Rising Dawn (Willy Wonka X OC)

Blind Leading The Blind

He presses a button to his right a little haphazardly, and smiles. The elevator whirrs to life and drops suddenly. Charlie, being a few pounds lighter than me, almost flies into the air. I wrap my arms around him to steady us and begin looking at the buttons again. Grape Nuggets. Emperor's New Clothes. Razzelberry Pellets. Fragile Waffles. Bedroom. Huh. I suppose he has to sleep too.

The elevator careens to the right and I widen my stance to keep from falling with Charlie wrapped tight in my arms. I haven't zoned out entirely, but I am still hyperventilating a little and I feel wrong. I can't describe it any better than that, something's just not right. In a split second, our view turns from dark walls encasing us to a picturesque mountain with a blizzard swirling around the elevator. Oompa Loompas are crawling all about the mountain, chipping off pieces of the mountain and putting them in pails strapped to their waists.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Fudge Mountain!" Will waves a dramatic arm and I press my face to the glass of the doors without buttons to see better. A little smile graces my face, but then I see an Oompa Loompa shiver and suddenly feel very very bad for him. I know what cold feels like, almost everyday I have to endure freezing temperatures while I work. Being here at the factory, feeling so warm and happy and, for the first time in a long time, companionship, I had almost forgotten my reality. Tomorrow I'll go back to work and it'll be like today never happened.

The elevator starts to move again, but my mind is still wrapped up in the fact that I probably won't see Will after today. But I just found him! I know it sounds strange, but I feel like I was always meant to have Will in my life. I feel whole here. Will is my other half and I don't want to lose him again. Wait...again? Now I'm confusing myself, and my heart and head are screaming at each other making me dizzy.

The elevator comes to an abrupt halt over a large warehouse with a variety of activities going on. In front, we see a group of Oompa Loompas shearing a sheep with pink wool. Will clears his throat. "I'd rather not talk about this one."

The elevator slides right, still in the same large, vaulted room. We see a hospital like setup where the patients are the half-melted puppets from this morning and the doctors are Oompa Loompas. Will's mouth curls up in a guilty grin. "This is the puppet hospital and burn center. It's rather new."

The elevator slides right again, but this time out of the room and into a wide vertical tube with desks filling carved out little workspaces for Oompa Loompas who appear to be doing desk work. I can't see an end up or down to this cylinder of cubicals. Will's smile grows extremely friendly and earnest. "The administration offices. Hello, Doris!" He waves at a particularly feminine looking Oompa Loompa who reluctantly returns it with two fingers.

The glass box whisks away again and we go though what I thought was a solid wall. I knew feats happened here, I just didn't expect they'd defy the fundamental molecular laws. We come to a stop after a series of stomach-turning maneuvers just in time to see a volley of rockets launch off of a central tower and explode in the air. The elevator takes us closer until sparks and pieces of rockets fall around us. Charlie shuts his eyes and hugs me for reassurance. Will taps his shoulder, "Believe it or not, this elevator can withstand seven consecutive nuclear explosions. Don't ask me why seven, it just is. The point is, we're safe." His tone started out joking, but the end was sweet and consoling.

I can't help but notice that when Will steps back, after Charlie begins being more interested than afraid, Will never once looked at me. In just three hours I've grown used to his calm, violet eyes meeting mine and his soft, expressive voice whispering devious words to me. Now, he refuses to look at me. I shudder and blink, trying to force myself not to cry again. He's not trying to hurt my feelings, but I deserve it. I'm a bad person. My father knew that and he left. Everyone knew it, everyone but Will. He's been locked away here all these years. He didn't think I was a bad person until I messed up. Now he's just like everybody else.

"Why is everything here absolutely pointless?" Mike asks. Normally, I'd be furious and jump to Will's defense, but I don't think I have the mental capacity for that right now.

Luckily, Charlie jumps in for me. "Candy doesn't have to have a point. That's why it's candy."

Good, simple words. Charlie is good and simple. He's not like me, he doesn't make stupid devastating mistakes. What do you want me to do, Will?

Mike sneers. "It's stupid. Candy is a waste of time."

Stupid. I'm stupid. Everything's stupid. If everything is stupid, is anything stupid really? My breathing quickens and I hear Charlie's voice, but I can't tell what he's saying. My hands find the hem of my shirt and knot into the soft fabric. I pull at it it, stretching the fabric and am practically dead to the world. My mouth is dry, and my eyes drip salty tears but my throat is unable to sob audibly. Darkness closes in on me, folding blankets of blackness, enveloping me, absorbing me until everything left is inky darkness. Gone is warmth. Gone is happiness. Gone is hope. Gone is love. Gone is Will.

My head pounds and I squeeze my eyes shut tighter. I clutch my head and stumble. I'm moving. The elevator is moving. It makes a sharp left turn and I fall. Straight into strong, soft-sleeved arms.

An itty-bitty pin prick of light appears. All is not darkness. All is not gone. There is a bit of warmth. There is a tad happiness. There is a miniscule amount of hope. There is a speck of love. There is Will.

He's not talking though, not like normal. I think he's been absorbed by memory too. But that's alright. Just having him is alright. My hand moves of its own accord, sliding down Will's sleeve and grazing his wrist momentarily before lacing our fingers together and giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

I wait. The light grows. A heartbeat pulses. Fingers twitch against mine. He squeezes back.

Thank you for reading this chapter! You'll never know how much 4k reads means to me! Check out the picture for this chapter, I created it myself. Happy 20th chapter! And Happy Holidays if I don't update again this year.
Thanks again!
xoxo, Tilly