Hello, hello. I'm back, I decided to update this seeing as it's just about ready. Haven't been on in a while, sorry. I have a BIG folder of FanFiction emails wiggling its eyebrows at me, and I just kept putting it off. There are over 500 emails for me to sift through, and I'm dreading it. But it's taking up too much memory. So I'm going to do it soon.
So, here's the next chapter! And here we shall see the good man Willie himself!
Rudi was sitting on the roof, the place she loved the most out of anywhere in the factory. She hardly ever got to go there, as she never had time.
No one else knew how to get up there, and because of that it was always peaceful and quiet, away from the rest of the world. In the summer, it was sunny and warm, and although it could get quite hot, it was always cooler than downstairs. And, when it snowed, the tiny flakes melted lightly on her clothes, and she fancied she could hear them, like the sound melting chocolate makes when it's being stirred.
But, right then, the air was crisp, the sky was black, as always, but patches of blue peeked through.
She lay back, spreading her arms into an angel, memories flashing before her eyes. A small, tired looking woman, with brown hair tumbling in thin clumps from her head, her eyes baggy and tired, sunk into a greyed face. A large glass box, falling down, closer and closer until it shattered, jarring into the skin and hair of a young girl. A giant room, with a green grassy floor, a brown river and waterfall cascading down the middle.
Rudi jumped up, her breath coming quickly, gasping for air that wouldn't come. She looked around, and shook her head vigorously. She paused, a thoughtful look perched on her brow, and then she nodded, seeming to make a decision. She climbed through a hole in the roof, dodging and darting her way downstairs, undetected, until she was on the ground floor, at the window facing the factory.
Footsteps were coming closer to her, soon whoever was making them would turn a corner and see her. She pushed the window out of its frame, jumped out, and put the window back. She sprinted across the grey concrete that separated the living building from the actual factory. She pushed the second window out of its place, climbed into the otherwise locked cellar, and put the window back in the frame. She walked slowly, gingerly, through the lower rooms.
No one had known about the lower rooms before, but with what was happening to the Chocolate Room, it was possible that they had found the entrance. Fortunately for her, when she pushed the trapdoor open she found herself in the hollowed trunk of a chocolate tree. She climbed up the rope ladder, and peered from the juicy mint leaves bushed at the top.
There were no sounds, other than the frothing of the waterfall, which was, in turn, dying away. The Chocolate room, which had once been lively and bright, was now infected with the bleak colours that had overtaken the outside world. Heavy trucks and machines had squashed the plants and grass, and little fences had been put up, marking danger zones, restricted areas, and other places.
Rudi dropped silently down from the tree, stealthily dodging and ducking between the trucks and fences until she got to the river. She threw a look over her shoulder at the main door, which was shut, no glass visible around the area.
"Oi, you!" She turned around, and saw a podgy man with a yellow hat coming toward her, angrily waving a floppy sandwich. He had evidently thought he was the only one left, and the last thing Rudi saw was his furiously surprised face before she toppled backwards into the river.
When she awoke, Rudi was lying on the minty bank. She spluttered, and got up, taking in her surroundings. She was still in the Chocolate Room, but it looked how it hadn't looked for a long time. There were no trucks, fences, or other machines, the grass was lively, twisting and flicking playfully in a breeze that she couldn't feel. Bright flowers speckled the immense room in vibrant colours.
Every now and then, Rudi saw a small figure dance along its way, wearing what looked like a toga made from bright purple bark. When she turned her head, she realised that one of these creatures was standing before her, and she jumped. It clicked at her, tilting its heading to one side, and she watched it, captivated.
It looked relatively human, but in a grotesque way. It had bright red ears that stuck from both sides of its head, covered slightly in straight but messy black hair, which tumbled down to the creature's waist. Two completely golden eyes stared at her in wonder, from either sides of a snubbed nose. It had ruddy red cheeks, but other than that, its skin was the colour of raw caramel, with a touch of green.
"Dagfurper! What is so important that you'd have to- what the hell is that person doing in my Chocolate room!" A young man, perhaps in his early twenties, marched across the grass towards them. Behind him, there was a glass box that looked oddly familiar to Rudi.
The creature, which Rudi realised had been called Dagfurper by the man, turned to him, and whistled and clicked. It gestured towards Rudi every so often. The man replied in a series of whistles, clicks, and another sound that sounded suspiciously burp-like.
He then turned to Rudi. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself? What are you doing here?"
"Tumnuh." Rudi shrugged as she spoke, unsure of how to explain what had happened to her.
"Oh dear, they sent a foreign spy. Either that or she doesn't want to tell us anything." He sighed, and turned to Dagfurper. "Keep an eye on her, don't let her out of your sight! Bring her to the old meeting room in a few tiddled minutes."
At this, the man walked hastily back to the glass box. Apparently he didn't see it, because he walked into it face-first and fell on his back. As Dagfurper pulled her away, Rudi saw the man get up. He brushed himself off, and got into the glass box.
After a couple of minutes endlessly walking through corridors and passages, up and down stairs, and around the rooms she could navigate with her eyes closed, her escort pulled her into the corridor that led from the main door of the Chocolate room. From the corridor, she was pulled into a brown room.
To describe it simply as a brown room wouldn't do it justice. The floor was covered mainly in dark brown rugs, woven with what looked like hair, but there were small portions of rich mahogany planks visible beneath them. In the centre of the room was a large rectangular table, made of a wood that Rudi could not define, but was a deep red-brown colour; it's four thick legs curving in and outwards on themselves. Six of the chairs on either side of it were suspiciously chocolate-like, the texture and colour of extremely hard toffee. And, at the head of the table, there was a throne, shaped and texturised like wood, but definitely made from chocolate, mainly milk with lines and swirls of dark and white. At the top of the throne, there was a 'W', emblazoned on a white chocolate sideways oval in hardened caramel.
The young man Rudi had seen earlier was sitting in the throne, and just around his shoulders she could see that the chair had a back of rich purple velvet. Before, against the bright colours of the Chocolate room, he had not seemed so interesting, but, sitting casually in the rich brown meeting room, he stood out vividly.
He wore a dark purple suit jacket and trousers, a black shirt, and his black hair was cut into something that resembled a ball haircut, but was a little too long. He wore a dark violet top hat, and in his hand he twirled a see-through cane full of brightly coloured sweets.
"What were you doing in my chocolate room? Spying, perhaps?" He frowned when Rudi shrugged. "How did you get in here?"
Rudi knew she could have answered that if she had wanted to, but she didn't. She wasn't sure what had happened when she fell in the river, and she wanted to find out before she trusted anyone. The hollow tree and the cellar were her secret places, and she wasn't about to give them up.
"You are going to tell me, some time or another. Dagfurper!" The strange creature appeared at Rudi's side. "Take her to the torture room." He grinned maliciously at Rudi, then spoke to the creature in its own language. When he was finished, the creature led her away.
To be tortured.
And, ladles and jellyspoons, on that note, I shall depart. That folder is taunting me and poking me with soggy matchsticks.
Wish me luck!