life would be sweeter / charlie and the chocolate factory ✔️

2

So, it was on my agenda to meet some people nearby. An organization that supports our orphanage also supports a retirement home next to our building.

How does it function? They chose a few children from schools and institutions like ours to participate in a program called "Little Kids, Big Helpers" for three weeks. I was one of the seven representatives.

The retirement home was warmly known as Orchard's Home for the Elderly. When we're not busy, someone will tell us a story about their children or a memorable moment. Given that the majority of us are children, they take great care with the details.

We ate breakfast at 8:00 a.m., despite the fact that it was difficult to wake up the kids. Miss Mitchell, on the other hand, is not with us today. Perhaps she was preoccupied with work?

"Oi, (Y/N)! Do you plan to eat that or what?" someone asked as I shook my head. It was Robert, a friend with a deadpan expression.

"For your information," I sighed, "I'm eating it right now." He scoffed and went on a mini-rant on how to eat things right. I'm guessing he's just overreacting.

When we're finished, I and four others get ready to go to the building next door. I wore nothing too fancy, just a blouse, leggings, and a coat with a scarf.

Wearing my boots, I grabbed a small bag and went out of my room. Now, we're all ready to go!

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Miss Mitchell was actually waiting for us outside. When we asked her where she was before, she just shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

We walked to the retirement home, as excited as we could be. They placed us on a weekly basis, so it's today's schedule. So we stepped inside as usual, greeted the elderly, and started the day like any other day.

In the afternoon, during my break, an old friend of mine came over to talk with me. She looked around her 60's, but she's active as ever! I refer to her mostly as Mrs. Franklin, though I slip myself calling her first name from time to time.

"Hello, dear (Y/N). Would you please accept a few goodies from me?" She picked out a few things from her pocket, which included a small piece of candy and a few defective pieces of toothpaste caps.

I gave a beaming smile. "Oh, wow! Thank you, Mrs. Franklin. This is just what I needed for my project!" I said, thanking her with both hands.

"No problem, dear. Now hide those before Josephine bugs me again. You know how annoying she is; she's like a fly you can't swat away!" she mumbled.

Making a small laugh, I replied, "Very funny. But, please, don't call her names in public. She might hear you!" I whispered the last part.

Mrs. Franklin laughed. That's her usual answer, assuming that she doesn't care if someone hears her.

"But, of course, (Y/N). I'm just teasing you," she smiled, nudging my arm. I smiled again.

Then it was time to go home. We all said our goodbyes and walked back to the orphanage.
I checked my pockets. Thank goodness, the small items were still here. I held on tight as we walked through the pedestrian lane.

As we were passing by some homes, I saw smoke coming from the factory. It must be that the factory was working again.

Although, these past few days, I haven't seen any signs of people working there. Did he hire new ones from an unknown place?

When we reached the orphanage, Robert called for my attention. "Ugh, fine. What do you want from me?" I sighed.

"I caught you daydreaming again. The sun is still awake, dumdum." He gave me a playful smirk. I rolled my eyes and followed him behind.

All was well in the orphanage. Kids were getting noisy here and there, but not as noisy as other neighbors would complain.

I went back to my room, placing my bag on the floor. Plucking out the candy and the defective toothpaste caps, I looked in my closet.

I shoved away the coats to find myself a replica of Mr. Wonka's chocolate factory. Decorated with lots of toothpaste caps and a few tissue paper parts, I placed the last cap on the person's body.

Actually, that cap looked like the hat of Mr. Wonka. Perfect, and all done after months of hard work!

"What you're working on, (Y/N)?" a voice asked. I turned my head swiftly, but it was just Robert again.

"Mrs. Franklin found it. Just the piece I needed," I answered, looking back at the replica.

The boy sat down on the floor. "What piece was it?"

"A head for Willy Wonka," I said. His name rings a bell to anyone, but there were a few people who knew his mysterious ways.

Robert stared at the factory and replied, "It's quite a likeness."

"You think so?" I asked, gawking at his reaction.

"Think so? I know so! With a scholarship to an art school, you can be famous!" He stood up from the floor.

"Well, I don't really need a scholarship to prove I'm artistic," I chuckled.

Robert then smirked, stating that he knew it was inevitable that any situation would lead to global fame.

We never spoke to each other for the rest of the day,, but I'm assured he's busy with the other children again.

"Alright, everyone, it's time for dinner,, so gather here at the table!" I heard Miss Mitchell's voice coming from downstairs. I decided to follow her instructions.

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"Can we know the ending of the story, please?" they all begged.

"But what if the ending might be sad? I don't want all of you to cry so badly in the night." I looked at them, smiling.

But they insisted. So, I gave in, and all of the kids gathered around me for the ending.

"Remember what happened to Prince Pondicherry?" I asked. They all nodded.

So I started to tell them the last parts of the story. "Well, all the other chocolate makers, you see, had grown jealous of Mr. Wonka. They began sending in spies to steal his secret recipes." Some of the kids were shocked; some of them had a frown on their faces.

"The thievery got so bad that one day, without warning, Mr. Wonka told every single one of his workers to go home. He announced that he was closing his chocolate factory forever," I said.

Then, I could visualize the scene in my head. Imagine being a young girl who didn't understand what was going on but kept hoping for the day that it'd open again.

"Is it going to be forever?" a girl named Anita pondered.

"The factory did close, Anita. And it seemed like it was going to be closed forever," I sighed.

I changed my tone into a hopeful one and added, "Then just today, I saw smoke rising from the chimneys. I could assume that the factory was back in business!"

The kids were murmuring to themselves, while others were chatting excitedly about the candy.

"Wait, what happened to the workers who went home? Did they get their job back?" another kid questioned.

"No," I said. "I haven't seen any people coming out of the factory. We may not get the exact answers, so we'll just have to wait and see."

They all went silent. Then, I told all of them to go to sleep, ending the bedtime story. Some of them groaned, but they decided to follow orders or else, they would get in trouble.

Every child dispersed and Miss Mitchell led me to my room. As I plopped down on my bed, snuggled in my pajamas and in the sheets, I dreamed about the day I'll enter Mr. Wonka's factory.

Miss Mitchell turned off my room lights and I slept nicely for tonight. But, I felt something good was going to happen very soon.