Before I go on to the review responses, I wish to make people aware that this chapter does focus on a topic some people may find a bit upsetting to read.
Review responses.
Sonny April- Well maybe this chapter might change your opinion of him, but then again it might not. You shall just have to read this chapter to find out :)
Softkitty55-A few people found Judy's story sad and in this chapter you shall get an insight into someone elses backstory.
JOHNHAMMOND1993- Samanthas lesson will be in the next chapter as this one is Stevens. Read this chapter to find out if Steven benifits or not.
MattTheWriter072- Well in this chapter you shall find out if Steven joins Mandy and Fernando in learning something, or wether he is unchangeble.
Tristan- Sorry it made you cry, and by the way are you a user on here now?
"Charlie Bucket, could you tell us where were going?" Judy asked once everyone had left the cold room.
Charlie turned around to face the group with an excited grin. "All I'm going to say is what I'm going to be showing you will blow your minds!"
"How exciting" Steven muttered before anyone else had the chance to react. A couple of stern glances were directed towards the blue haired boy, who carelessly shrugged them off.
"Well, I think it will be interesting" Mandy said which instantly put the chocolatier in a better mood.
"Oh, it will be" Charlie confirmed.
As they continued walking most of the group were talking amongst themselves, occasionally speaking to others outside their respective families. This continued until the group found themselves at an unexpected dead end.
"Mr. Bucket, I have to point out that we seem to have stumbled across a dead end" Bryant stated.
Before Charlie could reply Steven beat him to it. "Well done for stating the absolute obvious" he bitterly commented, tutting at Bryant's slightly surprised reaction.
"Bro" Joseph muttered as he nudged the younger Fox brothers elbow. "Don't be so rude man."
Steven turned towards his brother, imitating his previous sentence in a crude high pitched voice.
Oh no, this isn't a dead end, we just have to go through here" Charlie interrupted so that the current conversation couldn't progress any longer.
Pushing open a passageway that was connected to the wall, Charlie held up a hand in front of the group to prevent anyone going through.
"I should warn you this particular corridor is full of twists and turns," Charlie said just seconds before the group was quite literally thrown into their warning.
Suddenly the area they walked across span while twisting and turning at an incredibly fast speed. For some, they could feel the air harshly rushing through their ears as they continued to be tossed into various twists and turns until it finally came to an end. The abrupt halt caused everyone to skid into each other.
During the short time, the guests were bumping into one another, Steven was the one to take an extra push as he ended up face flat on the floor. Beside him a framed object appeared which he was quick to grab, aggressively shoving whatever it was back into his pocket.
"What are you looking at!" Steven snapped when catching a glimpse of Fernando who seemed to be chuckling at him, even though he was doing no such thing.
"Here we are people, I knew we would get there in the end" Charlie stated with excitement clear in his voice.
Once the guests had managed to reclaim their sense of balance the chocolatiers excitement showed as he rushed towards a large silver door, appearing to have quickly recovered from the earlier mishap.
"Where are we?" Violet asked, being the first one to advance towards the silver door with the rest of the group following closely behind her.
Charlie took a few minutes to reply as he was twisting the combination for the safe lock that was placed where a door handle would usually be. He then turned towards the group with a friendly grin spreading across his lips, "prepare to feast your eyes on this."
As the door clanked open the guests walked inside one at a time to find themselves in a room that resembled a TV store. TV screens could be found in nearly every inch of the room. Some were clamped on the walls, placed on desks and a couple could be spotted hanging from the ceiling. However, what really stood out from the rest were two canons standing either side of the huge screen on the desk, that were filled with tiny multicolored sweets.
"May I have the pleasure of introducing you to the shooting stage!" Charlie proudly announced, earning a mixture of curious looks and questioning gazes.
"What is the shooting stage for?" Fiona asked, intrigued by the sights of the room.
Joseph tutted at her as if she was stupid. "It's for shooting stages of course!" he exclaimed in a flustered manner. Almost insulted that she had asked such a question.
Charlie nervously sighed. "Er no, not quite Joseph, you see this actual room is similar to a room Mr. Wonka had shown me when I went on the tour over forty years ago."
"What room?" Eleanor and Samantha asked at the same time, creating unwanted awkward tension between the two.
"Well, when Mr. Wonka showed me around the factory he took me and another boy called Mike to the television room which he called Television chocolate, his invention had the ability to teleport objects such as his own Wonka bars into the television. He had to make the Wonka bars ten times bigger so they would come out normal size. "
Most of the guests remained silent as they took their time to absorb the incredible information, well all except one.
"Garbage, what utter garbage!" Steven blurted out, sending the chocolatier a death glare.
"I beg your pardon?" Charlie asked, pretending he hadn't heard him.
Steven scoffed with annoyance. "You heard me. No one in the world could possibly invent something as complex as a teleporter."
"Well Mr. Wonka could and he did" Charlie replied, secretly enjoying the little argument mostly due to the fact that he was right.
"Prove it" Steven challenged, causing the guests to divide their time to look at Steven then Charlie.
"Unfortunately, I cannot show you the television room today as some major updates are being made to it as we speak" was all Charlie had to say on the matter.
"Update, my backside " Steven mumbled darkly, while the others instantly brushed it off
"Anyway, let me tell you how this room got to be how it is today " Charlie began, gaining mostly everyone's attention.
"You see, once I had seen just how incredible Mr. Wonkas Television chocolate really was I decided to test my own inventing skills. And after years of planning all the possibilities I came up with the idea that if Mr. Wonka could use television as a method of teleportation, then I could create something similar but involving computer games."
Joseph's eyes suddenly widened to the size of saucers at the mention of computer games, just as a hyper young child's would. Charlie was unable to hide the grin escaping from his lips as he proceeded to explain his idea in more detail.
"So, using the idea of teleportation I was able to come up with a few gaming ideas from preexisting games " Charlie began, walking up to the television screen which displayed a computerized Oompa Loompa being shot. "My personal favorite is this shooting game I'm currently working on."
"Shooting games are my favorite type of all time!" Joseph shouted out, making a few of the others jump.
"Is that what these canons are for?" Fernando asked, earning himself a smile from the chocolatier. But that wasn't the only reaction he got.
Rolling his eyes with irritation Steven gave Fernando a fierce glare. "In case it's escaped your notice, canons are for shooting. Perhaps if your intellectual capacity was higher than one of a squashed tomato you would have figured that out."
Fernando whimpered at the harsh remark. Bryant gently pulled his son towards him, a frown on his face directed at the moody blue haired boy.
A few of the others raised their eyebrows while Eleanor gave Steven a worrying look.
"Yes, the canons are indeed used for the shooting, but they don't just shoot any old bullets. Instead, these cannons fire rainbow candy bullets, in the shape of nerds" Charlie said as he pulled out a tiny round rainbow sweet from the bottom of the cannon, which he then placed in the palm of his hand so the guests could see it in full detail.
"And the brilliant thing about these is when you shoot them they go through the television screen, just as a pretend bullet would in a game. Plus they won't harm your television screen either. But once I have made the finishing touches these canons will be much smaller than what they are now ."
"So you can play these games involving the use of sweets? I must say that's quite an interesting concept you have here Mr. Bucket," Bryant complimented.
"Oh please," Steven muttered as he turned towards Bryant in disbelief. "I think you're confusing the word interesting with the word dull, but then again it's easily done when your the man who mistakes his brain for his backside."
"What!" Bryant spat in response, he was about to add something until Fernando softly patted his shoulder, fear displayed in his facial expression.
"Dad please" was all he needed to say to stomp out the anger from Bryant. "I apologize son" he guiltily whispered seconds later.
Charlie cleared his throat to grab back the group's attention. "Indeed you can and one thing I forgot to mention was these cannons have little holes inserted at the top so you can spy on the enemy, as well as be able to see what tactics they are going to use and how to avoid them!"
"Nice one man!" Joseph said, gleefully clapping his hands.
"On the other hand that's not the only the project, I'm working on" Charlie continued, pointing over to where a small pure white machine with a long leather red chair was placed in the right- hand corner.
"Although, I must say this isn't quite what you call a game."
A majority of the group gave the chocolatier confused looks. "Well, what it is then?" Violet asked, having been the only one out of the group to speak up.
Walking over to the mysterious white machine Charlie gave it a light tap on the top, seconds later the machine began to give off a faint yellow glow before going back to its original color.
"This my dear guests is my one and only mind machine," Charlie explained, tracing his fingers along the left- hand side of the mind machine.
"Oh my word, I must see this!" Joseph exclaimed, pushing past the others so he could be the first one to take a look. "Mario would be proud," he whispered under his breath as he traced his fingers along the red leather chair in front of the mind machine.
"You really are sad aren't you?" Steven sneered, grunting at Joseph's hurt ridden facial expression.
"Mr. Bucket, what does the mind machine do?" Eleanor quietly asked, putting up her hand as if she was at school.
Charlie smiled as he explained its use. "The mind machine is specially made to be able to know and get whatever candy you are thinking of just by using your mind."
"Woah" Eleanor responded in awe, a few of the others nodded in agreement. But as usual, a certain member of the group didn't seem impressed.
Instead, Charlie decided to use a different approach.
"In case anyone would think I'm lying, who wants to try it for themselves?" Charlie asked, slightly exaggerating the enthusiasm in his voice.
In less than a second, a whole load of excited shouting could be heard from the group. "Joseph, why don't you have a go," Charlie said, pointing at the older Fox brother before going over to lead him to the red chair. Joseph did a triumphant fist punch to celebrate his victory.
Leaping onto the chair, Joseph flipped his ponytail behind him as he wriggled in the chair to get comfy.
Taking a deep breath Charlie walked over to stand behind Joseph who was drumming his fingers with excitement.
"Now you must sit back and empty your mind of all thoughts" Charlie began, only to be interrupted by Steven.
"That won't take much then" he jeered. Joseph winced slightly at his brother's rude remark, while Charlie tried not to take much notice.
"Close your eyes and picture the first thing that comes to your mind" Charlie continued to a much calmer Joseph. Then all of a sudden the mind machine began to make a low pitched humming noise before anyone could comment on what was going on a tray like feature came out of the corner of the machine. Just as a printer would, the object Joseph had thought of was displayed on a silver tray, which kept coming forward until the candy was placed in Joseph's hand who had opened his eyes to see the magnificent sight.
"Holy peaches, it read my mind!" Joseph exclaimed as he examined the dark chocolate bar in his twirling hand.
"Oh please, I bet all that happened was Charlie slipped any random candy that just so happened to be what you wanted into the machine. Any thicko can pull that one off" Steven snapped, giving the chocolatier a harsh glare.
"Steven you should just embrace how incredible each and every one of Charlie's inventions really are," Eleanor told him, unprepared for his snappy response.
"If I happened to be some poor gullible sap then I might just as you say embrace it. However, I leave such things to people who aren't fortunate enough to inherit a perception of common sense."
"Common sense shouldn't have anything to do with it. After all, candy doesn't have to have a point, that's why it's candy " Eleanor replied.
Her statement made a small smile appear on the chocolatiers lips, this only lasted five seconds before it was swiped away by Steven's voice.
"Yeah? Well, explain how any of these so called inventions add any value to the world whatsoever." Steven said before adding in a sharper tone, "next you'll be telling me my gibbering imbecile of a brother adds some sort of minuscule value to the world."
Looking over to the right, Joseph could be seen happily getting stuck into the shooting game, occasionally yelling out one- word phrases while totally unaware to what was being said.
Eleanor sighed before saying, "all I'm trying to say is you don't need to point out everything that's supposedly wrong with all of Charlie's creations. Instead, you could try focusing on the positives like I do."
The snarky boy snorted humorlessly. "Yes well, a swotty suck up dweeb like you would" Steven snapped at the ginger haired girl, who couldn't say or do anything in response. Not that she needed to.
"I must say, I find you to be an extremely rude and unpleasant young boy!" Judy exclaimed, placing her left hand on Eleanor's shoulder as an act of comfort. Appalled by the blue haired boy's behavior.
"Sucks to be you then doesn't it" Steven sneered in retaliation, smirking at Judy's gobsmacked expression.
However, Judy wasn't the only one who had something to say on the matter.
"I too can no longer contain myself from saying how disrespectful you have been towards everyone," was the serious statement from Bryant.
"You haven't exactly covered yourself in glory when it comes to making a good impression " Fiona added, but in less of a rude way.
"Neither have those whining brats!" Steven retorted, viciously pointing to where the other kids were standing.
"At least were being polite now, all you've been doing is being nasty to everyone," Mandy said, folding her arms as she spoke.
"Oh really, how?" Steven challenged, which the others seemed to accept.
"Laughing at me when I was about to fall into that crusher!" Judy shouted, which soon got the others going.
"But you didn't did you!" Steven retorted, snarling at the older women as an attempt to maintain his firm facial expression.
"And saying that my head should be shoved in the chocolate river" Mandy commented.
"Yes well-" Steven was abruptly cut off from finishing his sentence, something that sent a shock to his system.
"Not to mention punching my son multiple times in the face!" Bryant added.
By this time Steven was well beyond his boiling point, but not even he could have expected what was about to happen.
All of a sudden Mandy made her way towards Steven until they were literally face to face. "You know what you are? You're a cowardly, heartless, messed up jerk!"
Steven rolled his eyes even though her words were clearly getting to him.
Fernando, despite the silent warning from his father soon did the same. "Mandy here is right, you're a nasty piece of work and a despicable bully. No wonder nobody likes you!"
Everyone turned to look at Steven, who's defensive look crumbled at the ending of Fernando's sentence. "I am not!" the blue haired boy spat, his voice wobbling slightly.
"Everyone please, leave him alone, you're upsetting him!" Fiona shouted over all the others comments, trying to get them to leave the boy in peace.
"Are you being serious?!" Violet scolded, now adding to the insults thrown at Steven who gave out a look of loss on how to toss them away. "You have been insulting us non- stop since this the tour began, and now that your getting a taste of your own medicine you can't take it!"
At this point, even Charlie had wanted to intervene, however, one stern glare from an Oompa said otherwise.
Violet turned towards Fiona in shock. "Leave him alone? Have you not heard or seen anything he has said and done today? He deserves to be told how much of a nuisance he has been, and not only that, he needs to get it into his head that just because he's unhappy with his own life doesn't mean others have to suffer with him!"
Steven looked over to his shoulder towards his older brother hoping he would at least say something to defend him. To his disappointment Joseph remained playing the game involving the skittle sweets cannons, seeming oblivious to what was happening around him. Steven the turned back to face the others, with a hint of moisture in his eyes which didn't go unnoticed.
The room then fell into a deafening silence. Everyone's eyes were frantically gaping at Steven, who despite trying to open his mouth to say something, no words made their way from his lips. Only a feeble squeaking noise could be heard after what seemed like a million years.
The silence was soon broken when Samantha took her chance to speak. "That's shut you up hasn't it?" Samantha hissed. She then added, "not even you can justify the fact that you're a bully" in a much darker tone of voice. One that seemed to freak the blue haired boy out.
Mandy mouthed the word bully from behind Samantha's back, standing at just enough of a distance for him to see it nice and clearly. This made the blue haired boy cringe.
"You don't like that word, do you?" Samantha snarled, "bully."
"Quit it," Steven said in a much quieter voice, one the others weren't used to hearing.
"Bully!" Mandy said, this time having chosen to vocalize her words.
"Bully" Fernando joined in, causing more upset for the other boy.
At this point, Steven no longer had the ability to try and defend himself. Meanwhile, all Eleanor could do was watch the drama unfold in front of her in chanting form.
"Bully!"
"Bully."
"Bully!"
Then he finally snapped.
"Stop saying that, stop it, JUST STOP!" Steven roared, kicking one of the huge cannons that caused many objects in front of it to topple over. Soon nearly the whole room became a victim to Stevens rage as everything came tumbling down onto the floor, leaving the room with only the mind machine and the shooting game Charlie had previously shown them still standing.
"Bro, what was that for?" Joseph angrily questioned, having now pulled himself away from the game. Unfortunately, he wasn't going to get an answer as at that moment the cannon that had been forcefully kicked suddenly aimed itself in between the Fox brothers. Then out of nowhere a loud high pitched noise flooded the group's ears just moments before millions of nerds were shot towards Steven, who let out a muffled panic filled scream.
Closing their eyes to prevent themselves from having to see what had just happened, the guests soon opened their eyes to see Steven had vanished. With only the nerds piled up in his place.
"W-where's he gone?" Joseph stammered, looking around the room like a headless chicken.
He was soon provided with an answer as Steven suddenly appeared on the TV screen with two Oompa Loompas, but in a computer game setting. None of the guests could mutter a word when Steven was unexpectedly pushed into a digital cage, wincing as the door slammed shut loud enough to make the room shake a little. At first, the terrified blue haired boy tried to squeeze through the small gaps in between the bars of the cage door, after realizing he wasn't going to get anywhere he reluctantly gave up.
A group of four Oompa Loompas then grabbed Joseph by the shoulders, shoving him down onto the red chair he sat on before. He was swiftly turned around to face the screen as if he was a school kid about to be told off. The frightened older Fox brother could only sit in silence as a classical western themed song began to fill out the atmosphere of the room.
Steven Fox, the mean, snappy, sarcastic boy.
He has a silver tongue, and yet has no joy.
But could there be something else behind the mask?
No one knows; they've never taken the task.
It takes a lot to make someone so vile
and bring them to madness after a while
Could it be hate? Could it be rage?
Could it be a man of a different age?
Joseph Fox, the gamer who plays non-stop
Who has the awareness of a sad, wet mop
Oblivious to what reality brings home to him
and it tears them apart, limb by limb
You need to realize, you young, foolish man
Link isn't the one to do the job you can
Kirby can't inhale the words made of knives
and Mario can't protect him and give him extra lives
It's rather sad when someone doesn't help.
Why weren't you there for him, you whelp?
Now he has lost his mind and self-control,
because the torment has taken its toll.
Immediately after the song ended Steven was tossed out from the screen, landing with a thud on the floor beneath Samantha's feet. Watching as the blue haired boy scrambled to get back on his feet, the younger Beauregarde couldn't help but notice something different about the formerly snappy boy.
Reaching forward towards him Samantha was unexpectedly pushed backward, nearly landing on her backside. By the time she was helped up by her mother, Steven had run off.
"Did he just push you?!" Violet shouted, glaring daggers to where Steven had been struggling to get up.
In response, Samantha slowly shook her head as if lost in her own thoughts. After a while, she came out with an unusual answer. "He did push me. But he didn't do it to hurt me, he did it to get away from something..." Samantha trailed off her sentence, unable to finish it. This left the others to deal with a mixture of confusion and shock.
"Speaking of which, where did he go?" Bryant inquired, stepping in front of the Beauregarde's to see if he could spot the shaky blue haired boy.
Soon afterward the rest of the group began to search for Steven, that was until muffled incessant talking was heard from outside the room. Accompanied by the sound of frantic footsteps tapping against the factory floor.
"He went out here!" Charlie called, running after the boy when spotting him from the corner of his eye.
As the guests joined Charlie in running after him, the terrified American boy began to run with increased speed as if to stay one step ahead of them.
"Steven wait!" Eleanor yelled, hoping to grab his attention, but before they could manage to catch up with him he had already found the entrance to a room next door. With a loud bang the door was slammed shut and locked, his heavy breathing and the sound of his foot kicking the wall was heard coming from his side of the door.
"No, he's locked the door" Charlie sighed, putting his hands on his head in frustration.
"Oh, great" Mandy mumbled in response.
"But the question is, what's causing him to act like this?" Bryant asked, drawing everyone's attention to think about his question.
"Maybe it's something none of us know about" Eleanor suggested in a small voice.
"Nobody acts like that without a reason " Judy agreed.
At that moment all eyes were on the older Fox brother as everyone turned around to look at Joseph, who tilted his head in confusion. "What?" he asked, having no apparent clue on what was going on.
"Joseph, has Steven ever said or done anything at home that tells you something going on in his life is affecting him?" Charlie asked in a serious tone, for the first time wanting to find out more about the blue haired boy.
When all Joseph could provide him with was a shrug, there were some disappointed moans amongst the group. "Of course he doesn't know" Violet muttered under her breath. Unknown to her Joseph had heard her.
"Do you lot think this is easy?" Joseph suddenly questioned, his voice rising in pitch. "I'm sorry I don't know what's going on, I'm sorry I'm a complete idiot who doesn't understand things like you lot do, I'm not a parent!" Joseph wailed.
"Hey, hey calm down." Bryant calmly told the panicking Joseph. "Why don't me and you have a chat, man to man."
Sniffling loudly it took Joseph a minute or so to calm himself down enough to accept his offer with a quick nod.
While Bryant lead a distressed Joseph along the corridor, a sudden idea popped into Eleanor's head.
"Steven," Eleanor said, quietly knocking on the door. "Is it alright if I talk to you?"
"No," came a shaky reply from the other side.
"Please let me in!" Eleanor pleaded. When her pleas were met with silence she decided to try again. "You know talking helps, not everyone's intentions are to hurt you."
"That's what they all say" Steven replied in a bitter tone, kicking something judging by the muffled banging sound.
"Have I hurt anyone today Steven?" Eleanor asked. This got the blue haired boy to truly think it over.
From inside the locked room, the sound of kicking stopped and heavy breathing calming down a little, instead, a soft sigh replaced the violent anger. "Just you, no one else?" He suspiciously questioned, fear crystal clear in his voice.
"Just me" Eleanor confirmed. The sound of the door clicking open sent feelings of relief to Eleanor's stomach, immediately afterwards Eleanor crept inside, softly shutting the door behind her. All the others could do was watch and listen with bated breath.
Once Eleanor had entered the room she was greeted by the sight of various boxes of things scattered across the room, while others were in a messy heap on the floor. To her slight surprise, a pair of glasses were also found tossed to the left-hand corner, bending down to pick them up she shoved them into her pocket for the time being.
Wanting to be careful of what she trod on she slowly approached the blue haired boy who was slumped against the wall, hiding his head in his hands while clenching them. He then looked up at Eleanor with unusually sorrow filled eyes, before looking back down at the floor.
"Is it sad when you get hurt so much you can finally say you're used to it?" Steven asked, surprising Eleanor with his unexpected question.
"What do you mean?"
"The best way to not get your heart broken is to pretend you don't have one," Steven said, now giving Eleanor proper eye contact through bleary eyes.
Before she could reply, Steven beat her to it. "Whoever came up with the saying words will never hurt me was right, instead, words can kill one's spirit ."
All of a sudden it finally dawned on her. "You're bullied?" she asked, her question making Steven wince as if he'd received a burn.
"Simply because I don't fit into society's expectations."
"Who says that?" Eleanor inquired, sitting down next to him and clasping her hands together as she listened to Steven talk.
"Well let's just say there are many culprits who believe this to be true, hence the existence of my thrilling experience" Steven began with sarcasm dripping from his voice. " It started off with the persistent hurling of various words that began as harmless name calling. Then it progressed to the physical stage, the seemingly never-ending punches, pushes and kicks all directed at my self-esteem. And when the first two stages get into action there comes the social rejection, the rumors, the online taunting and of course those who witness, yet choose to do nothing to make someone's suffering cease. All because I'm not as one would deem normal."
"Didn't you tell someone?" Eleanor asked, having to stop herself from nearly crying.
Steven scoffed. " I who in my temporary state of mind loss confided in someone I believed I could trust. Big mistake. Those involved in my daily torture were called in to have a meeting with me. Sure, accusations were denied and apologies based on false feelings were made, but in the long term nothing went resolved and the woman conducting this thought everything was done and dusted. She was right, it was all over. For her."
Steven had to take a moment to blink back tears as he continued to talk. "That very moment the clock struck three I was confronted by every force that wanted to strike me down. They wasted no time in displaying their mighty wraths at full power, leaving me to pick up what little dignity I had left to my name."
Having no clue on what to say Eleanor remained silent until Steven chose to speak again. " But do you know the one thing that pained me even more than my eyes after my justified punishment? It was when the same pair of eyes later witnessed the lack of notice displayed from the people I'm supposed to trust with my life."
Eleanor tried to speak, however, all she managed to do was open and close her mouth just as a fish would.
Unable to hold back the flood of emotions any longer Steven let out a loud pitiful scream of anger, his body shaking heavily, allowing a stream of tears to escape his eyes. While all Eleanor could do was watch without the faintest idea on how to help him. A simple apology couldn't cure his suffering nor convince him that one word would suddenly repair the damage.
Those who had been listening to what Steven had been telling Eleanor from outside the room felt a stab of sympathy for the boy, even if they didn't say it aloud. In fact, they were so caught up in their own thoughts, no one noticed Samantha making herself scarce.
They were soon snapped out of their thoughts when a little squeaking noise came from around the corner. Once it was discovered that it was one of the anti - bullying blobs the guests had met earlier, they then watched as the blob shuffled its way towards the door before traveling through it.
Eleanor was first to acknowledge the blobs startling presence as it continued to shuffle itself towards Steven until they were face to face, triggering Steven to let out quieter sobs. Jumping up onto the blue haired boy's lap, the blob pressed its face onto his as if to wipe away his tears of remorse.
Making sure to gently cup the blob in his bare hands he put it back down onto the floor just before turning towards Eleanor, who had stayed silent throughout the past five minutes. Deciding it was the right time Eleanor took out the glasses she had picked up previously, carefully handing them over to Steven who gracefully accepted them.
Positioning his glasses he finally gained the courage to speak up. "Sometimes I just wish I can fast forward time to see if it's all worth it in the end. But I can't. And that's the harsh reality of it, the same reality I cannot escape from the clutches of, no matter how much I cry or how sorry I feel for myself. So to make it seem the tiniest bit better, I make it someone else's reality."
The blob whimpered in reaction to Stevens honesty.
"Think of it this way" Eleanor began, not sure where she was going with this when taking Steven's hand into her own and rubbing it. "If people are trying to bring you down, it only means that you are above them."
"Because pushing someone down will never help me reach up to the top" Steven finished off with realization. Earning an impressed look from the kind hearted girl.
"You have quite a way with words haven't you?" Eleanor questioned, a hint of a smile appeared on the blue haired boy's lips.
"It's the only way I've kept myself from going completely berserk" Steven admitted before adding, "but from now on I shall use my gift of words in a positive light, starting by apologizing to those I've hurt."
He was then wrapped in a hug from the bully blob, squeaking as it nuzzled itself into his chest.
"You're a strange little thing" Steven chuckled, picking up the blob that was sitting in the palm of his left hand so he could stroke it with his other hand. "But I could get used to your company."
The blob wibbled with appreciation before jumping up onto Stevens shoulder who shared a smile with Eleanor.
During the time Eleanor had spent with Steven, Joseph was receiving his own little private talk with Bryant. Once both men had found somewhere to sit, the older man began the conversation.
"I appreciate the fact you're not a parent, and I know that you and your brother have a strained relationship, but that doesn't mean it can't be fixed."
Joseph gave him a puzzled look. " He hates me" was all he could say before letting out a defeated sigh.
Bryant shook his head, "no he doesn't, he's probably given his trust to many people, only to have it stomped on. Besides, I should know, I've done the same to Fernando's for god knows how long."
"B-but you and him have already made up, Steven would never want to have a brotherly relationship with me," Joseph replied, Bryant softly tutted at him.
"You'll be surprised. I mean take what happened with me and Fernando for instance, it took him a long time to confess his feelings to me, to express his thoughts and to show me the insecurities he faced. Although it took a while for it to all come out in the open, eventually it did. Steven will do the same once he's been proved his trust is firmly held in the right hands."
"Really?" Joseph asked, astonishment present in his tone of voice.
Bryant gave him a silent nod in reply just as Charlie added from around the corner, "I bet you anything that behind all the insults and the sarcasm is a boy who's craving for a stable brotherly bond that he can rely on."
"Yeah" Joseph agreed determinedly.
"He needs his big brother" was all Bryant could say as an interruption occurred.
Samantha who at first said nothing ran across the corridor up to Charlie, gesturing for him to bend down so she could whisper something into his ear. A few seconds later Charlie allowed himself to let out a little smile, "actually Joseph I think your chance at proving yourself has come sooner than you think."
Charlie was given no time to explain the rather sudden plan as he ushered Joseph and Bryant to wherever this plan was going to take place. "I'll inform the others" Samantha announced just as the three men left.
"Guys!" Samantha called out to the remaining guests still standing outside the door, "Charlie wants you all to meet up from where we left off." Once they had left to find Charlie accompanied by an Oompa Loompa, Samantha knocked on the door to get the other two's attention.
"Steven, there's something remarkable that you must come and see. There's nothing else like it, honestly, it will blow your mind!"
At first, Steven was hesitant to even reply, however one persuasive look from Eleanor changed his mind. Go on Eleanor mouthed as she made a move to stand up with Steven and the blob following closely behind.
Having unlocked the door both kids were met with Samantha's reassuring smile as she guided them to where the others were gathered round. When arriving back to the shooting stage the TV screen which had been used to show the shooting game using the cannons was active, but the screen only displayed the three following words.
Victim
Hate
Alone
"What is this?" Steven questioned without any sarcasm involved.
Charlie couldn't help but grin when giving Joseph a nudge to explain it's purpose. "This Steven is to help you resolve a few things."
"You called me Steven instead of bro" was all his could say, astounded at how much his brother seemed to have grown up.
"Why don't you two stand behind the cannon" Samantha suggested, lightly pushing the Fox brother over towards the mentioned object. Seconds later the cannon with the blob on top moved itself into a position to shoot at the word victim on the screen, "shoot it" Samatha instructed to Steven who smiled in return.
With a press of a button, the cannon then shot the nerd bullets into the word victim, making it instantly disappear into thin air. As the cannon then turned towards the word hate, Steven hesitated less when having to shoot it. However, when it came to the final word Stevens sense of confidence began to crumble.
"Steven" Joseph whispered into the younger Fox brothers ear, "you're not alone and you never have to be again, not now not ever. We can shoot this demon together."
Afraid of the slight possibility he would tear up, Steven took a deep breath as he and Joseph both placed their hands on the cannon to maneuver it into place. "Ready?" Joseph asked, just as the others began chanting the phrase shoot as their way of proving Josephs words correct.
Now certain he had the guts to do it, the two Fox brothers steadied their aim before closing their eyes and yelling out, "FIRE!"
At that moment was when the room filled with cheers, as the joy of seeing the word alone blown up into a million pieces tugged at each and every person's heart.
Looking up at his older brother, Steven mouthed an appreciative thank you as moisture twinkled in his eyes. The blob wibbled with excitement just by watching the two brothers build up a bond.
Meanwhile, throughout this cheerful time, Samantha's eyes trailed over towards Eleanor, who surprisingly gave her a look back, not in the spiteful way she knew deep down she truly deserved. Then it returned, the burning sensation of guilt within the pit of her stomach.
With the need of distraction required, Samantha took one last look at Steven with his brother before going over to join the others for the sights still to see.
Congratulations, you made it to then end! Only four more to go!
I owe a huge thankyou to Dragonserpent for the lyrics, so thank you!
Just to say for the next chapter I advise you reread chapter 12 for it to make sense.
So what did you lot make of this chapter? Do you think Samantha will follow in their footsteps?