Minako's Mimic Mayhem
 
By Minako Tomoka
 
 
  The crisp, cool autumn air of the Halloween evening whistled through the neighborhood as Minako made her way through her usual trick or treating route. She had been trick or treating here every Halloween for years now, and most of the neighbors recognized her by her costume, a puffy black gothic dress and a slightly tattered witch hat. It stood out against her bright pink hair and aqua-blue eyes.
 
  The sights and sounds of Halloween night were always nostalgic, the parades of trick or treaters wandering through the suburbs, passing by houses all decorated for the spooky season, some places blaring loud Halloween-themed music. Occasionally, the scream of someone getting surprised by an animatronic could be heard.
 
  The energy was high tonight, and Minako was quite happy with her haul so far. The orange pumpkin-shaped bucket she carried was more than half-full at this point, and it was getting rather heavy. But there was still more to explore in the neighborhood, so she turned down a less crowded street, where the houses were more sparse.
 
  Minako glanced around, looking for a semblance of familiarity. She didn't go down this road often, so she barely remembered the houses here...but one of them caught her eye. A dark, dilapidated-looking house near the end of the street. During the day, it wouldn't have looked like much, but at night, it perfectly fit the spooky spirit of the night. If she didn't know any better, Minako would have assumed it was abandoned, as it looked like it had fallen into disrepair, with peeling paint and windows coated in thick layers of cobwebs. Those same white strands of web were strung out along the front porch. It reminded her of the fake cotton spiderwebs people used a lot to decorate their houses for Halloween.
 
  But two things that kept Minako from assuming its abandonment was a small lantern dangling from the porch, a flickering flame shifting inside...and a strange-looking box near the front door. Slowly walking up the front steps, Minako approached the unusual box. It was rather large, and it resembled a wooden treasure chest, not unlike the variety that pirates would use to bury their loot in the olden days.
 
  But it had some rather unusual details. The chest was wide open, and the lid had two red eyes on top of it, embedded in the wood. They were still, unblinking, and looked like glass, so Minako didn't pay much mind to it. What was particularly intriguing about the chest, however, was that the edges of the box and the lid were lined with what looked very much like jagged, razor-sharp teeth.
 
  Minako lightly touched the fangs, noticing they felt cold to the touch. What a cool Halloween decoration, she thought. It looks so realistic, and the teeth are so nice and pointy looking...this has great aesthetics! She almost wanted to find one of these odd chests for herself to keep in her own house, with how cool it looked to her. What made it even cooler was the fact that it was filled with candy! Clearly someone left it out here for the trick or treaters, as the chest was seemingly filled to the brim with sweets and candy of all sorts. This was just too good, it made Minako glad she didn't pass up this street and took the road less traveled.
 
  The pink-haired witch reached her hand into the chest, taking a single piece of candy and dropping it into her Halloween bucket. That was just good courtesy for trick or treaters, but...there didn't seem to be anyone else on the street, and they certainly weren't coming to this house. There was so much candy here, after all...she couldn't just let that go to waste. It wasn't like anyone was going to catch her doing it anyway...
 
  Minako reached into the box, picking out more pieces of candy and filling her bucket. Before long, she found herself reaching deeper into the box to grasp a handful of candy. She noticed something odd though. Underneath the piles of candy, she felt something rather soft and squishy. It was hard to distinguish, but it felt quite strange. When Minako attempted to pull her hand out though...that was when she realized something was amiss. It felt sticky, and Minako couldn't seem to pull her arm out of the box, like it was stuck and something was holding it there.
 
  Minako began to struggle, grunting as she pulled back against the odd stickiness inside the chest, but it simply wouldn't budge. Minako's body tensed up, and she glanced around, debating whether or not to cry out for help. Despite all her pulling and tugging, she couldn't pry herself free. "What the hell...let go of me!" she barked. With a sharp yank, she wrenched her arm upward- only to see that it wasn't stuck in anything- a long, tentacle-like appendage had wrapped around her forearm, writhing and slimy. But maybe a tentacle wasn't the right word...it looked more like a tongue, glistening with saliva.
 
  The sinister-looking chest then exposed its true self, its ruby-red, glassy eyes suddenly shifting and moving, the teeth lining its jaws slightly twitching. The candy was sent flying out of the box as its enormous maw widened even more, exposing the pink, fleshy throat deep within. Minako screamed, whipping into a frenzy to thrash about and yank herself free to no avail. In fact, the powerful muscles of the beast's tongue dragged her closer to those massive jaws.
  Minako realized this was no ordinary Halloween decoration, it was something far more frightening- a mimic, a monster that disguised itself as a treasure chest to lure unsuspecting victims, which were then promptly devoured when they got too close. But something like a mimic couldn't possibly be real...right?
 
  Despite her disbelief, Minako struggled in a panic against the mimic's grip. Her shoes slid across the wood of the porch planks as she was tugged closer and closer to the mimic's maw. She dropped her Halloween bucket from her free hand. It hit the ground with a thud and sent candy scattering across the porch. With her unrestrained hand, she tried to reach for the porch railing, her fingers barely scraping against the wood, but it just wasn't close enough...
 
  "Help meeee!" Minako screamed. "Someone, help me please! Help m-"
 
  Her cries turned into a sharp yelp that knocked the wind out of her as the mimic yanked sharply, causing her to tip over and land face-first into the monster's slimy, fleshy mouth. With tears in her eyes, Minako writhed and squealed as she found herself gazing into the quivering throat of the mimic, a hole leading to only darkness.
 
  The lid closed on top of her, pressing on her back and pinning her down as the mimic gripped her in its teeth. The teeth poked into her, as they were quite pointy, but it didn't bite down or pierce her flesh. The mimic seemed more interested in restraining her in its jaws. The pink-haired trick or treater was effectively immobilized, her little feet the only thing left able to kick around in the outside air. Would anyone come to save her? Did anyone even know she was here at all?
 
  The despairing thoughts plagued her as the mimic began to swallow. Minako's fleshy surroundings engulfed her as a loud gulping sound echoed around her, followed by a strong suction that drew her in. The mimic gulped her down, drawing her into its throat, which made her even more paralyzed despite her weak squirms. Her arms were pinned to her sides, leaving her barely any space to struggle against the monster.
 
  Originally on her knees, Minako felt her legs leave the ground, her kicking feet lifted up. The mimic's mouth must have worked similar to a Venus Flytrap- it left its mouth open with candy to lure prey, and when its victim put enough pressure on the inside to trigger its reflexes...it wrapped up its meal and its jaws snapped shut.
 
  There was nothing Minako could do to save herself at this point. With one final gulp, Minako's feet vanished within the mimic's maw and its jaws closed shut tight, leaving no trace that she had even been there to begin with, aside from the spilled candy on the porch. Sucked down the slimy, thick tunnel of flesh, the helpless girl was swallowed up whole, deposited into the mimic's stomach. She curled up tightly within the fleshy sack that contained her, the rippling walls churning and squishing around her body, molding to her form to keep her from struggling too much, even as she kicked and squirmed.
 
  The mimic seemed strangely bigger on the inside than it appeared on the outside, since the beast's belly was big enough to carry its wriggling meal without trouble. If anyone had seen the mimic from the outside, its false wooden surface would have appeared somewhat swollen in the lower half, like a predator with a stuffed, squirmy belly. Not a single soul caught wind of Minako's screams, and no one bothered to take a trip down the lonely street, leaving the mimic content on its own to enjoy its meal.
 
  Deep within, the pink-haired young lady was far too exhausted and weakened to struggle any longer. The sound of the stomach rumbling around her was haunting, but there was little she could do now, being entirely consumed by the creature. It didn't feel real to her...it seemed like some horrible nightmare, one that she would never wake up from. If only she hadn't been greedy and taken that extra bit of candy, maybe she would have gotten away fine...or maybe it would have snatched her up regardless. Perhaps her fate had been sealed as soon as she reached within the mimic's hungry mouth for a sweet treat. But she had merely been tricked, and the sweet treat all along was Minako herself.
 
  Exhausted beyond belief and unable to put up a fight anymore, she succumbed to the mimic's belly as its numbing gastric juices seeped into her, softening her up to prepare her for the digestion process ahead, as it was sure to be a long and satisfying Halloween night for at least one creature tonight...
 
 
The End...
October 13th, 2023.