October Writing Prompts- Pinterest List by ZellyKatArt
October 20- Poison Apples
Author note- I am getting busier with laundry, cleaning, homework with kids, and so I may be behind for a bit, but I am doing what I can to catch up. Hopefully tomorrow I will be caught up. Thanks for reading.
Alan crossed his arms over his chest while his wife, Haily, picked over the green apples. She wanted to make caramel apples to pass out for Halloween to the children. She loved the children. They loved her, too. Or so she thought. Alan had tried to tell her that the children were just mean little brats, but she didn’t believe him. Alan grabbed the bag of green apples Hailey handed to him and placed them in the cart next to the four other bags. Since Alan couldn’t convince her not to buy the apples, he just decided to go with it. He pushed the melting caramels to the side and looked at Hailey.
“Haily, love, I think that’s enough apples,” Alan said as he took another bag of apples and placed them in the cart.
Haily looked into the cart and nodded. “I think you’re right. We have the melting caramels, milk, apples, the sticks, and the little wrappers to go around them when they’re done.” She smiled. “I can’t wait for the children to enjoy their apples on Halloween.” She smiled and pushed the car towards the registers.
Alan smiled and followed behind her. They checked out and headed home so that they could make the caramel apples. They had to finish them by tomorrow since tomorrow was Halloween. Alan helped Haily make the caramel apples. Once they had finished half of the amount bought, they went to bed. Later that night, someone snuck into the kitchen and sprayed the apples that were cooling with something. They then sprayed the rest of the apples, making sure they had covered every inch.
Alan and Haily got up early and finished the apples so they’d be dry by the time the kids started to come around for trick-or-treating. They sat them out on the counter and wrapped up the ones that had been drying overnight. Haily smiled at each apple before she sat them down in a big black bowl with green spiders around the edges. Alan handed her the apples and allowed her to place them in the bowl, since she had a particular way of setting them in it. The couple looked up when there was a knock on the door. They hadn’t been expecting anyone, and it was way too early for the kids.
Alan gave the last bag of the dried caramel apples and went to get the front door. When he opened it, a young woman turned and grinned at him. She had short auburn hair and emerald green eyes. “Whitney?”
“Surprise, grandpa,” Whitney said and hugged him.
“Oh, Whitney, I am so happy to see you.” Alan hugged his granddaughter back. “I didn’t think you’d be able to come over for Halloween this year.”
“You know we have our tradition, grandpa. I came over and trick-or-treated with you while growing up. And now that I’m older, I come over and help hand out candy.” She walked in and sniffed. “What is that you’re making?” Whitney gasped. “Are you all making your own candy this year? I wanted to help.”
“No, dear, grandma decided that this year we are handing out caramel apples.” He lead her into the kitchen where Haily was cleaning up. “Hunny, look who’s here.”
Haily looked up and smiled. “Oh, Whitney!” She hugged Whitney and then hurried her over to look at the caramel apples. “Look what we made. Do you remember when we made these for your friends back in school?”
“I do, grandma and they were so much fun to make. My friends loved them. Even my teacher enjoyed hers. It was too bad she had a heart attack and died a couple of days later. I wanted to make her another one for the end of the year when I said goodbye.” Whitney shrugged and fixed a few of the ribbons, so they were straight. “I can’t wait to hand these out.”
“We have to wait for the rest to dry, then we will be ready for tonight. Are you going to dress up this year?” Alan helped Haily finish cleaning up.
Whitney leaned against the counter. “I am going to dress up. I didn’t know what I wanted to be, so I’m dressing up as the Candy Princess from that one game.”
“Oh, your favorite game, Candy Land?” Haily smiled and wiped her hands clean. “Perfect for passing out caramel apples.” Once the kitchen was clean, she cooked them all brunch items.
Whitney told her grandparents about how school was going and how she had decided when she got into college and study criminology. They finished eating and went out for a while together. They enjoyed a day out, had lunch, then headed home with pizza so they could eat and hand out the caramel apples. Whitney took a shower and got into her costume. When she joined her grandparents in the living room, she laughed at their costumes. They were dressed up as Oompa Loompas from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They laughed at their own costumes and danced around. Whitney laughed, and they went back into the kitchen to finish wrapping the rest of the caramel apples. They were ready!
For the next few hours, they took turns handing out the caramel apples. Whitney smiled sweetly even though she wanted to yell at some of the brats who made fun if her grandparents. She did make snide comments so that their parents could hear. Their parents grabbed their children’s hands and walked away, leaning down close. She knew they had heard her and were telling them to be nice. Whitney smiled when the last apple was given out.
Each time a child left, they asked their parents if they could eat the caramel apple now. Their parents said yes and she and her grandparents enjoyed the sweet crunch from each apple bit into.
“Good night and have fun tonight, sweety,” Haily said as she waved to the last princess that came to their house.
A second later, crunch!
Whitney took the bowl from Alan and washed it for them, setting it off to the side to dry. They all went upstairs, got out of their costumes, and were in bed before ten. Whitney stayed up and read for a while. Soon, she turned off the light and fell asleep. She could already hear her grandparents asleep in the other room.
The next morning, there was a huge commotion on the street. Whitney woke up to the sounds of sirens. She hurried to the window and looked down to see several ambulances, police cars, and firetrucks. She raced downstairs and joined her grandparents on the front porch. Alan hugged Whitney and Haily as they watched kids and even a few adults being removed from their homes. Some were covered, others were barely hanging on.
Whitney looked at her grandparents. “Did I put too much on the apples?”
“No, sweety, you put just the right amount,” Alan said and kissed the top of her head. “They all deserved what they got for being mean to my Haily.” He looked down lovingly at his wife, who just stared at the chaos on the street. “She has babysat so many of them and they thanked her by making fun of her, throwing things at her, and just by being mean. Their parents rarely stopped them. So they all deserved to eat those poisoned apples.”
Haily sighed and turned around to walk back into the house. “Let’s go make some scrambled eggs, bacon, and hash browns.”
“Coming, grandma,” Whitney said as she skipped into the house after her grandma.
Alan stood there for a moment longer, then turned and head inside, locking the door behind him. They had made sure that there was nothing that pointed to them for what had happened. The poison they used soaked into the caramel, but it disappeared after so long. Alan laughed and followed his girls into the kitchen.