The air had gone thin. There wasn't a spark within the colorful walls of the now-lifeless Candy Shop. Tapestries previously lined with confections and joy lay still tonight. No playful puttering of young feet rushing through the halls. The low hum of the cotton candy maker had fallen asleep. The chocolate fountain had been shutdown but never properly cleaned.

From the back of Mandy's personal office, a window slowly opened. A dark blue and bright teal hat peaked through followed by Chester's raspberry locks. He stumbled over the sill and faceplanted into the carpeted flooring. A sloppy roll forward was accentuated by a sudden bounce to his feet as if preparing to catch a pop-fly at first base.

Chester tip-toed to the front door and peeked into the main hall. Along with the empty walls was a silent straight of rugs and candy décor. The only sound flooding his ears was his racing heart's response. The tension in his toes released and he began walking rather normally through the shop. The reality of his situation grew ever the more horrifying as he drew closer to his query.

He decided to rush forward and find it. The tool he needed to begin this quest. Mandy had relinquished it to him but he never retrieved it from its cell.

He approached a door with a warning sign. It read, 'Authorized Personnel Only'. Then he looked a little further down and saw an additional statement hastily scribbled on a sheet of paper, 'You are not authorized, Chester'.

Chester pulled the paper down with a faint smirk. He pocketed it in his deep purple jumpsuit as he pushed against the door. It was locked but he knew the trick. Just a bit further down the hall was a plastic plant with lollipops for flowers. Amongst them, hidden in the stems, was a brass key.

It was child's play from there. However, the real horror arrived when he finally entered the enclosure. There was a bright LED sign that stated, 'Warning: Further tampering is prohibited'.

He walked past and found a keyboard connected to an outdated monitor. The white cursor blinked rhythmically with his breath. Outside of this single panel, the room was barren. Just a maroon-clothed wall with a tiled floor. A single phrase had to be entered to reveal the truth.

CHAOS

At the release of this word came a powerful hissing of hydraulics. The wall above the monitor pushed inward and then fell slowly. A voice suddenly spoke up from hidden speakers ahead.

"Limitation of Liability: Under no circumstances shall Starr Corporation or its affiliates, partners, suppliers or licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, ..."

Chester quickly pressed a combination of buttons to silence the warning. When the panel finally fell away a small cube pushed forward. It sat in a glass box just barely larger. A jack in the box. It smiled at him with rosy lips a shade different from his hair. A lavender toy brick sat on top with a blue base resting against the crank on the side. It was an inanimate cube. Yet it felt alive.

As he opened the glass the box awoke. It rumbled and shook like something was trying to escape. A desperate and volatile fight like a monster ready to break loose. The smile that was almost welcoming now felt sinister. Hesitant though he was, he mustered the courage to reach out.

A gesture the box did not take kindly. He swore he heard it snarl as his hands got closer. The bucking grew until it battered itself against its plexiglass cage. Chester felt a heat jump between his palms as he finally had it within grasping distance. It's constant beating back and forth added a chaotic anthem to the formally sobering environment.

He took a deep breath and threw his hands forward. He felt one final kick before everything went silent. His eyes creaked open to observe the dangerous toy. Then came a soft tune. The merry yet unnerving theme of Pop Goes the Weasel attempted to lighten the mood. A sentiment that Chester accepted as he moved to retrieve the harness that rested just below the glass cell.

Once he had the purple strap across his chest, he placed the jack in the box on his back. Just in time to cut off the final pop of the classic song. Chester felt a new weight on his shoulders. Not the strap or the new tool he just retrieved, but something worse. A sense of responsibility he never asked for.

Why had he been targeted? What about him is so important? Is it just circumstantial? Wrong place, wrong time? Is he just the scapegoat and now an unfortunate red herring to fuel further kidnapping? Or is he being targeted for some other reason?

Questions that remained unanswered as he walked into the main lobby. He took a moment to scour the canisters and fill his pockets past their limits. When he tripped over and lost a plethora of sweet treats he quickly snatched up a customer candy sack and returned to splurging.

As he hastily filled the sack he asked himself: When will I be here again? Is this the last night I ever see the Candy Shop? How long will I be on the run? Most importantly he asked himself, is Mandy, okay? What happened last night? Why had their friends turned on them? Brainwashing. Maybe this was an inside job? But that couldn't be it. Why would they suddenly turn?

As he ran back and forth he noticed a slip by the front door. A torn bit of paper resting too conveniently just before the doorstep. Chester carried his overbearing load over. The scrap was odd. It was a torn bit of paper from what might have been a notebook of some sort. It had a symbol of the female gender on it.

Chester turned it over several times trying to understand why something like this would be here. Is it just random scribbling? No, it couldn't be. It's too strange for it to be right here. Where it all happened.

Gray. It had to be him. But what it meant he couldn't possibly know. He'd have to discover later. The sound of blaring sirens roared to life in the distance. There was no doubt they were coming here. He didn't think they had a silent alarm. Maybe they just assumed his first visit would be the Candy Shop. He hated how predictable this was, but he needed the box.

And this candy.

He dragged his treats to Mandy's office and tried to clamber through the window once more. His sack got caught on the sharp edge of the sill and tore like paper. The candies spilled once more and he cursed as he tried to reach back into the store. The sound of shouting officers deterred his recovery. Their heavy steps were beginning to flood the building.

He had to abandon his last snack and retreat once more into the night.