Piece of Candy

  If the world was a piece of candy, then the first thing that Rosie McQuentin would do, would be to eat it. 

  She was awfully greedy. The men who secretly smoked next the forbidden alley agreed. The women with long blonde hair who always crowded around each other and squealed at everything, would certainly nod furiously without any hesitation. Little Johnny Parker from down the street would give a big thumbs up to that statement. Even Mr and Mrs McQuentin would sadly shake their heads and say that unfortunately it was correct.

The only person who was against that statement was little Rosie herself.

With her chubby rose red cheeks and a strawberry pink tutu, she didn’t use up much effort to charm others. But the people who had lived near her for several years would understand. 

“Rosie,” they would screech, “is absolutely awful. Man, I couldn’t sleep for a single MINUTE with her around. Send her away!”

  Soon, the poor parents of Rosie finally gave in, faced with too many complaints and whispers.

They set off soon enough, and packed all her belongings in her little suitcase (Including a few extra lemon sponge cakes), patted her on the head, and sent her off to boarding school.

“Bye! We will miss you!” they babbled cheerfully, and drove off before she had a chance to cry.

  Life was rather peaceful for the McQuentin family after Rosie had left. All the complaints just disappeared like magic. Mrs McQuectin had signed Rosie up for summer school so that she wouldn’t have to come back home, and Mr McQuentin boarded up all of the windows so that Rosie wouldn’t be able to come in, and placed a chair in front of the front door.

The McQuentin couple soon forgot about Rosie and lived their own happy, simple life in their little blue cottage that was the color of forget-me-nots. They had waffles and scrambled eggs every morning for breakfast, two ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch, and homemade spaghetti with meatballs for dinner. They never bothered having dessert. 

  It was only three years after Rosie left when Mrs McQuentin brought her up.

“You know dear, I do feel a bit lonely. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a kid again?”

Startled, Mr McQuentin jumped up from his seat.

“Another child!?! Why honey, have you gone slightly lunatic?”

“Not a child like Rosie. I meant a quieter one that could help us and amuse us.”

The very next month on the exact same day, the McQuentin’s adopted a child.

  She was a most peculiar scrawny little girl at the age of 8 and a half, with wiry jet-black hair, and large green eyes which looked at everything with curiosity. The McQuentins were told that she was discovered in an abandoned alleyway living with a family of rats in a cardboard box. 

The girl was very quiet and so different from Rosie and her large mouth. And because of her witch like backstory and appearance, the couple decided to call her Spooka.

The neighborhood was much calmer with Spooka then they were with Rosie. They nicknamed her angel, and simply couldn’t believe how smart and unselfish she was, even though Rosie was only four years older than her.

“Little Angel! Nice Girl!”

Even the tough man with all the tattoos agreed.

  Spooka soon settled down and began to enjoy her calm life. She was enrolled to the nearest public school and soon had many friends there, and no enemies at all. Of course occasionally Spooka would throw a little tantrum like most other kids did, but very very rarely. She would have regular playdates and attended birthday parties. One of her best friends was a tall tanned girl with bright grey eyes and a rather large mouth that was simply made for talking, called Helia. Helia had been one of the children in the school to despise Rosie the most. And it was only because of Helia that the McQuentin’s decided to do it.

  The students attending Maxwell Primary school were all told a week before Spooka’s arrival, that they were forbidden to talk of Rosie. Of course right afterwards they all whispered among themselves, curious to see who Rosie’s adopted sister would be.

And they saw.

But Helia was one of those babble-mouths, one of those girls who could never keep a secret. And she didn’t keep this one. Whispered it into Spooka’s ear three weeks and one day after the day they’d first met.

“Mommy. Why didn’t you tell me about Rosie?”

Mrs McQuentin turned pale. 

She dropped her wooden bowl that she was using to mix the lemon sponge cake batter.

“D-darling! How on earth-”

“Helia told me.”

Mrs McQuentin swore under her breath. She had never liked that girl- what was she called? Helium or something else stupid for that sake. That girl who threw all those rotten tomatoes at poor Rosie (though Rosie kind of deserved it), and created an even louder tantrum out of her. That stupid girl.

Mrs McQuentin tried not to show all this anger. Instead, she patted Spooka on the head and sent her off to bed.

“But Mommy, it’s only three o’clock in the afternoon.”

“Now, now, no arguing.”

Scowling, Spooka stomped up the stairs clutching Mr Teddy Poo-poo.

  Mrs McQuentin called Mr McQuentin straight away after she heard Spooka’s loud snoring start.

“Oh Frank, oh Frank! What should we do?” she cried frantically.

Mr McQuentin had no clue himself, but knew that this wouldn’t do and started whispering words of comfort that made so sense whatsoever, and tried to calm his wife down. 

He did this for a while until he finally heard his wife wail;

“Do we have to use THE FINAL PLAN.”

Mr McQuentin gulped.

“Well, there’s no other solution, or Spooka will keep bothering us.”

They both looked down in sheer terror, Mr McQuentin at his work office floor and Mrs McQuentin at her trusty bowl which she had recently dropped.

This was their worst nightmare.

“We'll make them meet each other.” she said, and hung up.

  Spooka was very excited to hear that she would finally get to meet her sister. She wondered how Rosie would be like. The little girl arranged all of her dolls in a row, and plaited their hair. And for the first time, cleaned her room voluntarily. Mrs McQuentin shook her head sadly as she watched Spooka’s young, excited face. She was nearly a hundred percent sure that Rosie would treat her little sister like dirt. If only she had mentioned Spooka to Rosie in her letter. Spooka on the other hand, only thought of her sister as ‘good’. She spent every single dinner time whispering “sister” into her spaghetti, and daydreaming about her sister at school. 

“Nice sister, good sister, great sister, food sister, poo sister.”

Yes, Spooka sometimes got a little bit muddled up with enthusiasm.

Eventually Mrs and Mr McQuentin got sick of it.

“If you mention sister one more time, no dessert!”

And if that didn’t work;

“If you mention sister one more time, than no sister!”

This often resulted in tears or tantrums or just stupid questions.

And it repeated itself, until the ‘good’ sister actually arrived.

  Spooka was still at school when Rosie arrived. Mr and Mrs McQuentin stood in front of the door for two and a half hours before finally…

DING DONG!

They clutched each others hand in sheer terror.

“One… Two...Three.”

Crack.

“HILLO MOMMY HILLO DADDY PAPA HILLO EVERYONE THAT EXISTS IM HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME!”

And a great big lump with a bit of yellow on top threw itself onto the McQuentins.

“It’s ROSIE!”

They drew back to see a giant (and slightly- no, very FAT) girl with a mop of fluffy yellow hair and tiny brown-black eyes beaming.

“You're… Rosie?”

Mr McQuentin raised an eyebrow. Rosie nodded cheerfully.

The McQuentin couple, was however… not so cheerful.

But Rosie didn’t notice that.

“Oh I see! You’ve made lemon sponge cake! MY favourite. Mmm dewidis!” Rosie exclaimed as she wolfed down the enormous cake.

“With vanilla icing? Yummy in my tummy!”

“But that was for Spooka’s ninth birthday party…” protested Mrs McQuentin.

“You’re planning a birthday party for me halloween themed! Um...no offense but I’m turning thirteen tomorrow. Not nine…”

“TOMORROW!?!” screamed Mr McQuentin.

“I’ll make that a yes. And I want a hot pink mobile phone PLUS please. With silver gemstones all around, like the latest trend.”

Rosie flicked her hair (Not that she had much hair), and sashayed out of the room.

And just when Mr and Mrs McQuentin finally relaxed, they heard a squeal from upstairs.

“MOMMY! You know I don’t play with barbies and dolls anymore. Urgh!”

And then a violent crashing that sounded somewhat like a barbie doll being thrown onto the floor.

“Baby blue walls? Matching curtains? Why I-”

“I’m home!”

Just the adorable, pure sound of their second daughter's voice made the McQuentin’s heart melt.

“Who. Is. That.” demanded Rosie.

Spooka screeched and threw her backpack down violently onto the floor.

“Sister!”

And raced upstairs.

  “GET THIS THING OFF ME!” roared Rosie.

Mrs McQuentin shared a smile between her husband.

They could hear the screeches and screams, even from here.

“MOMMY! DADDY!”

“Sister play! Sister stay!” chanted Spooka.

Mr McQuentin nudged Mrs McQuentin.

“We’re going for a walk. See you guys later!”

“DADDDDDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!”

2 years later

  Rosie sat with her not so little anymore, yet still childish sister.

“Hey Rosie, want some gum?”

Rosie nodded immediately, suddenly wanting gum more badly than anything.

“Sure.”

Surprisingly, this time her sister didn’t lecture her about manners. 

If that little squirt was up to something again… Oh, how Rosie would kill her.

“Hold out your hand.”

Bored, Rosie held it out, and reached for some gum.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Spooka fell over with laughter.

“Gotcha!”

Rosie clenched her fists angry to see her little sister so happy.

“Heila gave it to me.” Spooka explained. “If you pull out this piece over here, the fake bug springs out and frightens whoever’s dumb enough to fall for it. Don’t you see it’s leg peeking out from over there? Most people would notice it, but of course you’re too simple.”

Spooka blinked innocently, showing off her long black lashes then started laughing again.

Rosie glared at her.

“Of course I knew that.” she said through gritted teeth.

“No you didn’t!”

“Yes I did!”

“No you didn’t!”

“Yes I did!”

“No you didn’t!”

“Yes I did!”

“No you didn’t!”

“Yes I did!”

“Yes you did!”

“NO I DIDN’T!”

“Ha! Fell for it!”

“Urgh!”

Spooka could feel her grin spreading. 

She winked at Heila who was peeking through the whole in the garden fence with a pair of binoculars.

They both smiled, and made the crazy sign towards Rosie.

  Mrs and Mr McQuentin sat at the dining table slowly sipping a cup of ice-cold lemonade.

They looked at each other, feeling a wave of emotion.

“Look at our children, so kind and playing together.”

“They get along like a piece of candy.”

"I think you meant cake dear."

And with that, the couple blinked their tears out of their eyes.