Alice

21. A Light in the Darkness

21. A Light in Darkness

Slowly, I regained consciousness. I didn't open my eyes right away. I kept them shut, trying to piece together fragments of things I remembered: twirling a sword, the scar on Jack's face, the satisfied look on the Queen's face.... A courtroom? Why had I been in a courtroom?

Then it all came back to me. Jack and I had been sentenced to death for supposedly stealing tarts. I squeezed my shut eyes, praying, wishing, desperately hoping that everything had been a terrible dream.

Slowly, reluctantly, I opened my eyes. And I realized that every last bit of it was real.

For there I was, lying on the hard cold floor of a dungeon cell. The air was freezing. My head was really sore. It was quiet, eerily quiet. I tried to move, but my wrists and ankles were bound with chains. I struggled, instinctively trying to free myself.

"Alice," Jack's concerned, soothing voice was near me. "Alice, you're going to hurt yourself."

With difficulty, I rolled over to face him. He was lying next to me, his eyes sad, but relieved.

He reached out and carefully and gently grasped both of my hands. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"I- I guess so," I said. My voice was shaky. The full force of the situation I was in had finally crashed down on me. I was locked away in a cell, waiting to be executed. However, I knew I had to appear strong for Jack's sake. If he saw how much all of this was hurting me, he wouldn't wait for the Queen to cut off his head. He'd do it. So, I took a deep breath and steadied myself before I asked, "What happened?"

"One of the guards hit you over the head with the bottom of a sword," Jack answered.

Well, that explained the bump that I felt forming on my head. "How long have I been out?"

"I don't know. We don't have a clock. But it seemed like a really long time," Jack answered. I could tell that he'd been awake the entire time, whether it was an hour or a day. I tried to sit up, but it was too hard.

"Here, let me help," Jack, who had propped himself up against the wall, said, inching his way over to me. "Dad, could you give me a hand?"

I hadn't realized that Conrad was in the room until Jack spoke to him. Well, it seemed plausible that the only three living human beings down here would be together. Plus, she knew that it would be torture enough watching each other suffer.

Conrad made his way over to me, and the two of them helped me to a sitting position. "Thanks," I said gratefully, stretching my legs in front of me.

The three of us sat there silently. I watched as a mouse scurried across the floor.

Finally, I asked the question that had been nagging at me: "When?"

Jack took a deep breath. He knew what I meant. "Tonight."

My life was going to end in a matter of hours. I pursed my lips, and when I opened my mouth again, a sigh escaped them.

"At least we're together," I said. I slid closer to Jack and lay my head against his chest. He stroked my hair.

"I just wish it didn't have to be like this," Jack said sadly.

"True love never stands a chance," Conrad said forlornly. I looked at him. "Romeo and Juliet, Cleopatra and Marc Anthony, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, my beautiful wife and me, the two of you.... It never ends well. True love never seems to win."

If it had been any other time, I would have smiled. I guess a love of reading ran in the family.

"But what about all of the love stories that end happily? Cinderella? Beauty and the Beast? Rapunzel?" I argued.