Alice in Red (ON HOLD)

One

"Alice Liddell!" The stern voice of her tutor snapped, taking the young girl out of her daydream.

Alice looked down from the branch she was perched upon. Her English tutor stared up at her from behind a pair of thick framed, round glasses, a large, disapproving frown resting on his face.

"Ms. Liddell, might I ask what you are doing at this very moment?" he huffed, annoyed to find her, yet again, on another one of her little episodes.

"Why sir, I was just rescuing this baby sparrow," Alice gestured to a crushed looking bird laying on the branch, "but it seems that I was too late. It's dead now."

Alice's tutor looked closely at the young girl, scrutinizing every detail. Black shoes sat over plain white stockings. A light blue dress with puffed sleeves covered the majority of her tiny frame. Long golden blonde hair danced around her head in the breeze, the only thing holding it back from escaping completely was a thin, black headband tied into a bow at the top of her head. She looked like an ordinary 15 year old kid. Fair-haired and pale-skinned, Alice was what they would call a porcelain beauty.

But Alice's tutor knew better than to judge by appearances.

He held back his shiver as he noticed something dark splashed on her elbow.

"Alice, you have a little bit of something on your arm."

Alice looked at her arm. Deep red liquid bathed her alabaster skin in thin lines, starting from her elbow to her wrist. It glistened in the midday sun, like crystals on a beach.

A single droplet fell onto the fabric of her trim blue dress.

"Oh how silly of me. I do apologize sir, for it seems that I was a bit careless this time." Alice gave a delightful little laugh, "it's a shame really, my skirt got sullied. Looks like it's done for good. I'd better go before something else gets ruined as well." She gave a sweet but pointed look towards the short middle aged man.

Alice's tutor let out the long held shiver, and trembled ever so slightly as the cheerful young girl hopped down from the top of the tree.

~~~

Alice hummed quietly to herself as she wandered through the extravagant rose garden. Reds, whites, and pinks surrounded her, their delicate flowering buds wide open. It smelt of ripe fruits and summertime. It was a stunning scene, yet Alice payed them no mind, for this was perhaps the thousandth time she had strolled through along this path. But it wasn't the bright, colourful vegetation that captured Alice's attention. Instead, the reason behind Alice's almost daily trek through the dazzling array of flora was, not to enjoy the scenery, but to enjoy the small hidden things the scenery held.

The first time, it had just been a small, plain looking field mouse. She had been wandering aimlessly through the estate's grounds searching for some kind of entertainment, when she saw the tiny creature. It lay in the shadows, under the prickly thorns and twisted stems of a red rosebush. She had stopped and knelt down to pick it up. It was a poor, scrawny little thing, all fuzzy fur and pointed bones. It had reminded her of the images that she saw in her history textbook, of the sick and injured animals.

And in every story, each animal had died.

Thinking of all the animal sacrifices that the English had made before her, she had picked up a jagged rock from beside her. And with a bit of pity, and all her strength, she slammed the serrated stone into its skull.

A sudden gust of warm air blew into Alice's face, tossing the thin blossoms around, loose leaves dancing in the wind. A single petal landed on her shoulder. Alice stopped humming.

Almost completely obscured behind a couple of giant bushes, for just a split second a brief flash of white could be seen through the tangle of leaves. Alice grinned at her good luck. With a small giggle Alice ran after the pretty white rabbit.

The rabbit was fast, and Alice was getting annoyed, not to mention, extremely tired.

They had been running for a good 10 minutes, yet neither of them had stopped for a break. It was as if the aminal knew that it's end was near, so it continued to dart about, avoiding Alice's grasping hands. Alice was getting mad. Why couldn't she catch the stupid bunny. It wasn't fair, her hair was loose from the wind and her stockings were ripped from the thorns. Why couldn't she just be a tiny bit faster.

As if the rabbit had heard her prayer, it halted its hopping right in front of a large pear tree. Alice slowed to a stop. Perfect. With lightning speed, she pounced upon the unsuspecting animal.

And missed.

With a frustrated groan, Alice grabbed the nearest thing and pulled, spitting dirt and grass out of her mouth as she stood back up.

The rabbit had disappeared. Alice wandered around the tree, disappointed that she hadn't been able to play with the funny looking rabbit. When she had gone once around the big trunk, she noticed something that definitely hadn't been there before.

There, sitting between the roots of the tree was a hole. The hole was nothing out of the ordinary, big and dark with dirt, except that it most definitely wasn't there the first time she'd walked past.

Alice cocked her head to one side, thinking. Then, feeling adventurous she strolled up to it and looked down.