This story is written as a response to the Muse on Monday writing prompt for August 4, 2025: Write a story from the antagonist’s point of view.

Candy From a Baby

“I don’t feel good.”

I glanced over at my daughter Amber in the passenger seat. Her eyes were closed, and she was sweating.

“Your blood sugar is low,” I said. I opened the console and felt around for the candy we kept there ever since she was diagnosed with diabetes. Nothing. Guilt filled me as I remembered eating the last ones yesterday.

“Do you have any sweets with you?” I asked. She shook her head. We were driving along a deserted stretch of highway and there were no stores for miles. This could be serious. She had gone into a coma two months before because of low blood sugar. Luckily, we had been near a hospital then. This could be bad.

I spotted a garage on the side of the road and pulled off, spitting gravel behind me. There were two other cars in front.

“I’ll be back in a second,” I told Amber. “Just hold on.”

I burst into the waiting room of the garage to see the attendant behind the counter and a man and woman in front of him. The woman was holding a baby.

“I need candy!” I said. Everyone stopped and looked at me.

“Sir, this is a garage. We don’t sell candy,” the attendant said. His name tag said Doug. “You can go up the road 15 miles to the Dollar General, just outside Haggersville.”

“You don’t understand, my daughter—”

“Sir, he said they don’t sell candy,” the woman standing at the counter said. “I would hope your daughter isn’t so spoiled that she can’t wait a few minutes to get candy.” She sniffed and shifted the baby in her arms. That’s when I noticed that the baby was sucking on a lollipop.

“I need your baby’s lollipop,” I said. “I can pay you or I can go get him another one—”

The woman gasped. “How dare you? Our baby is a girl,” she said. “Aurora Destiny Morningstar Jones.” She smacked her husband on the arm. “I told you I should have put the pink booties on her.”

“You don’t understand,” I said. “My daughter is di—”

“Oh, your daughter is dying for some candy?” the husband said. “It’s entitled people like you that are what’s wrong with this world.”

I glanced back at Amber through the window. Her eyes were closed.

Almost without thinking, I leaped towards the woman. She tried to turn away but I grabbed her shoulder and turned her back towards me. I pulled the lollipop out of the baby’s mouth. Aurora Destiny Morningstar Jones started to wail like an air raid siren.

One of the other men in the waiting room had stood up and moved to block my way. I charged towards him, protecting the precious lollipop. My shoulder caught him in the chest and he went sprawling, knocking chairs over as he fell.

None of them followed me outside, luckily. I got in the car and gently put the lollipop between Amber’s lips. She took a deep breath a few seconds later and took hold of the lollipop’s stick.

I didn’t want to wait any longer there. As I peeled out of the parking lot, I glanced back to see everyone standing frozen at the window: the baby screaming, the attendant Doug looking stunned, the two parents’ faces full of fury. I didn’t care.

We stopped at the Dollar General to get more candy but long before then, Amber was back to normal. That was what was important.

* * *

Madman Steals Candy From Baby

localnewsnow.com, 7:23:00 PM, 08/09/2025

A local family were the victims of a senseless attack this afternoon when a crazed man barged into Koon’s Auto Center on Route 55, demanding candy. Eyewitnesses said the man was aggressive and rude and may have been on drugs. After attacking the infant and stealing her candy, the assailant attacked a bystander, injuring him and causing him to go the hospital for treatment. The victims maintain that the perpetrator also misgendered their baby, even though “she is very cute and feminine”. This certified Jerk of the Year is still at large but the police are following up on leads.