Cloyd was a chocolatier, but he was not just any chocolatier. He made the most delicious chocolate you could possibly imagine with bizarre (but yum!) combinations such as CCC (cherry, chocolate, and cream) and Berry Blast (A combination of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and other berries found deep in the Woods of Darkness). His secret to making tasty and popular chocolate? Nobody knew anything about that except that he made them by hand. He was 56 years old and was very famous in his district for his chocolates. His father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, and great-great-great-grandfather had the same occupation, with the same amount of tastiness and the same amount of fame. His ancestors lived in a secret, secluded area so that other chocolatiers couldn’t steal the recipes for the chocolates, but Cloyd had traveled to Halwapur, the land of sweets, to set his business. He built a small home on the outskirts of town as an office/house. He always wore a white kurta and pajama while working on chocolates. Soon, he became famous and his chocolates became a must for all festivities and celebrations. Even without celebrations or festivals, people would order lots of chocolates. Due to this, Cloyd did not have any spare time to do other stuff like read or watch TV. He had to work day in and day out.
Christmas was just around the corner and everyone was rejoicing. Everyone except for Cloyd that is. The poor man was too busy making chocolates. Everyone had already decided which chocolates to buy. “I’m going to buy some of each flavor.” said a man to his wife. Children were pestering their parents to remember to buy their favorite chocolates. Even old grandmas and grandpas were deciding on what to buy. And believe it or not, even doctors and dentists were talking about it. A man was telling everyone that he had overheard a dentist saying he would buy the sweetest chocolate from Cloyd! But one week before Christmas, the town woke up to horrible news. Cloyd had gone missing! Everyone was looking for him everywhere. In the woods, the roads, even the neighboring towns. There were a lot of wild suggestions about where he had gone. “I had seen something white falling off the high cliff over there,’ said a man pointing to the east, ‘That might be him!’
Tom, a boy of about 10 years old, was very interested in the happenings. Everyone, including Tom, rushed over to see what had fallen from the cliff. It was just a bedsheet! A woman said, “I remember something- someone had asked me where Cloyd’s house was, and I told him where it was! He might have kidnapped him!” “Did he have a car?” asked a man. “Yes, he did!” replied the woman. “Its registration number was um……. yes, I remember it was- K123!” “We must search for that car!” said the man. “Yes, we should!” cried everyone present. A couple of days later, Tom went to Hastipur, where his grandparents lived, for the holidays. He was going for a walk with his dog, Bruce. When they stopped to relax for a bit on the way, Bruce suddenly ran off into the forest. Tom had no choice but to follow him. When he finally caught Bruce, something shiny caught his eye. When he looked at it, he saw it was a window of a house. He went closer to the house and looked through the window. What he saw inside the house was the worst thing ever!
Cloyd was lying on the floor, not moving a muscle! Thinking he was dead, Tom immediately tried to open the door only to find it was locked. He tried breaking the door open. This went on for 5 minutes till he heard somebody behind him, “What do you think you’re doing young man?!” He turned round to see the chocolatier standing behind him. “But if you are here then who is in there?’ said Tom, peeking through the window to find nobody there, “I thought you were dead!” “No, I was doing the dead body pose in Yoga!” said Cloyd. Tom exclaimed, “Why are you here? You are supposed to be making chocolates at Halwapur. Everyone is worried sick!” “Oh that,” said the chocolatier and started explaining.
“Well you see, I was tired of working on chocolates 24/7. So, I wanted to take a well- deserved break without anyone disturbing me. So, when a man came in a car traveling towards my ancestral home…,” he said, pointing towards the house, “…I couldn’t resist. I asked him for a ride and he agreed. Thus, here I am.” “Well I can understand that,’ said Tom, “but we better go back; everyone is freaking out with you missing.” “Yes, we should.” said Cloyd. Meanwhile, the men had tracked down the car that was back in Halwapur and asked the owner where the chocolatier was. They were about to leave for Hastipur when another car came, and out came Cloyd and Tom! Everyone was surprised and happy at the same time. “Oh, Cloyd where were you? I want to order more of your chocolates!” everyone said at the same time. Tom shouted “Everyone stop! This is why he left so that you won’t pester him!” Everyone became silent and turned to Cloyd. He smiled and said, “It is true. And from now I will only be making one packet of chocolate per day so that I can have enough rest.” Everyone started complaining, but then someone at the back shouted, “It’s okay - and now that Cloyd is back, let’s party!” And that is what happened. Cloyd came back and everyone in Halwapur had the best Christmas (or so it felt).
Written by:
Ishaan Mathew
(For StoryWritingCompetition)
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