There are a lot of beautiful things in this world.
Sparkly things. Shiny things. Huge things.
Things that smell nice.
They all look... nice.
And I like looking at nice things.
It makes me happy.
But I can't have any of them, mama and papa said so.
Steven was five the first time he understood that some people don't just have all those big and shiny things, they live in them.
His cousins' home smelled like something clean and expensive — not detergent, not food. Something faint and cool. The floors shone like water. His sneakers made small squeaks when he walked alongside his mother. Her hands were wrapped around his own as they followed his blond twin cousins walking a few steps ahead of them.
His eyes roaming the halls in wonder as he saw nice things he'd never seen before and wondered,
'I thought we couldn't have them.'
Upstairs, his cousin's bedroom door stood.
As the twins entered the room, his mother paused and turned to him.
'Steven, be good, okay?" Her calm smile reflecting in the young boy's eyes.
In response young Steven's head bobbed up and down in affirmation, a glint in his eyes as he stared at the shiny door.
Pulling his hands away from his mother he pushed open the hydraulic doors and stepped inside just to pause once more.
"This is your bedroom?!" he gasped.
What met him was not a bed or tables that normally occupied a bedroom, but an entire playground littered with toys.
The room was bigger than their entire apartment living room. Shelves lined the walls — cars still in boxes, robots with lights in their chests, puzzles that had never been opened.
"No silly," Gretel's green skirt swayed as she turned to him with a grin, her two-piece her clothes shimmered in a way that felt… expensive. "This is our playground" Her hands spread out in bravado as she introduced him to their world.
"Steven, come on, why are you just standing there?" Hansel said, dressed in a shirt and shorts of the same color that also seemed to be made of the same material, he gestured with his hands.
With that Steven joined them as they led him through a tour of their playground.
The children spent the next few hours showing Steven all their nice and shiny things.
There was a mini toy house filled with suspension chairs and a smart table, its grounds littered with toys, a section for puzzles and Legos, an outdoor ground to test mini-aircrafts and drones, a section for stuffed animals, dolls and action figures of Brights.
Steven had never seen so many toys in one house before… other than the toy store of course.
After they finished their own tour of toy story, exhausted, they settled inside their toy house playing a historic card game called UNO.
What Steven didn't know was that these cards were antiques rivalling the price of some private workers' monthly wage.
"ARGH!"
Steven slammed his deck on the tabletop. Currently in his fifth losing streak of the strange game called UNO, he lowered his head. Even though he fared better this time, he still couldn't compete with them.
"Keke" Gretel laughed. "you're really bad, Steven"
"Stop it." Hansel came in defense, "you're making him sad." Turning to his cousin who had his head down on the table, he patted him on the shoulder, "It's alright" he assured Steven who was lost in thought.
'They've been playing it for longer.'
It's not fair.
Seeing his cousin wasn't responding he looked around trying to find something to cheer Steven up.
"Oh!"
Hansel's eyes lit up, "Steven do you want to see something cool?"
"Are you going to show him that?" Gretel voice rose slightly as she spoke, and hearing this Steven raised his head,
"What is it?"
"Come see."
Hansel smiled with bubbling excitement as he pulled Steven by the hand leading him further into the room, the interior was divided into three, each twin having dominion over one side, left or right, but there was a third side at the back of the room, called neutral area.
This is where Hansel led his cousin. Here they approached the end of the room where a slick grey cupboard lay positioned with its back to the wall.
He pulled a drawer open revealing smart watches, VR glasses, and remote-controlled hover cars. Ignoring all this, Hansel reached out to a vacant space and pressed down.
Schlink. Schlink.
The moment he did, a section of the bottom gave way, and instantly a small compartment popped out of the side of the shelf and inside, a small head gear and a black ball.
Reaching in, Hansel picked up the device that looked like an ear pod and mounted it on his ear as he turned to his cousin with a grin.
"So, is that what you wanted to show me?" Steven pointed to the head gear skeptically. "Because I think the ball is more..." Steven peeped at the ball behind his cousin with a sparkle in his eyes just to jolt a couple of steps back.
"Hiek! D—Did that thing just move?!" He could have sworn he saw the back ball twitch.
"What do you mean?" Hansel cocked his head slightly to the side; his eyelids slightly raised with a grin that looked like something that should only be on the face of a corrupt old politician.
"I... It—What Is that?" Steven's voice cracked as he pointed to the ball behind his cousin. To him it looked like something inside it was trying to get out.
"What? This?" Hansel turned and picked up the ball. "It's just a toy, Steven. Here, touch it." He shoved it towards his cousin.
Hesitant, Steven approached his cousin and slowly reached out to hold it, but the moment his fingers wrapped around the ball, it came apart and wrapped around his wrist like a dysfunctional living organism.
Hiiiieeeeek!
Get it off! Get it off!
Steven shrieked and recoiled as he flailed his arm around trying to free himself from the monster's jaws, only to see it get flung across the room and shatter into tiny pieces as it hit the ground.
Not bothering to see what became of the possibly dead embryo Steven bolted for the door, just for Gretel to grab him by the hand and yank him back with a strength that shouldn't even belong to a 17-year-old.
"Calm down, you big baby."
"Wha—"
Thump.
Steven found himself with his butt on the ground trying to understand what had just happened. After a short pause he abruptly turned to Gretel
"How're you so strong?!"
"Hmph," Gretel placed her hands on her hips and walked away sassily.
Eventually Hansel and Gretel showed steven that this was one of the early prototypes of the nanotech technology that's been dreamt about for centuries now.
They showed him how it could move about using only the mind, how it could form cubes, climb up walls, fly... it all felt so mystical to Steven.
"Meh, it's still just arts and crafts, just in 3D" Gretel said with her arms folded, she had found herself a chair to settle on as she watched them. "It's boring when you get used to it"
"Yeah... you're right" Hansel agreed, then he glanced at his cousin just so see him staring at the ball wide-eyed, it felt like he could almost see sparkles in his pupils. Seeing his cousin lost in whatever wonders were running through his mind, Hansel clapped.
"Steven! You want to go—"
Knock Knock.
A soft and measured sound spread through the room.
"Yes?"Hansel said, turning his attention to the door.
In response, the door swung open gently as a maid entered the room, "Young masters, your cousin's parents are ready to leave now."
"Awwwww!"
The kids moaned. (mostly just Steven)
"Let's go Steven" Hansel said, as he and his sister began exiting the room. "Okay!" Steven rushed after them, but just as he was about to pass through the door, he paused and turned back to the room. His gaze shifting all the way to the back of the room to the small black ball sitting on the shelf as sun drops bounced off its slick body giving it a soft homely glimmer.
Lost in thought, Young steven didn't realize when the ball rolled to his feet. As it crawled up his leg and onto his back and spread out into a thin sheet, neatly tucked in his clothes, unassuming and nearly unnoticeable.
"Steven!"
Steven jolted and turned to see Gretel's skeptical gaze. "Don't you want to go home?"
"Yes, I'll go home, Gretel. Haha." Slowly turning to face Gretel Steven scratched the back of his head as he spoke, removed the headset he was wearing, and slipped it into his back pocket. Then he followed her.
...
It was evening when they arrived home, Steven had fallen asleep tired from the long ride and playing with his cousins. Not wanting to wake him up, his father proceeded to carry him but on picking Steven up his father felt the shape in his pocket...
"What's this?"
Still in a daze from being abruptly woken up, he stared at the sheet and the headset in his father's hand...
And froze.
He hadn't even remembered it was there.
"What's this?"
"Did you take this?"
Steven opened his mouth.
"F-Father, t-they didn't mind me taking it."
And immediately regretted it.
What followed was a "corrective session" to make sure Steven remembered the pain that came with doing bad things.
An hour passed after that, and young Steven's battered figure could be seen laying stiffly on his bed with tears sliding down the sides of his face.
"I won't hik do it again." He whispered, voice cracking.
"Never."
Sniff.
I just wanted one nice thing.