"Have you ever watched somebody bury something, Reaver?
Not a person.
Something they don’t want anymore.
An old photograph. A broken toy. Something that reminds them of a time they’d rather forget.
They dig a hole, put it inside, cover it with dirt…
And walk away.
It’s a wonderful trick, isn’t it?
Pretending something has stopped existing because you can no longer see it."
...
"Mother was good at that.
Not burying things.
Burying feelings.
She could hurt you in the morning and expect you to smile at supper and if you cried…
Well.
You were making everybody uncomfortable."
Candy Man smiles.
"I learned to be quiet.
I learned that being loved and being useful were two different things.
And I learned that if you stopped being useful…
people stopped looking for you.
…
I built a whole life trying to prove otherwise.
A shop.
Pretty jars.
Bright colors.
Something sweet for everybody.
And when they came to tear it down, I stood there like a fucking idiot.
I thought somebody would object.
Somebody would remember.
Nobody did."
...
"Do you know what bothers me most?
It wasn’t the destruction.
It was how quickly everybody got used to the empty space."
...
"Now there’s you.
Reaver.
When I saw you, I was terrified.
You put me down, pressed your boot against my throat, and they screamed that you’d claimed me.
I remember lying there wondering if this was finally how it ended."
...
"But you left.
Of course you left."
...
"You know what’s strange about monsters?
People are always so frightened of what they might do.
When people see you, they’re afraid something terrible might happen.
When they see me…
they know something terrible already has and they keep walking."
...
"I’ve spent my life being something people could walk away from.
Mother.
The children who pretended to be my friends.
The people who took my home.
Even you.
But now…"
Candy Man slowly raises his eyes.
"They’ve built a steel cage and I’ve been thinking about the sound that door will make.
Not when it opens.
When it closes.
That beautiful, ugly sound of a lock finding its place."
...
"Maybe you’ll destroy me.
Maybe I’ll lose.
I’ve lost things I loved more than my own life.
But if you break me, Reaver, and they carry me away…
I’ll come back.
Not because there’s something heroic inside me.
Because the world has spent thirty-nine years trying to bury something that refuses to stay buried."
...
"You claimed me once.
But you don’t know what you claimed.
You don’t know the boy who waited at the window.
You don’t know the man they left standing in the dirt and you certainly don’t know what happens when that man finally gets tired of watching people leave."
His expression softens.
"So I’m going to give you something nobody ever gave me.
My undivided attention.
Every frightened, miserable, unwanted piece of it.
And when they close that cage…
I claim you, Reaver.
Not your bones.
Not your name.
Your time.
Every second until that door opens again."
Candy Man smiles.
"Because nobody ever stayed long enough to find out what was wrong with me.
But you will...."