Copyright © 2018 Lawrence Prestidge
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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For My Parents –
Thank You For Everything
“A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest man” – Roald Dahl
CONTENTS
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Keep up with the Author
PROLOGUE
I USED TO LOVE GOING TO the sweet shop after school. At 3:20 every day, my friends and I would congregate at the school gates and march down in a group to the greatest shop in the world. Every time we visited the sweet shop we had to pick what sweets to get, which is the hardest decision ever.
During my lifetime, I’ve had to make some very important decisions, what subjects to study at school, what job to do and who to vote for as prime minister. But I can honestly say, having the responsibility to pick which sweets to have each day was as tough as it gets. Speaking of hard decisions, ranking my top five types of sweets was just as hard.
Apple Bon Bons
Mini Marshmallows
Giant Strawberries
Milk Bottles
Giant Snakes
Going to the sweet shop was one of my favourite things about school life. Now this story begins in a normal sweet shop in a normal town, but I must warn you it is a tale of terror and is not for the faint of heart. What happens when evil takes over your most beloved sweet shop?
1
OSCAR TARRANT WAS A POPULAR BOY at school. He was on the school team for football, rugby and athletics. He had many friends, but he had three especially close ones. His best friend was Reece Goodman, another talented footballer who also spent a lot of time on his BMX. Then there was Ishmaael Kahn (Ishy to his friends) who was a computer geek. You have never seen anyone type on a computer quicker than Ishy and you never will. Oscar would often watch how fast Ishy typed in pure amazement. Finally there was Emma Baker who loved drama and music. She was in all the school performances. She loved to sing as well as playing four different musical instruments. They were:
And finally…
When her parents got Emma her first drum set, they soon regretted encouraging that one.
The one thing that these four friends all had in common would come at the end of the day when they walked to Mr McNulty’s sweet shop.
Mr McNulty was very nice, a jolly-looking man with a red and bulbous nose which made him look like that famous man from the North Pole.
Not once did they walk into his shop and see him angry or upset. He was always friendly. Whether the rain was falling or the sun was shining, Mr.McNulty’s friendly smile would always glow. He even insisted Oscar and his friends call him Mick which meant, “He must like us!” according to Ishy.
They hardly ever did call him that, but Mr McNulty said that was fine as well.
The one thing the friends couldn’t help noticing about Mr McNulty was the ridiculous-looking toupee on the top of his head. It wasn’t even a convincing one. It looked as though someone had run over a small animal – very slowly – several times, and then for some strange reason decided to place it on the top of Mr McNulty’s head.
“Don’t stare!” Emma would often whisper to the boys, but they couldn’t help it, the girls couldn’t help it either but they were way more subtle at looking than the boys.
The highlight of any school child’s day was walking up to Mr McNulty’s shop after school. When you walked in and saw all the different jars behind him at the counter it was like the pearly gates of heaven.
Only five children were allowed to be in the shop at a time because of a boy called Dan Rosamound. You see he kept swiping sweets and scoffing his face in the shop whenever it was really busy and poor old Mr McNulty didn’t see how much Dan was devouring until it was too late.
Rumour has it he exploded…
But anyway, since then, there has always been a great long line waiting to get into the sweet shop every day after school. It was certainly worth the wait.
Oscar normally had the same routine every day after school. He would go for the toffee bon-bons. His mum always insisted he got his love of toffees from his granddad, a man who after losing his teeth at the age of 73, was able to make a single toffee last a whole day! He used to keep it in his hanky at mealtimes. He loved toffees more than Christmas!
Reece was a rebel who seemed to mix up his selection every day. He was always the most experimental of the group when it came to trying out different sweets.
Ishy would go for the giant snakes – always explaining to the poor thing why he would be eating it before viciously biting its head off.
For Emma it was fizzy cola bottles or fried eggs – it was a running joke in the group which one she would go for that day. One time though, she got some strawberry laces – a very controversial move!
The visit to Mr McNulty’s sweet shop was a daily ritual for the group, as it was for most of the children at the school. So you can imagine how horrified they were when there were some nasty changes at their favourite shop which was named ‘McNulty’s Candy Kingdom’.
2
THE SHOP WAS ALWAYS CLOSED ON a Monday, which made Mondays even more unbearable than usual. When Tuesdays came along, you could taste the excitement in the air round school – but this Tuesday would be different – and not in a good way!
The sun was out as Oscar and his friends walked towards the sweet shop from school.
“What sweets are you thinking of today, Reece?” Oscar asked.
“I think I’ve got a craving for jelly hearts with a hint of bubblegum-flavoured bon-bon on the side,” Reece joked. “Oh, and the liquorice laces! They’re lush,” he added.
As the group approached the sweet shop there was an unfamiliar commotion outside of it. And where was Tuesday’s line of eager customers?
Oscar looked over to a group of the older boys as he tried to eavesdrop on what was being said.
&n
bsp; “McNulty’s gone!” one of the boys cried out in disgust as he left the shop.
“I bet she’s done him in!” another shouted. “You should see what that woman has done to the shop! Not a giant strawberry in sight!”
“What a rotten woman,” a girl muttered as she walked out. “I do hope Mr McNulty comes back soon.”
Oscar felt more than a bit concerned. He and his friends anxiously approached the shop and were able to walk straight in without waiting. Oscar couldn’t believe how much the shop had changed since Friday. The same shop that was once a ray of light after a long school day had transformed into a dark and gloomy place.
“What’s happened?” Emma asked.
“Is this even the right shop?” Reece asked, puzzled.
The friends looked behind the counter and were horrified by what they saw. There stood a tall, pale woman wrapped in black. She wore a long black dress and her lank, lifeless hair hung down on her stooped shoulders. As for her face? Now that was gruesome. She had feline-like eyes that shimmered with hatred; a hooked and misshapen nose, underneath which were teeth that looked like pieces of broken glass. According to her dusty name badge, her name was Miss Primrose.
On the very top shelf nestled in a corner was a unfamiliar black cat. It stared down at the children and seemed to be watching them like a hawk.
“Hello poppets,” the woman called out in a hissing wheezy tone. “I am Miss Primrose. How can I help you?”
“Oh hi… where’s Mr McNulty?” Oscar asked, as politely as he could.
Miss Primrose almost seemed disgusted by the question, this clearly wasn’t the first time she’d been asked that question today and she’d had enough.
“He’s gone away. I’m in charge now.” She smirked, showing her razor teeth.
“When will he be back?” asked Ishy.
“Who knows, my sweet… I’m not too sure,” she answered.
Mikey waddled into the shop. He was Oscar’s age and was known as being the fattest kid in his class. He didn’t particularly smell nice either, if you were around Mikey too long you couldn’t help but notice the stink of strong onions. Mikey thought it was normal for people to walk around covering their nose and mouth because that’s what people did whenever they were around him, even the teachers! Mikey hated to shower or bath because it stopped him from eating sweets, he did once try eating a sherbet dip in the bath but it went badly and now Mikey refuses to even think about cleanliness.
He came and stood next to Oscar, examining the jars of sweets behind the counter.
The jars had been changed and the sweets inside looked completely different. Mikey didn’t really care, he loved all sweets and was happy to try anything new whenever he could. The strange thing was though that one of them looked like a jar full of live worms!
“Are these real worms?” Mikey asked curiously.
Miss Primrose leaned back and laughed. “Of course not dearie,” she cackled. “They are made completely of liquorice! Liquorice worms as a matter of fact! They’re new. You should try them. Trust me, they are delicious.”
“I’ll have one bag please!” Mikey slammed a shiny fifty pence piece on the counter.
Miss Primrose’s eyes sparkled and a devilish grin appeared on her face.
Oscar sensed something wasn’t right about the situation. The tension filled the shop like hot steam.
Miss Primrose scooped some of the ‘liquorice worms’ into a bag and handed them to Mikey.
Mikey looked into the bag. “Wow! They look really realistic!” he cried in excitement.
Oscar wanted to warn Mikey that something wasn’t right. “Mikey, I wouldn’t do–”
“Shut up you little brat!” screamed Miss Primrose before composing herself. “I mean, why don’t you be a dear and let Mikey enjoy his sweeties in peace?”
Mikey picked out a handful of those worms and looked at them with excitement. Oscar was sure he saw one move but Mikey wasn’t paying attention, he opened his fat fingers and gulped those worms into his greedy gob. The sight was unpleasant to say the least – actually the sight was worse than that, far worse. It was royally repulsive, repugnant and retch inducing. Oscar’s stomach knotted, twisted and lurched into his throat, Mikey just looked confused.
“Well?” Miss Primrose asked as she rubbed her grimy hands together.
“They don’t really taste of anything,” said Mikey disappointedly. “I couldn’t taste any liquorice at all; they just tasted slimy.”
Oscar and his friends started to fear the worst.
“Do you want to know why that is?” Miss Primrose sniggered.
“Sure,” replied Mikey.
“Because they were real worms!” Miss Primrose shouted and she bellowed with laughter.
Oscar and his friends looked at each other in horror and disgust. Mikey on the other hand began to turn a very odd shade of green.
“Mikey, are you okay?” Oscar asked.
The shop went silent as all eyes were focused on Mikey. He got greener and greener.
“He’s turning into the Hulk!” Ishy cried, as Miss Primrose continued to cry out with laughter.
Then the inevitable happened.
After turning the most bizarre shade of green you have ever seen, Mikey was sick all over the sweet shop floor. It seemed he was puking up everything he had ever eaten. It was like a vomit tsunami hit the shop. Reece even swore he saw Mikey puke out half a tennis ball.
Mikey had now gone from Incredible Hulk green to ghostly white. Then, like a tower of jelly, he began to wobble from side to side.
“Timber!” shouted Ishy as Mikey, like a great tree that had been cut down in the forest, began to slowly plummet. It was like stacking up loads of tin cans and seeing them begin to shake. Just as the tower begins to fall, everybody sees it coming. Mikey fainted and unfortunately as he landed, he was bathed in a pool of his own vomit. The gang had to dodge the tidal waves of puke on the shop floor
“Why would you do that?” Oscar shouted at Miss Primrose. “What did Mikey ever do to you?”
Miss Primrose sniggered at Oscar and his friends before replying. “Let’s get one thing straight, you little beasts! The problem with children these days is they are always getting their own way. It’s always me, me, me or my, my, my or now, now, now. They think they are so clever but they’re not. I see right through you all. Do you understand what I am saying to you? Children are vermin and like vermin they should be exterminated. I promise you sticky-fingered little brats I’m going to make sure every child that enters my shop gets exactly what they deserve. That’s my job – to destroy you. I shall destroy you and then feed you to the termites and then crush the termites till there is nothing left! All you children are disgusting! Now, unless you are willing to purchase some goodies yourself I suggest you get out of my shop!”
Oscar and his friends didn’t need to be told twice. They ran from the shop and into the street.
“I really hope Mr McNulty comes back soon. Poor Mikey,” sighed Emma.
“But what if he doesn’t?” Oscar said in fear. “What if Mr McNulty never comes back?”
“Don’t talk like that!” cried out Ishy.
“Why wouldn’t he come back?” Reece questioned.
“I don’t know. But there’s something strange going on and you can bet we’re going to find out exactly what it is,” Oscar said confidently.
3
OSCAR AND HIS FRIENDS WERE IN his bedroom still coming to terms with what they had witnessed at the sweet shop.
“I do hope Mikey’s all right,” Emma sighed.
“Poor Mikey?! What about my new trainers!” cried Reece “covered in sick!”
“We need to forget about it. What can we do to make sure this never happens to anyone again?” asked Oscar.
“Can’t we just wait till Mr McNulty comes back?” Ishy suggested.
“That’s just it though Ish, what if Mr McNulty is never coming back?” Oscar said firmly. The room suddenly went silent. “There is someth
ing about Miss Primrose that isn’t right. I’m worried she has Mr McNulty locked up somewhere as a prisoner.”
“We don’t know that though, he could be on holiday,” Reece pointed out.
“Didn’t you see how strange she got when we asked where Mr McNulty was?” said Oscar.
“He has a point,” Emma agreed. “She said she was going to make sure every child gets exactly what they deserve. I mean what if she serves every kid bags full of worms or something even worse?”
“That’s exactly it, Emma,” Oscar said. “What if it does get worse?”
“What do you mean?” asked Reece.
“Well today it’s the sweet shop. What if she starts to take over more and more of our favourite places? Imagine if she became a playground assistant and took over our playground. Imagine if she started putting worms in the food at the canteen!”
“Don’t say such a thing!” squeaked Ishy in horror.
“It could happen though, Ishy. You heard what she said. She said she thought all kids should be exterminated,” Oscar reminded him.
“I can’t help worrying about some of the other things Miss Primrose said. Why does she think kids are so bad and horrible?” wondered Emma.
“It’s not us that’s horrible – we’re living in horrible times. When my parents watch the news I see such horrible things. I don’t think the grown-ups always get it right, personally,” stated Ishy.
“Ishy’s right,” said Oscar. “When we grow up we’re going to stick together and be good adults in a good world, looking out for each other. When I grow up I’ll be tall enough to ride any rollercoaster in the world and I’ll ride on one every day! I’ll get my own rollercoaster then everyone can just ride on it for free!”
“When I grow up I’ll lift all the weights those strong guys do at the gym,” chimed in Ishy. “I will help carry the old ladies across the street and be able to help Mum carry the shopping with my muscles!”
“I’ll be eating sweets and ice cream every day,” said Reece.
Terror at the Sweet Shop Page 1
