A/N: Almost to twenty chapters! And hopefully they get longer! :/
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Denial
Toffee walked slowly to the cafe, watching the patterns in the snow as it fell.
She used to love the walk to work before the tour, but now it was just dull.
She quickened her pace as she passed the factory, and completely ignored the scent of chocolate that she used to adore.
Toffee walked into the cafe, and hung up her coat, waving to the fry cook, Marie.
She unlocked the cash register, and waited for the breakfast customers to come in.
That day, Toffee walked home with almost fifteen dollars in her coat pocket.
She was passing in front of the factory just as the sun was beginning to go down, and a stranger stopped to talk to her.
"You're Toffee Bucket, the sister of that kid that won the ticket?" he said in a strangely low voice, the majority of his face covered by the collar of his coat and the dark glasses he was wearing.
Toffee frowned, and said warily, "Yes. Why do you want to know?"
He shrugged, and said, "I don't know. I guess I just thought you would know what's it like to be in there."
Toffee shoved her hands in her pockets, and said, "It was amazing in there."
The stranger nodded, and said, "Yeah, I bet. But they're not doing too good. Their business is going a little downhill."
Toffee smiled a sad smile, and said, "Yeah, I bet."
The stranger said in a more curious tone, "And what was Willy Wonka like?"
Toffee frowned, and said, "He was pretty cool at first, but then... But then he turned out to be not so good."
The stranger nodded a little more pensively this time, and that made Toffee suspicious.
She added in, "Plus he had a funny haircut," as she started to walk away.
The stranger whipped off his glasses, revealing Willy Wonka's violet eyes.
He said in a heavily offended tone, "I do not!"
Toffee rolled her eyes, and started to walk away, but Willy lept forward, and said, "I'm sorry!"
Toffee just turned around, and shouted, "Would you have still told Charlie he couldn't see his family again?"
Willy paused, and tried to say something in his defense, but Toffee just sneered, "Keep away from me," and turned her heel, and stormed home.
Toffee opened the door to the house, which had been fixed, and walked inside with a few stray tears running down her face.
Charlie automatically noticed.
He said, "What's the matter? Bad day at work?"
Toffee just shook her head, and wiped her face with the back of her sleeve.
Mrs. Bucket said from the kitchen, "Chicken's on the table, sweetie!"
Toffee smiled, and said, "Thanks, mom!"
Mr. Bucket looked over the top of his newspaper, and said, "So, how was work today, Toffee?"
Toffee said, "Oh, it was... average."
Mr. Bucket smiled, and said, "Okay, okay."
Grandma Georgina smiled, and said, "A bird flew through the window today!"
Mrs. Bucket smiled, and said, "Yes, yes, it did! Good job remembering, Georgina!"
She turned to Toffee, and said, "We've been working on remembering small things with her. So far, we've gotten as far as whole stories."
Charlie smiled, and said, "Toffee, can you tell us the story with Sleeping Beauty?"
Toffee smiled, and said, "But I forget some of the details!"
Charlie begged, "But you tell it better! Please?"
She smiled, and sat down with her dinner in her lap.
She settled into her story-telling position, and started the story, her incident with Willy earlier that evening almost nothing but a bad memory.
Willy walked into the Chocolate Room, where he knew Doris would be waiting for him, and tore off his disquise.
He yelled, "How did she know it was me?!"
Doris sighed, then signed, "She is not a stupid girl."
Willy said, "Well, I know that. She's the smartest person I know."
Doris crossed her arms, and pretended to be offended.
Willy smiled, and said, "Other than you, of course."
But then he frowned, and sat down on the ground, his chin resting on his hands.
He said, "Doris, why did I have to be such a jerk?"
He suddenly yelled, in a sudden realization, "What if I'm turning into my dad?"
He threw his hands up, and yelled, "What if I'm turning into a pretentious prick who shuts out everyone and hates almost everything he sees?!"
Doris placed her small hand on his knee, then signed, "You are not turning into your father. You just need to try again."
Willy said in a small vulnerable voice, "You're right. But I'm not sure I'm good enough for her."
Doris signed, "But you are Willy Wonka! All the other girls at Toffee's interview were begging for the position, just to be in the same room with you!"
Willy shook his head, and said, "But I don't want her to love Willy Wonka, the famous chocolatier, I want her to love just me. Willy Wonka. The weirdo that locked himself in his factory for five years. The kid that everyone in grade school bullied because his jerk father put him in full headhear for a slight overbite. Willy Wonka, the man that fell head-over-heels for his secretary, who finally gave him the slap-in-the-face of reality."
He placed his head in his gloved hands, and said, "I want her to love the man who still loves her back."
Doris frowned, and placed her small hand on his shoulder, and rubbed her thumb on the back of his neck.
Toffee tossed and turned under her heavy quilt (which was now on top of a single twin mattress), her mind deeply submerged inside her dreams.
She was walking through the Chocolate Room; but instead of candy and bright colors, she was walking through a dark meadow that was laced with shadows.
Instead of the heavy scent of chocolate, the dense smell of rotting corpses filled her nose.
She walked over the bridge that she and Willy had sat on, and saw that it was slowly crumbling underneath her feet.
She ran off of the bridge, and looked into the river.
Instead of the warm brown that it was before, it was a sickly grey.
She gazed deeper into the river, and she saw a rotting human face gazing blankly up at her.
She jumped, and let out a small scream, but her voice was lost in the heavy silence.
She tried to run away, but her feet seemed to be fixed to the ground on the river bank.
A deep groan filled her ears, and she flinched.
One of the black, rotting trees' branches slowly started to creep closer to her.
On closer inspection, the branch seemed to be oozing a dank, red liquid.
She tried to lean away, but the branch wrapped around her waist, staining the light fabric of her nightgown with the red liquid.
Her voice came out of her throat this time, but it was soft and raspy.
She rasped, "Help me! Please, anyone, help me, please!"
A dark figure walked slowly out of the shadows, and Toffee sighed in relief.
But, when the figure walked forward more into the light, and Toffee gasped in horror at what she saw.
Willy walked forward with his cane, but dozens of the branches were fixed around his arms, his waist, his legs.
The thick, red liquid was running down his faded and torn outfit.
He smiled an evil smile, and said, "Well, Ms. Bucket, what do we have here? Were you being naughty?"
He leaned forward into her face, and said a little softer, but a lot more treacherously, "Are you trying to learn my secrets?"
Willy's line burned in her ears, and she shut her eyes, rasping, "No, no, no, you're a lie! This is all a lie!"
He just smiled a wicked smile, and said, "Now, now, now, Ms. Bucket, you never should have left. How did you put it? 'Keep away from me.' Ha!"
Toffee protested and pulled against the branch, but she could feel the strength being sucked out of her.
She blinked her eyes sleepily as one of the smaller vines worked its way over her mouth, but she rasped in as loud a voice as she could muster, "Please, stop, I'll stay, just please, let me go."
The corrupted Willy just threw his head back, and laughed.
Real Willy's laugh used to make her smile, but this Willy's cackle just sent chills down her spine.
He said dangerously, "You see, Ms. Bucket, it's too late for you to beg for my forgiveness."
He walked behind her back, and said, "You ripped out my will to cling to sanity, Toffee, when you left, when you refused to come with me. And now, you see what it's done."
With this last sentence, he gestured to the dying room in front of her.
Toffee choked back a few tears, then whispered in her dying voice, "Please..." but the vine under her mouth covered her lips.
The world around her started to turn to black as she pleaded under the vine, "Please... please..."
But Willy just clicked his tongue, and said, "I'm afraid you're not going to enjoy this part."
He smiled his wicked smile one last time, and snapped his fingers.
The vines around her started to tighten, and she felt small thorns emerging from the vines around her waist and neck.
She gathered up the last of her strength, and let out a loud scream as she jolted awake in her quilt.
A/N: Ha ha ha ha ha! Don't worry, Violet's coming back soon. :) Okay, next chapter. *pant pant pant*