The children stepped forward as the doors opened, eager to see what was on the other side. Before the doors were fully open they were all standing on the threshold with their jaws hanging open. What they saw was something none of them ever thought they'd see; it was a field of candy. Everything was candy. If there were a wonderland this would be it, with its chocolate waterfall and river, the glistening fruit leaves on the chocolate trees, the edible grass and flowers, and so much more. It was beautiful.
Mike and Violet were the first ones to go into the gigantic room, running down the stairs and going wild. Then Verruca and Augustus were next, taking their time walking down the stairs, Verruca because she was in awe and Augustus because he could barely even walk fast. The only one left was Charlie, still gazing down at the wondrous scene, unable to comprehend that it was actually real. Wonka's heartbeat quickened at the boy's reaction and the look on his face, the disbelief but gratitude in his eyes. Wonka thought back to when he was a child; that was exactly how he would have reacted if he saw something so breathtaking. In fact, that's how he looked right then, looking at Charlie, the boy was just breathtaking. Slowly, Wonka walked to him and, a bit hesitantly, took his smaller hand in his own, holding it lightly. Charlie looked up at him, a bit startled, but then a smile eased onto his face. Wonka smiled back and began to walk down the steps, gently pulling Charlie with him. They walked together like that down the whole staircase and when they got to the bottom he let go of the younger's hand. He waited to see where Charlie wanted to go, both hands on the top of his cane.
Charlie glanced around before looking back up at Wonka, "W-will you look around with me? I d-don't want to be alone..." He stood there and fidgeted.
Wonka straightened his back a bit more before answering, "There is no need to stutter. And stop fidgeting. Those are bad habits. Yes, I will follow you." He gave a sporadic smile, "Lead the way!" The boy looked around once more, licking his lips with excitement, and Wonka, seeing this, felt something ignite deep inside of him again. It confused him; nothing had ever been able to make him feel this way. But he couldn't think about it because Charlie started to walk away and, like he said he would, he followed. They walked around while Charlie sampled everything that caught his eye and Wonka was completely fascinated by the boy the whole time, he couldn't take his eyes off of him, not even for a second. Finally they came to a little sitting area and sat down next to each other. Wonka handed Charlie a buttercup, "Try these, they're amazing." Charlie took it and sipped from it, his face lighting up in delight just as it did when he licked the wall. Again, it warmed Wonka's heart.
As he sipped Charlie noticed what appeared to be a butterfly fluttering toward them, "Whoa..." There were no words; the butterfly was clearly not real, but candy. But how was it moving? How was it flying?
Wonka laughed lightheartedly at the boy's wonder. He reached a hand into the air and the butterfly landed on one of his gloved fingers. He then put his hand in front of Charlie, "Take it. It was sprinkled with magic dust, that's how it was able to seem lifelike," he grinned his signature grin. The boy took it and looked it over, it wasn't moving anymore. "Once you touch it the magic wears off," the chocolatier explained.
"Magic's real?" was all Charlie said.
Wonka laughed, "Why, yes, silly boy." Charlie grinned and laughed goofily before taking a bite from the butterfly. As the boy ate his treat a strange looking person approached Wonka. Charlie looked at the little man confusedly. Wonka noticed Charlie's questioning expression, "This, my dear boy, is an Oompa Loompa. There are thousands of them in this factory." Then he turned his attention to the orange fellow. The Oompa Loompa whispered something in the man's ear and then Wonka nodded, replying in a language other than English, so Charlie didn't understand one bit of what was going on. And just as quickly as he appeared the Oompa Loompa vanished.
After a few moments Charlie was almost finished with his treats, feeling very cozy sitting with Wonka beside him, when all of a sudden there was a big commotion with loud, panicked screaming coming from nearby. Charlie was startled and it caused him to drop the rest of his buttercup. Wonka stood gracefully and held out a hand to help Charlie up with, "Come, might as well see what's going on." Charlie took his hand and walked with the chocolatier towards where the yelling was coming from. It happened to be coming from the chocolate river. When Charlie saw what was going on his eyes widened. Augustus was in the river flailing around, drowning. He looked to Wonka and the chocolatier was as calm as ever, he wondered why that was. The other three children spotted Wonka and ran to him, begging him to help the poor boy. All Wonka did was watch Augustus drown with a smirk on his face, what all the children didn't know was that he had told the Oompa Loompa to push the boy into the river so that he would, in fact, drown. It was just the first step to his delightful plan. "There's nothing I can do. Why would someone who can't swim stand so close to a river? I just don't understand. How foolish. Even if he could swim, that river's like quicksand." And that was Wonka's excuse, he could be quite convincing when he wanted to be.
Soon Augustus disappeared under the surface and everyone stared at the spot where he had been. Everything except for the waterfall was quiet. It was an awkward moment; no one knew what to do. But then, of course, Wonka broke the silence, "Who's ready for a boat ride?"