I’m so happy to not be writing a romantic comedy. So let’s get this think started. Title comes from Tigs, the Yoko to my Paul.
The Candy Store at the End of the Road
A 50s-ish man sits in a chair in a dark living room, as only a bit of the morning light is coming in through the thick shades. He has a drink in his hand and his gun in the other. He looks at them both as the phone rings. He then flips his attention from drink to phone to gun. He puts them down and answers the phone. He says he’ll be right there. He walks to the door and puts on a jacket and as he turns to leave we see the back of it says Sheriff.
On his drive there he picks up his phone and dials. A tired voice answers. “It’s Dad, did I wake you?” His older son is understanding and tells him a little about the city he is in. The conversation is going well until the Sheriff asks about the boys mother. His son says he doesn’t want to talk about her life with him. He should be happy he still gets his son in his life a little, but he lost her a long time ago and he knows it. They say goodbye as the sheriff sees a deputy waving him down an old dirt road.
As he pulls up we get our first look at the old broken down Candy Store.It looks like it hasn’t been touched in years. The sheriff gets out and talks to a young deputy who tells him everyone is out back. He tells the Deputy that he forgot this place even existed. The young deputy tells him that he used to drink out here in high school, the sheriff tells him that he remembers when old man Peterson closed it down.
The Sheriff is greeted by the attractive Deputy Brewer. She smells the alcohol on him and asks if he is up for this. He brushes her off and turns the corner to find a dead girl, not older than 14. He recognizes the girl as a local. The candy Store is out of the way but close to the interstate so they assume she was brought here. They search around and enter the candy store. They find all sorts of graffiti, broken beer bottles, and cans. They notice the door to the basement look recently move and head down. The young deputy jokes about how they were always daring each other to go down there when they were younger. They find all sorts of weird crap of the walls. Deputy Brewer discovers a false wall hiding old remains of children. She turns in discuss as the young deputy pukes.
The cop cars all converge on an old retirement home. They barge in with nurses yelling at them trying to figure out what is happening. They turn down a hall and knock on a open a door. The 90 year old Mr Peterson sits in his chair looking up at them proclaiming, “it’s about time.” They bring him to the jail and interrogate him. He tells him how he would drive towns over, sometimes even a state over and abduct children. He would torture and murder them, collecting their remains in the basement. The Sheriff asks about the girl they find and Peterson laughs. He tells them how the hell do they think he could have done that at his age.
The Sheriff talks to his deputies. The family is being notified. They are all in shock and the Sheriff makes mention of how Peterson was always so friendly with the kids of the town, giving them free candy and such. He is clearly shaken as he tells them that his son would always go there after school and talk with Peterson. He questions Peterson again, who tells him that he never hurt any children from the town. He asks the Sheriff about his son, and this angers the Sheriff. Peterson tells him how when they would talk his son would mention how much of a drunk the Sheriff was.
That night Brewer is on patrol and gets a call from a family saying they thing someone is lurking around the house. She heads out and finds the parents dead and the child struggling with an unknown figure. She draws her gun, the figure tosses the child away and runs for it, escaping. The town goes into a panic and the mob wants Peterson’s head even though he obviously isn’t responsible for these new crimes. The sheriff is getting no where and tries to talk to Peterson again. Peterson tells him that he cared for the children of the town and always tried to protect them from the evils of the outside world. Peterson tells him that leaving the town is the worst thing for a young person. That he can’t be held responsible for the evils that they would see when they left.
The Sheriff is confused and worried. He starts interviewing young people who knew Peterson and gets nowhere. He tries to call his son but there is no answer. He leaves for the city to try and find something about the younger victims. He digs up some information, but nothing really helpful. He decides to stop by his ex wife’s house. There is no answer but the door is open. He walks around and hears noises from the basement. He heads down and finds her body. we see behind him the figure that Brewer had her run in with. The Sheriff reaches for his gun as he hears a noise and from behind him he hears “I wouldn’t do that Dad.”
His son tells him how when he left he started hearing about the missing children and somehow put it together that it was Peterson. He would visit Peterson trying to figure out why and learn from him. He hated his father and loved Peterson and just needed to know why. They fight a bit and the Sheriff has to shoot him. He walks back up stairs defeated.
The End