the back of her mind. A small sound escaped her throat as she stumbled around and past the oak. ‘What else can I do?! What if they absorb me like they did my shoe and pen?’ That was a scary thought. She swung open the door to the theatre and stepped inside; right onto the stage. The spotlight flashed on and trained itself to her face. She couldn’t see a thing. What was going on? She felt herself getting dizzy and still all she saw, even with closed eyes, was the bright white of the spot. Was it even the spotlight anymore? She didn’t know, she couldn’t tell.

    Her eyes opened and her vision cleared to reveal… a forest? But… the trees looked like cookies… with faces. A loud yawn startled her and she spun around. She was still standing, that was good. ‘Oh.’ She thought, ‘It’s one of the trees.’ She blinked at it for a moment and turned around. Curiosity had gotten her into this mess; she had no intention of getting herself into further trouble by investigating yawning trees. No way. Nu-uh. Not gonna happen.

    “What’s this that has wandered into our home?” She froze. Oh great, they spoke in chorus. Chords, harmony and all that jazz. “A little human girl, how sweet. Are you lost child?” She squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears, hoping that by the time she counted to ten and looked around again, she was back in class or at the very least in bed at home. ‘One, two, three, four, five…I’ll even go to church with mom!’ she peeked around, keeping her ears covered, they were still there, ‘…six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Just let me go home!’ She opened her eyes completely and took in her surroundings, ‘Darn, still here.’ She would have to give in.

    “Uh… can you tell me how to get back to Sherrington Middle School?” She asked, resignation pouring through her voice. If she couldn’t go home, she may as well go along with it. Just like she did in school, she did just enough so that she didn’t have to do it again. At least she wasn’t like her dad, who dropped out of school and did nothing for a long time and what he finally did do, got him arrested. The trees seemed to smile one smile, it gave her the chills.

    “We could tell you how to get home. Yes… yes, we can. Will we? That is another question, young one.” They sang out, she got the feeling that they could keep her from leaving this place, despite being firmly rooted to the ground. She hadn’t seen any of them move anything but their frosting red mouths. Maybe they had other means to keep prisoners.

    “Will you please tell me how to get back?” she growled. The trees released a musical laughter before their response.

    “You must reach the castle. King Kandy will know how to get you home. But he may not want you to leave.”

    “I’ll make him want to get rid of me!” she shouted in response, she’d done it before with friends and family. Besides, there was no way she was staying in this place, especially if just looking at the forest gave her a toothache.

    “You can try, child, you can try as hard as you like, it may not be an easy feat.” The trees chorused. They apparently couldn’t speak any other way, but in song.

    “Can… er… Will you give me the directions to this castle?” Ecila spoke as clearly and musically as she was capable, maybe they responded better if you sang to them.

    “Of course we can, just follow the path. It is quite clear; the signs will tell you the way. First, get to Peppermint forest. The lumberjack can get you further. We can’t see beyond our forest. Good luck to you, sweet child of flesh.” The trees quieted after that and Ecila kept her mouth shut, sure enough there was only one open direction through the trees and a sign was clearly labeled with the words ‘To Peppermint Forest.’ Without a seconds thought, Ecila made her way forward, she was going to get out of this land of candy and sweets. And she swore that when she did, she would never sneak candy out of the freezer at midnight again.

    As she approached the end of the gingerbread trees, a new smell assaulted her… mint. She’d always like that smell, it calmed her. She knew that she getting closer to the Peppermint Forest. That was doubly clear when the first peppermint cane was in view… it was huge, gigantic even. Possibly five times the height of an average man… maybe more. They stood only slightly taller than the clownish looking thing chopping at one of the taller canes. ‘He must be the lumberjack… though I don’t understand how this is lumber.’ The giant seemed to smell something out of place, because his nose wrinkled and he turned his face toward, Ecila.

    “A human? Here? Well, I’ll be. It’s been awhile.” The… man seemed to mutter to himself as he examined the new girl. He had a pleasant voice, it soothed her as much as the smell of mint did. He smiled and she felt an immediate like for this large clownish looking figure. “I bet those singing Gingerbread trees didn’t even tell you where you are, did they dearie?” Ecila only shook her head, she felt no need for words just yet. “Well then let me be the first to welcome you to Candyland, I’m Peppermint Jack, by the way. I take care of this here forest. And here, girlie, eat it up. You’ll need your strength; you’re heading to see King Kandy, right?” Again Ecila nodded, she took the small piece of candy cane that the giant offered, without hesitating. It fit perfectly into her hand, small enough to hold and lick at, but big enough that she couldn't choke on it. “Alright, darlin’, you just head up that way to Gumdrop Pass. Watch out for the Licorice Forest when you get there, it's not safe for a girl alone. Once through his forest, you should be home free.” Ecila nodded her thanks, she couldn’t seem to speak in this place. It was all very strange, one minute she could speak and just hadn’t wanted to, now she couldn’t speak at all, not matter how she tried. Was it the candy? She pulled it out of her mouth and wrapped it in an old gum wrapper she’d saved to spit her gum in, but hadn’t used. She stowed the peppermint in her purse and continued on her way. Jack had pointed her in the next direction at least, toward the sign that read ‘To Gumdrop Pass.’

    'So, in order to get out of here, where ever 'here' is. I have to find that Kandy King. Weird name, but this whole place is weird, so it fits. I guess.' Ecila's thoughts raced as she moved along the path. She needed to get out of this place it was dangerous to her sanity. She was steadily approaching a miniature range of gumdrops. The 'mountains' stood no more than three inches taller than her and she wasn't more than five feet tall. 'This... is a mountain pass?' She slowed as she passed the gumdrop range, fighting the urge to take one or two. 'What damage could one or two little missing gumdrops do?' With a sigh, she snatched a couple of the gumdrops on the mountain and shoved them in her pocket.

    "Hey! Hey you!" a small, growling voice shouted after, "That was the path up the mountains, you dope. How are we supposed to get up there now?" Her mouth opened, forming the words she meant to speak, but nothing came out. She tried again. Something funny had happened in the Peppermint forest, she knew it. "Can't speak, huh? You must be the human kid that passed Peppermint Jack!" Her face twisted in confusion, "Bigger than you, clown-faced? Lives in the Peppermint Forest?" She raised her eyebrows as if to ask 'What about him?' "Well... didn't he give you something to eat?" She nodded, "Yeah, that's what he does. He likes to hear himself talk and only himself. So he gives out treats to wandering humans to shut them up. Ingenious isn't it? I'm Jolly by the way." The speaker climbed as high as he could onto the mountain that was his home, he was big enough to climb over a gumdrop, but only just so and he was a bright blue dragon in shape. Ecila stepped back in shock.

    "Hey! Watch it you big jerk!" a voice behind her shouted. She spun and there was another puny dragon creature. She was purple. By now many others were poking their heads out or coming into view in order to get a good look at the human child. A sharp pain in her ankle made her jump. She glared down at the offending dragon, it's claws were digging into her skin. She opened her mouth to yell, but again no sound came out. "Eat a gumdrop you dope!" the purple dragon had made her way onto Ecila's shoulder and was yelling in her ear. She grimaced and pulled out one that she had taken and shoved it into her mouth. It was difficult to chew, but she managed to get it down and gagged. That was the most disgusting aftertaste ever.

    "Ack! What was that? That couldn't have been a gumdrop. And you! Stop scratching or biting me or whatever you're doing to my ankle. You," she turned to the purple dragon, "thanks, but please get off my shoulder." The purple creature flapped it's little wings and fluttered away. "Alright I need to continue, make way! Giant human girl coming through! If you're not out of my way, I step on you!" she announced, glad to have her voice back. Loosing the power to speak had been a pain.

    Soon enough , she was past Gumdrop Pass and on her way to a dark looking area, compared to the other places in this land, compare to the other forests, this one gave her the shivers. Red and black licorice vines hung from the trees and veiled the way. As soon as she took one step into the forest, she knew why she hated the feel of this place, just beyond the path stood a yellow gummi bear, her flip-flop still hovering around inside what should be its stomach. She swallowed hard and picked up her face. There were there, all of them and more, they knew she was coming. Of course they did, they had chased her here and it was all residents of this strange land that told her where to go.

    "Alright! I give up! What do you want? Why am I here? Why you things chasing me?" Ecila shouted to the tops of the trees and at the large gummi bears.

    "They cannot speak, my child." A new voice spoke, it was soft and smooth, "And no one said they wanted anything. They are simply following orders." Ecila turned to the voice as if in a trance, "Come now, child. Calm yourself, we will not harm you. They were sent to invite you into our wondorous home. Do you not find it simply beautiful?" Ecila stepped back as the thin man stepped forward. No, not man, some other creature. He stood quite near seven feet tall and he held the air of a noble man, at least the way they were portrayed in the movies. The strangest thing about him was his hair and beard, it was entirely black licorice. "Now, now, Ecila, I will not do anything, you are heading to the castle correct? My soldiers will lead you through the forest. It is easy to get lost. Unlike the rest of the land, there is no set path through here. Go along now." Already a small contingent of Gummi bears had surrounded her, whether she wanted to or not they were going with her.

    Now that the man was no longer within her view or speaking, her muddled thoughts cleared and she blinked. 'I thought I was running from these things. Now their helping me. This place really is messing with me.' Her heart raced and she continuously glanced around her, hoping to find a way away from these things. She looked again at her surrounds and the licorice man's words echoed in her mind. 'It is easy to get lost.' Those were his exact words. Her fists stayed in tight fists as she moved, she would make a run for it when the reached the end of the forest. She would have to find her way from there, she'd gotten this far, she could do it. A light in front of her caught her attention, they were nearing the end, the bear in front of her moved from the now clear path. Once it was out of the way, she ran. She could now fully appreciate the bright light of this world, after the time spent in that dreary licorice forest. The castle was already in view. The gummi bears weren't following but something told her to keep running, she couldn't slow down or... she fell flat on her face when a force of some sort rammed into the back of her head.

    "Watch where you're going, girl! " a childish voice told her, she forced herself to stand and glared at the winged person before her. She looked like a five year-old with fairy wings and she was holding a giant lollypop as though it was a wand.

    "You're a Lolly Fairy?" Ecila asked, no longer shocked at the oddities of this land. The fairy stuck out her tiny red tongue and nodded.

    "And you're that human girl that's been keeping us so busy." she said.

    "How have I been keeping you busy?"

    "How do you think the residents keep in contact? We're the messengers of course."

    "Well, gee, that must have slipped my mind. All I want is to go home!"

    "Then go home, twerp." the fairy flew off with that and Ecila was left standing in front of a large and colorful castle. 'This is it.' she took a deep breath and walked forward. Even the path through the castle grounds was clear as day. There was no doubt as to where she had to go. 'Just follow the path.' She was led to a grand hall lit by fires of every color and shade possible, it was nearly blinding it was so bright, in the center of the room sat a round old man, wearing a crown. He was boring compared to the other creatures she'd met.

    "Welcome!" his voice was booming, it seemed to come from everywhere at once.

    "I heard that you were coming, so I situated myself here to wait. How are you feeling? Not too tired I hope. No? That's good. How do you like my kingdom? Beautiful is it not? Yes, yes it is. Please sit down, sweet one." Ecila sat down where she stood, as close to the door as possible. "No, no, not there. Here, right next to me." The King pat the ground next to him, there was not a chair in the entire room, instead the floor was soft and plush as a pillow. She didn't move from her spot.

    "Child, please sit with the king, he is being friendly." the licorice man's voice sounded behind her and she jumped and scrambled away from him and toward the king. She sat between them, eyes moving cautiously back and forth, she didn't know who to trust. The king smiled at her, this smile was different. It scared her more than licorice man's smooth voice. After a moment, the king sighed and clapped his hands to a servant.

    "Prepare a meal for our guest. We will be feasting soon, for the land's sweetest treat has arrived at long last. Store the child, feed her well, she must be as prepared for the feast as the rest of us." Gummi bears were instantly around her her and licorice ties were lifting her up and carrying her along. That was when the king's words settled, they were going to eat her, she was the feast. She began twisting and fighting, the gummi bears were stronger than they looked though. Finally, she bit her bindings. Black licorice, her least favorite candy. She made a face, but swallowed, and bit again. She ate through her bindings within two minutes and fell to the ground with a thud. She scrambled up and sprinted in the other direction. She didn't watch where she was going she only ran, her face wet with tears she thought she'd never cry. She made her way through the halls, barely thinking. Through her tears, she saw a light. That was it. That was her school's spotlight, it flickered like it did back home, that had to be it! She picked her feet up and almost flew into it, closing her eyes as she was enveloped.

    "-ila. Ecila! Please refrain from sleeping in my class." Ecila's eyes shot opened and her head snapped up, she was staring at Miss Alice. She wiped a bit of drool from her face and nodded her understanding. She accepted the detention slip without complaint and glared out the window. Everything was as it should be. No giant gummi bears in the oak tree. Not even a slight breeze. That was it then. 'That's the last time I ever fall asleep in class.' That was her promise to herself. She would actually focus in class from now on.