A/N Own Nothing That Doesn't Belong to Me. Thanks for the reviews. Loving my loyal reviewers and thanks to my beta. Enjoy
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Chapter 4: Pictures
After dinner was over, I felt compelled to help with the dishes. After all I am used to working for my meals. I listened to Mrs. Bucket's chatter with polite nods, not really speaking more than necessary. I wasn't chatty. I didn't even consider myself to be a nice person at all, but I wasn't going to offend someone that just gave me enough food to hold me over for awhile.
I followed Charlie out of the house once the kitchen was all cleaned up. "Alright so can you point me in the direction out of here?"
Charlie was a bit busy trying to reach some candy out of a tree and didn't answer right away. Once he got what he was reaching for he handed me one and smiled at me. "I think Willy wants to keep you here until the test results come in." He made himself comfortable leaning against the tree and I sat down on the grass with him. "I think your mother might be right."
"Hmm. What is this?" I looked at the fruit that Charlie had given me. It didn't look like any fruit I had seen before. It was pink and purple swirly colors in the shape of a pear. Charlie took a bite of his own and didn't answer. I took a small bite. Like the grass it was too sweet for my liking. I really don't know how to properly describe what it tasted like. It was edible and that's all that really mattered to me.
Willy joined us on the grass and continued his inspection of me. I decided to find out what he was going to say earlier. "So, Willy, who do I look like?"
He laughed and once again it really creeped me out. "I am not totally sure. I think that if you put on some decent clothes and showered to get all that dirt off you, you might look like my….." He wouldn't or couldn't say the last word. I raised an eyebrow at him getting quite impatient.
"Who?"
"His mother." Charlie finished eating his candy fruit and answered for him.
"Oh, what does she look like?"
"Like you, I just said that. You should really listen when people are speaking to you." I rolled my eyes at him. I wanted more specific details; like in what way did we look alike. "Come on; follow me to where you will stay for the next couple nights." He began to stand up and I looked up at him quite shocked. Did he just invite me to stay?
"You're going to let me stay in the factory?" Prior to the golden ticket contest, no one had been inside in over fifteen years. Why was this man letting me stay?
"Do you have a problem with hearing? Now come on, quickly." I followed him, biting my tongue. I best keep my mouth shut if he was going to give me a bed and a bathroom for a couple nights. I bet that there would be a lot of hot water too. I smiled, excited to take a long hot shower.
He led me into a hall way that had a couple doors on one side and a rail on the other. I looked over the rail and saw a spiral staircase leading down at least four or five floors. We passed a door with a big W on it and stopped at the next door. He led me into the room and gave me a moment to look around. It was a decent size and there was a lot of stuff in it. There was a small television in front of a brown couch. Behind that was a mini refrigerator with a small cupboard. Beyond that there was a queen sized bed with a nightstand on both sides, a bookcase to the left, and a dresser to the right. The bookcase looked quite sad having only a couple books on it. I peeked into the closet to find it full of clothes so someone must use this room.
The bathroom was bigger than I had ever seen. There was a Jacuzzi tub and a large sink with a long mirror above it. I looked at myself in the mirror to find that Willy was right about how I looked. I was dirty. My hair was in a ponytail so it wasn't easy to tell that it was greasy and stringy. My clothes were tattered and stained. It must have been at least a week since I had a shower so I probably smelled as well. I sighed and figured I better do my best to keep myself in check. I wanted to take advantage of what he was offering, even if it was just a temporary bed.
I walked back out of the bathroom to find Willy looking through the dresser drawers. He pulled out a picture and handed it to me. It was a family photo that I assumed was his family. There were three people in the picture. The child must have been him. He was about eight years old and had braces on. They weren't normal braces either; he had the whole head gear. I frowned at the picture thinking that it looked quite painful. It didn't look like he could even close his mouth. I glanced up at the man standing in front of me. He gave me a small smile but didn't look very happy. His teeth were blinding white and perfectly straight. At least the headgear did some good.
Next I looked at the man in the picture. Was this possibly my grandfather? He was standing on the left side of the picture, so to his sons right. His hands were behind his back, standing perfectly straight. If it wasn't for the white lab coat I would have thought he was a soldier. I stole another glance at Willy. He was standing perfectly straight as well, not a hint of a slouch. Willy looked a bit like his father.
Then I looked over to the woman in the picture. She was the only one smiling. She had her one hand on Willy's shoulder and another on his father's. She was beautiful. She had dark auburn hair that reached halfway down her back in curls. I unconsciously felt my hair. When it was clean, it curled like that. Her green eyes were hard to see in this old photo, but the more I looked the more I could see that they matched my own. She was on the taller side, but not very thin. She was a decent weight and was curvy. I looked at her face and almost thought that I was staring into a version of my future self. I couldn't explain what exact features of the face we had in common, but we were very similar.
I handed the picture back to Willy with my eyes wide. I did look like his mother. I looked a lot like his mother. "If I am your daughter, could I meet her?" I know that I originally said that I didn't want anything, but suddenly I really wanted to know her. Maybe I even wanted to know my grandfather too, but I wasn't as sure of that.
Willy looked at me sadly and shook his head. His hand lightly touched the woman in the picture and then he quickly put it away. I understood or at least I thought I did. His mother was not around anymore. I didn't know if she left them or if she was dead or what had happened. Either way, I knew it wasn't possible. I thought about the man in the picture. "What about him?" I didn't need to explain my question any further.
"Yeah." Willy's voice came out really low and he nodded with a tiny half smile. He looked around quickly trying to shake himself out of the sadden mood. "Well little girl, you can stay here and I hope you don't mind because I am going to lock the door. We can't have you wandering around the factory stealing recipes for those copy-cat candy makers."
I would have fought him. It normally would have made me angry to be locked away in a room. Right then I didn't care. I nodded and sat down on the bed. I had a lot to think over and I could use the time. Anyway, I was positive I could get out if I wanted to. He left with a promise to get me for breakfast the next morning.