|
She pressed her finger next to the metal edge of the blade and closed her eyes; it felt cool to the touch and eased the searing flames that seemed to be burning inside her head. She could also hear the metal clanks and whistles from the various bits of machinery that worked non-stop around her which adding to her headache.
Alice opened her eyes and focussed back on the very large knife sitting in the palm of her hand. It was well balanced and she flipped it from hand to hand - it almost seemed to be perfectly sized for her. She pressed her finger against the tip of the blade and felt the razor sharpness of the knife. She then watched it cut her finger open so that her blood started dripping onto the floor. Her finger started to throb and burn, and she instinctively put it in her mouth to sooth the sensation. 'Seems too real for a dream that does' she thought to herself.
The cat watched her all this time sitting a few feet in front of her on the rocky ground. It was a pathetic looking creature - just a pile of fur and bones with a disturbingly big grin and various intricate tattoos placed all over his body. And a huge golden earring on his right ear that actually seemed to be too heavy for the ear and was beginning to tear through the skin leaving a horrible bloody groove behind it. Its eyes were much like his teeth - bright yellow and very unnatural looking but the cat itself didn't seem to mind its looks; in fact quite the contrary if the grin was anything to go by.
Alice looked back at the cat, her big green eyes staring into the cat's eyes and for once the Cheshire Cat felt that it had met his match. It hadn't always been like this of course - ten years ago he had come across the little girl wondering in the woods after she had had a rather strange meeting with the Duchess of Wonderland. He himself had been much better looking then and was used to being properly fed and looked after and so had the girl. She had been full of innocence and when she had looked at the cat then, her emerald eyes had filled the cat's heart with a strange warmness that he had always missed after Alice had left. He was now looking back into those very same eyes but this time they cut into him like a piece of jagged jade, tearing his heart into pieces. It wasn't that they weren't innocent because they certainly were. In fact that was the problem; Alice looked as innocent as she had always done but this time there was a fiery tempest within those eyes and in a way the cat had to admit that she actually fitted into Wonderland perfectly. It was as if she had come home because right now, she looked just as mad as the rest of them.
Alice blinked and stood up from the rock that she had been resting on and dusted off her dress. She wore a light blue and white dress, which wasn't light blue anymore really - more of a dirty blue brown and the white parts of the dress had started to become grey mixed with stains of blood all over. As her fingers pressed over her blood, Alice recalled how those stains occurred. All she remembered was that she had suddenly woken from some kind of darkness with a sense of blind rage. Her arms and fingers had started to shake uncontrollably that night and she had pounced from her bed like an animal with her sights set on the orderly who had tried to feed her rabbit. This orderly had her back turned to Alice and with one large swing of her right hand she had pummelled the left shoulder of the orderly spinning her so she faced the girl.
The orderly probably would never see anything more horrifying in her life. The figure before her no longer resembled a little girl, but looked much like a child possessed. Her lips were twisted into a very strange grin and her eyes were wide open; in fact far too wide open. Alice had looked at the orderly; the anger pulsating through her arms and her legs and all she had seen was a putrid pile of flesh that had made fun of her. Made fun of Alice. She had grabbed the spoon from the orderly's hand and decided that she would force feed the orderly. But there was no food so she decided she would force-feed the orderly her own stinking flesh. She had dug the spoon deep into the woman's arm and created a huge gash leaving the woman shivering with fear for her life and scrambling to leave the room. At this point Alice had looked around the room to find that the walls were laughing. They had huge grins and big noses and all the faces were laughing hysterically. She had found it very funny too and she remembered giggling wildly to herself and then getting an irresistible urge to slash her own wrists with her spoon. That was the last thing she remembered and on waking she had found the stains on her dress.
Alice shook her head violently to suppress the memories that had flooded her mind and focussed back on the cat sitting in front of her.
'Your madness is not a disability but a crutch to keep you sane in this very insane world' said the Cheshire Cat seeming to read Alice's thoughts. 'It is your sickle cell anaemia to Wonderland's malaria..'
Alice scowled at the cat and made a mock stabbing gesture at it. 'I am tired of your riddles cat' she replied. 'And I seem to have a frightful headache, please go away'.
The cat faded away, its grin fading last until it was nowhere to be seen. Alice folded her arms and surveyed her surroundings again. She was near the start of the mines outside which she had landed previously from god knows where, and for what seemed for miles, all she could see was machinery clanking away producing steam and smoke and far too much noise for her to handle. There were also strange little men running around resembling dwarves but thin and scraggly - 'probably far too overworked' she had thought to herself.
Alice pressed her finger to her lips and recalled what she was supposed to do. After landing outside the mines, she had been approached by a white rabbit. In fact it had been 'the' very same white rabbit from all those years back, which she had chased down the rabbit hole that had led her to the land in the first place. And it seemed she was destined to do the same one more time but of course as always there was a hitch. The rabbit had disappeared through a very small hole and she needed a potion to become small. She recalled her previous times in Wonderland and all the problems she had had with changing size; it was definitely not something she was looking forward to. But she had found out that a wizened old dwarf deep in the mines would be able to give her information on how exactly to become very small and she should be heading down there.
Alice started to walk down the narrow walkways along the mineshafts following the various confusing signs and before long she found herself almost tripping over something that ran in her way. It had been a small child - a small dwarven girl dressed in rags with bits of coal smudged over parts of her face. She had looking into the little girl's eyes then and had felt like she had been staring into her very own for she had the same deep emerald green eyes. The child had paused for a moment and then seemed to step back in alarm when it spotted the huge knife in Alice's hand.
'Oh don't worry' Alice said slowly putting the knife down on the ground before her and kneeling before the child. 'I won't hurt you'. She smiled at the child who inched closer to Alice. This gave Alice time to examine the little girl more closely. There was no question that the girl was very pretty but it was very hard to even make out the little girl under all the dust and grime. And she had huge dark rings under her eyes as if she hadn't slept in a while and as if she had the worries of the world on her shoulders. Her blonde hair had almost turned brown and her skin had become a mixture of pink, brown and black.
'You are the one aren't you?' whispered the little girl. 'The one that will save us all?'
Alice blinked. 'Nothing will happen to you darling, not when I am around, I promise you'
'But will you save us? The Queen is working us all to the bone and my dad has been taken very ill. All the schools have been closed down and we are forced to work in the mines and I don't know what.' The child started to sob.
Alice placed her hand on the little girl head. She pulled the girl close and hugged her while she sobbed on her shoulder. Alice stroked her soft hair and felt the bits of dirt that had gathered which she attempted unsuccessfully to pull out. She even took out a handkerchief and attempted to wipe some of the grime off the girl's soft skin. It was then that she realised that the child's soft skin had also been bruised and battered, no doubt by some of the slave drivers that ran these mines. After a while the girl stopped crying and stepped back staring back up at Alice.
'Go home darling, I won't let you down I promise' Alice said to the little girl with a smile.
The little girl seemed satisfied with the answer and darted up the path at an amazing pace and was gone in a second. Alice shook her head sadly, picked up her knife and started walking forward again when she heard a scream. She ran forward for a minute and rounded a corner to find herself outside a small group of houses where she saw the little girl again. Except she was being held by her hair by a very peculiar figure. He was a card - a playing card to be exact except he had a normal human head on top of it and normal arms and legs.
His face was twisted in a malicious grin and was taking great pleasure in dragging the little child around by her hair. 'Hello there pretty, it is so nice to see you! What will you do for me today?' he rasped, at the child, his tongue waving wildly in the air as he spoke.
Alice stood there facing the two and she felt a strange sensation of warmth at the back of her neck and her spine. She felt the tingling in her arms and she felt like she had experienced this somewhere before.
'Hello'. One word, that's all she spoke.
The club guard turned his attention from the little girl who he was still dragging to Alice who stood calmly by the side of the path.
'Oh my what do we have here' the guard whispered, his eyes widening in delight. 'Oh you will be so much better, I don't need this little thing'. And with that he raised his pike to skewer the little child in front of him.
Alice tensed her legs and jumped forward pushing the girl out of the way just in time as the pike thundered down into the ground sending rocks and pieces of dirt flying. And then she was right in front of the guard kneeling before him with the knife in her hand.
'I will be so much better' Alice said.
The card guard stepped back uncertainly as he looked into Alice's face, which no longer resembled what he had been looking back a moment ago. She was smiling back at him. A sweet innocent grin. The grin however didn't go well with her eyes which were stretched as wide as they could possible go and her emerald green irises almost seemed to be rolling upwards so all he c ould see is the whites of her eyes.
He had seen the Queen of Hearts in a temper but he had never seen anything more demonic that this girl before him. And she was advancing.
All Alice could see was a disgusting card figure backing away from her. He could make it much better with her knife. She knew she could, and she would fix him with her knife she thought, and everything would be much better. It was then that she heard a familiar voice from the corner of the cavern.
'Wonderland is your mirror, and innocence once lost is lost forever'. The voice said the words in its strange patronizing voice before slowly fading away. This broke Alice from her trance and she saw the little child in the corner of the cavern, hugging her knees staring at the scene with a frightened look on her face. She was shaking visible and seemed to be scared out of her wits.
With one swift movement Alice flung the knife at the guard pinning his shoulder to the wall, immobilizing him. She stepped to the child and wrapped her arms around it and moved her lips to the child's ear.
'Go home darling, I will take care of this bad man, and remember my promise, I will make sure everything is okay' she whispered and she kissed the little girl on the forehead. The little girl looked into Alice's eyes and was filled with her warmness and with that she turned and ran quickly down the road.
Alice stood, turned back around and faced the guard. The guard looked back at Alice and knew he was going to die. He had just freed itself from the wall but the knife has somehow mysteriously reappeared back in the demon girl's hand and he was cornered. And she was slowly advancing again.
'Where were we, oh yes, we were agreeing that I would be much better'. Alice nodded to the guard. The guard made one desperate attempt to skewer Alice with a huge swing but she dodged deftly aside and the pike crashed down into the ground again. And then she proceeded to slice his arm off which also fell to the ground leaving a huge bloody stump.
The guard stumbled back, blood starting to ooze from his mouth as he stared wide eyed, his remaining arm held up in front of him in defence.
'Show mercy child, the Queen of Hearts would kill me if I didn't do what she said' he stuttered.
'Shhh' Alice whispered to him, her finger held in front of her lips. She smiled back at him sweetly and moved forward so her face was an inch away from his. He could feel her warm breath on his face and he watched the demon child take her knife (and she still had the same sickly sweet smile on her face while she did this) and place the edge in the centre of his forehead. He felt the pain of the blade being held on his skin
And then she started pushing the knife in.
The last words he heard were Alice whispering 'I am much better am I not guardie?' before his world collapsed into darkness.
-----
Alice wiped her blade on her dress and stood in front of the guard's body.
'Well I better find that old man, I still need to get smaller' she said to herself. 'I do hope he does know what to do otherwise it will be awfully hard to follow that rabbit'. And with that she began to half skip, half walk further down the mine.
~END~
|
|
