A little boy is loose in a candy store. His parents are attending to more pressing matters with the cashier up front. The boy can't stop but wander; he was never taught how not to, and it won't matter.
The store smells mostly of sugar and asphalt. As the boy runs among the shelves, the midday sun catches his short figure darting back and forth, slipping between other customers, barely making a sound, barely causing a ripple. Although he is very young, the boy is beginning to understand, and sometimes everything sort of makes sense, and then it all stops making sense.
He skids to a halt next to the fridge and peeks inside, yearning for a delicious cola. Completely by accident, his gaze shifts a little and he is no longer looking at the sweating cola bottles, instead confronted by his own sweaty visage. Blinking rapidly, he looks away. This is one of the things that makes no sense: the boy gazing back in the fogged-up glass is utterly unrecognizable. What's going on? What are these changes?
Who is the boy in the mirror?
The boy reels from an unusual sensation, struggling to fortify the dam of pitch black ooze deep inside his mind, willing it all to shut up. The cola is long forgotten, replaced by a sudden, rushing instinct to hug his parents.
The boy turns and bolts, the sun is a little bright - too bright, and everyone is so, so tall. They're giants. A baby dandelion whooshes past his ear right as he cries out in his mind, softly, for a bit of comfort.
As if on cue, seemingly out of nowhere, his father's arm reaches out from the side and gently grabs him, smiling even as he admonishes the young child, in a soft but firm tone. His mother is already there, planting a huge smooch on his cheek, and his hand slips easily into hers as they exit the store. Relief washes over the boy, and even though he squirmed a little at the public affection, it is like he has slipped back into his usual self. The sunlight is growing softer, the other customers no longer scary giants, the floor more solid. The boy was forgetting, but he remembers now. He understands a little more. The darkness in his mind is gone, and there's fresh candy for the walk back home. And they're just in time for the sunset.