By Hazel T:
The following "documentary" short story is brought to us by the imaginative talents of our 12-year-old contributor Hazel.
Ice cream trucks, the strange and dangerous creatures of the street. The Ice cream truck you see here is a lone male who has stopped outside of the middle school on a Friday. Fridays are best for feasting, because the children carry a mix of hope for the weekends, and that ever present sadness that hangs in the air around middle schools. As the Ice cream truck waits for its meal, the perfect mix of depression and hope it plays music to lure in the children. When the music reaches the ears of the children, they run towards their doom. The Ice cream truck sends out sweet smells when the children get near to convince them even further to come to the Ice cream truck. When the food source arrives, the Ice cream truck still has work to do. First, it will suck out their soul then it must deliver its venom to the victim. The venom renders them unaware that their soul is missing, delivers the promise of sugar that lured the children in, and releases a chemical into the body that speeds up the soul regrowing process. The sooner the soul grows back, the more food for the Ice cream trucks. Once there are no more children, the Ice cream truck takes to roaming the streets. This provides more food and the majority of the hope and happy in an Ice cream truck’s diet. The excitement of sitting at home, then hearing the music and running to it makes the soul flood with happiness when it is taken and devoured. Once it has become too late and all the children are regenerating the Ice cream truck returns to its home. Ice cream trucks don’t have a specific nesting place, some return to people homes, many go back to ice cream shops, but the majority is unknown. If the truck hunts near an abandoned town, it will rest there. The trucks who live in the cities that had a nuclear meltdown have a bonus defense from the mutating chemicals, merchandise. When the Ice cream trucks come home, they tend to their young with the help of their mates. The young are rarely seen by humans and we have no valid description of them. The young tend to leak oil when resting, wetting their sun protectors. They eat souls regurgitated by their parents which weakens the flavor. When an Ice cream truck eats its first self-hunted soul there is a big celebration, for the truck now eats in full flavor!