'What the hell did I just witness?'

By the time the song had ended, we were down one child and one parent. Augustas's mother seemed a little distraught, but if that were my son who just got sucked up a tube and taken God knows where in this god forsaken factory, some ones teeth would be scattered across the floor. 

 Danny tugged on my hand to get my attention. "I think that was a red flag." 

 "That was like several," I said as I looked down at him. 

"But I'm invested right now." "Mom," Danny said with a wavy voice. "I don't want to end up like that."

 "You won't, baby," I say as I put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Both Danny and I stayed farther back from the rest of the group. Considering how little they all reacted to what happened with the boy, I didn't want to be near them when it happened again. If it happened again. 

 Suddenly, out of nowhere, a large, magenta thing that resembled a boat appeared before us. Wonka ushered all of us on one by one, and seeing how we were the last ones to get on, Wonka ended up taking the last available seat next to me. 

 The kids kept asking him questions as we sat there, and I couldn't help but lean back and relax. It felt good to get off my feet, even if it were for a few minutes. The sweet smell of the warm chocolate wafted up around us, and I couldn't help but feel content. 

 "Here, try this," said a voice beside me. I look over to see Wonka hold what looked like a ladle but made of the same material as the boat. 

 I shook my head. "I'm good." 

 "Oh, come on," he said as he motioned to the brown liquid. "One sip. It's not going to hurt." 

 "I know, I'm good," I reiterate to him. 

 "I am going to get you to try something," he said with a laugh as he poured the chocolate back in the river. "Just you wait." 

 I chuckled. "Don't hold your breath."

"Mr. Wonka. Mr. Wonka!," said the boy whose name I think I Charlie. "We're headed for a tunnel."

 "Oh yeah," he said, quite startled. "Full speed ahead."

 The tunnel in front of us was pitch black. No light came out of it, and no light went into it. It was like a void that was going to swallow us whole. My heart started to race in my chest. I wasn't a fan of the dark, even if I was on a weird ass candy boat. 

 Suddenly, the lights turned on, and immediately there was a drop. I couldn't help but let out a small scream and grabbed the closest thing that was next to me, which happened to be Wonka's arm. I could tell that I caught him by surprise. But honestly, I didn't care. This was like an amusement park ride, and I did not like those. That's why when I took Danny to a theme park, I took a friend of his with us so he would have someone to ride with. 

 I shot Wonka an apologetic glace before I was about to let him go, however just before I was about to let him go, there was another drop. This drop, however, caused me to fall against Willy. I pushed myself off of him quickly, but I could have sworn I saw a smirk appear on his face, even if it was for a second. 

The boat started to slow, but I still felt nauseous. As the boat slowed, we passed what looked like circular doors. They all read weird things, like coffee and hair cream. I couldn't listen to what anyone was saying. I was too focused on not throwing up. When the boat stopped, Danny turned around to look at me with an exited look. 

 "Mom, that was fun," he said excitingly, but his face turned to worry when he saw my face. "Are you okay?" 

 I nodded as I let out a small burp that did not taste good. "I'm fine." 

 Everyone exited the boat as I struggled to stay steady on my feet. The motion on the boat bobbing up and down didn't help my sick feeling, and it took all my power to not puke in the chocolate river. As I was stepping off the boat, my foot slid, and I started falling. I lifted my arms and braced myself for impact, but it never came. I opened my eyes to see the sleeves of a burgundy coat wrapped around me. I looked up to see Willy holding me up. He was the one who had saved me from falling.

 "Thanks," I say as he slowly helps me back to my feet. 

 "No problem," he says before coaching to clear his throat. "Alright, everyone inside." 

 Wonka ushers all of us into a room labeled 'inventing room'. Once inside, the sound of multiple machines buzzing all at once was enough to make my head spin, and at the time I still felt lightheaded, so it wasn't a good combination. I hung back away from the group. I was starting to feel overwhelmed and overstimulated. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, hoping it would alleviate the sick feeling in my stomach. 

 "Is everything alright?" asked a voice that was beside me. I opened my eyes and looked over to see Wonka staring at me with what looked like a concerned look on his face. Well, what I thought looked like a concerned look. 

 "Yeah," I said as I readjusted myself on my feet. "This is just... a lot." I motioned to the area around us. All the kids were off somewhere, oohing and awing everything in front of him. 

 "I see," he said as he followed my gaze, which was Danny. He was off talking to the boy who was with his grandfather. "Your son seems to be enjoying himself."

 "Well, we are vacation right now, so I'm glad he's having fun." 

 "Vacation?" Wonka asks with a confused tone, as if the word was foreign to him. 

 "Yeah," I nodded as I turned my attention back to my kid so he wouldn't get into trouble. "My parents decided to retire over here, so we took a trip to see them. We were supposed to leave today, but he ended up finding that ticket of yours."

 "Oh," he said with a cheery smile. "I'm glad then."

 "That makes one of us," I say sarcastically. "I was ready to go home." 

 "Then why didn't you?" Wonka asked me in a serious tone. "Someone else could have brought him." 

 "Um, no. It's just me and him," I tell him as I watch all the kids all gathered in the middle of the room. "I think your presence is needed." 

 Wonka looked up at the group of kids and sighed before walking towards them. My stomach was starting to settle, and the feeling of throwing up was gone. 

 "These are Everlasting Gobstoppers," Wonka said as he held up what looked like a red ball. "They're for children who are given very little allowance money. You can suck on it all year and it will never get smaller."

 "Like gum," the blond child said in excitement, and I could see the corner of his mouth twitch. 

 "No, gum is for chewing," he said, clearly annoyed. "If you tried chewing a Gobstopper, you'd break all your little teeth off. But they sure do taste terrific." 

 Before anything else could be said, Wonka took off towards another machine and pulled the lever. The machine kicks to life, and all the parts start moaning and groaning. Before anything else could happen, what looks like a stick of gum pops out of the bottom. 

 "You mean that's it?" the boy named Mike said. 

 "Do you even know what it is?" Wonka questioned, obviously annoyed. 

 "It's gum," the blond headed girl said. 

 "Yeah," Wonka says as he plucks it from the machine and holds it up to the light. "It's a stick of the most amazing and sensational gum in the whole world. Know why? Know why? Because this gum is a full three course dinner all by itself." 

 Me and Danny share a weird glance, and I was getting a bad feeling about what was to come next. Once Wonka finished us talking, the blond girl snatched the gum out of Wonka's hand, and took the piece she had been chewing out of her mouth and then behind her ear. 

 "I'd rather you didn't. There are still a few things that we're-" Wonka started to say but was then cut off by the girl who put the gum in her mouth. The look on his face was priceless though, but he made no move to stop the girl as she gushed about how amazing it tasted. 

 At least, until her face started turning blue. 

 "Violet! You're turning violet, Violet. What's happening?" said her mom as she watched her daughter get bluer by the minute. I on the other hand, pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming because what crackpipe fever dream is this? However, the pinch hurt, and I swore under my breath. 

 "Well, I told you I hadn't gotten it right, because it goes a little funny when it gets to the dessert. It's the blueberry pie that does it. I'm terribly sorry." 

 Wonka ducks out of sight as the girl gets larger and larger by the second. I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit curious by it. However, this was not the time or the place to be fascinated by it. I looked around to see if there was anything that could help her, but there wasn't. 

 "I've tried it on twenty Oompa Loompas and each one of them ends up as a blueberry. It's just weird!"

 "Mom," Danny said nervously as he grabs my hand. "I want to leave." 

 Wonka's attention snapped back to Danny and me. I could tell he was surprised that someone wanted to leave the tour. Before anything else could be said, music started to play, and I knew what was going to happen. Out of motherly instinct, I pulled Danny away from all of the commotion as I scanned the room desperately for an exit sign. But no matter how hard I looked, I saw only midgets dancing around and one very large blue girl who was getting rolled away. As the music died down, I looked over at the other visitor, who seemed practically unscathed by it. However, Wonka was staring straight at me. 

 "What was that, little boy?" Wonka asked as he stepped towards us. 

 "He said he wanted to leave, Mr. Wonka," I said firmly as I stepped in between him and my son. "If you would be so kind, can you have us escorted out of your factory and then return to your little shop of horrors."

 "Little shop of horrors?" Wonka asked, clearly offended by what I had just said. "I will have you know that horror is something that no one witnesses here."

 I looked at Wonka with a blank stare on my face. "A child almost drowned in a chocolate river. Do you think he enjoyed it?" 

 "He was pulled safely out," Wonka said with a proud look on his face. 

 "That girl just turned into a goddamned blueberry," I yell as I pointed to the door she was just rolled out of.

 "And I told her not to touch it," he countered back. 

 I looked at him dumbfounded. "She's a child of course she going to do the exact opposite of what you said."

 "Oh, come on now. If you guys leave, little Danny won't get his lifetime supply of chocolate," Wonka said as he tried to persuade him. 

 "Fuck your chocolate," Danny said as he stepped out from behind me. "I don't want to end up like one of those other kids."

There was an audible gasp amongst the group of other parents, and I shot them a 'try me' glare. 

 I couldn't tell what Wonka was feeling right now, but I knew it had to be a new emotion for him. I didn't know much about this man, but by the way it looks, he had some growing up to do. 

 "Now here's what you're going to do," I said as I squared up on him. "You are going to have us escorted out, and we are going to pretend none of this all happened today. We will part ways and you can go back to you staying locked in your factory, play vitamin D deficient Candyman." 

 Wonka leaned down next to my ear. "And what if I say no?" 

 "Then I'll lay your ass out. Right here, right now,"

 Wonka let out a deep chuckle, way deeper than I expected. It was like something in him switched, and this was no longer the Wonka I met when this tour first began. Before anything else can be said, Wonka steps to the side and one of his little minions steps to his side. 

 "Please escort these two to the main doors," he stated to his helper without breaking eye contact with me. "Make sure they leave with their jackets. It is awfully cold outside, and I would hate for you to catch a cold."

 The helper nodded before reaching out to grab my hand. I, however, pulled my hand away, The little guy looked confused for a second, while then looking up at Wonka for some sort of direction. 

 "It seems like she will just follow you," Wonka said without breaking eye contact. "It seems like you got that right," I said harshly as I turned to look at the little guy. "Lead the way?" 

 The little guy nodded before stalking off in the direction that I hoped was the exit, and I watched him head to a door that seemed to magically appear out of nowhere. I grabbed Danny's hand and headed towards the door. 

 "Elizabeth." 

 I stopped in my tracks, and slowly turned around to see Wonka staring at me. I did not once tell him my name, and yet somehow, he knew it. How?

 "Til we meet again," he said with a nod and a mysterious smile.

 "I'd rather not," I say rudely before turning to walk out the door, but not before yelling one more smart-ass comment. "Don't kill any more kids."