Alice In Wonderland

Chapter 8

   I popped the pills and the pain perished almost immediately. I looked down at my stitches and ran my finger lightly along the rim of them. Ouch.
   Still sitting up, I placed my feet upon the cold tile floor and started to stand up, holding a washcloth I found on the counter against the stitches to keep pressure on them. I walked along the counter keeping support of my walk, making my way to the restroom. There were clothes next to the sink, and a black towel hanging on the red towel holder. Carefully, I took my clothes off and looked in the mirror at my ribs and stomach.
"What on Earth..."
The scars were gone, and everything was normal.
"So much for being gentle with the stitches." I muttered to myself.
Turning on the hot water, I hopped in and spent about half an hour just standing there, just standing and thinking. After my contemplation in the shower, I hopped out, brushed my long, blonde curls and put on the clothes that were on the bathroom counter. It was a black dress with red as a secondary color, a short sleeved dress going down to just above my knees. Kind of cute actually. To match was a pair of black slip-ons. Those were quite comfortable as well.

   As I was looking in the mirror, admiring the fact that the dress actually looked alright on me, there was a knock at the door.
"Alice?" A feminine voice called. "Are you decent?"

"Yes," I responded. "Come in."

Her eyes lay upon me and she gasped, covering her mouth with both her hands, one over the other.
"You look beautiful!" She exclaimed. At this point she had already walked around me and gotten a 360 degree look at the dress.
"And it fits perfectly!"

Shyly, I held my left elbow with my right hand, lowering my head just a tad.
"Thanks..." My voice trailed off a little.

"Oh stop being so modest." Her hands did most of the talking; Red had a tendency to use more hand gestures in conversation than she does actual words. "Now, I assume the wounds are healed by now?" She says this like it's normal for deep cuts to heal within minutes of medicine application.
"Surprisingly yes," I said. "They are gone."

Her face lit up. "Oh good!"

What did I just get myself into? I thought.

"Good good good. Follow me please!" And with that she rushed out the door, dragging me by my wrist.
"Might I ask where we are going?"

"No, you will see!" She quickly responded with.

   Things started to seem unreal as she dragged me down countless halls, door after door, they all seemed to look the same.

   "I hate to question your knowledge of your own home but..." I hesitated, not wanting to be disrespectful to a woman of such high power.

    "But what my dear?" She asked.

   "Do you know where you're going?" I finished. She stopped, dropped my hand, and turned around, smiling.

   "My dear I thought you'd never ask." With that she snapped her fingers, and we began to fall.

Not again.... I thought to myself. I seem to be doing all the right things considering I keep falling down every hole.

Hours seemed to go by, and we just kept falling and falling. She was still, watching me as I panicked, flailing my arms and turning uncontrollably. Finally, she snapped her fingers again. We stopped spinning.

"Here we are, Miss Alice." She began to disappear. "I hope you make it through this, my dear...." and with that she was gone.

Make it through what? I thought to myself.

I stood in the middle of the pentagonal room, waiting, looking, assessing my surroundings. There was a mechanical wiz, and the metal wall behind me opened up. Slowly approaching it, I looked at the entire room before I walked in, making sure there was nothing there.

Make it through.... make it through the doors? Make it through what?!

Eventually, I heard another buzzing sound.

Another opening?

Nope. The lights went out, and by instinct I ran to the wall of the room, gripping the cold wall. There were several massive thuds before the lights came back on, this time dark and dim with a red glow.

A mirror? Through every direction I saw myself. A mirror maze. Staying connected with the wall, I took one step forward, felt the mirror, and took one step back, leaning against the wall once more. Every direction seemed to do that. Finally, I found a reflection that had no close mirror. Walking forward until I hit the wall, I kept my hand on it and continued walking through passage after passage.

"Ouch!" There's a mirror there.

Good going, Alice.

Oh... is that? Finally! I reached the end of the maze. In front of me was a sign on a post, laying before an empty room, just like the one before.

DON'T TURN AROUND

It read.

Don't turn around? Why can't I---

"Hehe..." A sound came from behind me.

"Wanna play a game...? I'll win.... you can't turn around!" A singsongy voice came from behind me. It sounded like a little girl. It's almost as if I could feel her breathing on my neck.

"So... what'dya say.... wanna play a game...?" I could see her face in the corner of my eye. She was pale, her hair ghastly grey, her eyes glowed a dark, dark red.

"Actually, I'm having enough fun with this one, thank you though." When I get scared and I'm alone, I embrace the fear. Give it no reason or way to scare me.

"Aww... you're no fun..." she stated, then she stood in front of me. "I really wanted to play a game with you...." she frowned and looked shyly at the ground. Then ger neck snapped backwards, making  a God-awful cracking noise. She rolled her neck so her head lay on her shoulder, looking at me, smiling. She shrugged; her head bounced with her shoulder.

"It really is to bad...." with that she lunged backwards , breaking her spine as she sent herself into a bridge position, her spine shattered and twisted, blood all over the floor. She crawled like this in a zigzag pattern; disappearing into the darkness.

What on Earth is this??

Then the Red Queen showed up. She started screaming at me.

"Alice? Alice! ALICE!?"

------------------

My head shot up.

What the...? Oh, it was but a dream.

"Alice? Are you feeling alright?" I was laying on the floor of one of the hallways.

"Yes... I just had the strangest dream..." Sitting up, I rubbed my eyes and took the Red Queens hand which was extended to me in hopes of helping me up.

Good thing I have flats... walking just got a whole lot easier...

"Anyways... where are we headed?" I asked readily.

"Well now we are going back to your room, you still seem quite ill..." she argued.

"No no no I'm alright." She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. I laughed. "Really I am." As we continued walking I noticed something out of the corner of my eye; a flash of pink. Cheshire? No, he'd be invisible here... wait... is that...

Hatter?

What on Earth is he doing here! He must have gotten caught by the guards when we ran! I could've sworn he'd gotten away! Hatter please tell me you're alright....

I'm alright, my dear.

Wait. What?

What?

Hatter.....

Alice.....

Are you in my head?!?