Students were given the following task:  Tell a Halloween story from the perspective of a piece of candy.  Here are the winning entries.  Thanks for all who participated.

1st PLACE

The Picnic

by Elizabeth Walker, grade 8

I am a piece of candy. Interesting right? Sitting in a bowl of other candies from all over the world. My name is Butterscotch.  I’m about, a good solid 7 days old. I just came home today. It was an extremely long process. I first had to be mixed up in the factory in Los Angeles, California (don’t ask me how it happens, I’m not qualified enough to tell you!), and then I got put in my cute little plastic wrap (that is very flattering on my curves), and put into a candy bag with all kinds of candies! We drove all the way to San Francisco. While we were getting delivered, I met a kind candy named Babe Ruth. He talked about how he was a bit nutty, but he was very sweet and children have loved his chocolate for generations. He said he was here on a mission: to be eaten on Halloween.

Personally, I do agree that the whole point of being a candy is to be eaten. But doesn’t any other candy want more of life than just being unwrapped and popped into a little kid’s dirty, slobbery, and did I mention gross, mouth? I want to travel! I want to see things because, believe it or not, I do have eyes. I want to go see Disney World! Or, maybe get sprinkled on ice cream. I just want to have a unique life.

I . . .

Wait. The bowl is moving around. WHOA! A couple of the candies just slid out of the bowl. I can barely see over the top of the side and I watch as a skittle falls down and hits the floor. He screams and I hear one of his friends yell “RED!! NO!” I wonder why he is yelling so much, but then I see it. The big, shaggy, grey dog that sniffed Red and swallowed him whole. Poor Red. The strange lady carrying us takes us outside. It’s kinda chilly. Good thing I’m wrapped up tight. Next thing I know she takes me out of the bowl and throws me into a little zombie’s bag of candy.  

I feel the bag shift around and I can hear the little kid talking to her parent. She is skipping around and she gets into a car. We drive for about 15 minutes till we arrive to (what I assume is) their house. We all get dumped out on the floor and sorted through. I am in the pile with peppermints, red hots, and other circular candy. I even met a girl candy just like me! She is a butterscotch candy also, but her name is Cupcake. What a strange name. We watched as all of the Snickers, Butterfingers, and Milky Ways got devoured in minutes, all while watching the movie Halloween.

The night goes by and in the morning Cupcake, some other candies, and I get stuffed into a hot, lint-filled pocket. It was a beautiful day out.  Around 60 degrees. Probably one of the warmest days left of the year. The car drives farther than we could take, so at the end of the drive most of us are sticky and very hot. I hear something like a blanket being shaken and suddenly I’m taken out of the kid’s pocket.

It’s so beautiful. There are birds everywhere and all of them are chirping. It’s so sunny and serene here. The grass is greener than I’ve ever seen and the stream we are sitting by is as blue as the sky on a cloudless summer day. There are few bugs, all probably hiding away, preparing for the coming winter. The kid sits down and sets us on the very side of the blanket. The mother takes out a basket and starts handing out sandwiches. You can feel the sun’s rays and my wrapper gets warmer still. I’m so happy that I could cry. (But of course, I can’t. Just because I have eyes doesn’t mean I can cry.)  Cupcake and I are in awe of the beautiful sight. This is exactly what I’ve always wanted. Coincidentally, the little boy picked me up, unwrapped me, and shoved me into my mouth. Just before he picked me up I told Cupcake we would be together again, and that I loved her. As I was dissolving, I thought about all that I saw and accomplished in my week of life, and I realized that the life I lived as a candy was pretty great.

2nd PLACE

A Very “Sweet” Halloween Night

by Katrina Stewart, grade 7

One cool, dark Halloween night, kids and their parents were out Trick-Or-Treating. You know, going around house to house and expecting candy, enough to make yourself sick. Well, of course, I know this much because I am a delicate piece of salted caramel, soft to chew on, and so sweet, but, oh, how I hear stories of “going down the hatch” and many other Halloween stories.

I wonder if the stories are really true? What if kids actually did devour you, and straight down the slippery slimy throat you go? Where do you go next? I mean, I have seen humans eat us candies like there is all the room in the world in their stomach area to store food.  My owner has been looking for me. I think I will travel up to the top of the candy basket because I really want to see the inside of (gulp) the hatch.

“There you are! I have been looking for a piece of salted caramel. There was one more of you in the box the old woman gave me. You are special, and I bet you taste good. Like always!” he started laughing.

He slowly unwrapped me. I was afraid that I might melt before he took off my wrapper. I was so excited that I jumped out of the wrapper and smack dab into his mouth! He wasn’t surprised at all. I mean, I bet he had other candies that wanted to explore the insides of a human body.

I was slowly going down pipes, lots of them. I went to the right pipes; it felt like I was riding on an escalator. This is fun, but is it all? I asked myself. Looks like a few veins and a few white blood cells. Lots of red blood cells. Hey, this is more fun than being in Candy Science Class!

Whoa, whooooaaaa! I am sliding right down into the stomach. I can tell because there are lots of chewed up candy, pizza, and lots and lots of water and pop. Looks like this guy has been drinking a lot of apple cider, and hot chocolate, too.

“Hey, Salted Caramel, you are finally at the party? You went through all of those days of Candy School, and now you got what you deserved!” said Laffy Taffy. I went up to dance with some of the Lifesavers and jumped on a trampoline of melted marshmallows. Oh, how I love Halloween! Humans get to have fun, so does candy!

A piece of caramel, one of the smartest pieces of candy there ever was, said that it was almost time for the “Not quite exciting for most, but part to escape from the stomach” part of the situation. Everyone gathered round and sat in the middle where there was a huge meeting to discuss what was going to happen and how everyone should respond. Oh, man, was I really worried. Was this really going to work? After all of this time of partying, I didn’t want to leave.

“What’s that rumbling sound?” shouted Snicker’s Bites. That got everyone really excited. I started to try to go up the throat again, and POW! Soon I noticed that everyone had followed me and was trying to go up the throat, and we all poured out. It really looked quite putrid, all mixed together and crumbled. I tried hopping out of the mess, trying to get out what looked like a gigantic big bowl full of water.

Around me there were some bubbles, and we all looked like we were in a large mixing bowl with no mixers. All of the different candies were spinning (including me) and going down a large blue pipe. POP! We landed smack dab in the middle of what humans call an ocean. You see, in History of Candies Class, we learned that this is called water pollution. Humans pour what they call disgusting garbage into the ocean. We all drifted far away from each other, and, yes, I was all alone. I drifted off to sleep, dreaming of my mom and dad, and if I would ever see them again. I never found a wrapper to wrap my cold candy self up from the Winter, so I just gave up.  I am running out of sugar, and I am so very cold. I will never see my parents again because I never woke up from my sleep. I’m covered up in snow. When the snow melts, I will be dissolved by then. I miss them.

3rd PLACE

I am Candy

by Emma Milburn, grade 6

I am Kirsty KitKat. Something or someone just put their paws on me! I liked it on my shelf. All of my friends were there. I’m going to miss my friends, Trixie Twix, Melody Milkyway, Ashley Almond Joy, and especially Scarlet Skittle. We met each other on our first day of shelf duty, Scarlet and I.

We’ve been through everything together. I mean everything! I remember when we glanced at each other as we were pushed off the shelf by a feline that came in the store and caused commotion. I nearly broke in half but Scarlet and Trixie caught me. Good times, good times. . .

I just got placed on something I know I don’t like! It goes *BEEP*, and it’s creeping closer, and closer, and closer-BEEP! I have been snathched up by something! I was just tossed into a bag then I was transferred to a pickup.

My half and I were just tossed again—but this time into something curved. There are other prisoners in here! Some of them look like—Scarlet! Oh my gumdrops! Yay, I can’t believe it! *DING* *DONG*! What was that?

I was just disturbed by a paw again! My capsule has been ripped! I’m exposed! It’s frigid out here in the open! I see something that holds a thousand sugar cubes. I’m a goner! Tell my industry I-CRUNCH!

4th PLACE

I am Candy

by Conner Reilly, grade 6

My name is Green Joe. I live with Purple Bill, Red Jenny, Old Lady Orange, and the Yellow Legion. We live in Skittlesville, a fair-sized town with grey, gloomy skies. The Legion controls the place, keeping everyone civilized and such. There are others with our colors, but we don’t know them. We live in, what my friend Al the Almond Joy says, a ”plastic bag.” I say we live in the U.C.A, the United Candy of America. Recently my other friends Kit and Kat (they’re twins) told me that every year, an event happens called The Great Opening, where the sky rips open and takes us to a better life. That was today.

We all felt a huge rumble, like we fell out of something. I saw a Legion officer kind of shaken up. If something scares someone from the Yellow Legion, we’re in trouble. A few hours later, we felt little tremors, but nothing too serious. I was hanging out with Purple Bill when it happened. Suddenly, a gigantic earthquake was shaking everything! Bill went here, I went there. I thought The Great Opening was happening. A few hours later, it stopped. I looked around, Everything looked normal (minus the debris around us). Bill had a small cut, but he’ll be ok. Legion officers checked on us, making sure we were good and not harmed. Everything went back to normal. I guess The Great Opening was just a legend. We didn’t go to a better life, but that’s perfectly fine with me.