Chapter 15: The Best Birthday Ever
Author's Note: Hello, dear readers! As promised, I'm back with Chapter 15 of Kind At Heart, and it's the longest so far, so I hope you'll enjoy it! But first, as usual, I'm gonna respond to your lovely reviews that you left me. :)
Gage the Hedgehog, thank you so much for the compliment! I hope that you'll enjoy this chapter just as much, if not more, than the last one.
Avimo, thanks so much for pointing that out. The inconsistency has been corrected to show "Unexpected" for both. Now, on with the story, everyone!
Just like before Jenna's birthday, the two were sleeping in his bed. Jenna had her arms around Chris as they were murmuring in their sleep.
"Oompa…" a voice in his head flashed before fading away.
Chris opened his eyes, and he noticed that he was laying on a bed of green grass, and a group of people were surrounding him.
"You okay, Chris?"
He looked around, and he saw Mr. Wonka, Charlie Bucket, Jenna, and the other Golden Ticket winners! Scanning his new environment, he noticed that, strangely enough, Stephanie Perry was nowhere to be seen.
"W-where am I?" he murmured as he sat up.
"You're in the Chocolate Room, silly!" Willy giggled, then he saw Jenna walk towards him and grip his hand.
Chris looked around, and he saw a beautiful land of red mushrooms stuffed with red jelly and whipped cream. There were large candy cane trees, and it was so vast that he couldn't see the entire room in one glance.
"Shall we, Chris?" Jenna smiled.
"We shall," Chris smiled, then Jenna immediately started running around this mysterious land, as they ran past many sights and sounds. Finally, the two of them reached another clearing, and Jenna playfully tackled him to the ground, causing the two of them to roll around as they laughed happily.
"Those two certainly are like two peas in a pod, eh Mr. Wonka?" Charlie Bucket smiled as he watched the two playing.
"Gosh darn, you're right, my boy!" Mr. Wonka smiled. "Just like the two of us when I chose you as my heir!"
"Not quite," Charlie Bucket smiled, "but I see what you're getting at."
As Chris was rolling around and laughing with Jenna, he could've sworn that he saw beautiful brown birds flying around and tweeting, all of them made of Mr. Wonka's signature chocolate.
This is beautiful, Chris thought. I don't want it to end…
End...end...end…
That one word flashed in his mind as everything around him became blurred, and he opened his eyes once again. It was all a dream.
Moving around to feel for Jenna so that they could get ready for the day together, he, strangely enough, felt nothing.
Jenna was gone.
"Jenna?" Chris asked, extremely concerned. "Where are you?"
He cautiously stepped out of his bed, then looked around his room. She was nowhere to be found.
"Jenna?" Chris asked, his voice rising in pitch. "Jenna!"
Similar to Jenna before him, he ran around every room of his house. First, he checked the bathroom. Then, the living-room. He ran to the right after that, coming across the kitchen. Like how it was with Jenna, the door was closed, and he slowly opened it.
"Hello?" Chris called out curiously. "Is anybody there?"
Nobody was there.
Next, he ran to the basement. After all, Jenna's parents were sleeping there, so maybe they knew where she had gone off to.
Tip-toeing down the stairs, he eventually made his way down to their basement. Looking around, he saw a television standing on top of a dresser, a couch spread throughout in front of the room, with a coffee table in front of it. He ran into another room in the basement, where he was met with a play area filled with train tracks and a toy chest, along with a small bookshelf and white cupboards to hold more toys. Continuing his trek, he came across a small kitchen area, as well as two small bedrooms and a bathroom. Finding nobody there, he began running back upstairs.
"There's only one place that I haven't checked," Chris told himself, running towards a pair of double doors in the back of his house. He was running to his backyard, and what he saw absolutely shocked him.
"SURPRISE!" a chorus of voices shouted as he stood on top of his porch, looking down at everyone.
It was both his and Jenna's families, and they surrounded a large brown table which contained presents of every shape and size. Tied to the table were balloons of every color, and they all had Wonka's "W" on it, and were swaying gracefully in the wind.
Everyone at the party were wearing pointed party hats, which all, of course, had Wonka's "W" on it. They were brown, and looked like his chocolate bars, except curled up and made out of paper.
There were even relatives besides his mother and father. Chris' elderly grandmother was also there, and she was wearing a black top hat, along with bottle green trousers and a plum-colored velvet tailcoat. She also had a black cane which contained a golden ball at the top so that she could grip it. His grandmother herself was elderly, her face full of wrinkles, yet she looked wise. Her eyes were full of wisdom, and her white hair blew in the wind. She was also holding a small book in her hands.
"Grandma!" Chris exclaimed. "Everyone!"
He rushed down the steps of his porch and into the grass where everyone was waiting.
"You forgot about me?"
Chris looked next to him, and he saw Jenna at last. She had a wide grin on her face, and her arms were outstretched.
"Jenna!" Chris exclaimed, and he ran into her arms. As soon as he did so, Jenna wrapped her arms around him and gave him the biggest hug imaginable.
Stephanie refused to tell anyone about the Golden Ticket she had found last night. She even refused to tell her father. Even more so the media. At the moment, Jack and Stephanie were on their way to Chris' house to celebrate, and she had her Golden Ticket hidden in the pocket of her jeans.
However, she wasn't the only person waiting to see Chris and Jenna. The three naughty chocolate makers, Fickelgruber, Slugworth, and Prodnose, had managed to track down the boy's house, and they were hiding behind a bush that was in front of it. They were looking at each other with evil grins on their faces and rubbing their hands together with glee.
"Hehehe," Elmer Slugworth chuckled. "Here we are! I can't wait!"
"What about us, Slugworth sir?" Percy Prodnose asked curiously.
"You two can wait out here," Elmer Slugworth responded. "Once I confirm my plan is a success, I'll give you the signal."
"What's the signal?" Frederick Fickelgruber asked.
"When I yell, 'Wonka Bar!', that means my plan is a success," Elmer Slugworth told his cohorts. "Now, here I go."
He smiled one last time at Fickelgruber and Prodnose as he entered Chris' house, expecting nothing but victory.
Meanwhile, in Chris' backyard, their party was still continuing. People were laughing, conversing among themselves, and overall having an amazing time. Jenna had just finished embracing Chris, and together, the two of them were by his grandmother.
"How old are you now, Chris?" his grandmother asked him.
"Twelve," Chris smiled.
"My my," she chuckled. "Time sure does fly when you're having fun, doesn't it?"
She looked down at the book she was holding, and Chris and Jenna followed her gaze.
"This," Chris' grandmother said, "is my photo album with pictures dating all the way back when you were just a little baby!"
She opened the book, and the first photograph the children saw was a picture of a baby Chris standing on a chair. A brown cake was in front of it, and an unlit red-colored candle that was shaped like Wonka's "W" was on a table close by. Chris had icing all over his face and hands, and the cake had huge chunks taken out of it. Jenna giggled at the sight of it.
"That picture was taken when you were only three years old," Chris' grandmother smiled. "A long time ago, wasn't it?"
"He looks so cute!" Jenna squeaked, clapping her hands in joy.
"He sure does, doesn't he?" Chris' grandmother remarked. "Here's another one."
She turned the page, and the two of them saw Chris wearing a costume. He was wearing a black top hat, as well as a plum-colored velvet tailcoat that was miles too big on him. The hat was covering his eyes, but he was smiling with joy.
"Ohhhh, that's adorable!" Jenna blushed, putting her hands on her cheeks.
"That was taken back in Halloween of 2039," Chris' grandmother explained. "As I'm sure Chris has told you, my husband was once an employee at Wonka's factory, so using his description, we made a homemade Wonka costume just for him. He was only six years old at the time."
"You should totally wear that this year," Jenna giggled.
"Speaking of my husband…"
Chris' grandmother turned the page of the album once more, and the two of them saw a picture of an elderly man with white hair and a plaid shirt, along with blue work jeans. He was also wearing a white hat on his head, and this hat had a red variant of Wonka's logo on it.
"This was my husband," Chris' grandmother explained. "His name was Owen, and he used to work for Mr. Wonka before his factory got shut down before the first tour. He was a very hard-working man, and he loved the man's candy. When he came home from work every evening, he used to describe his daily activities, as well as the wonderful smells that surrounded him. We used to be filled with jealousy of his job, but unfortunately, he passed away when Chris was very young. He also used to work in Mr. Wonka's very first candy shop as well, which was located on somewhere known as Cherry Street."
She was about to turn the page to say more, but was interrupted by the sound of Mrs. Davidson's voice calling out, "Chris! It's time for cake!"
At the same time she said this, Jack and Stephanie had just entered the Davidson's backyard. Suddenly, Stephanie rushed back inside his house, and a few seconds later, emerged holding a white envelope with Chris' name on it. She put it by the other presents on the table.
Chris looked at his cake. It had fluffy white icing on it, and eleven candles were arranged in a circular pattern in the center of the cake, surrounding a giant candle shaped like Wonka's "W." A note next to the cake read, "MADE WITH MR. WONKA'S MARVELLOUS MARSHMALLOW ICING."
"Glad you could join us!" Mrs. Davidson said cheerfully, noticing Jack and Stephanie. "Perfect timing, too! We were just about to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Chris! In five, four, three, two, one-!"
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday, dear Chris!
Happy Birthday to you!
"Make a wish, Chris!" Jenna smiled. A couple seconds passed, and the boy blew out all of his candles in one go. Everyone clapped, and Chris did one of his rare full smiles instead of his half shy ones.
"What'd you wish for, son?" Mr. Davidson asked curiously.
"What I wished for," Chris smiled, "was to go inside Mr. Wonka's factory with Jenna."
"Aww, how sweet!" Jenna blushed. About ten minutes later, after the cake was over with, Chris moved onto his presents.
"From Aunt Sophie and Uncle Matthew," Chris read, "to Chris."
Chris looked over at his Aunt Sophie. She had shining blonde hair, along with a black sweatshirt. A rather thin woman, she also wore black high-heel shoes and a black skirt. His Uncle Matthew was next to her. He had thin black hair on his head, as well as clear glasses and a rainbow plaid shirt. The two of them were smiling happily as Chris read his card from them, handed his money to his mother to put in his personal bank, then moved onto his present. Of course, the wrapping paper used the same design as the party hats that everyone was wearing, and it was Wonka-themed.
"Wow, a box of Nerds Ropes!" Chris exclaimed as he tore open the wrapping paper, holding up his present for everyone to see. "My favorite! Thank you so much!"
"You're welcome, Chris," Aunt Sophie smiled.
"Any time," Uncle Matthew grinned.
While all of this was going on, Elmer Slugworth was watching Chris from a deep corner in the backyard where no one could see him. He was waiting for the perfect moment after he had opened all his presents in order to strike.
"Some Devil's Drenchers!"
"A bag of Pixy Sticks!"
"A box of Runts!"
"A bag of Kazoozles!"
"A box of Spree!"
The presents kept coming seemingly out of nowhere, and Chris finally reached the envelope that Stephanie had made for him.
"Chris," the boy read on the envelope. "Who's it from?"
Stephanie raised her hand.
"Me," Stephanie grinned. "Stephanie Perry."
"That was so nice of you!" Jack smiled at his daughter. "I wonder what it could be."
"Open it!" Jenna said, jumping up and down and unable to contain her excitement.
Looking at the envelope, Chris placed his fingers under the tab and began to open it. The suspense was terrible. Everyone craned their necks as the boy opened his last birthday present, eager to see what was inside.
As soon as Chris looked inside the envelope, he gasped so hard that he felt the wind had been knocked out of him. He was dumbfounded by the flash of gold that was in his eyes.
"It's a Golden Ticket!" Chris gasped, slowly taking the precious object out of the envelope and holding it with both of his hands. "Wonka's last Golden Ticket…?"
Chris looked at Stephanie, totally confused as to what was going on.
"You see," Stephanie explained, "last night I bought a Wonka Bar for my bedtime snack, and when I opened it, the seventh Golden Ticket was inside. However, I thought back to how well you and Jenna get along, and remembering that Jenna won the fifth Ticket, I knew there was only one thing I could do, and that was...give it to you."
"Oh, thank you!" Chris exclaimed, running to Stephanie and hugging her. She hugged him back and said, "Chris...you deserve it."
This was Slugworth's cue. He stepped out of the shadows and immediately began walking towards Chris as everyone started talking to each other, completely confused as to what was going on.
"May I introduce myself," Slugworth smiled, showing yellow teeth. "Elmer Slugworth, President of Slugworth Chocolates Incorporated. Now listen carefully, because I'm going to give you something that you can't possibly resist. Rumor has it that Mr. Wonka and his heir have recently invented a new type of pill that can keep people living forever! My sources say that it's been a thing in that factory for years, but it's only now about to exit the testing phase. Such an amazing invention! Perfectly astonishing! Now…"
Slugworth paused dramatically, smiling down at Chris as everyone stared at the evil man. They were completely spellbound by his presence. It felt surreal to him, as if he was stuck in a dream that he couldn't wake up from.
"I will give you and your friend's family nine hundred thousand dollars each if you bring me the recipe for one of those pills," Elmer Slugworth smiled evilly. "You'd become rich, and be able to move in together for the rest of your lives instead of having to move constantly back and forth like you've been doing. Imagine how much more convenient it'd be for you two if you lived in the same house, and how much more fun you'd be able to have. To make it even better, I'll give you as many of those pills as you could possibly need, so that you and your family and friends can live forever."
Chris paused and looked up at Elmer as his words flashed in his mind.
"You'd become rich…"
"...move in together for the rest of your lives…"
"...how much more fun…"
"...live forever…"
Suddenly, he was snapped out of his thoughts by Jenna's voice screaming. She stomped up next to Chris and pointed an accusing finger at the man.
"Don't fall for his tricks!" Jenna yelled angrily. "He's nothing but a swindler! A thief! A spy!"
Jenna's anger caused a chorus of agreements throughout the two families, and Chris finally answered Elmer.
"Never!" Chris yelled. "By betraying Wonka, I'd be betraying my family and my friends, and I would never do such a thing!"
"Come to think of it," Chris' grandmother smirked mischievously, "this would be the perfect opportunity for me to get revenge on you three for causing my dead husband to lose his job!"
"N-no…!" Elmer Slugworth stammered, backing away from the two families. "This wasn't how it was supposed to go!"
"Let's get him!" Chris' grandmother screamed, pointing at Elmer Slugworth.
"Quite right, Joan!" Uncle Matthew shouted. "Let's do to him what he did to us when he shut down Wonka's factory!"
"Yeah!" Aunt Sophie agreed. "Let's throw him in the trash, just like the kind of person he is!"
"N-no…!" Elmer Slugworth cried, wringing his hands. "Not the trash! Not the trash!"
It was too late, for he was surrounded with no hope of escape. He felt himself being picked up and carried somewhere, and looked down from where he was. Elmer was being carried towards a trash can that was being used for the party, and he screamed as he was being dropped into it, becoming covered in paper plates, rotten food, cake, and dirty plastic utensils. Mrs. Adams immediately slammed the lid on it so he couldn't get out, and Isabelle handed Mrs. Davidson a roll of black duct tape, and she stuck the lid to the can. Together, the two families walked through a gate, and they saw a hill.
"Would you like to do the honors, Joan?" Mr. Adams smirked.
"Boy, would I!" Chris' grandmother shouted happily as the group tossed the trash can on its side. Using every ounce of her strength, she pushed the trash can, and it began to roll down the gigantic hill. Fickelgruber and Prodnose saw this and began chasing after it, trying to save their cohort from what was to come.
"We'll save you!" Frederick Fickelgruber called out, running down the hill. Unfortunately for him, he tripped on a rock, causing him and Prodnose to fall down the hill with Elmer.
The trash can continued rolling straight down the hill, bumping and bumping as it did so...straight into a landfill, where the lid finally popped open. Fickelgruber and Prodnose followed shortly after, where they hit their heads on the trash can, then stood up.
"Did you complete your mission?" Percy Prodnose asked as a pile of trash fell on Slugworth, then he wiped it away with one hand.
"Oh, shut up!" Elmer Slugworth mumbled angrily, tossing a rotten banana peel off of his forehead.
Everyone else saw what was going on, and they cheered in triumph once they saw what happened.
"Yes!" Jenna cheered as he and Chris high-fived.
"That was amazing!" cheered Chris' grandmother. "Revenge is finally mine!"
"This was the best birthday ever!" Chris cheered, jumping up and down and dancing with Jenna as the two of them held hands.
A few minutes later, all of them were helping to bring the rest of the food, as well as the supplies, into Chris' house to store for later.
"Did you...plan that entire party just for me?" Chris gasped, looking straight at Jenna.
"Of course," she smiled. "You put together a party for me, so why wouldn't I return the favor?"
Everyone heard a knock at the front door, and Chris' mother went to open it. It was the same group of reporters that had interviewed Jenna. They had heard rumors of a seventh Golden Ticket finder and wanted to see if they were true.
"Chris?" one reporter said, putting a microphone up to his mouth. "I see that both you and Jenna have Golden Tickets now, just like you wanted! You found them just in time, as the factory tour begins tomorrow! How does that make you feel?"
"I feel great," Chris responded, giving a shy smile and holding Jenna's hand. "I'm very excited now that me and Jenna will get to tour the factory together!"
"Is there anything that you'd like to tell about yourself?" another reporter asked.
"As you know," Chris responded, "my name is Christopher Davidson, but most people just call me Chris. I just turned twelve today, as it's my birthday!"
"My, my!" the reporter chuckled. "Two Golden Tickets on two birthdays! That must feel amazing! Is there anything else you'd like to say?"
"As you can see," Chris remarked, looking around at the Wonka balloons and candy engulfing the room, "me and my family are huge fans of Willy Wonka's products, whether it's his candy or other products. As Jenna mentioned in her interview, I'm usually quite a shy person unless I'm around my family or Jenna herself."
"My son is one of the kindest, brightest people you'll ever get the privilege to meet," Mr. Davidson said proudly, putting a hand on Chris' shoulder. "He's the smartest person in his class, and even though he usually isn't talkative, everyone at school and in our neighborhood absolutely loves him for who he is."
"You can say that again!" Jenna beamed proudly, putting a hand on Chris' other shoulder. "Chris is my best friend, and he's the most amazing person ever! He's kind, he's respectful, he's caring, and he deserves to win that special prize!"
"We do," Chris corrected her, causing her to blush.
"Whenever he can," Mrs. Davidson smiled, "he always gives to charity, whether it's food, old electronics, used video games, and even candy, especially Wonka's candies! We all agree that Willy Wonka produces the best candies and chocolates in the world, and it is such a wonderful thing to know that my handsome son will be going to Willy Wonka's factory tomorrow. My husband was actually there back in 2005 when he was a kid, and he watched with his very own eyes as the five lucky winners, including Charlie Bucket, went through the gates and into the factory. My mother's husband also used to be one of Mr. Wonka's best workers before the original tour started, and that only fueled our love for Willy's candies even more. All of us have been looking forward to this moment for a very long time, and Chris totally deserved to get his hands on the last Golden Ticket."
"Speaking of such," someone asked, "how did you obtain your Golden Ticket, Chris?"
"Well," Chris began, "I can't take the credit for that. You see, my friend Stephanie here…" He pointed to Stephanie, who shyly waved at the camera, "actually won the last Golden Ticket, but she decided to give it to me as a birthday present so that me and Jenna can tour the factory together!"
"How nice!" another reporter remarked. "Not many people would do such a thing, so good for you, Chris and Stephanie! Is there anything that you'd like to say to Mr. Wonka and Charlie to close off your interview?"
"Not much," Chris smiled, "except this: See you tomorrow, you two!"
"Yippeeeeeeee!" Mr. Wonka yelled as he sprang up from his chair and started to dance around on the floor. "He's perfect! He's just like you, Charlie! He's smart, he's considerate of other people, he loves my products, and his father was there on the day when you went along for the tour! That's a bonus! What do you think, Charlie?"
"I think he would do very well as our heir," Charlie replied. "I can't wait to meet him face-to-face. I'm absolutely delighted about this, just as much as you are!"
"That Stephanie girl seemed pretty nice as well," Mr. Bucket pointed out. "She gave up her chance to visit the factory for her friend. Maybe you could allow her to visit us once the tour is over."
"That's a good idea, Dad," Charlie said thoughtfully, stroking his goatee. "It would allow the ones who lost the contest a chance to come back and experience the factory even more. For friends, however, I could see them having to ask one of us first, for obvious security reasons."
"I'd actually be kind of interested in meeting the other winners," Mrs. Bucket remarked, "although not so much during the tour, but rather, after the fact. Meeting them beforehand would be like a ticking time bomb ready to go off. It'd be interesting to see how they changed compared to their interviews, if at all."
"Still," Mr. Wonka said, beginning to calm down, "even though we're both certain he will be the one, I think that we should give the others a...a...a chance. You've told me multiple times to keep an open mind, but I never listened. Now, I see what you're getting at. We could test the winners like how I did the last time, just to see if they are better or worse than how they seemed on TV."
"Mr. Wonka, there's something else I must say," Charlie added. "I have an idea on what we should do after the tour. Whoever wins will meet up with the others in the Chocolate Room, and we'll immediately let the winner know that he or she won the prize beforehand. Does that sound good to you?"
"It worked during the last tour," he replied, "although on that occasion, we saw the others from high up in the Great Glass Elevator as they were leaving the factory. I think that your idea of having everyone meet each other in the Chocolate Room is perfectly fine. Also, I'm really digging that visitation idea. It would also allow for some variety compared to the last contest, plus doing so could allow the other finders a chance to change and become better people, like you mentioned during Tyler's interview."
"Great," Charlie responded, his smile growing wider and wider. "We'd better get some rest, because we've got a big day ahead of us! I bet I'll be having a really good dream tonight since we finally found our prospective heir!"
"I'm sure I will, too," Mr. Wonka said, smiling.
Author's Note: Wow, that was a long one! What did you think about it? I had so much fun writing this chapter, and I hope you had just as much fun reading it!
And yes, Matt- the moment where Elmer Slugworth gets tossed into the garbage can and ends up in a landfill is inspired by a similar gag in Charlie's Chocolatey Adventure (where the story's villains would get tossed into a garbage container at the back of the factory for laughs, for newer readers to know), and I added it just for you since you're a huge fan of that gag, so I hope you enjoyed it. XD
Fun fact, Chris' Aunt Sophie and Uncle Matthew were a tribute to Roald Dahl, as I based them off Sophie Dahl and Theo Matthew Dahl, his granddaughter and son respectively. Pretty cool, huh?
As for the rest of this story, the tour will begin in the next chapter! Unfortunately, this means updates will be a tad less frequent. I hope you all understand. This does not mean, however, that this story will be abandoned whatsoever, as I have plans to complete this story 100%.
As usual, feel free to review and tell me your thoughts, and stay tuned for the next chapter, everyone!
Until then,
Gabe S. :)
