The air at Casey's Candy Land or, as Jacob liked to call it, Casey's Cavity Carnival was clogged with the cloyingly sweet smell of cotton candy. How he had ever enjoyed this place was a complete mystery to Jacob.

His parents and his little brother, Nate, had long since been brainwashed by Casey's sweet-toothed grin. Nate was even wearing a hat with the cat's ears on top, one of which he had torn. "Don't forget to meet us back here at noon so we can get our picture taken with Casey," said his dad, "Until then, make sure you stick together and have fun."

Jacob groaned. "Do we have to?" Just thinking about standing next to Casey made him sick to his stomach.

"It's just a picture, honey," his mom said. "Besides, you used to love getting your picture taken with Casey. I still have the one where you gave him the picture you drew of him and-"

"Okay, Mom, jeez. Don't remind me."

She laughed. "But you were so cute!"

"We'd better head over to the Sweethearts Tunnel before the line gets too long," her husband said. His sons shared a grossed out look. "What, can't a man take his sweetheart on a romantic boat ride?" He laughed before giving each of the boys five dollars. "Don't eat too much candy before lunch, okay?"

As soon as his parents were out of sight, Nate ran toward the Caramel Coaster. "Come on, I think I'm finally tall enough to ride it!" he yelled over his shoulder as he ran by the crowd clustered around the gingerbread house next to the rollercoaster. The one and only Casey the Candy Cat wasn't supposed to come out for another hour, but the crowd was already chanting his name.

Jacob swore he could still see specks of red dotting the ground from the day Casey had knocked him over five years ago. Not that anyone would ever believe that their sugarcoated hero had knocked a seven-year-old's tooth out. There was no way he'd let that cat anywhere near his brother.

"Hang on a second," Jacob said as he caught up to Nate. "Maybe we should save it for later. I'm gonna puke if I go on that now."

"But I've been waiting for months!"

Jacob burped as loudly as he could. "See what I mean?" he said. "Man, I really shouldn't have eaten all those pancakes."

"Can't you just wait while I ride it?"

"You know Mom would kill me if I let you ride that thing by yourself." Nate's lip trembled as his eyes filled with tears. "Will you wait if I give you my candy money?"

"All of it?"

"All of it."

"Deal."

Jacob handed Nate his five dollars. "Come on," he said. "I know where we can have some fun until my stomach stops whining."

The pair walked away from the Caramel Coaster until they found rows upon rows of vendors selling overpriced candy. Jawbreakers, butterscotch, taffy: if you can name it, someone was selling it.

An old man whose liver spots that looked like melted chocolate chips approached the brothers with a platter of purple fudge. "Would you boys like a free sample of my homemade fudge? Today's samples are huckleberry flavored."

"I'd always love some free fudge," Nate said, taking a piece and popping it into his mouth. "Thank you," Nate mumbled around his mouthful.

"You're welcome." Wrinkly hands held the platter of free samples in Jacob's direction. "There's more than enough for you too, young man." The old man squinted at him as if he was trying to remember something.

"I'm good, thanks." Jacob gave Nate's hand a squeeze. "We'd better get going."

After dragging his little brother out of the maze of free samples, Jacob reached the section of the park that was dedicated to carnival games. "Which one do you want to try first?" he said.

Nate squealed with delight and yelled, "That one!" before sprinting toward the chosen booth.

The game that had caught his attention involved knocking down milk bottles to win a prize. It was no surprise that the prizes, huge stuffed versions of Casey, had immediately grabbed Nate's attention.

"Howdy," the man in charge of the booth said as Nate came to a screeching halt. "I see you've taken a liking to good old Casey. All you'll have to do to get him is knock down a couple bottles. Why, it's so easy that even a baby could do it."

"How much does one round cost?" asked Nate as he fumbled for his money. He had to stand on his tiptoes to get a good look at the stacks of bottles.

"Trust me, this game is a waste of time," said Jacob. "You're too short to aim right."

"Am not!"

"Let the kid try," said the man, setting out three balls. "It's only a dollar per game."

Nate slapped a dollar onto the counter. Taking his first ball in hand, he squinted at the bottles before hurling the ball as hard as he could. It didn't even reach the bottles. His next two throws faired little better.

"You almost had it," said the man. "Why not give it another go?"

He did. No luck. But he tried again. And again. By the time his fifth round was over, Nate was struggling not to cry.

Jacob put a hand on his shoulder. "There are plenty of other games here. Why don't you try the ring toss? I heard you can get a giant Hershey bar if you win." Nate shook his head. "You really want it that badly?" Nate nodded. "Ugh, fine. Let me handle this."

After paying for the round, Jacob grabbed the ball, reared back, and sent the ball hurtling through the air. Nate let out a soft wow of amazement as the whole stack of bottles clattered to the ground.

"Nice shot. You just need to knock down four more stacks to get the grand prize."

Jacob glared at the man. "You said I only needed to knock down a couple bottles."

"One stack is enough for the lowest prize tier." He offered Jacob a chocolate bar. "You just get one of these unless you want to try for a better prize."

Nate was the only motivation he needed. "Let's do this."

After three more successful rounds, Nate tugged on Jacob's sleeve as people in gingerbread man suits ran past the booth, announcing that Casey would come out of his house in fifteen minutes. "Not now," Jacob said. The tugging stopped.

After Jacob completed his last round, the man grumbled as he passed him the giant Casey plush. Jacob turned to hand Nate his prize.

He was gone.

The man in the booth put his hands up as Jacob glared at him. "Hey, don't blame me. It's just about impossible to keep track of anyone here."

Out of the corner of his eye, Jacob spotted his brother's hat with its unmistakable torn ear in the middle of a group of children rushing to Casey's house. He sprinted after them with the plush under his arm.

Jacob lost sight of the kids as he was swallowed by the crowd. By the time he escaped the sea of people, there was no sign of his brother anywhere, but he knew exactly where to go.

Jacob made it to Casey's gingerbread house shortly after the swarm of sugar-crazed children did. The area in front of the house was so crowded that he couldn't squeeze his way to the front, so he made his way to the back of the gingerbread house where two men in gingerbread suits were guarding the back door.

"Hey, have you guys seen a kid wearing a Casey hat with a torn ear?" Jacob asked.

The gingerbread men shrugged. "Kid, you just described half the audience. If you lost someone, you should try talking to the real security people. We're just here to make sure nobody bothers Casey while he's getting ready."

"Please, can't you do something?"

"Hang on a second." One of the gingerbread men entered the house. He came back out a few moments later. "Come on in. Casey wants to see if there's anything he can do."

The only furniture in the gingerbread house was a wardrobe, some chairs, and a table. Only the drawings of Casey on the walls added any personality to the room. They all showed Casey playing with kids. One drawing of a kid wearing a baseball cap and hugging his hero looked very familiar to Jacob.

Casey was sitting in one of the chairs with his paws in his lap. Jacob shuddered. He felt like he could taste blood in his mouth all over again.

"So," said Casey's muffled voice, "I heard you need help finding someone."

Jacob could only nod as he shook with fear.

The mascot tilted its head. "Hang on a second. It'll be easier for us to talk if I take this thing off." With that, Casey pulled off his head and put it in his lap. The man whose head was now exposed for Jacob to see wheezed as sweat pooled in his wrinkles. His eyes lit up with recognition. "Hey, you're the kid who didn't want any fudge."

Somehow, seeing an old man's head on a cat's body didn't scare Jacob. "Uh, yeah. I lost my brother in the crowd, and I think he's waiting to see you."

Casey sighed. "I wish I could get your brother for you myself, but I'm not supposed to talk since my voice doesn't exactly suit Casey. It would be great if I could get you in front of the crowd, but only the gingerbread folks and I are allowed to come out of the front of the gingerbread house. Have to maintain the magic, you know."

"D'you think I could put on one of the gingerbread man costumes? They're pretty big, but I'd do anything to find Nate."

"Now that you mention it," said Casey, "I have some costumes my kids used to wear when they were little. Let's see if we can get you into one of those, shall we?"

By the time Jacob managed to squeeze himself into the gingerbread kid costume, he was covered in sweat. On top of that, he could barely see. He nearly tripped over a chair after putting the Casey plush on the table for safekeeping.

"And yet people wonder why I prefer selling fudge," Casey said before putting the costume's head back on. He hauled himself onto his feet with a grunt. "When we get out there," said Casey, "make sure you look down while you're walking. I tripped over a kid a few years ago and managed to knock one of the poor boy's teeth out."

The gingerbread guards walked out ahead of them and silenced the crowd. "Listen up," one of them yelled. "Before Casey starts signing autographs, this gingerbread boy has something important to say."

Jacob trembled as the eyes of every person in the crowd, including his parents, focused on him. Casey wrapped a comforting paw around Jacob's hand. "Will Nate Peterson please come to the front of the crowd?" Jacob said.

The crowd parted as Jacob's parents exchanged startled looks. Sure enough, one seven-year-old charged through the crowd and practically threw himself at Jacob, sobbing. "What did they do to you?" He turned on Casey, his hands clenched into fists. "Turn my brother back!" he yelled.

Most of the crowd, including Jacob's dad, chuckled. His mom's eyes told Jacob he'd be in trouble later, but even she was laughing. Casey bent down and ruffled Nate's hair. "Fear not, Nate," said one of the gingerbread guards. "Your brother will be back to normal soon. After that, Casey wants you two to have a free pound of his homemade fudge."

"Thanks, Casey," Jacob said, pulling the mascot into a hug. His cotton candy scent still smelled overly sweet, but Jacob didn't mind.

Word Count: 1952

I wrote this story back when I was in college. This was partially inspired by a classmate's stories about their experience being a mascot at an amusement park and partially by my desire to experiment with a different setting. I've always loved amusement parks, carnivals, and anything like that, so it was super fun to pick a theme for one and run with it.

If you enjoyed this story, make sure you check out the expanded version of it on my profile. It's the size of a chapter book for young readers (roughly 8K words if I remember right), and is perfect for a quick, fun read.