author's note: Thanks for the reviews, it really means a lot. :)
"I've got a gift for you Charlie."
"A gift? But it's not even my birthday."
"Here – a truck dropped it and didn't notice. I figured you'd like it. Do you?"
"Of course I do! Thank you Sophie!"
"You know I'd do anything for you Charlie, anything at all."
"Charlie!"
My eyes fluttered open – a small hand rested on my shoulder, shaking me awake. I had gotten so comfortable on the grass that I guess that I must have fallen asleep without noticing. I looked up to see Violet standing over me, and I stood up while wiping my eyes.
The candy forest around us looked just the same as before – but I noticed that I didn't see any of the others around.
"Where is everyone?" I asked Violet and she looked off into the trees. I could tell that something bad had happened, but I wasn't sure what.
"There's something going on by the river. Everyone else went on ahead. Come on." she said, motioning with her head for me to follow her.
"Wait, what do you mean? "
" I don't know what happened – one minute that fat kid was fine, then suddenly he's shouting. Mike saw him drinking from the river – it's made out of chocolate, you know. "
As we walked closer to said river, there was the rich scent in the air of chocolate. Then we saw the others a few feet away right by the river's edge – all of them except for Mr. Wonka was looking at it strangely.
We walked up to them and I approached Mike. He didn't look as tough now as I thought he'd looked before. There was something anxious in his expression.
"What happened?" I asked, and Mike drew a hand through his hair.
"Augustus fell in the river. He hasn't come up for air."
My eyes widened at hearing this – it was the last thing that I'd expected to happen in this beautiful place.
"What?!"
"Everything is well at hand – no need to fret." Mr. Wonka said calmly, eyeing the river with cold detachment.
"No need to worry? Won't he fucking drown?!" Veruca shouted in a shrill voice. Mr. Wonka looked over at her and rolled his eyes.
"Of course not. See that pipe moving over here? It's going to fish him up. To be quite honest, I'm more worried about the quality of my chocolate – I will have to throw away a whole batch just because of this. He has contaminated it now." Wonka said, sighing sadly.
We all looked over to the right and indeed, a large metal pipe was moving towards us from the invisible ceiling, diving into the chocolate. It made a deep, sucking noise as it began, as Mr. Wonka put it, fish up Augustus.
After a tense couple of minutes, his body became visible in the see-through pipe. But after the initial reaction of relief at seeing him, it transformed into a cold feeling when none of us saw him open his eyes. He traveled through the pipe, and all the while his body appeared limp – either asleep or -
"Mr. Wonka, are you certain that he'll be alright?" I asked, putting a hand on his arm. He looked down at me with a sweetness in his mouth and eyes, that almost made me blush. He patted my hand reassuringly.
"Of course. He's going to be taken to my special infirmary right now where they'll clean him off good and send him on his way. "
Mr. Wonka motioned us to follow him, leaving the river behind us.
"He's not going to continue the tour with us?" Violet asked, still looking towards the ceiling where the pipe had seemingly disappeared like it hadn't been there in the first place.
Wonka stopped in his tracks, becoming very stiff all over. His hands on the handle of his cane twitched.
"I can't let someone who contaminates my wares to continue doing so – surely that's a logical reasoning."
And with that he continued walking away – and after a moment we all followed him. But by doing so, I couldn't help but feel uneasy. The image of Augustus moving through the pipe like a rag doll was still fresh in mind – and it hadn't seemed like he was in good shape at all.
Mr. Wonka continued walking along the edge of the river – once pausing to skip a small stone into it, giggling when he made it jump properly on the surface. He sure was eccentric, I thought.
"Look! There's a boat!" Violet suddenly called out, and indeed, there was.
It didn't exactly match the beautiful surroundings at all – it was a very large kind of rowboat, made of greyish wood. It looked like it had been fished out from the bottom of the ocean – a wreck that had somehow survived centuries. It almost looked a little menacing.
Which why it was so alarming when Mr. Wonka waved a hand at it and cheerfully said "Get in, please!"
We all stared at it and him with disbelief.
"You must be joking – in that thing? It doesn't look exactly seaworthy." Veruca said, scoffing.
Mr. Wonka laughed merrily, like this was not the first time someone had said this.
"Not to worry Miss, this boat is made of stronger stuff. It has been through many storms and skirmishes before." he said as he helped her into the boat. Veruca took a seat so carefully and with so much disdain for her clothes that it almost made me laugh.
"It certainly looks old." Mike commented, kicking the side lightly. But his foot was stopped by the long cane, preventing him from doing it again. Mr. Wonka eyed him sharply – now sitting at the helm of the boat.
"Careful there – you don't want to slip and fall out." he hissed.
One by one, we all got into the boat and took a seat. I sat down next to Violet who suddenly asked me a question nobody yet had asked.
"How did you get the ticket?"
It made me pause for a second. It had all been so odd – I still wasn't sure who had left it there on the bench for me. The homeless man? But that seemed impossible.
"It – it was given to me. " I said finally and Violet's eyes went wide.
"You mean someone had it and just gave it away? " she asked, her voice incredulous. I shrugged, having no idea what else to say.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"What did you have to do?"
Strange images flashed in my mind – go away, go away, go away!
"Nothing. Nothing at all."
