Chapter 1: An Act of Violence
It wasn't as if she had any other place to go. The cold night seemed to have swallowed her like a cat swallowing a mouse and leaving no trace. Willy Wonka walked quickly through the park toward his towering chocolate factory, the only logical direction that she could have headed. He had first seen the girl with the straight blonde hair wearing the grey dress in the newspaper that told of her parent's death, and the fact that she was an orphan. He had caught glimpses of Ellie Washington in the days that passed, but had never been close enough to talk to her. She was a pale faced runaway, living off the streets, avoiding anyone that wanted to send her to 'an orphanage'. The last place that he had expected to see her was in the back of that red truck that had sped away from the park. And before his eyes, she had been thrown from it by two evilly laughing teen boys. She had quickly scrambled to her feet and darted away. Filled with disgust at the boy's actions, he had followed her in the hopes of finding out if she was okay. But she had disappeared now. Willy paused and pounded the end of his cane into the cobblestones as he thought to himself. The evening was way too cold for anyone to be out in. He pulled his trench coat closer and frowned. The ground that he was pounding had something wet and dark on it. He knelt down and frowned again. It struck him as strange that he was so interested in this reclusive girl. He was somewhat of a recluse as well and didn't interact with people that much. Except the Buckett family. But this blood on the street stones sent both a chill of pity for the girl and a sharp pang of fear through his kind heart- fear that she would be seriously injured. If there was one thing he hated, it was suffering. He was especially kind to the oompa-loompa's that cared for his factory. And it positively made his blood boil that she had been thrown from the truck. He set off walking, shivering in horror that he was using a blood trail to track this girl. A few feet away, he could see a dark shape in the snow. Upon closer inspection, he saw it was her and that there was a lot more blood here. He knelt beside her as she opened her eyes and in a split second he saw that she was killing scared. "Go away!" she gasped, slinging one arm at Willy as if to knock him away. "Git away from me, you rats!"
Willy Wonka frowned sadly as he watched her from a safe distance. With a soft groan her arm dropped to her side and she tried to sit up, but couldn't. Soft sobs escaped her lips, and Willy Wonka inched closer, speaking softly.
"Miss, take it easy. I'm a friend. I want to help you."
A soft moan escaped her lips and she growled softly, "That's what you said. That's what everyone says. But I don't want it. I don't want it!" She fell back, exhausted from her tirade, seeming to not know that Willy Wonka was still standing there.
Willy frowned a moment, then spoke, still keeping his voice soft and gentle. "I am not one of those people. I saw what happened to you and I want to help you."
When the girl didn't speak or move, he crept a little closer, poised to jump back quickly in case she decided to move again. But she didn't. He was now close enough to get a good look at her. Her face was a strange gray color, and blood was trickling rapidly from her arm. A further careful inspection revealed it was broken, and bone could be seen in the break. She must have fainted. Inhaling then exhaling slowly to calm his racing thoughts, Willy Wonka thought quickly to himself. He knew what dangers lay in a compound fracture from his days of reading medical books and he also knew that this girl needed trauma help. Something in his heart wanted to be the one to be there. "You are getting selfish in your old age, Wonka," he told himself, a smirk spreading part way across his pale face. He tugged his white handkerchief out of the pocket of his burgundy tail coat and carefully applied a tourniquet to the affected limb. It was no trouble to tuck his gold topped cane under one arm and gather the stricken girl into his arms. It wasn't going to be easy to get her to let him help, but as he carefully made his way toward the great factory gates, he knew that he was going to do his best. Why did he feel such a connection to this girl? Why was he taking it upon himself to care for her needs? Especially since he disliked strangers and avoided meeting people on his sporadic walks beyond the factory? Why was he sticking his nose into a situation that he really had nothing to do with? Why did he suddenly feel like ha had bitten of a huge mouthful of Caramel delight and couldn't get it to go down? All he could be sure of was that life was just about to get really interesting.