It was spring 1998 and David was walking past his favourite candy shop in town. His father let him enjoy his favourite place after school. That particular cloudy day the little boy entered the shop to find a funny looking gentleman singing songs to a group of curious children while handing them free candy. It looked like it was a part of some awesome musical and the kid absolutely loved the act.
Happy as ever the spanish child went back home with hands full of free chocolate bars. The following weekend he past a funny looking sign on the factory close to the park. His mother was prompting him to hurry up until she saw a friend who was David's classmate's mother and they both started talking. David stepped aside and stared into the weird looking sign that read "Candy Factory" and set his head on the black iron bars that made the gate.
Suddenly he flinched and turned and there was a funny looking old man staring at him as if he were plotting something wicked. The boy was about to run back to the adults when the old man said:
"Whoever goes past those gates and into that factory never comes out".
David thought his facial expression was similar to a villain in a Disney movie.
"What is inside?" the little boy thought that nothing would happen to him since the mothers were literally right there, even though unaware of the interaction, so he found the bravery to ask that question.
"The most magical place on earth for a child like you, unlimitted candy and much more. Beware, for if you step into that place, chances are you won't step out".
And just like that the old man went away and left the boy puzzled. His mother called him because it was time to go or they would be late. David went to preschool the following day and couldn't concentrate, even though they were doing a brand new experiment that otherwise would have caught his attention. You see, David was very smart and he already knew everything that was taught in preschool and normally got bored, but whenever they did something new and creative he enjoyed it, but he couldn't stop thinking about the candy factory and what that old man had told him, even when he accidently mixed the wrong ingredients and it exploded in his face. The children laughed and the teacher nodded, crossed arms, thinking that maybe what was wrong was that the boy just had some form of adhd.
Later that afternoon David was watching TV and on the news he saw that there would be a contest to win five golden tickets which would guarantee free chocolate for a year. His parents were criticizing the contest but he thought about his favourite candy shop and smacked his lips.
So basically the way to win the prize was to buy as many chocolate bars as he could at his local store and wish to be the lucky winner of one of the golden tickets. His family wasn't rich and they weren't into him having too many treats so they only bought him two chocolate bars, to which he had no luck. His classmates would brag about having bought hundreds of them, however nobody he knew was a lucky one. At school the teacher would use the children's interest in the chocolate bar contest to show them how to count, but Namjoon was so bored. One plus one, seriously? He almost fell asleep when the teacher called him out and asked him:
"Can you tell me what five plus six is" she chose a difficult one for this boy who she knew very smart, but the immediate answer baffled her.
"Eleven" Namjoon said it like it was the easiest question in the world.
The teacher looked at him for a long time before asking him a more difficult question.
"That's right. What is eleven plus thriteen?"
The toddler took a few seconds before answering this time.
"Twenty?".
"Twenty-four" the teacher seemed satisfied after humbling her student and continued with the class.
Every day on the local news they would announce a new golden ticket being found by a lucky child and David lost hope after every finding. There was only one lucky ticket left and the chances it would be him were incredibly slim. He bought one more chocolate bar and.... there it was, a lucky golden ticket, the last one, in his little fingers.
His father opened his eyes in disbelief but congratulated him because he had gotten excellent reports from his teacher that year and maybe it was the Gods rewarding him for his good work. The little boy went on the local news and he was on a cloud. David was invited to the candy factory together with the other four lucky ones.
He finally felt special. Take into account that boy had a nine-year-old sister and he felt left out at times, since she was always so cute, so kind, so smart, so talented, and David was so intense, so hyperactive, so naughty at times. It's not that his parents necessarily paid less attention to him or considered their eldest the favourite, but the toddler was at that age of restelessness and he simply took more out of them and required more time than a mature nine-year-old like his sister and he couldn't help feel a little jealous, especially lately. His sister would always get more credit for getting better grades because her's were more serious and difficult. Sometimes the girl would stare into her younger brother's hazel eyes and smile cruelly, trying to push his buttons.
That was his time to shine or at least to forget his situation at home. Little did he know he was not alone and that the other four children with whom he entered the candy factory would feel a similar way, as if destiny had played the cards in their favour. Hours before entering the factory and receiving his beloved prize David was staring at the place with his parents. His sister was bragging about her brand new friend at school, as usual trying to grab all the attention. The little boy rolled his eyes and walked further away because her hypocresy was making him go crazy. He got startled by that strange old man with a malicious look.
"Hey there, young lad. I have seen you are one of the chosen ones. Do you remember my warning?"
David backed away. He did not like that old man in the slightest.
