Sorry that I didn't update in a while. Too busy. Anyway, enjoy!
Chapter 2: Entering Heaven
The visitors looked up at Willy Wonka from the bottom of the stairs, all eyes on the grin he was bearing on pale face. On his head was a fancy top hat, colored in a gleaming black shade which covered a shadow over his face. His eye was his biggest aspect which struck out to all of them first, which let out a gleam of shine that matched the color of his face. All was silence.
"Mr. Wonka!" exclaimed Grandpa Joe.
"Yes, that's me," he muttered almost to himself. "Step up these stairs, let's go." The guests did so in ease.
"Did you guys enjoy that welcome show?" he asked them, as they had all made it level with him. Above them, in the dark, empty space that was build it with all the strings and mechanics to function, sparks were heard along with a low fizzing sound.
"More like a freak show," Mike told him.
"You're the freak," he snapped. Mr. Teevee was slightly alarmed at the chocolatier's harsh comment, but Willly just looked at the others with a mellow smile, showing how white his teeth was compared to his pale face.
"Can we see the chocolate now?" Augustus asked, who couldn't control his hunger anymore and was already chewing on a Wonka bar he had retrived from his back pocket.
"You're accent's funny," Willy commented. "Very high pitched at times, off-beat."
"Excuse me, Mr. Wonker, but our family, along with our town members back in Germany, find that very offensive," Mrs. Gloop told him with a stern look on her face. "Do not you find that very rude?"
"I apologize Mrs. Gloop, I should always watch the words that---come out of my mouth," he replied. "You should too. Pronounce my name correctly!" Another spark from the ominous above showered upon them in a startling manner, melting the remaining drops of snow that still remained on the marble steps.
"Okay then," he said before turning over to the seven doors in front of them. The guests eyed the doors too, each door metal precisely the same size with a metal knob protruding from each of their centers. Mr. Wonka grinned.
"You may think that these doors are all exactly the same," Willy explained. "But they're all different; all seven of them are different in their own manner." The guests stared at them in curiosity, confused at what Mr. Wonka had said.
"Are they off-size?" Veruca guessed.
"Temperature different?" Mike assumed.
"You can't see it yet," Wonka said. "But when you match colors with what you are, you'll know almost immediately. Now for now, choose what you want. Any door." The others waited as Wonka opened the middle of the seven doors, and as he entered, the others entered as well in unison. Violet attempted to take one of the other identical doors besides the one that they were entering into, but her mother grabbed her hand with her gentle, self-loving smile.
"Rather enter the same way," she told her. "I don't want you to wander in this large place we've never been to before."
"I'm gonna get that special prize Mr. Wonka told us about Mother," she said in boasting manner.
The snow was all gone, and no light shown through the closed door behind them. The area in which the eleven of them were in was only the beginning of dark-red hall, expanding its length over a hundred feet to the end, in what the guests believed at the end of the passageway was a tiny door in the distance. Of course, all they were thinking about was how interesting the chocolate factory would be. But so far, the things they saw were completely irrevelant. Grandpa Joe was delighted to see Mr. Wonka again.
"It's so different," he whispered to Charlie. "Such a different entrance than fifteen years ago."
"It's attractive for sure," Charlie said to him, but he meant it in a rather non-optimistic way. Littering across the walls of the red hall were hanging picture frames, each frame holding a picture within it that displayed an image, images Charlie could spot as peaceful, yet awkward. The rest of the others seemed to feel a wave of heat hit over them, and started to feel onto the coats and sweaters they were wearing.
"It's...hot," Mr. Teevee remarked, taking off his coat and hesitantly put it on the floor.
"I know. Some people could be so turned on when they see this hall with my favorite pictures and red sourroundings. It gets smaller as we go down."
"No, hot as in literally steaming and warm temperature," Mr. Salt realized. "Why, does it have to be so warm?"
"Cold temperatures harden the candy, and although people find that attractive, we have to keep them soft; keep in the luxury, the rich treasure. Then it all spurts out when it's ready again, and people get that warm feeling of pleasure," Willy explained.
"I know it always that chocolate is better warm," Augustus explained, "Caramel, cream filled truffles, and hot chocolate!"
"You, my fat friend, have a very unlimited chocolate vocab!"
"Do I win the prize?" Augustus asked in wonder. Mr. Wonka didn't reply.
They walked down the hall, staring at the odd pictures at the sides of them on the red wall. The walls and ceiling of the hall was red marble too, except for the floor, which was white marble with a carpet leading to the end. Veruca turned to look at a picture displaying a realistic drawing of a person at a table, counting the large sum of gold coins that was packed neatly in stacks. Behind the man was the door to the rather large abode, and other, poor-clothed men in fur coats were banging behind it through a window, trying to get in with the desperate look of angry faces. Mr. Salt stopped and looked at the picture with her.
"It's interesting art," he tried to explain, "I had a teacher who drew in that sort of style."
"Well, I want to become a fabulous artist too!" she snapped, not towards her father but rather towards all the others that happened to hear her. "And sell my awesome paintings for more money! Then I'll get another mansion." Her father stared at her, sighing before continuing down the hall.
Veruca looked back at the picture, and immediately noticed something peculiar and alarming. Her wide eyes looked back at the table, coins scattered and mostly gone. The door was open, and the furred-clothed men were stealing money in plastic bags and carrying deadly objects in the air; rakes, rocks, and knives. The rich man was stunned and leant back in his chair, and Veruca gasped when she realized that he had a metal cane in him, thrust in by a short man in rags positioned on the floor behind him. She took one last look at it and stepped away, her eyes struck with confusion as she shook her head.
The others were interested in the drawings as well, and Mr. Wonka just stepped to the side and smiled as they looked on.
Both Charlie and Mike were looking at a drawing of a man holding a crumpled pink slip in his hand, staring at a frightened, elderly man in the background with deep, displayed anger,
"It looks like the guy got fired," Charlie noticed.
"I'd be pissed off too," Mike said.
Suddenly and slowly, Mike saw something emitt from the man. A red shadow started to sprout from every corner of the man's body, and his eyes started to glow bright-red in a menancing glare, as the old man in the background started to turn around, facing away from the other man in disappointment and disgust. Mike raised an eyebrow in doubt.
"Some weird special effects. Holograms behind the inner surface of the frame."
"I don't get it what you're saying," Charlie said. To him, everything remained the same in the picture.
"Haha, he got owned," Mike commented, before he headed down along the hall. As Charlie kept staring at the drawing, Violet approached him.
"What's so interesting about that picture?" she asked. "If I were you, I would follow the rest of us who are already walking down the hall." She hurried down to chase the others. Charlie took one last look at the pictures before running to catch up with his grandfather.
"So it is a door," Mrs. Gloop said out loud. Indeed, in front of them was door with a knob, and before the others could think, he opened it. Revealed was a small, tight square base of floor, and in front, a long flight of stairs to the top.
"I never remembered this," Grandpa Joe said to Charlie. The people stared in wide eyes and mouths at the the enormous number of steps to the very top. There was probably an intense amount of five hundred steps of walking, all leading to something at the top they couldn't even recognize, something that gave out a blueish-white color which set out a shine across the walls of the top. Behind the mysterious orb-shaped object was a door. All guests were squished uncomfortably in the small, square flooring at the base of the steps.
"Let's go!"
"But Mr. Wonka, that's too much walking for me," Augustus complained. Not only did he have the face of annoyance and disbelief, but so did his mother and most of the other guests. Willy Wonka couldn't help but let out an eased chuckle as he flicked a switch besides him. The stairs immediately disappeared in a heavy flash, leaving all ten people stunned and amazed in their tight standing positions.
"Where did all the stairs go?" Charlie asked, his voice echoing through the dark.
"It was a hologram," Mr. Wonka explained. "Amazing, was it?" He turned to his right and raised one of his glove-covered hand into the air, as if intending to block any of them from going in front of him.
"This," he announced rather grandly and aloud, "This is the Chocolate Room!" The door opened by itself without a touch, and the dark, tight area everyone was standing in was suddenly expanded; light streaming into their eyes in a bright and cool manner, and open air swallowing theirbodies which compared piddling to the room.
The room was everything a child could dream of. All over the strangely tangled grass were trees, bushes, and object-resembling things; all edible and made out of all kinds of confectionates. The giant river which seperated the immense room of yummy goodness into sections had its water replaced with melted chocolate, along with a waterfall at the start of the river which splashed up and over, churning the chocolate over and over again. The children and parents couldn't let their eyes off the unbelievable things around them.
"It's beautiful," Charlie gasped, as the others looked in wonder and amazement.
"It's the heaven for a candy maker," Mr. Wonka said with a tint of imagination "This is one of the best rooms in this factory."
"Just out of curiosity," Ms. Beauregarde asked. "Is that entire river over there full of chocolate?"
"Melted, churned, delicious chocolate," Mr. Wonka explained. "No other factory churns their chocolate by waterfall, and that's a major accomplishment. Follow me." The group followed the chocolatier across the stringy grass, passing by things of all color that made the land seem like a rainbow-splashed forest.
"No other chocolate churns their chocolate by waterfall, and that's a major accomplishment," he acclaimed. He shifted his eyes away from the curious guests and faced at a large, mechanical device across the ceiling. They all saw that it was a rectangular object, with a long, narrow pipe that shot down from below it, marked with orange lines which were displayed horizontally in a playful fasion. It was plastic and transparent, and everyone noticed that the width of the pipe got smaller as it went up, like a slight funnel. Mr. Wonka grinned, his eyes gleaming once again.
"What's that?" Violet asked.
"Oh, erm," he started, "It sucks up chocolate and brings it to this place where the melted chocolate would turn into solid candy bars. The Bar Making Room."
"I don't think that any chocolate could fit through that space in the pipe before it enters that canister," Grandpa Joe mentioned.
"What's that?" Willy questioned, turning around suddenly.
"What I'm saying is, is that the pipe gets skinnier the way up, so it's much slower for chocolate to travel its way into the container," he said. "Maybe the pipe should just be normal size the whole length. It's just a suggestion."
"Dear man, we considered that and I want to keep it that way!" he snapped in a loud tone. Everyone turned in surprise to the chocolatier, who immediately returned to a mellow face.
"Sorry, that chocolate causes anger to release," Mr. Wonka explained. "Let me rephrase that. Good thought Mr. Buckets! But I'm afraid it is the style for the Oompa Loompas. They forced me to change it. Not me."
"What the heck is an Ooompa Loompa?" Mike asked. The others turned to Wonka with the reasonably same question, as he smiled.
"Come this way," he said, his eyes glowing so much that it seemed to match the shade of his flashing teeth. Mr. Wonka took his wand and skipped away from the others, his feet barely touching the tossed grass with each skip. After a mere three skips against the direction of the others, the group followed him with no choice across the small islands, hopping from place to place, as the children ran to catch ahead of the non-stopping chocolatier. Wonka looked back over his shoulder, and as he saw the others moving their way to follow him, he continued his fanciful gait with a wide grin.
Augustus turned suddenly as his nose twitched. His large eyes widened as he sniffed the air again, then again, until he was staring directly at a large candy cane sticking out from the ground. Creamy, soft nougat coated the candy cane like the fluff of a poodle.
He looked at the travelling group of people. They were a few feet ahead of him, navigating their way to another part of the Chocolate Room. Augustus' mother was trailing behind them, too concentrated in trying to avoid tripping on her dress. He turned his eyes towards the candy cane, his greedy hands trembling and mouth watering like an overflown oasis, before viciously digging into the delicate goodness.
"Here," said Mr. Wonka, and he stopped his skipping at a flat part of the Chocolate Room. The group of nine made their way to where he was he was standing, panting slightly and then turned their attention to Mr. Wonka. They saw one of his glove-covered hands outstretched, which was holding his metal cane, pointing out at something not so far from their location. It was picking up a large piece of candy from the tree, into its little hands and into a basket.
"Is that an..."
"Those are one of my loyal, heart warming Oompa Loompas," he said, and his eyes glared a shine once again.
There will be more ominous content in the next chapter. What will happen next, and what evil would occur? You'll just have to wait...