Chapter 1 –Worldbuilding

It was so peaceful up here on the hillside. A few birds could be heard chirping and the cool spring breeze allowed the faintest hint of chocolate to waft lazily across the clearing.

"I wonder what he's creating today." Isabella idly wondered, as she dipped her paintbrush into its holder.

She stood up and stretched. As she grabbed her water bottle for a well-deserved break, her gaze swept across the clearing where her stool and easel were set up.

The muddy pathway gave way to a large open grassy area. Scattered clumps of wildflowers played host to a few bees, their busy buzzing creating a soft background music. A thin brown squirrel leapt from branch to branch, angrily chittering as he was swooped by a blackbird.

Isabelle idly thought back to the scrawny squirrel she had found so long ago, out in the cold and all alone with barely any fur. She had nursed it back to health as best she could and released it into this very clearing.

It had never returned, and she often wondered if it had lived a happy life.

The small hill she was standing on overlooked part of the bustling town nearby. From this vantage point, the imposing chocolate factory could be seen in all its grey concrete glory. From up here, the stark, depressing building was softened slightly by the nearby trees and wildflowers that grew all over the hillside.

Very few people wandered up this way these days. Everyone was far too busy trying to scrounge a living, working several jobs and long hours, just trying to survive for another day, another month and another year. The financial crisis combined with the automation revolution had hit this manufacturing town particularly harsh. Although few people were completely without income, the relentless monetary chase resulted in most people having no time, or desire to observe the beauty that surrounded them.

If she were completely honest, the only reason the town continued to survive was from the overflow of tourists from the much larger city a few miles away. A few day trippers usually made the effort come and 'see the town Willy Wonka made famous.' Even the local train station had made an effort to preserve 'The Charm of Bygone Days' and had had spent money to convert a vintage steam locomotive to run on E-friendly energy.

The whole tourist section of the town looked picture perfect where it counted. Some wily entrepreneurs had set up various shops to make the most of the rich visitors by selling souvenirs, trinkets and oozed charm and sophistication. What was that saying again? 'A fool and his money are easily parted.' That phrase applied nicely to this place.

Isabella sighed. Depressing thoughts were crowding in on her again. It could be difficult to stay positive if she dwelled too long on the negative aspects of daily life.

She gazed at her painting. It was quite a large canvas and it had taken years to save enough money to buy the supplies she needed. Drawing and painting had always brought a smile to her face and this project was especially close to her heart.

Her bright and happy artwork, full of fantastic swirls of colour and movement stood in sharp contrast to the stark, depressingly grey building of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. The twin smokestacks loomed ominously against the blue sky, whereas in her painting, they wore stripes of red and white, making the viewer think of candy canes and happiness.

Oh, the possibilities of imagination were truly endless. Her and Charlie had spent many lazy summer afternoons lying on this hillside, imagining all the different things that factory could look like if someone was rich and creative enough to make it happen.

The towns church bells began to sing their three o'clock song, signalling the end of another school day.

Isabella smiled; it was time to pack up. Charlie would be up here soon, jabbering on about how much he hated his Tuesday chemistry lessons.

Checking to see if the canvas was dry enough to pack away into its carry case, she methodically swapped her canvas to a half-finished landscape painting. There was no way Charlie would be allowed to see her master piece until it was finished. It was supposed to be his big surprise gift. Oh, she was so looking forward to his face when he saw 'their' Chocolate Factory, in all its colourful wonder, hanging on his bedroom wall.

Settling herself down, she began to paint, losing herself in her little world until Charlie came stomping up the path.

"Hi Izzy."

Charlie threw his backpack on the ground and flopped himself down on the rocks nearby.

"Hey Charlie, how was school today?"

"Miserable as usual. Mr. Turkentine still picks on me at least twice during the lesson. He started the day with a pop quiz about stuff we haven't learned yet and then later he told me to make wort remover in front of the whole class."

Izzy laughed out loud. "Sounds fun. How did it go?"

"Disaster. We evacuated the class room for the rest of the morning. What a waste of time. He never teaches us anything useful."

Charlie looked so dejected it broke Izzy's heart to look at the twelve-year-old boy slumped against the rocks.

She suddenly had a mental image of Charlie as a scruffy 18-year-old reclining sloppily against the rocks, death stick hanging from pale lips and alcohol bottle in hand. His long matted blond hair all messy and his usually pristine school blazer thrown carelessly on the ground like a discarded towel. Dirty shirt sleeves scrunched up to the elbows as he rested one arm against his bent leg. Swigging listlessly from yet another alcohol bottle, as his soulless gaze stared up at the crumbling and abandoned factory. Just another symbol of all his broke dreams.

She shook herself mentally. No. Charlie would absolutely not end up like all the other broken zombies who shuffled through their daily existence.

Charlies future would be as bright as his smile, she would make sure of it. Somehow.

"Here you go Charlie." Izzy rummaged through her pack and produced some sandwiches and a flask of hot tea for the two of them.

They ate together in companionable silence, just chatting occasionally about their day.

Charlie eventually pulled out his homework and began scribbling, whilst Izzy continued her painting.

It was a peaceful time for the two of them. All too soon though, the sun had sunk low enough to signal that it was time to pack up and head back to the real world before trouble found them in the dark.

They trudged back towards town. Trees and shrubs slowly being replaced by broken concrete and barbed wire the closer they came to the outer edge of the warehouse district. As usual, they took a shortcut through the alleyway that rang alongside the outer walls of the chocolate factory. Turning the corner, they eventually emerged onto the main roadway that passed by the ornate front gates.

The delicious smell of chocolate was much stronger down here and strange whizzing noises and pops could be heard if you really paid attention. Charlie stopped and hung onto the thick iron bars, gazing longingly across the empty courtyard.

It was a sorry sight indeed. Beyond the ornate iron gate was a wasteland of concrete and crumbling buildings and sheds that used to hold parking spaces for all the workers and deliveries.

Isabelle imagined the noise and chatter that would have filled the air as all the workers would hustle and bustle on their way home to their families. She imagined all the laughter and joking camaraderie that would have taken place. Now however, the factory looked dreary and abandoned, with shadows slowly slithering across the courtyard like snakes.

The only thing that really made them stand at the gates each day was Charlies' imagination and unending enthusiasm for the place.

Isabelle glanced down and smiled softly as Charlie stared up intensely at the factory as he always did. Who knew what he was imagining this time?

The soft whirr-beep of a street-cleaning bot interrupted her thoughts. The gentle forcefield washed over her and Charlie, gently guiding them to the side and out the path of the CleanBot that was diligently sweeping up any debris on the footpath.

Charlie didn't even notice. He was a child of the modern age and had grown up in a world full of automated robotic everything. Charlie was a true child of the Automated Revolution.

Isabelle remembered a different time though. The Automation revolution had happened at lighting speed, even though everyone had known that it was coming. However, when it actually arrived, it still caught so many off guard.

Millions of people had lost their jobs almost overnight. The unemployment agencies could not cope with them all, but as usual, the governments were not concerned and continued to spout the old 'upskill and acquire a new job' nonsense.

Like so many others, Isabelle had lost her job at that time. However, she was one of the lucky few who were both willing and able to relocate far away to a rundown manufacturing town and find a worse job than before.

As the CleanBot whirred away on its journey, Isabelle imagined a time when that same job would have been filled by an actual person. A street sweeping job may have been menial, and the lowest of the low, but at least it would have helped ease the life of a human being, and maybe their family. It would have given someone a reason to get up each day.

Even Wonka's factory had automated and made every single worker redundant in one day. Well, at least that's what she discovered when she had researched the town's history on the FreeWeb at the library.

She glanced down at Charlie.

His grandpa Joe had told a very different story. A story of wonderful, handmade delights and an employer full of life and caring and love. Someone who treated his workers as if they were his very own family.

According the grandpa Joe, the real reason Wonka had shut down the factory and left so many unemployed was because, as usual, people took advantage of kindness and unmercifully abused his trust. Spies had stolen so many of his secrets that Wonka had lost trust in everyone, jumping at shadows and living in constant fear and paranoia. He had closed the factory, locked everybody out and disappeared into the depths of his factory, never to be seen again.

Despite losing his job, grandpa Joe had never once spoken ill of his boss, but almost considered him family. It was no wonder Charlie was so enamoured with the factory and the reclusive owner inside.

Isabelle smiled to herself.

The very best thing that had ever happened in her own life had been Charlie. His family had met her in her first few months in town and had made her feel welcome like no one else ever had. The family had been dirt poor, but loving, oh so very loving. That devastating fire that had stolen their lives had been a horrific shock to her.

Isabelle shook herself out of her memories as Charlie lightly tugged on her sleeve. He looked up at her with a grin, and she slung her arm around him and gave him a quick squeeze.

"What was it like back then?" Charlie asked. "Were the stories true? Is Mr. Wonka really a magician?"

Izzy laughed and kept walking. "You've heard all the stories at least a thousand times by now Charlie." She scolded lightly. "Of course they're not true. Don't you remember your old grandpa Joes stories anymore?"

Charlie left the gates and started following her, repeating from memory everything his favourite grandpa had ever said about the chocolatier.

"He used to be a creative genius but not a magician. He's been a recluse and a hermit for ages and now only the rich can afford luxuries like candy. Willy Wonka liked making people happy, but when he realised that his chocolate was only becoming a status symbol for the rich, he stopped making his fantastic and beautiful treats and just stuck to plain, boring and tasty instead of imaginative and clever."

"That's right Charlie." Izzy replied with a smile. "Remember grandpa Joes favourite? The Ice cream that never melted? He loved that stuff."

"I really miss them." Charlie heaved a big sigh and went quiet.

Isabelle gave Charlie a one-armed hug. "Me too kiddo."

They walked on in silence until they reached the estate where Charlie's foster family lived. It was chaos as usual and really loud with kids running and yelling everywhere.

"See you tomorrow Charlie."

Isabelle hugged Charlie goodbye and continued on to her tiny flat, nestled above a tiny convenience store that doubled as an E-charge station.

She was grateful that electric vehicles had become mandatory as of last year. The petrol and diesel fumes had given way to the low humming of the quick charge E-stations. Her nose and lungs were immensely grateful for the change.

Once inside her flat, she quickly changed into her working uniform, grabbed a light jacket and helmet and climbed back down the stairs to her old battered baby blue bicycle.

Heading towards her night job as an overnight packing clerk at the local supermarket, she sighed. She supposed she should be grateful for the job. It had taken her long enough to find any type of work at all, so she really should not hate being employed in this dismal dead-end job. She should be grateful that the company had only installed automatic checkouts, cleaning, deliveries and unloading machines, but hadn't yet automated the shelf filling and display process. She should be grateful for the pittance she earned by doing this menial job. She should be grateful, really.

Isabelle sighed as she pedalled. In five more years Charlie would be old enough to legally be an adult and could live with her. She loved that kid so much. He had a bright mind and always saw the best in things, he deserved to have a good life and she would help him get it. He shouldn't have to fight for everything like she had been forced to do once she had been kicked out of the foster system twenty years ago.

Isabelle wore a huge grin as she parked her bicycle and walked into her workplace. She was doing this for Charlie.

Notes:

Hi everyone.
Thank you for reading this far and hope you enjoyed the first chapter.

As you can probably tell, this AU follows a very different path than the movies. I won't be giving too much away all at once, but hopefully you already have a pretty good feel for the dystopian setting and characters. Don't worry, you will learn their full back stories as you continue reading through the other chapters.

The children's characters are inspired by both movie versions and I have only tweaked them a little to better fit into this world. My version of Charlie and Wonka will lean very heavily towards the 1971 version because it's my favourite.

Feel free to ask questions and I will try to answer them as the story progresses.

The location itself is fictional and is a mixture of old European village and English industrial warehouse town.

Inspiration for this story is a mixture of sources that include, but are not limited to, both Wonka movies, Gene Wilder's Wonka characterisation, The Great Glass Elevator, old black and white musicals, a drop of Disney and anything else as it appears in my brain.

Genres: Romance, Friendship, Sci Fi, Fantasy, Comedy, (in no particular order)

I do not own anything, and am making no profit from this story.

I am simply borrowing the characters and letting them play in my imagination for a while.

All credit, and my heartfelt thanks, goes to their respective creators.