Here's the new chapter guys. Only a short one to get this story rolling again. Sorry for the wait.

Chapter 13 – Into the Factory

Isabelle was genuinely curious now, and a little suspicious. Mr. Wonka's actions so far had been baffling. The man appeared to be a walking contradiction, sneaky, smart and theatrical all at once; and she had only met the man for a short while. Evidently, he was still as eccentric as the various media releases had suggested.

As she followed behind the rest of the group, her mind stayed behind in the 'Contract Room' as she called it.

That entire episode had been unsettling to say the least. She knew for a fact that all the children were minors, so their signatures would mean absolutely nothing unless their parent's or legal guardians had signed the contract as well.

Why the other parents had kicked up such a fuss she didn't know. Maybe they just didn't recognise the fact, as everything had happened so quickly.

She chuckled as she replayed the events in her mind. She realised how clever Mr. Wonka had been by telling Violet to go first. Naturally Veruca would have thrown a tantrum about it, she had been obviously competing with Violet since they had been seated on the platform in front of all those cameras and probably even longer. They were both naturally ambitious girls.

It was funny how people behaved she thought.

"Thanks for letting me sign Izzy." Charlie interrupted her internal monologue. She just smiled and ruffled his hair. "How about we just enjoy today and stay out of all the drama hmm?" She looked at Charlie fondly.

A ruckus was erupting ahead of them as the group came to an abrupt halt and started complaining loudly.

"Hey, what's the big idea."

"Move, I have no room!"

"Ow, you stepped on my foot."

Charlie was torn away and swallowed by the heaving mass of bodies as the entire group began yelling, shoving and complaining.

To Isabelle it seemed as though the walls were shrinking. Everyone was being squashed together. She tried to turn back around and retreat back down the hallway until everyone calmed down, but she couldn't find it. She didn't understand, it was a hallway, why couldn't she just go back?

"Izzy."

She could barely hear Charlie because everyone was talking at once. She was pushed and shoved from all sides until eventually, she managed to touch one of the walls with both hands.

Sweat was starting to form on her brow and she could feel the rest of herself grow clammy.

'Oh no, not now, please, not now.' The panicked thoughts flew through her mind as she tried to ignore everyone and focus on the solid wall in front of her with both hands. She tried to block out the yelling.

She was faintly aware that someone was banging on the walls now.

"That's strange, I'm sure the exit is here somewhere." That sounded like Mr. Wonka.

Isabelle shut her eyes tightly and willed her panic attack to go away. She thought about sinking to floor and waiting it out, but dismissed the idea instantly. She didn't want to be stepped on.

The squash of bodies, the small space and the heat generated by so many people in such a confined space were causing her to have severe flashbacks from her time growing up in a foster home.

Just like Charlie, Isabelle was a foster child, only her experience hadn't been as nice as Charlie's.

The memories of all the times she had been thrown into a tiny dark box outside the house were rapidly overtaking her mind. She was already imagining her foster fathers hated voice.

'Stay in here brat.' 'Your're so worthless.' 'Useless.'

Isabelle breathed in and out evenly.

She wasn't there, it wasn't real - she was here, with Charlie. She was safe.

'Charlie, focus on Charlie.' She told herself.

Suddenly, there he was. Charlie was hanging onto her arm again and everything was ok with the world.

Isabelle looked up with relief as she heard Mr. Wonka's voice rising above the din.

"Ah, here we are, this way everybody!"

"Don't be daft Wonka, that's the way we came in!" Mr Salt sounded incensed.

"Is it really? Huh, fancy that." Isabelle watched Mr Wonka pull a confused face as he casually opened the very same door that they had all entered by. The man was clearly enjoying causing all the havoc and mayhem.

There was a sudden mad rush as everyone stampeded towards the exit. Charlie held on tightly to Isabelle, as the both of them were squashed again and almost thrown off their feet.

Peering out into the doorway, the two were stunned to see that they were in a completely different corridor than before. They looked at each other in mild confusion. Charlie just shrugged and grinned.

They heard Mr Teevee ask sharply "Is this some sort of Fun House Wonka?"

"Why, having fun?" was the cheeky reply Wonka gave as he held the door open, waiting for Isabelle and Charlie to walk through.

"Are you both alright?" He questioned, eying Isabelle's pale face.

"Yup, that was crazy Mr. Wonka." Charlie once again had a huge grin on his face.

Isabelle simply ducked her head and nodded as she walked by. Nothing kept Charlie down for long, but that had been a bad episode for her and she needed time to recover without Charlie realising anything was wrong. He would only worry about her and she didn't need that. Not right now.

The two of them made their way up the hallway after the others. Isabelle was painfully aware of Mr. Wonka following close behind them.

Was her mind playing tricks on her again? The walls had to be shrinking because there was no way all of them were growing so tall.

'The hallway is one giant optical illusion' she realised, trying to prevent her panic attack from returning. 'The whole place is specially designed to mess with perception.'

She was actually starting to relax and enjoy herself again. She understood the tricks of the mind. She had studied several paintings that contained various optical illusions and had even tried drawing them herself on occasion.

As absorbed as she was, she soon noticed that, yet again, their way was blocked by a door. An extremely tiny door at that. Well, a tiny door for a human but a gigantic one for a mouse. Isabelle shook her head in amusement. This place was turning her own thoughts into jokes.

"Why is the door so small?" Mike asked with attitude.

"To keep all the chocolatey flavour inside, obviously." Mr. Wonka replied cheerfully as he expertly weaved through the group and crouched down beside the tiny doorway.

He looked them over to make sure he had everyone's attention.

"Behind this door lies the very heart and soul of my entire factory." He smiled gently before continuing. "It's been a very long time since I've showed it to everyone. I hope you enjoy the experience." He paused at that at looked at them all. "I think you will." His eyes lingered nervously on Charlie for the briefest moment before removing an antique style golden key from his pocket and unlocking the door.

"I can't fit through zat tiny door." Mrs Gloop lamented at the same time as a narrow strip of light appeared and the entire wall began to split apart.

The optical illusion was broken as the now normal sized entrance became apparent. A musical tune played softly as the ornate double doors swung open and everyone stepped through.

'Wonka really likes enormous double doors' Isabelle thought as she followed the others inside. She promptly stopped dead as she couldn't believe her eyes. The sight in front of her was unlike anything she could have ever imagined.

Charlie's gasp of delight was echoed by almost everyone in the group.

Isabelle pulled Charlie in front of her and squeezed his shoulders with delight, as everyone fanned out onto the elevated platform.

'Wow' was all she could think to say.

.