How to describe Candice Kane? Well, it certainly couldn’t be placid. The girl had never been as such, and it was hard to think she
ever could. No, this girl was best described as a dragon. Fiery and reclusive and keeping watch over her hoard. But, of course. She was but a
measly nine-year old. Surely, the girl couldn’t always carry such a severe look on her face? Oh, but she could, and she did. She prided herself
on it, even. For she needed to be the most stern face in the room, else how could she be seen as mature?
When Candy was six, she came running to her father, holding her prized doll, ripped in half. With a somber look to her, she
informed Alek of the boy who had let his dog get its foul teeth on it, and jeered at her as it ripped. And she remembered his name, writing
it out on a small bound leather book in her crude handwriting, saving it away, until the following year, when the world had thawed out again,
exacting her revenge. She went to the boy and his dog, both of whom had forgotten about such a medial prank the year before, and befriended
them for one week. One week and no longer, as that was all the time Candice needed to decide that he was an unchanged boy, and that he
deserved to be punished. On that eighth day, she came to meet him in the meadow they’d been meeting at, offering him a picnic. She
excused herself to go off and pick flowers, and watched from behind the safety of a tree as he dug through the basket, finding the delicious
looking pie underneath. And of course, the child dug in, expecting a normal pie. Perhaps it was apple, or blackberry?
Alas, it was neither.
You see, Candy, in all of her limited wisdom, had realized that if you mixed mustard, honey, salt, and blueberry together,
you got this absolutely foul concoction. It was so horrible in fact, that she gloated for days after she’d figured it out. And, even better,
it would bake perfectly into an unassuming pie, without anything ever looking amiss. And we go back to this boy. This poor, criminal
boy, whose crime was cheering his dog on for ripping off the head of a toy. And he took a massive slice of pie and shoved it in his
face unthinkingly. After all, why should he need to inspect a pie? And of course, the boy heaved his guts out… but alas, he had taken
such a large bite, and had swallowed some right off the bat.
The boy was sick for the rest of the day.
