Alice Mare

The Boy Named Jay

“A-A dream?” Chelsy asked while she comfortably sitting on the bed. She had listened pretty much attentively when I glumly told her what had happened so far. How I met Letty and Rick, How the old shack suddenly became a gingerbread house, and how I fought with Cheshire, but of course I left out the gory details like how I killed the entity that was trying to hurt Letty or how the little white creature almost tore my head off. She seemed to have taken it all calmer than I have imagined, the only thing I ever got from her while telling my tale were occasional nods to show that she was indeed listening.
“Yeah.” I answered, having to relive the experience from Letty’s dream had once again set me on a path towards depression and talking with Chelsy doesn’t seem to be making it better.
“Oh… okay.” She said then suddenly grew quiet.
Okay? I echoed to myself. I just told you the most ridiculous story in history and all you just say is ‘Okay?’ I practically screamed inside my head. True, what I had been asking since I began talking was some peace and quiet to gather my thoughts but Chelsy suddenly growing quiet seemed to have had an agitating effect on me.
“Sorry, I’m not good at talking.” She said suddenly.
“Huh?” I looked at her puzzled.
“I don’t hate it… really, but.” She was saying but decided against it.
“Anyway, it was scary being here alone but I’ve calmed down a bit. Thank you.” She said then flashed me a little smile, which kinda left me feeling guilty for some reason.
“I-It was nothing.” I managed to say, looking away as I did. There was another long pause between us before Chelsy spoke up.
“U-Uhm Allen? Can I ask a favor?” She said so softly that I could barely hear it.
“Y-Yeah?”
“C-Can I come with you?” She asked, poking her fingers against each other as if she just asked the most embarrassing thing in the world.
“Sure.” I said with a slight sigh. It’s not like I don’t want her to go with me, it’s just that I was just so confused right now that I preferred some time alone.
“Okay!” She giggled, which was a first! I looked at her a little surprised and she returned the gaze with a tint of red across her cheeks.
“I-Is there something wrong?” She asked sheepishly.
“N-No! N-Nothing!” I quickly said and turned away, my cheeks already starting to warm, but as I did I heard something crunch underneath my shoe and gently bending down I picked it up.
“It’s just a blank sheet of paper.” Chelsy said from beside me.
“W-What? Can’t you see it?” I looked at her as if she had gone crazy.
“See what?” She asked and just by looking at her I knew she was telling the truth, she really can’t see the writing on the paper.

“My mother has a weak body
So I do the cooking, washing, and other chores instead of her.
My father isn’t home much.
Sometimes he brings home a wolf or a deer.
I want to go to school, but I love mother, so I always stay at home with her.
Mother always lies in bed, saying sorry, I’m sorry…
And her voice always sounds like it’s about to fade away.”

“Allen? Why are you crying?” Chelsy asked while frantically searching her pockets for a handkerchief.
“Huh? Me Crying?” I asked then quickly touched my cheeks and surprisingly found it damp with tears. “I… I don’t know.”


“It’s locked.” Chelsy voiced out what was coursing through my head. We had tried all of the windows and doors inside the house and found them all locked up tight. The house was fairly big considering that half of it was littered with crates full of vegetables, fruits and animal fur. I slouched next to Chelsy who was already sitting on one of the chairs near the large wooden table.
“What are we going to do Allen?” Chelsy asked her voice sounding like a whimper.
“I don’t know, just let me think.” I answered and then started to think.
“We could break one of the windows.” I said to myself out loud but then was quickly reprimanded by a furious Chelsy who told me that we’ll get in trouble if we break something. I sighed, but then as soon as I did we heard a loud crash in the room next to Chelsy’s room followed by a loud groan. I quickly stood up and headed into the room followed by Chesy who was desperately clinging to the sleeve of my shirt.
“Who’s there?!” I shouted as soon as I opened the door. The room was bigger than Chelsy’s and had two beds and a large wooden table where bottles of different colored liquids were sitting. This must be her parents’ room I thought. Surveying my surroundings I quickly found the source of the noise, a small pink ball of fluff which was right on top of a cracked bedside dresser.
“Good day.” It greeted us with a weird accent which we gave a small bow in return.
“I’m really hungry right now so I guess you two would have to do.” It said.
“T-To do as what?” Chelsy asked nervously.
“Dinner of course.” The pink ball of fluff answered then leapt towards us, a giant maw just like the white creature’s replacing its small cute mouth. I pushed Chelsy aside as quickly as I can and dodged our incoming attacker, but instead of a thunderous crash I heard nothing but silence as our attacker quickly fell to the floor.
“Ough…” It groaned.

“W-What’s the matter?” Chelsy asked, scooting closer to it as she did. I looked at her as if she was mad as she started to gently pat the creature’s head. That thing was trying to eat us just a minute ago! Get away from there for Pete’s sake! I wanted to yell at her but something about the way Chelsy looked stopped me from doing so. Perhaps it was the way she cared for everything around her like a mother nursing its young.
“My stomach… ough…” The pink ball of fluff groaned.
“If you need medicine there’s some on the table but I’m afraid the stomach medicine needs to be mixed first.” Chelsy said as she quickly stood for the medicine.
“Chelsy wait!” I cried out. “How do we know you won’t try to eat us again if we help you?” I asked the creature.
“I promise! Ough… I won’t try to eat you!”
I looked at Chelsy who was also looking pleadingly at me. “Alright. We’ll help you.” I said and walked over to Chelsy who was frantically looking at the bottles.
“What’s the problem?”
“I forgot how to mix it.” She answered, embarrassed.
“What? How are we to help him now?”
“The only thing I remember is that the first color goes, the second color yields, and the third color stops. That’s what grandma said, and that it refers to something. Or was it the other way around?” She seemed to ask herself.
“Which is it?” I asked, half annoyed.
“I don’t know! But she said it would explode if I messed up, so I should stay away.”
Great! Exploding bottles! I sighed. “I’ll do it.” I said.
“Eh? A-Are you sure?” She looked at me, her eyes filled with worry. I nodded then started mixing.
“B-Be careful Allen.” Chelsy whispered.
The first color goes, so it means it must be green. I talked to myself while doing so.
The second is yellow since the second color yields. I said, grabbing the bottle with yellow liquid.
And lastly red since the third color stops. With my hands shaking I nervously poured the last liquid into a flask then quickly closed my eyes, expecting it to blow up in my face, but it didn’t.
“It… It didn’t explode.” Chelsy sighed with relief. She must’ve held her breath while I was mixing. She looked happy now, he hand on her chest as if her heart was gonna explode.
“That should be okay. The medicine should work.” She said and snatched it from my hands to give it to the creature.
“Here, drink up.” She said, guiding the liquid into the creature’s mouth and as if by magic the creature suddenly perked up, obviously feeling better.
“Thanks!” The creature said then suddenly lunged at Chelsy. She barely escaped the giant jaws of the creature, thankfully I managed to pull her away just in time.
“I thought we had a deal!” I cried out as the creature slammed into the wall, rattling the entire house and sending everything that wasn’t nailed flying.
“I lied! I’m still hungry and you’re still on the menu!” It roared and dashed towards us. However in a blink of an eye the door suddenly swung open and a boy just a few inches shorter than me came through.
“Over here! Hurry!” He cried out waving something that looked like a sturdy piece of wood. Without even thinking about it I grabbed Chelsy be her hand and pulled her as we ran for our lives. We reached the door in a matter of seconds, our attacker still lost in a jumble of debris. As soon as we ran through the door was immediately shut, the sturdy piece of wood shoved against the door, serving as a makeshift lock.
“T-Thanks.” I managed to say between breaths as I tried to focus on our savior. He was wearing a white blouse that was pretty much tattered and streaked with dirt, a pair of dirtied shoes and brown shorts that were also worn out, and on his head covering his almost white hair was a makeshift hood with a pair of big black dots at the top.
“I’m Allen.” I panted. “And this is Chelsy.”
“Nice to meet ya!.” He said, catching his breath while leaning on the door. “The name’s Jay.”