Lizzy said she wanted to stay up late. She said she wanted to watch scary adult movies. But no, Alisha held her ground, or at least half her ground. It was past 10:00 and five-year-old Lizzy was two hours past her bedtime, hiding under a blanket finishing up the second "adult" movie Alisha let her watch. She knew her parents wouldn't let her watch an actual scary movie, so Alisha decided to play the original Willy Wonka and the remake for her. Despite being clearly disturbed by the first-as any sane person would be-she still insisted she be allowed to watch the other one.
Alisha didn't really care too much. She was sixteen and a babysitter, so she basically spent the night on the phone with her friends. Only when the second movie was done did Alisha actually go and check on Lizzy, still with the phone in her hand. She found the poor girl half asleep and shaking.
"Hey, Lizzy, bedtime."
Lizzy looked up at her with frightened eyes.
"I don't wanna'," she said, clearly trying to turn a fearful appearance into a defiant one. Alisha wasn't going to take the time to deal with that.
"Come on, I let you stay up and watch movies like you wanted. Now do me a favor and get some sleep, 'k?" she then said into the phone, "Yeah, I'm putting her to bed now."
With much reluctance Lizzy agreed. She didn't say anymore, but she really was scared. Almost every scene, jumbled up in her childish brain, was contorted into something even more horrifying. She already anticipated nightmares involving oompa loompas and a maniacal mad scientist performing horrific experiments on kids like her. Alisha didn't care and she knew it, but to Lizzy there were other concerns. Even at her young age she realized that her being scared, or sad, or upset, had implications beyond when others had those feelings. There was something inside her, or maybe something around her, that made already bad things worse. Still too young to understand, but old enough to know that this wasn't normal, she was often silent when things outside the ordinary happened when she was upset. She started to understand she was responsible but didn't yet know if it was intentional or outside her control.
"Anyways, I still got like another hour here. Hey, what was the homework for Mr. Duncan's class . . .?"
Alisha sat lie on the couch while Lizzy lie in bed, shivering, afraid not just from normal childhood thoughts, but from what those thoughts might turn into. If Alisha had taken time to comfort her, it might have made some difference, but then Lizzy's moods were powerful ones not easily changed. And Alisha was just a sixteen-year-old girl, more self-absorbed than the usual teenage. She worried about what her friends thought, what her enemies thought, that she was getting too fat, the normal things. Lizzy had noticed on some level that her babysitter was getting larger lately, although she was not quite fat yet. Lizzy remembered watching the original Willy Wonka, thinking of the fat kid who fell into the chocolate . . .
Lizzy heard a dripping sound from the other room. A clash or a bang would have alarmed her, but this just made her think the faucet was leaking.
"Hold on, Julie, gotta' check this," she said, leaving the phone as she went to make sure a flood was on her hands. The faucet in the kitchen was fine. She heard the dripping again, but this time it grew steadily, eventually sounding like a sloshing sound coming from the pantry.
"Ooooh, the washing machine," Alisha said. She had used it earlier, but that was hours ago. Could something have broken? She'd certainly not get paid if she flooded the house. She opened the door and gasped.
Smooth melted chocolate spilled out of the pantry. It surrounded her shoes, getting onto her legs. She stepped back.
"What-? Gross, what is this?" she said as the sludge continued to spill out. It seemed to be coming from nowhere.
Then the floor dipped under her where the river was coming from. She cried out, hopping to the side. The river deepened as the chocolate flowed out of the kitchen, into the living room, and then god knows where.
As she watched the river grow in width and depth she became entranced by its flow. She wasn't about to try to drink it, though. That would be ridiculous.
"Ah, my dear, you like what you see? Well, be careful, this river is dangerous," said a man coming from out of the closet. He was dressed in a flamboyant purple suit, top hat, and had a wild mess of hair. He looked, Alisha realized as she stepped away, frozen in shock, like some kind of version of Willy Wonka.
"You're-you're-" she stammered.
"Me me? What about you you?" he said, "Like I said, though, you should be careful. This river is dangerous, it's not for swimming in."
Alisha stepped back. "I-I-I wasn't going to . . " Rapidly regaining her composure Alisha's plan was to flee and call for help, but this Wonka was too fast for her.
"It's especially bad for chubby girls to get near it, no offense," the man said with a grin. He was next to her now, standing along the bank of the rushing chocolate river flowing through the kitchen.
"Chubby?" Alisha said, offended despite her fear.
"Don't act surprised," the Wonka person said, he then patted her stomach playfully, "Uh oh."
Alisha jumped back, pushing him away.
"I think it's spotted you," he said, grinning wildly. Something was coming out of the river, or rather, the river itself grew an appendage, a blob. Alisha backed into the stove.
"What? What is this?"
"I'm sorry, young lady, but I'm afraid it thinks you'll make a good home," the man leaned on his cane, looking almost sorry. Alisha didn't have time to think. She pushed her hands in front of her face but was too slow to stop the river tendril from rushing into her mouth. She tried to scream and only gurgled, forced to the floor as she felt herself swallowing more and more of the rich, thick chocolate.
"You won't drown in it but it'll drown in you it seems. At least as much as you'll hold, mm?" the man prodded Alisha's tummy with his cane. It was getting full now, rounding out, popping her shorts open and pushing her shirt up. She had to stop trying to force the chocolate back and now grab her stomach, hoping to stop it from filling. Every cry was a helpless gurgle. She was virtually paralyzed with panic as the river continued to fill her, plumping her belly further and further from its normal state. She felt she would burst. Tears streamed from her eyes. There was no hope, she was simply too full of chocolate to get any more into her. Her stomach rose up and outward a foot, two feet, maybe more, sloshing and forcing her onto her back.
"Gluuurrgggle please stop!" she finally screamed.
She opened her eyes. The man was gone. The river was gone. But her the chocolate on her face, the stains on her shirt, and her enormous, heavy belly remained. With a sad croak, Alisha finally screamed for help.
Upstairs, Lizzy heard the sounds, having no idea what was really happening. She wanted it to stop but didn't know how. So she hid under her blanket. She didn't even come out when she heard Alisha yelling, begging for somebody to help her.
Somewhere, down the dark streets of Sunnydale, a creepy man in purple strode waving a cane and humming a jaunty tune to himself.
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