(A/N: I apologize for the punctuation problems when the characters were talking in the last chapter. I honestly don't know what happened. Must've been a floppy disk glich or something. Anyway, read on.)
"Anything good happen today" asked Mrs. Carmen as Reya drank down a hot cappuccino. She glanced at her mom, thought for a minute, and then shook her head.
"No" she answered.
"Nothing" asked her mother.
"No."
"Something had to have happened." She thought about a little longer.
"No, actually nothing did." Her mother sighed and rested her chin in her hand.
"I'm worried about you" she said softly. "You've seemed very down lately. Something wrong"' Reya made a face. What the heck was this woman talking about.
"Nothing's wrong, mom" she sarying to make yourself hurt."
Her mother made a face. "You know I'm not doing that"
"What ever. I'm going to my room." She stood up and left, running up the stairs and then walking into her room, wishing she had a lock for the door. Jumping onto her bed, and giving an exasperated sigh, she pulled out the Wonka bar from her coat pocket and unwrapped it. Sinking her teeth into the chocolate.
Wonka bars always made her feel better. Ever since she was little she would have a hidden Wonka stash somewhere the munch on when things got bad. And judgeing by the number of bad days she'd had lately, she knew it was a miracle that she wasn't seventy pounds heavier.
Thinking of the strange man on the alley who'd helped her, she started snickering. "Wonka" she muttered. "Might as well have claimed he was the messiah while he was at it. Idiot." (A/N: I'm not comparing Wonka to Jesus so don't get mad). Then a thought hit her. What did the real Wonka look like? Some agoraphobic nut? No, not him. No one who could make chocolate taste this good would be crazy. He had to come out once in a while.
She decided she'd wait outside the gate for him to come out. He had to get his mail at some point.
So the next morning she found herself perched outside of the gates, waiting. She had just gotten there as the mail truck was loading his mailbox, so she knew he would have to come out to get it. What she wasn't expecting was a good six hour wait before hand. She was very cold by that point, and knew he was probably was feeling just as impatient, waiting inside the factory for her to leave. "Figures" she muttered. But just as she was ready to give up, the large brown doors to the factory opened and she heard footsteps. Sucking in her breath, she moved to a place where she could see him but he couldn't see her.
What she saw, made her wonder if the cold hadn't droven her nutty. A short man with green hair and a bright orange face went to check the mail. She rolled her eyes. It wasn't Wonka. She was leaned up against a long bush that formed a tall wall between her and the factory. "Mother..." she growled. The the bush behind her started to russle, and she looked around. It was probably a cat or dog nearby, taking a crap on his lawn. She snorted. And may he do it twice, she thought to herself. She started to stand, but a hand came down on her shoulder through the bush and she jumped with a squeal.
"Get off" she shouted, pushing it away and jumping to her feet. "Creep" she shouted, running to the gate to see who had the nerve to...
She froze. A man was standing there, holding back a laugh. It was the same man who had helped her. The short orange man walked up to him, handing him his mail.
"Your mail, Mr. Wonka" he said and walked off.
"Thankyou" he said with a smile and turned to her. Her jaw was dragging on the sidewalk as she approached the gate and she leaned on the metal bars, looking in.
"I don't believe it" she muttered. "You live here..."
"Yes" he said, smiling.
"So you're really..."
"Uh-huh." She looked down, thuroughly embarrassed and nodded.
"Right then" she said. "Sorry about yesterday then." He nodded.
"Yesterday's in the past. And now you know the truth. So let's do start over again shall we" He stuck out his hand through the bars. "Mr. Willy Wonka" he said. She smirked and shook his hand.
"Reya Carmen" she responded, nodding.
"Delighted" he said, beaming. She had to admit, he didn't seem half bad now. Now that he wasn't lying. "My dear lady you look absolutely frozen! Don't tell me you waited out here since the crack of dawn? For future refference I send an oompalumpa to get my mail around noon to avoid mobs of fans. They are rather irritating, really."
"You mean to tell me it's noon" she asked, looking at her watch. "Crap! My mom's going to drive me up the wall when I get home." He stroked his lower lip with his finger and thought for a minute.
"True, but I doubt she'll be any more pleased to have you returned as a popcycle."
"Won't be the first time" she muttered, looking around. He grinned and shrugged.
"Would you like to come inside" Her eyes widened.
"What" she cried. "Are you serious"
"At most times, no. I find it's more fun to be a little crazy once in a while. But yes, would you like to come inside" Reya shrugged.
"Sure" she said, inside she was jumping up and down with excitement. Somehow she found it hard to express that excitement so she just smiled as he unlocked the gate and let her in. "This is awesome" she siad softly and he smiled.
"Wait till you see the inside then" he said and lead her in. When she stepped inside, it didn't look too special. Just like the inside of any other building. But something inside told her to wait, things were going to get interesting. "I must ask you to pardon the mess. I rarely have visitors" he said. But the place looked fine. He reminded her of her mother a little, and she began to hope that he was not like her by much.
An oompalumpa passed by and looked at her up and down as he passed, leaving with a strange look on his face and shaking his head as if he were disgusted. Typical, she thought. She was wearing all black again, only this time it was just a black sweatshirt with neon green stitching, black Hot Topic pants covered with zippers, and a spiked dog collar with a chain leash.
"Right this way" said Wonka, and he lead her down the hall and to a glass door with a combination lock. She didn't watch the combination since it wouldn't be polite, and waited till she heard the door open. The room inside was some sort of crazy zebra stripe design and it looked like it was getting smaller towards the end. "We'll just go through the door on the other side and on we go."
Reya couldn't see a door, but shrugged. He had helped her the day before. The least she could do was trust him. She walked through and met with the back wall and no door. "Uh, there's no door" she said, looking at him.
"That's strange" he muttered. "I know it was here somewhere... ah! Right there" She turned and he was pointing to the door they had just come in. He walked to it, and she was about to say something when he opened it and the other room was a completely different room.
"What the..." she muttered. "How'd you do that" she asked.
"I'm slightly deaf, my dear. Speak a little louder next time. Follow me"
She shrugged and followed him anyway, wondering if she was on an acid trip and didn't know it. As they walked on through the hall she noticed the ceiling was coming down lower, to the point where she was bent over. "Is it just me or is the room getting smaller" she muttered to no one in particular.
"Or perhaps you're getting bigger" said Willy, looking over at her.
"I've always wanted to be taller, Wonka, but this is ridiculous" she chuckled.
He beamed and nodded, pointing to a door.
"This room here is one of my most favorites" he said softly. "You can eat almost everything in here."
"It's all candy"
"Most of it" he said, nodding. "When I took the five children with the golden tickets here they went wild."
"Oh yeah, I'd almost forgotten about that" she said softly. He opened the musical lock, much to her amusement, and the door opened. Only now, it was a normal sized door and the entire room was at regular height. Perhaps she had been getting taller? When she looked at the room though, her eyes seemed to be disconected to her skull because they were bulging out so far. "Oh... my... God..." she muttered.
"Well go on" he said cheerfully. "Check it out, but do not touch the chocolate river. It's not meant to be contaminated." She smiled, nodding, and walked around. The first thing that caught her eyes were the gummy bears the size of skateboards hanging from the trees. She jumped up and brabbed onto a bright red one, laughing when it didn't come loose. It dangled for a minute and then gave way, sending her tumbling to the ground. Willy snickered from where he stood and walked over to her as she tore off an eay with her hand and took a bite out of it. Her eyes grew big and she started waving a hand over her mouth.
"Oh" she said, trying to chew it down and swallow it fast. Willy merely laughed.
"Oh yes, some of the red ones are hot cinnamon flavored so be careful." She swallowed down the bite and laughed a litte.
"I guess" she said, caughing. "Man, that was good." She took another bite, smaller this time, and he walk over to the orange tree with chocolate oranges, and pulled one off, whacking it on the trunk of the tree and it came apart in a dozen slices in his hand. He sat down across from her and ate a peice. "So is that an orange or is it chocolate" she asked.
"It's both" he said. "Try it." He handed her a slice and she took a bite of it. It had the texture and flavor of regular chocolate, but at the same time it had an orange flavor to it too. It was so delicious that she put the rest of the slice in her mouth.
"What will he think of next" she said, immitating the crazy commercials on TV. He chuckled and nodded.
"Even I don't know that" he said with a strange shrug. "But I guess no one will until it happens, will they? No. My mind is too complex for even I to understand."
"Been there, done that" she said, nodding.
"Do you do anything creative in your spare time"
"I write" she said, smirking.
"Do you keep a journal or do you write stories"
"Both" she said. "Only I spend more time on stories than I do on journaling."
"Splendid! It's hard to find teenagers who love writing."
"I know" she said with a small smile. "Too many of them think of it like writting a report for school. They just don't understand how much fun it is. Writting's my life, and I can't see myself doing anything else in all honesty."
"That's precisely how I feel about the chocolate factory, my dear. Other people may not understand, but I don't need them to."
"Can I ask you something then" she asked. He nodded, taking another bite of the orange. "I heard a rumor that you were giving the factory away to a little boy... Charlie, I think it was. I don't remember. Was it true" He nodded.
"It was" he asnwered. "He was to move in immediatly."
"Then, why hasn't he? Or is he here"
"No" he answered, his gaze saddening. "He's not here. He wasn't ready to take over the factory. He wants to wait till he's older." Reya could tell he wanted to talk about something else so she stopped, even though she wanted to know more.
"I never thanked you for yesterday" she said, looking up. "Chasing off that boy, and trying to help with the cell phone."
He smiled again as if nothing had happened. "You're most welcome" he answered. "And someday that boy may thank me to, or at least think he should. If I hadn't stopped him, he probably would've done something to land him in jail, and he'd have thrown his life away right then and there."
"Never really thought of that." She was about to take another bite of the gummi bear when her phone started ringing. The tone was the music to Gilligan's Island, much to Willy's amusement.
"You got a new one" he asked.
"My mother loaned me hers. She didn't need it today. Sorry." She stood up and walked away a few feet and turned her back to him. "Hello" She paused and he could hear a voice on the other end. "What? Linz, is that you? Well, I'm kind of busy right now... uh-huh. Okay. Mom said you're not allowed to dial her cell phone unless it's an emergency... No, I won't tell her... No, I don't know where she is. She must've gone to the store... Oh, you're fine... Linz you're a big girl, you can turn on the TV by yourself. Just push the button. No, I can't right now. Okay, listen I need to go... Dad's cell phone? Okay it's 543-2109. Okay, I gotta go now. Okay, bye. Bye. Bye." She hung up and came back, smirking a little.
"That was just my little sister, Lindsay" she said softly. "She's completely helpless sometimes."
"Weren't we all at that age" She nodded.
"True."
"Would you like to see more" he asked, standing up.
"Sure" she said with a smile. It's better than going home, she thought to herself.
-
"Where have you been" asked Reya's mother as she stepped in the house.
"Around" said Reya.
"Your father said he hadn't seen you leave this morning."
"I left early" she said, as she walked over to the fridge.
"Don't eat anything. You'll spoil your dinner" she scolded. Reya looked over.
"What's for dinner"
"Chicken." Reya's eyes rolled as she closed the fridge.
"Again" she asked. "You do know that there are other meats available, right"
"Oh come on, it's not that bad. Don't be so dramatic." The front door opened and Reya's father stepped in, brushing the snow out of his hair.
"What's for supper" he asked.
"Chicken" said Reya in a glum tone.
"Again" Reya snickered and her mother stood up.
"Fine" she said. "If chicken's so terrible then I'll make meatloaf instead."
"Chicken" both Reya and her father shouted at the same time.
"So, where have you been all day" asked her father,
"Met with some friends and hung out" she said.
"Which friends"
"The ones you can see, dad" she said, snickering.
"Just making sure" he said. She snickered and shook her head.
"Rob" said her mother. "Ask her about her grades in history class." Reya's smile vanished. Leave it to mom to ruin a good moment. This was probably payback for the chicken.
"What about them" asked her father suspiciously.
"They're fine, mom" said Reya, giving her mother a nasty look before walking off to her room. Behind her she could hear her mother explain to her dad the homework situation, and she stormed off to her room, not wanting to put up with them right now.
Reya didn't hate school, which her parent's didn't understand. She just didn't care at all. She didn't care about her grades or if she failed, or the future. In her eyes there was no future. She couldn't even see herself making it to the end of the years. Her anger sky-rocketed when she banged her toe on the edge of her door.
"Argh" she cried, slamming the door furiously. "Sonofawhore" she muttered. "Sh" Hopping on one foot, she flopped down on her bed, holding her sore foot in her hands. "Ugh" she growled angrily, and was tempted to throw something at the door, to get even. Instead, she crawled to the other side on the mattress which was pressed against a wall she liked to lean on at night. She rolled over to her front was facing it, forehead pressing against the wall, and she slipped off her sweatshirt, allowing the cold air to consume her.
She was wearing a black tanktop underneath and pulled it off slowly, flinching in pain. Now she was laying there in her undershirt with a braw underneath. Her arms were icy cold as well as her back, but she didn't care. She moved her right arm across her chest and placed her hand on the back of her left shoulder. The tips of her fingers traced over sore lines, red lines that ran all over the back of her shoulder, like cat scratches.
It hurt a little to touch them, but not very much. In fact, they looked worse than they really were, especially to anyone who knew where they came from. Maybe this was why she was always alone. She had few friends, if any, at school, and at the church she was constantly dragged to, she was always concious of the way people stared at her in her black clothing. People always stared at her. She always said to herself that she didn't care, but in secret she did. Nasty people with their narrow minds and hard hearts. If only they knew.
Her mind drifted to Wonka and his factory. He would've never let her in if he knew what sort of person she was. She had deserved what that boy had done to her cell phone yesterday. If Wonka knew what sort of teen she was, he'd have encougraged the boy on. She didn't deserve the help she had gotten. She didn't deserve anything, only pain. All these thoughts filled her head, and she knew she had to get them out. Storing hate inside was like trying to store poison in her body. It destroyed from the inside, so the only solution was to get it out. Her hand reached under her pillow, and she pulled out the small purse and unzipped the side pocket. A metal object fell out and she used it to get those thoughts and feelings out.
About a half hour later she slipped her tanktop back on along with her sweatshirt, hiding those red lines. Those ugly wretched burning lines that stretched out like long red worms. She covered them over with her clothes, and fell asleep right there, the metal object slightly covered in blood still in her hand.
-
Reya wandered down the halls of school, not making any eye contact with anyone. The others were all staring at her like they always did. She tried to ignore them, but couldn't. Some of them were saying things behind her back but she still heard them.
"Hey freak" shouted someone from behind. Reya walked a little faster, her trench coat billowing behind her, but the boy walked faster too. "Why don't you go back to Collumbine" She stopped dead in her tracks. Her hands were clenched into fists and she turned around, ready to hurt him so bad...
"Don't" said a voice. Her friend, Mary was behind her and grabbed her by the arm. "Just walk away, Reya. C'mon."
"He had no right" she said, tears forming in her eyes. Mary tugged her back a little, and Reya shouted "No right" at the boy. Mary managed to pull her away and walked with her down the hall until they came to a stop, out of sight of the boy.
"Okay" said Mary. "Let it out. Scream."
"I hate all of them" she cried. "What did I do to them? Why can't they leave me alone? I hope they all die" She started crying and Mary gave her a hug.
"It's okay" she said.
"No it's not" Reya pulled away and ran her hand through her hair. "Do you remember Claire"
"Who doesn't"
"Do you remember when she left? When she left because she tried to"
"Yes, Reya."
"That's the same a-hole that told me it was my fault! He said I might as well have shoved those pills down Claire's throat."
"Reya, he's an idiot. He doesn't know what he's saying."
"He doesn't know how much it hurts"
"But it wasn't your fault. No one saw it coming."
Reya wiped tears away. "I hate all of them. I'm going home."
"You're going to skip the rest of the day"
"I don't care." She turned and walked away, heading for the bathrooms. Once she was sure she was alone, she locked the stall door, sat down on the floor and pulled out a thumbtack from her pocket.
-
Reya left, claiming to be sick, and said she would walk home. Instead, she walked back down to the town and wandered around. "My goodness, how the school days seemed to have shortened" said a voice. She turned and saw Willy Wonka, sitting on a bench with his newspaper, not even looking at her.
"Yeah, whatever" she said, walking by.
He glanced up at her and stood up, following her. "My dear girl, is something wrong"
"No" she said, forcing a smile while tears still ran down her face. "Everything's all good an' dandy! Yeeha" She stopped walking as tears fell too hard and placed a hand over her mouth. Willy had caught up to her and placed one hand over her shoulders, and the other on her left arm, just below the shoulder.
"Come with me" he said softly. "Let's go talk somewhere."
"I don't wanna talk" she said softly.
"Then you can cry. No use fretting outside in the cold though. It doesn't help to have tears frozen in your eyes. Come with me."
Feeling too, she hated the word, helpless to object, and walked with him, and he lead her back to his chocolate factory, and took her into a new room that looked like a sort of courtyard in the springtime. It was warm and it looked like the sun was shinning. She'd never believe it was winter. She walked with him to a willow tree and sat down, drying her eyes and trying to stop crying.
"Do you want to tell me what happened now, my pet" he asked. She shook her head. "Would you like some hot chocolate" She nodded and he pulled a whistle out of his jacket pocket, blowing a weird tune to summon an oompalumpa over. One came almost immediatly, and she wondered if they just hid behind corners waiting for him. He sent the oompalumpa off to get the hot chocolate, and then moved so he was sitting in front of her.
"Why do you keep following me" she asked, looking up.
"My dear girl, I have not followed you at all! I saw you walking down the sidewalk, and you looked upset so I wanted to try and help."
"It's just that, whenever something bad happens to me, you're always seem to be there" she said. "Almost as if you're expecting it."
"It is only a coincidence, I can assure you. But if you preffered me to stop helping I could."
"That's not what I meant" she said softly.
Their hot chocolate came, and she sipped it quietly, willing herself not to cry. She'd been crying a lot lately, sometimes for no reason at all. She'd just start crying and feel miserable, like the world had just come crashing down on her. Sometimes it even felt like it had.
"You're in highschool, correct" he asked. She nodded. "What year"
"Senior" she answered. She was almost eighteen and was eager to leave.
"I was homeschooled. I never went to any public schools with other people."
"Sounds lonely" she said.
"I actually quite enjoyed it. I guess you could say I've carried on my secluded life style."
"Well I've seen you on the streets more often." He smiled and nodded, taking a sip of cocoa. "It's not that I hate school. I'd rather be there than homeschooled because I'm used to being around people. Even though I ignore them it'd be too much of a change to just suddenly switch to being homeschooled."
"So you don't hate people then"
"I don't hate them. I hate what they can do to others. How they can hurt you."
"It's a hard world out there. You just need to learn how to be a pillow." She made a face.
"What" she snickered. He smiled and shrugged. "That was random."
"Young lady, I'm all about random."
"That's a good thing" she said. There were still tears in her eyes and she was trying to dry them away, but they kept coming back.
"I've been meaning to tell you something" said Willy after a moment. "You always seem to have a self-doubt about you. Like you think you're a mistake." She glanced up. Was it that obvious"There are people in this world who will try to convince you of that because they can't understand how precious people are. There will be people who'll try to put you down. Don't let them. Show them that you are who you are and are more than proud of it."
"I have to go" she said suddenly, standing up. "The school's probly called my mom by now and I'm in trouble..." It was obvious that she was just trying to find a reason to leave, but he let her go, almost as if he knew it'd help her. He walked with her to the gate and then unlocked it, letting her out, and she paused, turning to him.
"Sorry I wasn't better company" she said softly. "I need to go home" she said. Her mind was dwelling on her blades hidden under her pillow and how badly she wanted to use them. She hated herself leaving just so she could go cut herself.
"If you ever need someone to talk to" he said softly. "I'm here." Reya's eyes started watering again for no reason, and he stepped over to her, giving her a hug. Reya felt like a two year old, wanting mommy to come and hug her and make it all better. She took the hug though and left, hugging herself for some comfort. She sighed and looked down. What was wrong with her?
-
(A/N: I'm thinking this'll be the next fic I'll talk about next month. For those who don't know, I always talk about one of my fics each month on my profile, where I got the ideas, things you don't know, stuff like that. It's sort of like a commentary I guess. So in March, look for this one on my profile. And every monday there's a new 'Weekly Funny' to check out, just so you know.)
