The Chocolate Monster

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Tiffany noticed the handwritten sign.

KEYCHAINS THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE! ONLY $5!

An elderly man sat behind a folding table, wearing a battered hat and a mischievous smile.

“Change my life for five dollars?” she asked.

“Guaranteed.”

She examined the assortment: elephants, dragons, butterflies, and a beautiful blue fish with shimmering scales. “That one!”

The man shook his head. “No. This one is yours.” He held up a fluffy creature with enormous, starry eyes.

“Is that a cat?”

“More or less.”

“I don’t like cats. Too much responsibility. You have to feed them, clean up after them, take them to the vet. I want the fish.”

“Sometimes what we need isn’t what we want.”

“Well, I want the fish.”

“As you wish.”

She handed him five dollars. He slipped her purchase into a brown paper bag. “Remember, things aren’t always what they seem.”

That evening, Tiffany opened the bag. Inside was the fluffy cat.

“That sneaky old man!”

A silver tag hung from its collar: KEEP AWAY FROM CHOCOLATE.

“Great. A keychain with dietary restrictions.” She tossed it onto the counter beside a chocolate bar. Tomorrow, she'd get her fish.

Behind her, something clicked. She turned. The keychain hadn’t moved, but the chocolate bar was now beside its tiny paws.

“Okay, that’s weird.”

She tucked the chocolate into a drawer and went to bed. The next morning, the drawer was open, and the chocolate was gone. No wrapper. No crumbs. Nothing.

“Great. Now I’ve got mice.”

She picked up the keychain. Had its fur always been that soft? Its paws seemed larger, too. Tiffany returned to the street corner, but the old man and his folding table had vanished. A woman selling sunglasses said she hadn’t seen him.

That evening, Tiffany brought home a bag of chocolate kisses. She left them on the counter while she changed. When she returned, the bag was tipped over, and three chocolates had rolled across the counter. The keychain lay beside them.

“Definitely mice,” she muttered, although she could have sworn its tail had grown.

By Wednesday, she’d had enough. She compared the creature to a photograph she’d taken on Monday. In the picture, its tail was barely visible. Now it curled around one paw.

“Five dollars,” she told it. “That’s all I paid!”

She set a wrapped square of chocolate beside the keychain and positioned her phone to record. Twenty minutes later, a faint tapping brought her running into the kitchen. The chocolate was gone.

On the recording, nothing happened for nineteen minutes. Then the screen flickered with one second of static. When the picture returned, the chocolate had vanished.

Tiffany replayed it three times. “That’s not possible.”

She picked up the creature. Its fur was warm. From somewhere deep inside the fluff came a faint sound.

Brrrp.

“Did you just burp?”

That night she put the remaining candy away and carried the keychain into the living room. While she watched television, its metal ring jingled on the bookshelf. She lifted it and felt a gentle flutter beneath its fur.

Thump. Thump.

Tiffany pressed two fingers against its chest. A heartbeat.

“No. No, no, no.”

A tiny paw curled around her finger. Tiffany stopped breathing.

The following morning, the creature’s chest rose and fell beneath its thicker fur. Its ears stood taller, and the key ring looked absurdly small. Tiffany leaned close. One enormous eye opened, then the other.

The creature sneezed.

“Bless you?”

A squeak answered.

Tiffany looked at the warning tag. Each time chocolate had disappeared, the creature had grown. But chocolate was poisonous to cats! Whatever this little monster was, she wasn’t taking chances.

“Sorry, buddy. No more chocolate.”

She placed it on a folded towel. It wobbled onto four tiny paws, took one uncertain step, and toppled over.

Tiffany laughed. “Well, aren’t you something?”

She stroked its head. A faint purr filled the kitchen. Someone who had never wanted a pet found herself smiling.

By afternoon, it was the size of a small kitten. Tiffany spent the morning researching kitten care, then returned from the store with food, a bed, toys, and a litter box.

“Look what you’ve done to me. Eighty dollars on a five-dollar keychain!”

The creature chirped.

“You’re welcome.”

That evening, it curled beside her on the couch. Tiffany stroked its head, listening to its deep, rumbling purr. Then something metallic clicked.

The key ring fell onto the cushion.

The creature stretched, yawned, and stood on four perfectly formed paws. No longer a keychain. A real kitten.

“Oh, my goodness.”

It climbed into her lap and curled into a fluffy ball.

“Well, I guess you’re staying.”

Beside the discarded ring lay the silver tag. The warning had vanished. In its place were three words: YOUR CHOICE NOW.

“What does THAT mean?”

The kitten purred louder.

The next morning, Tiffany returned to the street corner. A different vendor sat behind a familiar folding table. And there it was: the beautiful blue fish keychain.

“Where’s the old man?” she asked.

“What old man? Lady, these are plastic. Five bucks.”

Tiffany picked up the fish. Ordinary plastic. Cold, lifeless eyes. Nothing special. She smiled and put it down.

“No thanks. I already got what I needed.”

At home, the kitten greeted her with an enthusiastic squeak.

“We need to find you a proper name. How about Hershey?”

The kitten purred.

“Hershey it is. Although chocolate is officially off-limits!”

She picked up the silver tag one last time. The words had changed again: LOVE WAS ALWAYS THE CHOICE.

Five dollars really had changed her life. Tiffany clipped the tag onto her own key ring, scooped Hershey into her arms, and settled onto the couch. For someone who never wanted a pet, she couldn’t imagine life without one.

And somewhere, tucked into a forgotten pocket of her purse, lay a tiny blue plastic fish.

She didn’t remember buying it.

THE END

Sometimes the things we never wanted turn out to be exactly what we needed.

© 2026 Susan (Susie) Hanson. All rights reserved.