Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They belong to Roald Dahl. This story supports the common fan theory that Willy Wonka is a serial killer. So I figured why not write a story set in an alternate reality where that theory is correct. This has nothing to do with the 1971 and 2005 film adaptations, just the book. However, there will be some cultural references to both films, so keep an eye out for them. Anyway, read and review. If you don't like it, you don't have to read it.
This is the story of a regular, but cheerful young lad who was named Charlie Bucket. He lived in a shady English town with his family in their small, shabby and somewhat rickety house sitting all by itself. His family consisted of his parents and four of the grandparents. There was the parents of his mother, Grandpa Joe and Grandma Josephine and the parents of his father, Grandpa George and Grandma Georgina. Because they were so old and fragile, they sat in one large bed together, given they have been bedridden for as long as they could remember. Grandpa Joe and Grandpa Josephine sat on the left side of the bed while Grandpa George and Grandma Georgina sat on the right side of the bed. Charlie and his parents slept in the other room on mattresses on the floor. Charlie's father worked at the local toothpaste factory. He sat by the conveyor belt and screwed caps on the tubes after they've been filled. The hours were uncomfortably long and the minimum wage was hardly acceptable by standards. Not enough to help support his family. His mother was a stay-at-home type of person who looked after her family, one member at a time.
Now Charlie wasn't stronger or faster, but he was smarter than other children. He and his family never had any good food to eat like other people. While the rest of the children got to have delicious sweets like chocolate and sodas, all Charlie got to eat was cabbage soup. Nevertheless, nothing was more satisfying as cabbage than cabbage. But the one thing that Charlie Bucket longed for and was most desire to eat was chocolate.
Everyday on his way home from school, he would pass the local candy shop of the town with stacks of chocolate bars and lollipops and cookies all stacked up in the windows. But he had very little pocket money to buy any. Of course, every year on his birthday, he would get a slab of chocolate. But having chocolate only once a year was like torture. It was just torture not having enough chocolate. It was torture to see other children have their share of chocolate while he just watched. It was torture not even having so much as a ten pence to buy chocolate for himself. But the one that was the most torturous of all was just miles down the block.
In the very town he lived in, sitting just a mile down the street away from his house was the biggest chocolate factory in the history of chocolate factories in the entire world. The most mysterious and most famous chocolate factory Charlie could feast his eyes upon. But it was no ordinary factory. This chocolate factory was owned by the greatest, legendary candy maker, Willy Wonka!
A chocolatier as he was so called because he loved making the sweetest, creamiest and most delicious chocolate that you could ever eat! But it wasn't just chocolate he made. Oh, no! He made other assortments of candy and confectionery of his own design, brand and flavor. Nothing than any living human on the planet could ever resist. Yes, he was the toast of the whole world. A celebrity, an icon, a role model, etc. Every candy shop in the world wanted in on Wonka's legendary candy.
Charlie Bucket would stare upon the giant foundation of the factory itself with looks of awe and amazement and get a whiff of that sweet scent of chocolate that drifted from the factory and got caught on the wind for everyone to smell; enough to make your mouth water.
"Quite a sight, isn't it?" cried an elderly voice, making Charlie turn right around to face an gentleman no older than any of his grandparents staring back at him with a haunting frown on his face, making Charlie feel uncomfortable.
"Uh...yeah. It sure it." Charlie nodded nervously in agreement.
"Home of the world's most successful confectioner." The man replied, approaching the front gates where Charlie stood. "Every damn year, he's the talk of everything. Never has he disappointed. But no one has ever seen him in person."
Charlie stared at the stranger with listening ears and curious eyes as he continued.
"Never once leaves his precious factory. Nobody ever goes in and nobody ever comes out. Ever."
And with that, the strange man gave him a final warning glance before departing down the sidewalk away from Charlie, leaving the boy to ponder over his words. Charlie looked back towards the factory as the smoke arose from the chimneys.
That evening, the Buckets were nestled in their shared bed together as they were many days before while Mrs. Bucket was preparing cabbage soup and Mr. Bucket was at the table reading through the paper. Their house had seen better days as it wasn't very sturdy or protective as everyone else's houses were. During the summer, it would get day around the house. When it rained, it leaked through some hole and cracks on the roof. At winter, their only source of heat was the fireplace. They couldn't afford a furnace or an air conditioner. As the soup was nearing it's preparation, Charlie arrived through the door.
"Evening, everyone." Charlie greeted.
"Evening, Charlie!" greeted back the Buckets.
"So how was your day?" asked Mrs. Bucket.
"The usual." answered Charlie, putting his satchel away to sit at the table.
"Soup's almost ready, darling." informed Mrs. Bucket.
"The best of the best." Mr. Bucket smiled, looking up from his paper.
"I've been meaning to ask." began Charlie.
"Yes?" The grandparents asked encouragingly.
"Is it true that Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory is the best thing in the world?" asked Charlie.
"Well, yes!" Grandpa Joe and Grandma Josephine at the same time.
"He's quite the candy maker." expressed Grandma Georgina.
"Is it true that Willy Wonka is the best chocolatier ever?"
"Only the best!" exclaimed Grandma Josephine.
"Really?" smiled Charlie.
"Yes! Of course, it is!" chirped good ol' Grandpa Joe. "Why, he's the biggest thing since Hershey's and Kit-Kats. Haven't I ever told you about Wonka before?"
"I'm afraid you haven't, Grandpa." said Charlie.
"Holy moly, where has my head been?" Grandpa Joe gave himself a joking facepalm, mentally scolding himself for keeping this from his grandson.
"I always knew he was famous and clever." Charlie said.
"He's more than that, Charlie." confirmed his father. "He's a magician. A pure candy magician. Creating the best candies that no one, not a single person in the whole world, could have ever thought of."
"And every candy shop in every country has Wonka bars on every shelf for children to buy." Grandpa Joe added.
"For children to rot their little teeth out of their heads and gum their food from then on." Grandpa George interjected rather spitefully.
"George!" Grandma Josephine reprimanded.
"Dad, please." Mr. Bucket shook his head as he helped his wife in bringing the bowls of cabbage soup in the center of the bed for the grandparents. As they each obtained their share of satisfying cabbage soup, Grandpa Joe continued on with his story.
"As a matter of fact, I used to work in that very same candy shop across the street, selling Wonka Bars to many customers. But the entire world wanted his candy. Oh, what a genius that Willy Wonka was. His candy was tasty enough to put other candy companies out of business. Not a single flaw about him in the least. Did you know that he has designed various kinds of chocolate bars far sweeter and creamier and tastier than the next more than any other chocolate factory in the world?"
"Of course not." Charlie shook his head as he ate from his own bowl.
"It's true." nodded Grandma Josephine.
"And he sends them to every country in the world. To all the kings and presidents as well. But it wasn't just chocolate that he made. Oh, no! Willy Wonka created hundreds upon hundreds of candy of his own creation and imagination. He always has a newer idea up his sleeve ready to be brought to life. He's invented everything from chocolate eggs that melt into birds in your mouth to likeable wallpapers for nurseries. Did you know that invented a new way of making ice cream so that it would stay cold for hours and hours without being stored in the freezer? You can even leave it lying out for an extended period of time on a hot Summer day and it would never go runny."
"But that's impossible." said Charlie with a look of amazement in his eyes. How could it be possible for ice cream to be unmeltable when not kept under cool temperatures?
"Yes, indeed. It is quite impossible. But not for Mr. Wonka." explained his grandfather. "He's also created marshmallows that taste like violets and rich caramels that change color after every 10 seconds that you suck them and especially little feathery sweets that melt away in a delicious way right from the moment you put in in your mouth. There was even a special chewing gum that never lost its flavor as you chewed it and sugar balloons that you could blow up to humungous sizes before you pot them and gobbled them up. It just waters my mouth just thinking about it."
"Mine too." Charlie agreed.
"Tell Charlie about that Indian prince." said Grandma Josephine. "He'd like to hear about that."
"Oh, you mean Prince Pondicherry." Grandpa Joe asked and chuckled in his throat.
"Absolutely dotty." Grandpa George murmured.
"And very rich!" piped Grandma Georgina.
"What did he do?" asked Charlie with eagerness in his tone.
"Well, Prince Pondicherry wrote a letter to Mr. Wonka and asked him to travel all the way to India to build him a colossal, realistic palace entirely out of chocolate."
"He didn't really do that, did he?"
"Of course, he did." nodded Grandpa Joe. "And what a marvelous place it was, indeed! It had one hundred room and everything was made of either dark or milk chocolate. The bricks were chocolate and the cement holding them all together was chocolate. And the windows were chocolate as well as the walls and the ceilings, the carpets, the pictures, the furnitures and the beds. And when you turned on the taps in the bathroom, hot chocolate poured out. And when it was finally complete, Mr. Wonka told him, "I must warn you, though, a palace like this would never last long, so I suggest you start eating right away."
"Nonsense!" barked the Prince, "I wouldn't dare eat my palace, even if it was built out of the most delicious chocolate. I plan to live in it!" But Mr. Wonka was right, of course. Because not long after this, there came a very hot day with a boiling sun and the whole palace began to melt and it sank slowly into the ground. The crazy prince, who was dozing in the living room at the time, woke up to find himself swimming and drowning in a huge, sticky brown lake that was once his beloved palace. The Prince sent an urgent telegram, requesting a brand new palace, but was denied."
"Is all that true?" asked Charlie with confusion. "Did it really happen?"
"It's true! Ask anyone." Grandpa George conferred.
"Mr. Wonka, however, has facing his own issues back at the factory. For you see, there were many who were jealous of Mr. Wonka's great success that they began to send in spies to steal his secret recipes. Including Arthur Slugworth. Oh, that Slugworth! He was worst of them all. He stole from him the recipe to the sugar balloons. Fickelgruber's factory started a brand of ice cream that would never melt, even on the hottest day and Prodnose created a chewing-gun that never lost it's flavor, no matter how much you chew it. It got so bad that Wonka began to distrust his own employees that he fired them all and send them home before announcing that he was closing his chocolate factory until further notice. But after he reopened it, those gates only opened for the trucks shipping the chocolate and candy to shops around the world. He never showed himself to the outside world again."
Charlie looked surprised for a minute to rethink his grandfather's words. It was a shock to now that Mr. Wonka fired all of his employees long ago. But that's the case, how was Mr. Wonka running the factory and shipping the chocolate if he fired them?
"But if he fired all the workers, who's working there now?" asked Charlie curiously.
"Nobody knows, Charlie." Mrs. Bucket shrugged. "It's quite a mystery."
"Yes, but all factories have workers, you see. Except Wonka's." said Grandpa Joe. "Besides, have you ever seen a single person going into that factory or coming out?"
"Well, not exactly." Charlie answered as best he could. "I walk past the factory and the gates are always closed."
"Exactly." confirmed Grandpa Joe.
"But there has to be someone working there."
"Not people, Charlie. Well, not ordinary people, anyway."
"But….then who?"
"Ah, that's it, you see." grinned Grandpa Joe. "Another one of Mr. Willy Wonka's clevernesses."
"If by clevernesses, you would include building a giant palace out of chocolate for that Indian prince?" said Mr. Bucket. "It's not everyday you build foundations out of confectionary and expect it to last like any regular foundation."
"Indeed." Grandpa Joe nodded.
"Charlie, dear." Mrs. Bucket called out to her son. "It's time for bed, now. I think it's time we let your grandparents have there rest for the night."
"Goodnight, Grandpa Joe." Charlie said as he kissed his grandfather on the head.
"Goodnight, Charlie." He said back.
"Goodnight, Grandma Josephine."
"Sleep tight."
"Goodnight, Grandma Georgina."
"See you in the morning."
"Goodnight, Grandpa George."
"And don't let the bedbugs bite."
After Grandpa Joe put out the kerosene lamp on the nightstand beside him, Charlie followed his parents to the other room where they nestled in their mattresses on the floor, wishing each other a good night. As Charlie rested on his mattress in the darkness, he gazed out the window and thought about Grandpa Joe's stories, wondering who could be working at Wonka's factory. It was certainly a mystery. One of the biggest mysteries since the Bermuda Triangle. But he hoped that one day, his luck would turn for the better. Not just for him, but for his whole family too.
So let's pretend that this is a horror film directed by James Wan and here's the cast members:
Lewis MacDougall as Charlie Bucket
John Lithgow as Grandpa Joe
Julie Walters as Grandma Josephine
Ian McKellen as Grandpa George
Emma Thompson as Grandma Georgina
Sofia Boutella as Mrs. Bucket
Chris Pine as Mr. Bucket
