Spooky Season: The Tootsie Incident.

As you reach into the bag of candy, you think you hear a voice saying, “Pick me, pick me!” The voice seems to be coming from the tootsie roll you just moved to the side. It is the sad, neglected piece of candy you always avoid when rummaging through your mound of treats on Halloween night.

You're exhausted and you're high on sugar. There's a good chance that the combination is making you hallucinate. A tootsie roll? Talking? There's just no way. But then you examine the candy more carefully, and see that it has eyes, a mouth, and ears.

Freaked out, you drop the candy and run to tell your parents, who are still giving out candy to the late night Trick-or-Treaters. They shrug off your peculiar news and continue their yearly ritual of watching Casper and eating roasted pumpkin seeds. You’re discouraged and are questioning, again, if what you saw and heard was real.

 You tentatively walk back into the bedroom you ran out of, and look for the discarded tootsie roll, but you can’t find it anywhere. It’s gone. You decide that you’ve lost your appetite for sugar for the night and head to bed. You sleep soundly throughout the night, except for the tootsie roll nightmare. The tootsie has grown to the size of a large man, and is now repeating his original phrase in a much deeper tone. “Pick me. Pick, me,” it says lethargically. Its beady eyes stare down at you and you know you’re done for. You wake in a panic—heart beating fast, sweat coating your temple.

But when you wake, the nightmare isn’t over. The tootsie is lying beside you! You’re confused as to how it got there, and once again afraid. “Pick me, pick me,” it whispers again. You must prove to your parents that it really exists. You bravely pick up the tootsie roll and carry it to your parents’ bedroom. Shaking your dad awake, you show him the piece of candy, explaining how it talked and moved around. But when you open your hand, the tootsie’s face is gone. It’s just another piece of candy. Your dad is frustrated and goes back to sleep.

You look at the tootsie roll for a long time, but its face never reappears. You throw the candy away and vow never to go trick-or-treating again. Happy Halloween.