Sweetmeats

Link to article: Sweetmeats.
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[[include :scp-wiki:theme:creepypasta]]

[[include :scp-wiki:info:start]]
=====
[[include component:preview
text= The sticky, saccharine smell of something that died in the woods. (2800 words)
]]
=====
= Sweetmeats
= **Author:** [[[winterheart-page | GwenWinterheart]]]
[[include :scp-wiki:info:end]]

[[div class="parapost"]]
##orange|**wander93**## 06/24/2025 (Mon) 22:35:08 #02123354
-----

I think there's something wrong with me.

So i do a lot of hiking, right?  Being out in the woods on my own helps me feel distant from my day job and i can actually relax.  I don't mean this in an 'oh, look at me, i'm so in touch with nature' kind of way -- i mean like my head is messed up and i've gotta go get lost in the woods and hope a bear doesn't eat me once every couple weeks or i'll have some kinda breakdown.

So i'm out in the middle of nowhere, on an animal trail a solid half-hour's trek out from the nearest real hiking path, and i catch a glimpse of this pastel orange color from across a stream, just ahead.  Real eye-catching, didn't look like any of the flowers i usually see out there.  It was right along the path, so i stopped to check it out as i went by.  It was this orange ... paste.   Smeared on a tree, with more splattered on the ground nearby.  Smelled sweet.  The ants were absolutely all over it.  Icing?  I mean, i wasn't about to taste it to find out, but it looked and smelled more like orange cake icing than anything else.

There was more of it, a sort of scattered trail, running off to the side of the deer path i'd been following.  A lot of broken branches  too, and heavy footprints, like a large animal had lumbered through.  I only know how to identify bear tracks, so i knew it had paws and wasn't a bear but that was it.  Trail went in both directions, no way for me to know which way it had gone, but i picked one at random and followed it.  Don't ask me //why// i followed it, ok? It seemed like a good idea at the time.

First thing i noticed was the smell.  The sweetness of it was overpowering, almost painful.  Underneath that was the sickly scent of fermentation and rot, and a faint hint of earthy mold.  Next were the colors.  An unnatural orange, smeared across trees and foliage and mixing with the dirt to form crusty, frothy mud.  And these ... things, scattered around, gleaming wetly in shades of purple, orange and blue.  Long shredded tubes and punctured sacs and piles of strange jelly.  Then there was the source of the mess -- a large bipedal something-or-other covered in short purple fur with its abdomen ripped open.

The head and left leg were completely missing and the remainder of the body was pocked with gouging bite marks, exposing moist, porous flesh in stripes of teal and violet.   Bugs were everywhere, the buzzing of the flies alone formed a solid wall of sound. I never realized they could be so //loud// before.  Mold of various shades had begun to grow in streaks on the piles of surreal viscera -- the corpse, if it was a corpse, had been here for some time now. If i had to guess, i'd call it a very large ape?  No, what it //really// looked like was a bulky costume that had come to life briefly, only to be reduced to gory spectacle.  Ridiculous, but, there it was.

I took a few steps forward to get a better look and something burst under my foot, splattering my legs with warm, sticky fluid.  I tried to step back and nearly lost my boot to the viscous mess.  Caramel, i think. A long, chocolate-colored tube of unclear purpose was slowly deflating as its sticky contents poured out around my foot, forming an enticing death-trap for nearby insects.  I grabbed the top of my boot and pulled back hard -- it came free all at once with this awful squelching sound.  Nearly fell over.

At that point, i decided i didn't need a closer look.  Got as much of the sugary ooze as i could off of my hands and boot and turned back the way i came.  On the way back i noticed more icing.  Lavender this time, forming a long, continuous streak in the dirt.  Didn't stand out nearly as much as the orange, but was easy enough to follow once i'd spotted it.  After maybe fifty feet, the trail disappeared into a hole in a hollow stump.

There was a bit of partially detached bark further up on the stump, so i pried that open and peeked inside.  The thing inside looked like a very simple hand puppet, i guess?  But kind of long, with the back-end stitched shut, and stuffed with something or other.  Its body was made of soft, fuzzy cloth, stained brown with filth to the point where i had no idea what color it was originally.  A short, horse-like mane of matted, cadmium-red fuzz ran from the top of its head to most of the way down its back -- a little round nose of the same color was glued to the tip of its face.  Two swirly eyes were similarly attached, although the left was starting to come off. Its mouth was as you'd expect from a puppet; just a representation, not actually leading to any interior cavity. Sweet-smelling lavender icing oozed very slowly from a small gash on the side of its head.

It whimpered at me and scrambled back, moving like a clumsy snake, scattering the train of ants that had been gathering up its icing to take back to their nest.  I nearly screamed -- didn't expect it to move, thought it was dead.  Poor little guy.

I really should have just left.  I'm not sure why i didn't, exactly, i just suddenly got this strong feeling that i ought to take the little guy back with me.  I mean, it was hurt, it didn't seem like it belonged here, and after a bit of cleaning up it'd be kind of cute maybe. Also, i'd never seen anything like it before -- it'd be a shame to just leave it!  So i reached down to grab it and it bit my fucking hand off.

Or like ... that's what it //felt// like, right?  I definitely saw its weird little felt mouth close around my wrist, and there was this awful crushing, tearing sensation, and i screamed till my throat was raw. Only, there wasn't any blood. No blood, no torn flesh, no severed hand, just pain, then this numb pressure, then a different kind of pain.  At the end of whatever happened, the puppet-thing was connected to the end of my right arm.

And like, i could //feel// it.  It was sore and sick and exhausted, the partially detached eye hurt like hell, the gash hurt like hell, and the general feeling of muck and grime and crusty, sticky icing made my skin crawl. Or maybe that was just all the ants, roaming over the puppet's mouth and eyes and everywhere -- some of them trying to move up the arm onto my actual skin. I very carefully brushed them off and opened my bag.

There was no time for questions like 'what the fuck?' or 'what has happened to me?' or 'where did my hand go?'  The sensations were too overwhelming, i had to do something about them immediately.

I always carry extra water bottles while hiking, so the first thing i did was pour a couple of them out over the thing, try to get the worst of the gunk off of it.  The water stung when it touched the gash, but it wasn't uncomfortable pouring it over the eyes or nose for some reason.  I dried and wiped it off on my other sleeve, then got out my first aid kit. I disinfected and carefully bandaged the wound on the head.  Didn't have any glue to properly fix the eye, but i covered it with some bandaids to keep it from getting any worse.  Then i took a bunch of painkillers and found a nice mossy log to sit down on till i could think again.

Honestly, it's possible the painkillers were a bad idea.  The pain had been really helping me not think about the whole situation -- as soon as it started to subside those questions from earlier caught up with me.  I turned the hand puppet parasite thing around to face me, looked right into its one uncovered eye, and asked it: 'what the fuck?'  No response.

As far as i could tell, i had full control of it.  It felt basically like my hand was in a hand puppet, except i couldn't tell where my individual fingers were and when something touched the outside of the puppet that felt like touching my skin.  Its head moved the way my wrist joint would normally, i could open and close the mouth, and i could also sort of rumple and flex the face as if i was moving my fingers around inside it.  On examining my arm more closely i found that my skin smoothly transitioned into the puppet's fuzzy cloth just above the elbow.  It looked and felt like a part of my own body.

I stood up.  My "arm" still felt like an elephant had recently stepped on it, but it was manageable.  I'd head back to where i parked, get back to civilization and figure out the rest later.  Was really hoping it'd all turn out to be a bad dream or something.

I was moving sluggishly, at maybe half my typical pace at that point, which wasn't great because at that rate the trek to the car would be over two hours.  I felt hot, probably feverish. My head was spinning, my nose running, and the ache in my arm was diffusing outward to engulf my entire body in a warm bath of discomfort. The worst part was, i'd realized i could //see// out of that one swirly little eye.  It was blurry, but getting sharper over time.  I could smell things, too, although that was just an incomprehensible mess of alien sensations.

Or, it was at first. About half an hour into my miserable return hike, i picked up a specific smell that stood out.  A pungent, animal scent that something inside me said meant //danger,// getting gradually closer.  I tried to pick up the pace, but there wasn't a lot i could do in my current state.  Soon i was hearing rustling and crunching sounds from the brush.  Kept thinking about that torn up corpse from earlier.  It'd been bigger than anything that lives in these woods naturally; what would a live one look like?

Then i caught a glimpse of the real source of the threatening scent.  My first thought was, 'Oh. I guess i'm dead then.'  It wasn't a purple monster -- it was a grizzly bear.  Completely mundane animal, eyeing me cautiously from through the bushes, the orange icing caked onto its brown fur giving away its location.

I jangled the bells on my backpack furiously, but the bear did not back away.  Must have smelled all the sugar.

My mind raced.  Playing dead was no good, it'd tear me up looking for the source of the smell. If i initiated a chase that'd be the end for me -- bears are //fast.//  Right then it wasn't attacking, so i shouldn't make any sudden moves.  I maintained eye contact with all three of my eyes and moved forward steadily.  The hand puppet waved around aggressively, making warning hissing noises as i tried to make myself look bigger.  I //think// the noises came out of my mouth. 

The bear approached cautiously.  Its movements looked a bit unsteady, maybe it was sick?  Gorging on icing can't be healthy.  Maybe i had a chance, then.

Just as i started thinking that it suddenly lurched forward, closing the distance in a blink.  Must have jinxed it.  I jumped backward and felt a sharp claw graze my left arm.  The bear took another swipe at me -- i stepped back again, tripped over a fallen branch, cracked my head against a tree trunk and blacked out.

I woke up to a pounding headache and the stench of blood.  The bear lay on the ground across the trail, entrails splattered everywhere. Ends of broken bones pierced its hide from within and something had ripped away enormous chunks of its flesh.  I stared at it, uncomprehending, for maybe a minute before i pulled myself to my feet.

My head hurt, but my right arm didn't.  I raised it in front of my face and i cannot tell you how relieved i was to see my own fingers instead of filthy cloth.  The puppet was gone.  Did //it// do this?  Whatever, regardless i had to get out of there.  I went to pick up my backpack and was stopped short by a sharp pain in my left arm.  The scratch from just before i passed out.  It didn't feel too bad, i just had to quickly patch it up before resuming my escape.

I nearly fainted when i saw it.  An unnaturally vivid shade of cadmium red.  Much too viscous -- more paste than fluid.  A sickly sweet smell.  Trembling, i touched it with my right hand and licked my finger.  Colored cake icing was slowly oozing from the shallow scrape on my forearm.

I dressed the cut and got back to my car as quickly as i could. There were more strange colours in the woods on the way back, but i ignored them completely. Didn't check the wound again until it had completely healed, and i've been very careful to avoid anything that might draw blood ever since.

Right now, i'm not sure if any of it was real. I'm too scared to check.  Maybe i got bit by something and got sick and started seeing things, maybe i just had a breakdown out in the woods. I don't think so, though.  If anyone knows anything at all about this, let me know.  I need help, please.
[[/div]]

[[div class="parapost reply1"]]
##green|**Hexalien**## 06/24/2025 (Mon) 22:40:22 #02123355
-----

no pictures??  c'mon at least smear some icing on a tree
[[/div]]

[[div class="parapost reply2"]]
##orange|**wander93**## 06/24/2025 (Mon) 22:45:35 #02123358
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I don't take my phone when i'm on these hikes, that would defeat the entire point.  I don't take any electronics.
[[/div]]

[[div class="parapost reply3"]]
##green|**Hexalien**## 06/24/2025 (Mon) 22:49:01 #02123359
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huh.  you're gonna get eaten by a bear, dude
[[/div]]

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##orange|**wander93**## 06/24/2025 (Mon) 22:59:30 #02123360
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Thanks for your concern.
[[/div]]

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##red|**ectoplasmEel**## 06/24/2025 (Mon) 22:49:55 #02123361
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This is a cool story thanks for sharing!  I never thought about what would happen if one of those candygore creatures from the tumblr posts was actually real, its almost grosser than real blood and guts when you think about it...

[[/div]]

[[div class="parapost reply1"]]
##orange|**wander93**## 06/24/2025 (Mon) 22:56:29 #02123365
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Excuse me?  This isn't a fiction site i'm saying this actually happened to me, what the hell is "candygore"?
[[/div]]

[[div class="parapost reply2"]]
##red|**ectoplasmEel**## 06/24/2025 (Mon) 22:59:04 #02123366
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Ahh sorry, right, of course you've never heard of the aesthetic where things get cut up and their insides are all made of delicious sweets. ;)

What did the red icing taste like anyway, just regular icing or was it like, special?  Was it good??  I kinda wanna try some ...
[[/div]]

[[div class="parapost"]]
##blue|**Riley352**## 06/24/2025 (Mon) 23:02:43 #02123369
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Hey if this is //actually// real can't you at least poke yourself with a pin and take a video of the icing coming out or something?  Oh, what if it was a cooking video where you iced a cake with it or something that would be cool
[[/div]]

[[div class="parapost"]]
##green|**Vivaxic**## 06/24/2025 (Mon) 23:03:55 #02123370
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So like, what do you think the rest of you is made out of?  If your blood is red icing, maybe your muscles are red velvet cake or something?  The fat could be custard, and I bet your brain's some kind of jelly! Mmmmm ~
[[/div]]

[[div class="parapost reply1"]]
##orange|**wander93**## 06/24/2025 (Mon) 23:06:19 #02123371
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please don't eat me
[[/div]]

[[div class="parapost"]]
##yellow|**sam_i_am**## 06/24/2025 (Mon) 23:04:03 #02123372
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What was the hand puppet's name?
[[/div]]

[[div class="parapost reply1"]]
##orange|**wander93**## 06/24/2025 (Mon) 23:07:56 #02123373
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I don't know? How would i know that?  Are you people trolling me?  I feel like everyone in this thread is acting really weird ...
[[/div]]

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##yellow|**sam_i_am**## 06/24/2025 (Mon) 23:09:02 #02123374
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If I asked you to make up a name for it right now off the top of your head what would you say?  Sorry for being weird, this is really important.
[[/div]]

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##orange|**wander93**## 06/24/2024 (Mon) 23:11:30 #02123375
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Okay ... Wump, maybe?
[[/div]]

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##yellow|**sam_i_am**## 06/24/2025 (Mon) 23:12:11 #02123376
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Check your messages.
[[/div]]

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