(A/N: THIS IS NOT THE SEQUEL TO SOME ANGEL! Sorry, but it's not September yet. Inspired in part from the book Green Angel by Alice Hoffman. Mandy and her twin sister Megan have always been inseperable, but one afternoon, while the rest of her family goes into town for a little while, Mandy stays at home to take care of the garden. Just as she's about to water the rose bushes, she smells smoke and looks out over the hills to where the town is. A large fire had broken out and she ran into her home for cover. Meanwhile, back at the factory, Willy Wonka can see the fire and retreats into the factory, hiding in there until it's safe. He learns quickly that the majority of the people in town had burned to death, but not everyone, and while walking around to see the rubble and ashes, he catches a glimpse of someone trying to beg for money. Rated T. I own nothing.)
"'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony this life/ Trying to make ends meet, you're a slave to the money then you die/I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down/ You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet, yeah/ No change, I can't change, I can't change, I can't change, but I'm here in my mold, I am here in my mold/ But I'm a million different people from one day to the next/ I can't change my mold, no, no, no, no, no/ Well, I've never prayed/ But tonight I'm on my knees, yeah/ I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me, yeah/ I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now/ But the airwaves are clean and there's nobody singing to me now/ No change, I can't change, I can't change, I can't change/ but I'm here in my mold, I am here with my mold/ And I'm a million different people from one day to the next/ I can't change my mold, no, no, no, no, no"
-'Bitter Sweet Symphony', The Vere (something like that)
Mandy ran past the bushes and trees, the breeze blowing her hair in tangles, dead leaves crunching beneath her bare feet. Behind her, she could hear the sounds of her sister chasing her, determined to catch up to her and tag her before she got the flag across the line. She knew that if she did make it across the line, it'd be a miracle because her sister was much faster than her. Her mother had always boasted about her horse like speed, almost as much as she bragged about Mandy's talent for guardening. Unfortunately, growing plants would not aid much in this round of capture the flag, and she tried her best to pick up speed as she saw her sister gaining on her.
She was so wrapped up in thought that she didn't watch where she was going and her foot snagged onto a root, launching her up into the air and then back on the ground, tumbling head over heals into the trunk of a tree. Mandy lay there for a minute, eyes squeezed tightly shut, her back throbbing from the root that was digging into it, her skinned knees bleeding, and dirt on her face and up her nose. There was laughing behind her, and she opened her eyes to see Megan walking up to her, smiling. "Are you okay?" she chuckled. "You flew nearly three feet into the air"
"Ow..." Mandy moaned, slowly working her way to her feet. That was when she realized she had twised her ankle as well. She tripped, and Megan caught her before she could fall again.
"Whoa! Careful," she chuckled. "C'mon, let's get some ice on that." She helped support Mandy back to the house and they went into the kitchen, putting together an icepack.
"Where's Mom?" asked Mandy, placing the ice on her ankle as she sat on the counter.
"She went to the library with her book club, remember"
"Oh yeah. Did any of them actually read the book"
"I'm guessing maybe two of them did." Mandy laughed and nodded.
"Is there any Mt. Dew left?" she asked.
"Dunno," said Megan, and she turned to the fridge, opening it and looking around. "Uh... one can left I think... yeah. There's only one can left"
"I'll split it with you"
"Sure," she said and took it out, grabbing two glasses from the cupboard. She poured it evenly into the glasses and handed one to Mandy, then laughed a little. "You've got dirt all over your face, clutz"
"Really?" she asked sarcastically, rubbing her face. She sipped the Mt. Dew, feeling the cool beverage run down her throat, and relaxed a little.
"Tomorrow is when you guys are going down town right?" she asked.
"Yeah," said Megan. "Aren't you coming"
"Dad said I have to stay here and take care of the garden. Like it'll be gone when we get back"
"I know. I swear he had a garden fetish or something"
"Then why doesn't he stay home and do it"
"It's so stupid, I know"
"I wanted to finally buy that CD too"
"Well, if you send your money with me I'll pick it up for you"
"Okay," she said, shrugging. "Wonder what's on TV"
-
"It is over, Wonka!" snarled a deep voice. "Prepare to meet your maker"
"You can kill me, but another one will take my place!" he shouted back, eyes narrowed, ready to fight. The barrel of the gun pointed at him and his opponent pulled the trigger twice, firing at him. Wonka gave a shout of pain as he fell back and a red liquid ran down his chest in two areas. "Ugh!" he moaned. His opponent stepped up in front of him, pointing the gun at him still, wearing a helmet with a face sheild that he could see his reflection in.
"Any last words?" asked his rather short opponent in the same deep scratchy voice.
"FRRRREEEEEEEEEDOOOOMMMM!" he cried, and was hit twice more, sending him toppling backwards dramatically. There was a long moment of silence, and then the short opponent pulled his helmet off, smiling a little.
"You're really terrible at this game, Mr. Wonka," he said, laughing and setting the paintball gun down. Wonka sat up, pulling his own helmet off and smiling. No, our favorite hero was not dead, but bruised probably since paintballs have a reputation of doing that, and would any of you honestly think this writer would ever have the heart to kill off a man as honorable as Mr. Wonka?
"You cheated! You got the automatic before I could," he said, standing up and rubbing his sore chest.
"I didn't even need to turn on the automatic. I beat you fair and square"
"Oh yeah? Well, only because I let you," he said, trying to show some pride. He may have been an adult, but he was very child like sometimes.
"Boys?" called a voice and they both looked up.
"In the paint ball room, Mom!" called Charlie. The door opened and Mrs. Bucket looked in, frowning and shaking her head.
"Honestly! I told you both not to play paintball before dinner. Now look at you two! You're a mess"
"He started it," said Wonka, pointing at Charlie.
"Did not!" retorted Charlie.
"Both of you, clean up right now"
"Yes ma'am," they said in unison, walking out of the room, and not making eye contact as they passed her. As they walked, Wonka nudged Charlie, pushing him off to the side slightly, and Charlie pushed back. Wonka pushed him again a little harder, Charlie shoved back, Wonka shoved him, Charlie lost his balance and fell over. Wonka laughed and took off running down the hall, Charlie in hot pursuit behind him. Mrs. Bucket sighed from where she was standing and shook her head. Having Mr. Wonka around sometimes was like having another child around to watch out for. But he had become like a brother to Charlie, and she was greatful to him for that. Even if it did mean she would have to come down there to find the both of them covered in paintball splatters every evening before dinner.
-
"But Mom, I don't want to go clothes shopping!" whined Charlie.
"I'm not arguing with you on this, Charlie," she said, passing him the mashed potatoes. "You're out growing your clothes, and what you haven't outgrown you've managed to get stained in chocolate and paint balls"
"I don't mind," said Charlie, shrugging.
"Well I do," she said and Charlie sighed, knowing there was no possible way to get out of this one... unless... He glanced up at Wonka, but to his dismay, Wonka sighed and shook his head, indicating he couldn't think of a way to bail him out this time. Deciding that it was hopeless, he accepted defeat and finished eating in silence.
-
Mandy watched in envy as her sister and parents left for the town, waving to her as they pulled out of the driveway. Megan blew her a kiss in a corny fashion, making Mandy laugh and return it with drama. Once they were gone she thought about going back in the house, but decided a walk would be better. She didn't have to get right onto gardening, so she might as well do something more constructive than sit in front of the TV for hours on end.
If there was one thing Mandy enjoyed her mother bragging about, it was her wild imagination that did not have an 'off' button. All she needed was to be alone for a few minutes, and it'd immediatly kick in. As she walked, she was no longer Mandy who lived in a log cabin near the woods. She was Amanda, the runaway princess who had narrowly escaped a planned marriage to a man she did not love. As she looked up, the trees changed from changing colors with the fall to bright green in the spring, the apple trees full of blossoms, and the grass a deep green with wild flowers around her feet. As she walked farther into the woods, she pretended to be searching for the one and only man she loved who was waiting for her to take here far away from this place. He would take her where she was not forced to be a princess or married or perfect. She could just be herself which was perfect to him.
She rounded a corner around the trees, and ran to the first clearing she could find. There was a hill where the sun shone down on it, and she ran up to it, standing on the center and looking up at the bright blue skies.
That was when it all stopped. The sky was not blue, but a dark color close to black. She stared at it, and soon an aroma hit her nose. Not flowers but the smell of ash and smoke. There was a large tree on the hill and she quickly climbed up it to see just exactly where the dark smoke was coming from afdsgjkngFEEDMEFEEDMEFEEDMEFEEDMEFEEDMEiohfioshnekrg.
Err... my deepest apologies. My cat, Eliot, jumped on the key board when I left for a few minutes to go to the bathroom. I guess he's hungry, so please excuse me for a minute.
Okay! Now, where were we? Oh yes.
She climbed up the tree to see where the smoke was coming from, and peered out through the branches. It was then that she realized how high up she was, and could only pray that the branches wouldn't break. At first there was nothing but smoke, but then she was able to see flames leaping around, and could hear the sounds of people screaming. That was when she was able to realize where it was coming from. The town was burning.
A million thoughts flooded through her head at once, and by the time her family came to mind the wind picked up, carrying sparks to dry trees which immediatly caught fire, and burning ashes. Some of the hot ashes flew into her eyes, and she screamed in pain, letting go of the branch to grab at her eyes, and losing her balance completely. Before she knew it the ground was coming at her at an alarming rate, and the last thing she heard was the sickening sound of her body crashing into the rocks below.
-
Wonka looked around the TV room to see what could have possibly captured the oompa-loompa's attention so, and found a large group of them gathering around the TV watching a news flash, none of them saying anything through words or hand gestures. "What's going on, everyone?" asked Wonka, walking over and carefully making his way to the front. "Excuse me," he said gently brushing through them, and then kneeled down so they could still see. An anchor woman was standing in front of, what looked like, large flames, dancing around followed by smoke rising into the sky and turning it black. "Oh dear," muttered Wonka. "Could someone please turn it up?" There was silence and then the volume level appeared in the screen and went up a few notches. "Leave it right there, thankyou. It's perfect," he said after a minute and then it was silent again so they could hear.
"You are now whitnessing, what must be the greatest tragedy ever to strike this small town. Just a few minutes ago, what started as a few sparks, turned into this horrifying fire. People and store owners are trapped in buildings being burned alive, and right now the screaming you can hear is very unnerving. Firemen have just arrived at the scene, but there is not promise that the death rate will be small. Right now there is no assumption as to what started the fire, but to those who are watching, stay clear of this area until an announcement has been made, saying it is safe. Thankyou"
His heart fell into his stomach, and the little color he had fled from his face, replacing it with an even pastier white than before. That was when another thought occured to him. What if Charlie and his parents were trapped in one of those buildings too? He didn't care what the anchorwoman had said at the very end, he had to find them before it was too late! Without saying anything to the oompa-loompas, he ran to the Wonka-vator... scratch that. He ran into the Wonka-vator, crashing into the glass door and falling over. It was either because he was so flustered, or the glass was perfectly clean, but he crashed into it, picking himself up running inside the Wonka-vator this time, pressing the 'up-and-out' button, too busy worrying to even take the time to admire the loud smash as the elevator crashed through the ceiling.
Instead of shooting up into the clouds and a blue sky, the elevator was engulfed in smoke, so black and thick he could barely see anything. Normally it would have occured to him to turn on the emergency fan and blow the smoke away, but it was far from his mind at the moment, so he endured the strain of trying to make out any details around him. About ten minutes later he was finally able to land in a pile of ashes, and climbed out, looking around, the sight scaring him greatly. The flames, for the most part, had been put out, a few areas still burning, but the damage was much worse than he though it would be. In that short amount of time, the fire had managed to burn the majority of the town to the ground, leaving nothing but piles of ashes and rising smoke that was stinging his eyes and throat. There were people running around frantically, searching for family and screaming out names in dispair. All the panic and fear around him got to him and he found himself running around, shouting out Charlie's name over and over, looking around desperately for him.
There was no call back, no answer or response of any kind. After a few minutes, he began to panic even more, shouting the name out louder, even asking strangers if they had seen him, but to no avail. As he searched there was only one thing going through his head. "This is all my fault," he thought. "If only I could have found a way to keep him at the factory! I could've made up something, why didn't I? Oh dear, this is very bad!" He was beginning to lose hope, like a jet plane when the fuel starts to leak out of it, rapid and dangerous. His hope was nearly gone when he heard a rasping sound not too far away. "Charlie?" he called. There came a long painful intake of breath as a response and he ran over to a building that had collapsed, and looked around the rubble. There were burnt bodies laying around ashes and burnt wood, and after looking around for a minute he felt a hand grab on to his ankle. It was so sudden and unexpected he gave a cry and lot his balance, landing on a burnt beam that still had red sparks on it. Some went flying into his face, and the rest burned through his gloves and burnt his hands. It hurt, oh it hurt like hell, and he flinched, breathing in sharply, and look in front of him at the hand that had grabbed him. The hand was burn and bloody, followed by a burnt arm and singed clothes, then a face, slightly burnt, but not to the point where it was too painful to look at.
"Charlie!" he cried, kneeling down and starting to pull off the boards and beams that pinned the poor boy down.
"Mr... Wonka..." he rasped.
"Sshh," hushed Wonka. "Don't talk. Just lay still, dear boy. Everything's going to be alright. Just lay still, I'll get you out"
Charlie coughed and layed still, his breathing so scratchy and painful to listen to. Wonka struggled to lift one of the beams off, as it was still burning, and his hands were being scorched raw. He flipped it off at last and caught the first glimpse of the gaping wound on Charlie. He closed his eyes, unable to look at it, not even for a moment, and turned back to Charlie, whose breathing became worse and worse.
"Don't leave me," wheezed Charlie, his eyes filled with fear. "Please"
"I'm not going anywhere," whispered Willy, feeling sick inside, and he placed Charlie's head on his lap to support it as he looked around for someone to come. "Somebody!" he shouted, looking around, ash and burns on his face, hands covered in burns, looking far from his usual sharp appearance. "Somebody help"
-