Chapter 6: The Tour Ends

Wendy Wilco brought my brother and I to a room labeled "Laundromat."

"Here are your clothes," Wilco said and handed us our clothing. "Everything you had should be in the pockets." Wilco's voice seemed a bit somber and emotionless, nothing like her usual enthusiastic self. She didn't even bother putting on her own clothes. Once my brother and I were clothed, Wilco left the room.

We followed her silently and she brought us back to the door we originally entered the building through. "Here is the exit. I hope you all enjoyed the tour. Good day," she said, not even looking us in the eyes, and then went through a door with a frosted window. My brother and I exchanged glances of confusion. I opened the door and entered the room.

It was an office of sorts. Everything in there—the decorations, the desk, the chair, etc.—were missing their left halves. Wilco was sitting at her half desk on her half chair, looking over half of a statistical report.

"Ms. Wilco," I said.

"What do you want?" she asked, not moving her eyes away from her report.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she said. "Just dandy. Now get out."

I paused for a moment. "What about the lifetime supply of chocolate? Do we still get that?"

Wilco turned in her chair to face me. "No. You stole Carbonated Floaty Drinks, which nullifies your prizes according to the contract you signed earlier. You get nothing. Good day!"

I turned to my brother who wrapped his arm around me. "Come on, Charlotte," he said. "Let's go."

We turned to leave when I remembered the Everlasting Gobslobber in my pocket. Wendy Wilco may have seemed angry at us, but she didn't deserve to have her candy stolen from her and I certainly wasn't going to hand it over to Wormstrum.

I walked over to Wilco and dropped the Gobslobber on her desk. "Thank you for the tour," I said and then walked back over to my brother.

"Charlotte," Wilco said as we were about to exit the room. I turned around to see Wilco facing me, smiling. "You won!"

"Huh?" I said, perplexed.

"It was a test! You passed!" Wilco said, holding her arms up.

"Huh?" I repeated.

"Come in Ms. Wilkinson," Wilco said, facing a door. The door opened and the woman I had ran into yesterday in the dark tunnel came out smiling.

"Pleasure," the woman said, extending her hand.

"Wormstrum!" I said.

"No, no," Wilco said. "This is Ms. Wilkinson. She works for me. I had to test you, Charlotte, and you passed the test. You won!"

"Won what?" Nathan asked.

"The jackpot! The grand prize of all grand prizes!"

"You mean the lifetime supply of chocolate?" I asked.

"Not only that," Wilco said as she walked over to another door. "Follow me. Both of you."

Nathan and I followed her through the door and found ourselves in a small glass elevator.

"This is the Wilcovator," Wilco explained. "It can take you anywhere in the factory; up, down, left, right, yadda, yadda, yadda. Press that button, Charlotte!"

"This one?" I asked, pointing at a big red button.

"Yes! That one! Press it now!"

I did as she said and the elevator started moving upwards at a quickening pace.

"Where are we going?" Nate asked. Wilco just smiled and pointed up. "You mean..." he said, looking upwards.

"Precisely! Up and out!" Wilco said. "Brace for impact, guys. I've never done this before."

I held onto the hand rail running around the inside of the elevator. Suddenly there was the sound of loud, breaking glass as we shot through the glass roof of the building and were propelled into the air.

"Oh good! We're not dead," Wilco said.

"Wow, look at it," I said, looking through the windows of the elevator down at the factory.

"Do you like it?" Wilco asked. "I mean the factory, the candy, the tour. Was it enjoyable?"

I smiled at her. "It's the most magnificent place I've ever been!"

"That's really good to hear, because I'm giving it to you."

My jaw dropped. "You're what?"

"I'm giving you the factory. The whole purpose of the contest and tour was to find a replacement, and you're it!"

I didn't know what to say so I just hugged her tightly for a moment, running my hands along her naked back. We pulled back a little and looked into each other's eyes before I leaned forward and we embraced in a kiss. I don't know why I did it, but it felt right at the time. Nathan joined in and all three of us made passionate love together as we flew over the city. It was the best day of my life.

Epilogue

I woke up one morning next to my brother and glanced at the clock next to the bed.

"Oh shit," I said as I started getting up.

"Wha?" Nathan asked groggily as he awoke.

"I wanted to get an early start today," I said as I dressed myself. "Lots of work to do." I leaned down and kissed him before giving his hard-on a couple of playful strokes. "I'll take care of this later," I said with a wink.

"You're such a tease," Nathan said as I left the room.

I quickly made my way through the winding hallways to the inventing room where Wendy Wilco was working diligently on our latest candy. "Hey babe," I said and kissed the side of her neck.

"Sleep well?" Wilco asked.

"Didn't get much sleep, actually," I told her. "Nate and I were experimenting with those new sensation-enhancing gumdrops. I've never came so hard in my life."

"Great to hear! Those could be our biggest seller this Christmas," Wilco said. "I'm going to give them a try myself. I was wondering if you and your brother would like to join me."