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Thomas and the Chocolate Factory - Chapter 7

A Sanders Sides / Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Fanfiction

Summary: Remus Duke is the greatest chocolatier of all time, and after living the past few years a recluse, he decides to finally open his factory once again. And it's young orphan Thomas Sanders' dream to win a ticket and get to go! Will he win a ticket? And if he does, will he make it out alive?

Masterpost

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Thomas dropped his bag as he sat down at his desk, looking around at the half full classroom, more students occasionally wandering in. Some people were chattering, filling each other in what their plans were for over the Christmas holidays. Others looked close to falling asleep, tired after the long school day.

It had been over two weeks since the last golden ticket had been found, and many people were starting to run out of money to spend on chocolate. It had led to a general dip in enthusiasm regarding the contest. With the tour date only a day away, many people were becoming convinced the final ticket would go unfound, and Patton, Roman, Logan and Virgil would be the only ones on the tour.

Thomas fiddled with his pen, sighing a little. By this point, he had well and truly resigned himself and given up all hope. And not just about the contest.

He’d overheard Dot last night on the phone. She’d been talking, assumedly to the head of another orphanage, about arranging all the children to be transferred. It wouldn’t be long until he’d be told to pack up his things and leave his town behind. Leaving his school behind.

Leaving his newest friend behind…

“Thomas!” Speaking of, Nico suddenly ran in, dropping into the seat beside Thomas. “Did you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“The last golden ticket apparently got found!” Nico held up his phone. “It says the son of a millionaire in Paraguay found it…”

“It doesn’t surprise me it was someone rich. Sounds like they’re the only ones who can still afford Duke bars at this point,” Thomas sighed. “Has there been an interview yet?”

“Not yet, apparently it only just happened. That reporter probably hasn’t even boarded an aeroplane to Paraguay yet.” Nico put his phone away, before pulling out a Duke energy bar and holding it out to Thomas. It had become their thing now. Every day, Nico would give Thomas an energy bar.

Before today, Thomas had always opened it as soon as Nico handed it to him, filled with anticipation, wondering if there was a golden ticket hidden under the wrapper. The logical part of his brain said that the ticket wouldn’t be there, as the contest announcement had said the tickets were hidden in Duke chocolate bars, not energy bars. But he still was always a little hopeful.

But now the final ticket was gone. On top of that, he didn’t have much of an appetite. He simply tucked the bar into his pocket. He’d save it for when he needed it.

By the time the teacher entered the classroom, it seemed the news had spread throughout the entire class, as the mood greatly dipped. Sure, people had mostly already given up on the ticket contest, but they’d still had a chance. Now, there was none. None of the students could really be bothered to focus on discussing the reading they were supposed to do for homework.

Eventually, the bell rang. Everyone began to pack up their things, saying goodbye to their friends, or leaving quickly, glad that the Christmas holidays had officially begun. Thomas pulled his bag onto his shoulder, he and Nico walking from the classroom together. That was another one of their things - they’d started walking home together, Nico’s house being on the way to the orphanage.

“So, what are your Christmas plans?” Nico asked as they stopped at their lockers to pick up their things.

“I… don’t really have any,” Thomas sighed. “I honestly don’t know if I’ll still be here at Christmas.”

Nico blinked. “Oh… things are getting that bad…?”

Thomas simply nodded, before changing the subject as they finished at their lockers and headed out of the school. “What about you? What are your plans over Christmas?”

“My family’s going to visit my grandparents to spend Christmas with them. It’s what we do every year.”

“That sounds nice. I hope you have fun.”

“I’ll be able to tell you myself if I do. I don’t care if you go away, you know my address. You can write me letters! We can be pen pals!” Nico smiled.

“Really?”

“Mhm! You’re not getting away from me that easy. We’re friends now, and I don’t like losing friends.”

The two kept walking and talking, Thomas not feeling quite so grim anymore. Well, not until a familiar strong scent of chocolate floated by.

Every day, on the walk home from school, he had to walk past the Duke chocolate factory. And every day, it was torture. It drew out the deep hunger he felt and tried to will away, making his stomach growl painfully. And now, today, it represented another pain: lost hope. There was no more chance of winning an extraordinary opportunity that could bring some deliciousness to his life.

Pain had never smelled so sweet.

He hadn’t realised he’d stopped walking until Nico tugged on his arm. “Thomas? Are you alright?”

Thomas tore his eyes away from staring up at the large metal gates, nodding. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry, just… daydreaming.”

Nico frowned a little, looking up at the factory. He sighed, “It really is a shame the contest is over. You know, I was really expecting at least one ticket to be here, in this town. I mean, it’s the home of the factory. It just feels right for one to be here.”

Thomas just hummed, before turning and walking away. Nico jogged to catch up, falling back into step beside him.

The rest of the walk was quiet, and it didn’t take them too long to arrive at Nico’s house. As he was about to step inside, Nico paused.

“I was going to go to the factory tomorrow morning to see the winners all head in and see Mr Duke. Do you want to come with me? You can come round my house after and we could hang out! We can watch movies, play video games, eat snacks… It’ll be fun.”

Thomas nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll meet you at the factory tomorrow.”

“Great! Bye, Thomas!”

Thomas waved as Nico headed inside and closed the door. Then he turned, continuing the walk home alone.

He tried his best to focus on his surroundings, worried that if he thought too much, all his bad thoughts would just flood in and become too much. He let his eyes focus on the houses, stores and people he passed, fiddling with the strap of his bag on his shoulder.

Until he came to a stop at a strange site. A large crowd inside the nearby candy store, all rushing to the counter carrying Duke chocolate bars.

But the contest is over, Thomas thought to himself. Why are they so desperate to buy chocolate? Had these people not heard? Why wasn’t the cashier of the store telling them?

He was about to continue home, when he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

Caught in the drain, a note. A bank note. Money.

He looked around to see if anyone was looking for it, but people were just walking past without a care. He leaned down, taking hold of the note, and pulling it free.

His eyes went to the candy store. His mind reminded him of that smell of chocolate outside of the Duke factory. Oh, how he’d love to eat a delicious chocolate bar right now…

But then he recalled the energy bar in his pocket, given to him by Nico. He already had food. Back at the orphanage, however, there were all the other kids who didn’t get food given to them by friends every day. Who’d do anything for a rare delicious sweet treat.

Yeah, that’s what he’d do. Go buy a bar for all the others to share.

He stepped inside, pushing past the crowd to the shelves of Duke bars, his skinny frame allowing him to slip by relatively easily. He looked through the different flavours, before picking out the Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight. He was pretty sure that was the one that most of the kids at the orphanage liked.

He slipped through the crowd again to the counter. Once he reached the front of the line, he slid the bar onto the counter. “Just this please.”

“Just the one?” the cashier asked, seemingly surprised - well, until he looked Thomas up and down and saw his worn clothes, at which point his expression softened. Thomas nodded, sliding the money across the counter too.

The cashier took the money, printing a receipt and handing back the bar with the small amount of change - not nearly enough to buy another bar, but Thomas could add it to the mostly empty piggy bank in his room. Thomas said a polite thank you, before turning and leaving the store.

As he left, Thomas slipped the chocolate and the change into his pocket, and pulled out the energy bar Nico had given him. Seeing all that chocolate had made him feel hungry. He ripped it open, digging in, savouring the delicious taste.

As he stood there eating, two passers by also stopped outside the candy store, one of them sighing as they looked through the window at the bustling crowd inside. “That faker certainly brought people’s eyes back to the competition…”

“Mhm. I still can’t believe it. How was he expecting to get away with lying about having a ticket? I mean, presumably they’d have to present the ticket tomorrow. They’d have been caught sooner or later regardless.”

Thomas froze, blinking.

The final golden ticket… was a fake? The actual ticket was still out there?

His eyes drifted to the empty energy bar wrapper in his hands. No ticket in there…

The chocolate bar suddenly felt like it was burning a hole in his pocket.

He reached inside, pulling out the bar. His hands shook a little as they fiddled with the plastic outer wrapper, pulling it off. The foil outer wrapper was all that remained, teasing him. His heart pounded in his chest.

He took hold of the foil, slowly pulling it back. He was scared to look, holding his breath, as he watched the brown surface of the chocolate being revealed.

And then a hint of gold.

His hands froze.

And then fumbled with the bar as he quickly ripped away the rest of the silver, a grin spreading across his face. He took hold of the golden paper, holding it in front of his face.

He started laughing. He couldn’t help it. The excitement was forcing its way out of him. He wanted to run, to jump, to scream.

He, Thomas Sanders, had won the final Duke golden ticket.

The people walking by, the crowd inside the candy store, all began to take notice of the boy laughing giddily in the middle of the sidewalk. They may have looked at him in confusion or disdain at first, but then they noticed the ticket in his hands. It didn’t take long for Thomas to suddenly be surrounded by a crowd.

If Thomas wasn’t so filled with excitement, he probably would have been overwhelmed by all the voices and faces pushing to see the ticket, yelling at him to hold it up. Some were yelling prices, trying to offer to buy the ticket for hundreds- no, thousands of dollars. Some even tried to grab the ticket away from him, but he made sure to hold on tight, hugging it to his chest.

“Hey, leave him alone, he’s just a kid! Get away from him!” the cashier from the store suddenly pushed through the crowd, taking Thomas’ hand and pulling him free. “Hey, kid, I’d get out of here if I were you. Run home, don’t stop ‘til you get there. And make sure you keep a good hold on that ticket, okay?”

Thomas nodded. “Th-thank you!” was all he could sputter out, vocabulary having mostly left him, before turning and bolting away.

He ran as fast as he could, still giggling, gripping tightly to the ticket so it wouldn’t go slipping from his grasp. He mentally thanked Nico for giving him those energy bars, knowing he probably wouldn’t be able to run this fast for so long if he hadn’t been eating them so much recently.

He turned down an alley that he knew to be a shortcut home.

Only to skid to a stop when he found his way blocked by a man.

The man had a bowler hat sitting atop his brown hair. His skin was pale, and he had a scar on one side of his face. He had heterochromia, one eye brown, the other a startling yellow. He wore a black jacket over a black suit, with a yellow shirt, black bowtie, as well as yellow gloves.

“Congratulations. Winning the final ticket the day before the tour was an exceptional stroke of luck,” he said with a smirk that unnerved Thomas, sending a shiver down his spine.

“Uh… thanks… I, um, need to get home now.”

“I just wish to talk for only a moment. And don’t worry, I have no wish to take the ticket.” The man took a couple of steps closer to Thomas. “My name is Arthur Slugworth, you probably know me. I’m one of Duke’s fiercest competitors. However, I’ve been struggling recently. I’ve heard tell of a new product Duke is working on called the Everlasting Gobstopper. If he releases it, I could be ruined. All I need is for you to take an Everlasting Gobstopper and bring it to me after the tour. I promise I will… compensate you heavily.”

Arthur reached into an inner pocket of his jacket, and pulled out a thick wad of money.

There must have been thousands of dollars there.

It could be enough to at least buy the orphanage more time…

“And this is just a fraction of what I’ll pay you,” Arthur said, putting the money back into his pocket. “I’ll be waiting here after the tour. See you then.”

He turned and walked around the corner at the end of the alley, leaving Thomas alone once again.

Thomas didn’t move immediately, waiting to make sure that man was a good distance away. Something about him just… it didn’t sit right with Thomas.

At the same time, the money… If he did as Arthur said, he could save the orphanage. He wouldn’t have to move away. He and Nico wouldn’t have to be pen pals, they could just stay normal pals.

He looked down at the ticket in his hands. Oh, whatever. He could think about that later. For now, he had to get home and share the good news with everyone!

He continued running, leaving the alley and heading off in the direction back home.

When the orphanage appeared in sight, he picked up speed even more. He skidded to a stop in front of the door, knocking hard, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waited. As soon as Dot answered, he didn’t give her a chance to speak, running inside.

“I won! I did it! I won the last golden ticket!” he yelled, holding the ticket up. “I’m going to Remus Duke’s factory!”

“You what?!” Kai’s head poked in from the living room.

“Why’s everyone yelling?” Elliot appeared at the top of the stairs with other children and Larry.

“I… I think we need to gather everyone into the living room, dear,” Dot called up, and Larry nodded.

It didn’t take long to get everyone rounded up, all the children being instantly curious at Thomas’ yelling and excitement, showing everyone his ticket as soon as they entered the room. The excitement quickly spread to everyone else within the room, and the room filled with buzzing chatter, everyone wanting to have a chance to read the text on the back of the ticket. It took a while for the ticket to eventually be passed to Dot and Larry.

“One chaperone needs to accompany him,” Dot said, reading over the text. “You can go, Larry, I’m happy taking care of the kids for the day.”

“Are you sure? I’d be happy to stay home if you want to go.”

“I promise, I’m perfectly fine with staying. Plus, I can see it in your face, you’re just about as excited as all the kids about this aren’t you~?” Dot teased, nudging Larry gently, causing the man to flush a little.

“... Okay, maybe I am.”

Dot giggled. “It says you have to be there for 10 am sharp, so make sure you two get up nice and early, you two. Now, I’ll go see what I can make for dinner with what we have. I think today certainly requires something special.”

“Oh! Wait!” Thomas ran up to Dot, holding out the chocolate that had been in the wrapper with the ticket. “Can you put this in the fridge and share it out between everyone for dessert after? I bought it for everyone to share.”

“That’s very kind of you Thomas,” Dot smiled. “I'll put it away now.”

As she walked away, Larry patted Thomas’ shoulder. “Excited for tomorrow, kiddo?”

Thomas nodded. “Mhm! It’s going to be amazing! I can’t wait to meet Mr Duke! I bet he’s going to be so cool!”

That evening in the orphanage was the first in a long time that was just filled with unbridled fun and happiness. After dinner, Thomas shared the chocolate out between everyone, and they got out some board games to play. However, eventually Dot ushered everyone to bed, knowing they’d all likely get up early the next morning so Thomas could get to the factory.

Thomas smiled as he laid in bed, his ticket resting on his bedside table. Tomorrow morning, he’d be experiencing the best day of his life.

The orders of Arthur Slugworth were hanging around in the back of his mind. However, he tried his best to push his thoughts away, focusing on daydreaming about what the next day would bring…

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