(Bonus) Chapter 25 – Loompa Land

Her emerald eyes followed the water as it dripped onto the windowsill. Once again it was raining in the town and Amber had nothing to do. There were always gloomy days in England in the month of May. It was springtime so most of the rain and bad weather was around this time. It was very depressing for the children since hey couldn't play outside.

She was often stuck inside with nothing to do. Willy had been very busy with some of his candy experiments, which she wasn't allowed to help with and James was away on vacation in the Americas. It was that time of year when a lot of people traveled to get away from the weather. She thought it would be an awesome idea but Willy would never agree with her.

A sigh escaped her mouth as she stood up to go wonder around the factory. She had walked these halls so many times that she could close her eyes and still find your way around. Amber missed the days when she spent almost all her time with Willy making top-notch candies and being happy together.

Things changed when the snow started to melt and she stayed out more after school with James. When they would talk it was mainly about school and then Willy would go silent. He daydreamed a lot and stayed in his room most of the day. She would rarely start a conversation with him unless it was about supplies for the factory.

Amber walked into the Chocolate Room to see Willy standing next to the chocolate river. He seemed to be in deep thought and she didn't want to bother him. She simply just took a lollipop and started to head down the walkway. Willy snapped out of his daydream when he heard her footsteps close by.

He turned around to see Amber starring down at him licking a lollipop that was clearly too big. He gave an uneasy smile and he gave a little wave. A big smile crossed her face as she walked over to him. He was relieved to have her company since it had been a while he had seen her smile.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked.

"Just about stuff," he simply answered.

"Thought of any new candy?" she was trying to make conversation.

"They're still in testing."

She nodded as an Oompa Loompa walked up to Willy and tugged on his coat. He quickly bent over to hear what the little man had to say. A grin cross his face as the Oompa Loompa was dismissed and he stood up to face Amber. She wanted to know what the chocolatier was planning and she wanted to know if it was for the good of the factory.

"Pack up your things, Amber," he giggled. "We are going on a little trip."

Amber ran back and forth from her suitcase to her dresser. Willy hadn't told her anything about where they were going or what kind of clothes to wear. She shoved almost her whole wardrobe into that little suitcase before her cell phone rang. When she picked up the phone there was a lot of static until she heard a very familiar voice.

"Amber? Amber are you there?" James' voice echoed.

"James? I thought you were in America?" she was very surprised.

"I just woke up. It's morning here," he yawned. "I just called to tell you I will be back tomorrow night."

"I wish I could be there to welcome you but I am going away."

"Where? When? Why?" he seemed a little confused.

"Willy popped this vacation on me right now," she sighed. "I will be leaving soon."

"Well try to stay in touch. I will expect your call tomorrow."

"I will try. I miss you," she smiled to herself. "I will see you when I get back.

"Miss you too. Bye Amber."

When she pressed the end button her bedroom door swung open and Willy walked through. He was a little surprised to see that she was done packing and he smiled. They quickly walked through the halls and Amber had a hard time with his pace since she had to lug behind her suitcase. They walked through doors that she had never seen before. She thought she had been everywhere in the factory but there were some hidden doors that she didn't think where there before. Willy opened the last door and a cool gust of wind blew in her face.

She opened her eyes to see that she was outside in the rain and she was getting wet. Willy gestured for her to follow him as they walked towards a helicopter. Amber was very surprised to see a flying machine with the 'Wonka' logo on it. The colors were different than his usual favorites but the fact that he had a helicopter bothered her.

Willy helped her onto the copter and she sat in one of the two seats. It had a very nice interior. Two Oompa Loompas were piloting and they seemed to know what they were doing. Willy quickly sat in the seat opposite of her after he closed the door to the helicopter.

A smile crossed his face as he looked over at Amber who seemed to be pretty annoyed. He really hadn't told her anything about the trip and telling her at the last minute didn't help either. She simply crossed her arms and waited for an explanation. His smile widened as he tried to think of something to say.

"Willy…" she starred him down.

"Hehe," he laughed nervously. "I would like to tell you but it's a surprise."

"This better be good. I wanted to welcome James home tomorrow."

"Sorry but we are going to be away for a whole week."

"What?" she was ready to tare of his head.

"Please Amber," he put up a hand. "You won't regret it."

She crossed her arms and legs. She liked the way he popped surprises on her but leaving the country was a different thing. After a few minutes of being in the air she started to become very tired. The flight was going to be long but she didn't know how long. She looked out the window for a few moments and she was beginning to feel sleepy.

Amber jolted awake when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Willy smiled and told her that they had arrived. She looked outside the window to see nothing but darkness. She wasn't sure if it was night out or if they were in some sort of tunnel. Willy helped her out of the helicopter and her mouth fell open.

All around where they landed was complete forest. Amber didn't know where Willy had taken her but she had a feeling it was a place where no one had ever been before. She also noticed different clothes on him. They weren't his ordinary violet colors but they were beige and the Oompa Loompas seemed to be more excited than usual.

Willy turned around after talking to the two pilots and smiled at her expression. He walked over and padded her on the head as he climbed back into the helicopter. Amber looked all around her to see if she could guess where she was but none of the plants looked familiar.

A few moments passed and Wily hopped out of the helicopter with a backpack on. Amber gave him a funny look and he turned around to show her a similar bag but smaller. One thing came her mind, camping. She couldn't believe Willy was into leaving his high technological factory to go camping in the wild. But she had only been living with him for a while so she didn't know what he did for vacation.

"Come on Amber," he smiled. "We have a long way to go and it's almost dark."

"How the bloody hell do you know it's going to be dark soon?"

"I just know," his smile became wider.

Amber couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was going to be stuck with the chocolatier in a forest she had never seen before and apparently he knew what he was doing. He never knew what he was doing. Usually it was all improvised and it happened that something good came from it. A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she reached for the backpack and quickly ran to catch up to Willy.

The two walked together through the woods for a few hours. Amber didn't even dare speak a word to Willy since she knew he wouldn't answer her question. When he was hiding something from her he would usually answer everything around the answer to her question. That was probably the only thing she didn't like about him and, of course, his childish behavior at times.

Sun streaked through the trees and it gave the forest a mysterious look to it. But at the same time it was very beautiful to look at. Amber guessed it was morning even though she couldn't see the sun through the trees. They had stopped once or twice to get some rest and eat some food. She knew this was the chance to ask again.

"Willy," she looked up. "Can you please tell me where we are going?"

"I will tell you again. It's a surprise."

"Willy this is not funny. I demand you tell me where we are going."

"Fine," he stood up. "If you want to know that badly then follow me."

Amber was quite surprised that he actually was going to show her why they were here. She thought it would take them another day before he would show her. A little smirk crossed her face as she followed Willy. He stopped in front of a huge canapé wall and turned to face Amber.

"It's been a while since I've been here. Don't mind the mess."

He slowly pulled away the vines to make a little entrance for her. She turned to Willy before making her way into the darkness and she put her hands out in front of her. Willy's foot steps could he heard from behind so she knew she wasn't alone. His voice echoed as she told her to stop.

Amber's eye grew wide when Willy pulled back the last wall of vines. It was something she has never seen before. It looked like houses were built into the trees and it looked like it hadn't been inhabited in a little while. Willy seemed happy to see the site again but she still didn't know why he brought her here.

"Willy," she turned to him. "Why did you bring me here?"

"This is the Oompa Loompas' home."

"You mean this is where you got them from?"

"Yup," he smiled. "All those many years ago, it was so different then. I wonder if some still live here."

Willy seemed to be in his whole world. It was like seeing a child looking back at all his old toys and remembering all the good memories he had with them. But she still didn't know why he brought her here or maybe he wanted her to meet someone.

Amber started to look around the little houses and tried climbing one of the trees but failed. Everything was small and it was hard to get around. The one thing that crossed her mind was that the rooms seemed a little bigger than the house back at the factory. Amber walked into what seemed to be a bedroom and something on the bed caught her site.

She slowly walked over and noticed a doll lying on the bed. She picked it up and was surprised at how light it was. At that very moment a thought came into her head. Why is the doll here? If it were there for a long time it wouldn't be in the good condition it's was in. Amber was very confused until she heard footsteps behind her.

Her eyes widened at the figure in the doorway. A little Oompa Loompa child stood at stared up at her. When Amber turned around the child was gone and she quickly got out of the house. The child was half way across one of the bridges when she scrawled out of the house.

For such short legs the Oompa Loompa ran pretty fast and Amber struggled to keep up. She stopped to catch her breathe when she saw the little person run into a punch of vines. According to Amber, this place couldn't get anymore weirder, Willy randomly bringing her to the little of no where, making her stay then Oompa Loompas popping out of no where.

The teen slowly pushed away the vines and walked forward with her arm out. Within a few moments she could see the vines in front of her and they were starting to thin out. She pushed away the last batch of vines and she felt one hundred pair of eyes turn towards her.

A hundred or more Oompa Loompas were inside the vine canopy. They must have taken cover because of the helicopter noise since it was a foreign noise to them. Amber looked around and noticed families together but in the distance there was Willy talking to one of them. She couldn't believe he was here with them and it made her so mad he didn't tell her.

"Willy!" she stomped up to him. "What are you doing?"

"I am talking to the Chief," he gestured to the little man next to him. "What did you think I was doing?"

"I thought you were out there looking around," she glared at him. "I thought there weren't people living here?"

"Well," he thought for a moment. "Some Oompa Loompas didn't come back to the factory with me. So I allowed them to stay here but I always come to visit once and a while."

"Is that it!" she screamed. "You dragged me all the way here so you could socialize with little people. All you think about is that damn factory of yours."

Amber was happy that she was making a scene in front of all the Oompa Loompas and the fact that she was making Willy feel bad. Before he could say another word, she turned around and stormed out of the area. She didn't care if he followed her or not. She just simply wanted to go back to England and be with people her own age.

Her pace became slowly as she followed her footprints from early in the day. In the distance she noticed the helicopter. Well it was kind of hard not to notice it since it was a huge purple metal helicopter in a green forest. She slowly walked up to it and opened the cargo doors. Before she closed the door and she looked around to see if Willy was coming. When she saw no one she closed the door.

"Amber?" a soft voice woke her up.

"Mom?" she rubbed her eyes.

"Amber?" came Willy's voice.

Her eyes snapped open to see him kneeling near the open doors of the flying machine. It took her a little while to register where she was and that's when it hit her. She was still stuck in the middle of nowhere with the crazy chocolatier and she must have fallen asleep after getting in the night before. She looked up at Willy and noticed something was different about him. He wasn't smiling in the weird way he does and he seemed to be very tired.

"Willy? Is something wrong?"

"Oh nothing," he suddenly had a huge smile on. "If you don't mind. I want to show you one more thing before we go home."

"This is the last time," she sighed.

Like if those were the magic words, all his energy suddenly came back to him and he was back to normal. Amber slowly got out but as soon as her feet touched the ground Willy grabbed her hand and started to pull her in a different direction. She wanted to know what the rush was all about and he said the surprise wouldn't last for long.

It seemed they were going into the darker part of the woods but Willy seemed to know where he was going. He would stop now and then to look around but then rush off in another direction again. So many ideas were popping into Amber's head and many of them were terrifying.

Willy finally stopped in front of a canopy of vines and looked around. Amber opened her mouth to ask if this was the place but then he put his finger to his mouth. She immediately closed her mouth and followed Willy into the canopy. The area was full of mist and it seemed like there was a pool of blackness not too far ahead. Willy stopped her right before the pool and smiled.

"Is this it?" she asked.

"Just wait a second. You will see it soon."

Amber looked around but didn't see anything interesting. At this point she thought Willy had really lost it and that he was imagining something fantastic to happen. Suddenly Willy was getting really excited and tapped her on the shoulder. She looked up at him and he was pointing into the distance. She sighed and looked in the direction that he was pointing.

Amber's mouth dropped and her eyes widened. The sun was slowly seeping through the vines and landing on the water's surface. That's when the surface of the water began to glow and fireflies began to flash. Amber had never seen anything like it before. The place was almost magical.

"It's beautiful..."

"Ever since I saw this over fifteen years ago, I wanted to bring your mother here."

"She would have loved it."

The two stood next to each other as they stood near the water and watched it glow. It truly was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen and it also brought her to a new conclusion. Willy wasn't as bad as she thought he was. He may be childish and annoying at times but that is who he is. She wouldn't change anything about him even for all chocolate in the world.