Alice the Amazing ⇒ STRANGER THINGS

[30] White Rabbits

{The Mind Flayer, Part II}

16. 4. 10.

Alice counted 16 stop signs on the way to the Byers's house.

She counted four questions of, "Are you all right?" from Steve, Hopper, Dustin, and Jonathan.

She counted 10 worried glances as she paced through the Byers house, ignoring them and murmuring her thoughts of aloud.

"Red," she muttered. "Red, wed, said, shed, dead. Oh God, he's dead."

"This isn't good," Dustin said to Steve as Hopper yelled into the phone. They watched her walk back and forth, back and forth down the hall, unsure if they should stop it.

"At least she's not catatonic," Steve pointed out. "I got a little worried in the truck. I thought she might be going into shock."

"We need to do something," Nancy added. "Maybe try and get her to lie down."

"See if she'll listen to you!" Dustin said. "She's ignoring the rest of us."

Alice bit her nails as she walked, momentarily stopping her whispered mantra. As Nancy cautiously made her way across the room to try and talk to her, she started up again:

"No, I wouldn't like a spot of tea," she murmured to a painting on the wall. "Jolly good, thank you for asking."

"Alice?" Nancy asked, reaching a hand out to place it on her friend's shoulder. "Do you want to lie down? I can get you some water and some food—Dustin says you haven't eaten all day—"

Alice looked at Nancy, but her eyes were unfocused. She was in the Byers house, but simultaneously far, far away.

"Isn't it fascinating," Alice said, speaking more to herself than to Nancy, "how the Greeks have four different words for love?"

Nancy furrowed her brow.

"Oh," she said. "Um, that is interesting."

"So if you want to say you love ice cream and love your mother, you'd use two different versions of the same word," she continued. "And they mean slightly different things. It's so awesome."

Nancy nodded and gently placed a hand on Alice's shoulder.

"Cool. Hey, let's sit down..."

Nancy led Alice to the sofa while she continued to babble.

"I think I was meant to be born a cat. I should've been Mews, and Mews should've been me."

Nancy glanced across the room, where Dustin and Steve were watching and listening intently.

"Okay, Alice," she said softly.

"Mews is dead."

Nancy gasped.

"Oh, no," she said. "I didn't know that. I'm so, so sorry."

Alice didn't respond. Instead, she took a seat on the sofa and continued muttering to herself.

"Red, Ned, wed, said, dead, dead...dead...."

Hopper slammed the phone back on the wall, cursing.

"They didn't believe you, didn't they?" Dustin asked.

"We'll see."

"'We'll see'?" Dustin snapped. "We can't just sit here while those things are loose!"

Alice tried to tune in, to listen, to quiet the voices in her head screaming and crying and clawing at her insides. She knew they were in trouble, that Will was a spy for the demogorgons, but her mind was melting and she couldn't stop it.