by Dani Hoots
“Sure, keep telling yourself that. Just keep in mind what they said, you will thank them later.”
“I’ll try.”
“Hmm, we will see about that. I was going to say that you should try to fit in, but that is impossible, I mean how many friends do you even have at school? Just Kate. You know she only hangs out with you because she pities you. Alice, you need to just grow up and act like a normal person.”
“Shut up!”
She hurried out the door before the pillow I threw hit her.
CHAPTER 5
I woke up to the wind swirling around my room, papers being picked up like dry leaves. I moaned as I got up out of bed to shut the window. I swore I had closed it already. I took a glance at the clock. It was 3 A.M. Seriously? I needed more sleep in order to function properly. At least I could sleep in the next day, and I was just going to hang out with Kate all day. I couldn’t wait, maybe that was why I woke up so easily.
I shut the window and went back to bed. I put my head down on the pillow and snuggled with my T.A.R.D.I.S. blanket. It was so soft, I loved the feel of it against my skin. I wish I could run away from all my problems with the Doctor (9th Doctor to be exact, but I wasn’t picky). Not that it would solve any of my problems, but it would be fun.
“Alice.” A whisper came across the room. “Come Alice.”
I jerked my head up and peered around the room. Nothing moved and there was nowhere anyone could hide in my room, believe me.
“Alllliiiiice,” the sweet voice called.
That time I knew I wasn’t imagining it. It sounded like a child’s voice. Could it have been the kid I had seen earlier that day? I blinked a few times, trying to concentrate but I couldn’t. Once I heard the voice clearly this time, my mind went into a daze and I couldn’t think clearly. All my mind and body wanted to do was follow the voice. I had to go to the kid, to know what he wanted.
I stepped out of my bed, half aware of what I was doing, half not. It was stupid to follow a voice coming from something you really didn’t know quite what it was, especially when it was sweet and eerie. That much I knew from every horror movie ever made. I swore the creepiest stories had kids in it as well. Even with these thoughts going through my head, I couldn’t stop. No matter the things I screamed inside of my head, my body wouldn’t comply.
Going straight back to the window I had just closed, I slid it open again and climbed outside. Luckily my window went into the front yard and was easy to climb out of. I was afraid of what I might have done if that weren’t the case, such as climbing down a drain pipe or something like in the movies.
No one in the house noticed as I snuck off into the night; in my pajamas no less. I wished whatever this voice was would have ordered me to change into clothes. I mean, what if someone saw me? But then again I was a zombie, not able to control my body at all. I felt helpless, it was the worse feeling in the world. At least I wore socks to bed. It got chilly at night in Oregon.
The autumn leaves crunched under my feet as I left the driveway. The gravel underneath hurt but the socks kept my feet from getting cut. I should have stopped but I couldn’t. I was under the spell of the person calling me.
“Alice,” the voice echoed through the night.
I kept moving down the gravel road, my feet screaming at me in agony. I would definitely be suffering in ballet the next week. At least my feet were tough after all the practice I had in class, but that didn’t make the pain go away.
The gravel road was a dead end, I knew that before this zombie-like adventure. I used to sneak out into this forest when I was younger, against my parents’ wishes, just so I could get away from the world and dream. I used to think that if I ventured out here long enough, I would find fairies or a castle, or some fantastical creature that I could share an adventure with. But that never happened and I eventually stopped sneaking out here; for that reason and the fact that Mr. Petrovitsky found me one day and chewed me out for trespassing. He was a very small man but I swore he must have worked for the KGB before immigrating here twenty years ago. If he found me tonight, I had no idea what he would do. Probably shoot me, actually.
I stepped into the forest. It was exactly how I remembered it, other than being dark out. Luckily the moon was out, providing a soft glow, but that didn’t mean I could clearly see everything around me. I could make out trees and ferns, but that was about it. I just hoped that there were no wild predators out at this time of the night, as I had heard coyotes howling the other night. God I wished I could stop.
“Alice...”
Oh right, the voice is what brought me out here. I hoped I could figure out who was calling me. Yes, I figured it was the boy, but that didn’t mean I knew exactly who he was. And I wanted to know why he was able to control my body like this, leaving me in such a daze that I couldn’t make myself stop.
I went deeper and deeper into the forest, and I felt as if I wanted to cry. Where was the voice leading me? I just wanted to go home, was that too much to ask? No matter how hard I screamed in my mind, no matter how much thought I put into it, I couldn’t stop my body. All I could think was why me?
This had to be a dream, right? I mean, this didn’t happen to people, being taken over like this. I really just hoped that I eventually would wake up and find myself back in my bed, all of it being one big nightmare. But the pain I felt, everything here, it just felt so real. I doubted it was a dream, but at the same time, all this just couldn’t be real.
The forest was calm at this time of night. I didn’t see any animals and the slight breeze brought a rustle through the branches. The blueish light coming from the moon made it seem almost magical. If it weren’t so stressful not being able to control my body because of some voice, it would be quite serene.
Then I could see him, the small white-haired boy who had been following me around town. It had been him, I was right.
“It’s you,” I said. I blinked, I was finally able to control my body. I stopped walking towards him and looked down at my hands. Yes, I finally had control. “How did you do that? How did you make me come out here?”
“It was quite easy, Alice, as you have a very impressionable heart. All I had to do was call it and you came.” The boy stepped closer. He spoke like a gentleman, one way beyond his years. It was quite strange, actually, as I never knew a kid that would speak like that. His eyes met mine, grey as the moon was that night. I couldn’t look away. They were almost hypnotic.
“Why? Why me? I don’t understand,” I said.
“I can’t have you undoing what my master has been planning all this time. You must be disposed of.” He pulled out a gold revolver. I had never seen one like it before and if I weren’t on the wrong side of it, I would have been quite fascinated by it. On the side of it was a large clock, like an old pocket watch. “Goodbye Alice.”
My eyes widened and I tried to move my feet but I was rooted in place. I had no idea if it was because of the boy or if I was just frozen in shock. Why would such a small boy want to kill me? It made no sense, and who was this master of his? And what plan would I be undoing?
As he began to pull the trigger, tears formed in my eyes. Could this really be the end for me, when my life hadn’t even started? I never got to say goodbye to my friends; they would never know what happened to me. I would just be gone. And not even I would know the truth to why.
Just as I thought all hope was lost, a figure jumped out of the trees and on top of the boy. The boy tried to punch away whatever had attacked him, but it was no use. Whoever it was threw the gun away and stood up, his leg pinning the kid down. As he stood up, the moonlight lit up his face. It was Chase.
“Chase, what’s going on?” I exclaimed. I hurried to him, able to move once again. It was the worst feeling, not being able to move one’s own body.
Chase grabbed my wrist. “No time to explain, we gotta get out of here.”
He started running, dragging me behind him. I wanted to stop and ask more questions, but by the sounds of i
t, the boy was back up and had grabbed the gun. I could hear the revolver being shot at us over and over again.
“Don’t worry,” Chase yelled back at me. “He’s a horrible shot and I can hear where he is going to shoot next. We will be fine.”
I didn’t understand how he could “hear” where he was going to shoot next, but I didn’t bother to ask for an explanation. Knowing Chase, he wouldn’t answer anything just for laughs. For some reason it felt like deja vu with him saving me, but I had no idea why. It must have been because of some strange dream a while back.
We delved deeper into the forest. I had never been this deep in the woods before and nothing seemed familiar. Everything seemed darker and more eerie, as if it was possible some witch would appear and try to get us to eat her gingerbread house. Just as I thought about that, we came upon a small shed or maybe even a house. My heart began to race faster and I knew I would scream if some old lady appeared. Chase ran straight at it. He wasn’t even slowing down as we headed towards the closed door.
“Chase, you better slow down!” I tried to pull him back but he didn’t waver. I almost tripped but caught myself and kept running even though I didn’t want to. I really had no choice.
He laughed. “Nah, this will be fun Alice! Just hold on to me!”
I screamed as he quickly turned around and wrapped his arms around me, still laughing as if he thought this was all fun and games. As he grabbed me, he leaped forward towards the closed entrance.
And through the door we went. Falling down and down and down.
CHAPTER 6
This feeling, it felt so familiar. A black pit of nothing surrounded me and colors swirled around like paint going down the drain. We kept falling and falling and I wanted to puke but I restrained myself. I felt as if this had happened before, perhaps even recently. I didn’t know what was going on and my head felt like it was spinning even more than the colors around me.
When it all finally stopped, I found myself laying in darkness on top of Chase, as his hands were still wrapped around me. I didn’t know what to do; it was awkward lying on him, my face towards his. I could feel his hot breath against my mouth. This was the closest I had ever been to a boy and although I didn’t really have feelings for him, I still could feel my heart begin to race.
He let out a brief chuckle. “Are you gonna stay on top of me all day or are you going to move? I mean, I’m not complaining but we do have some things to get done here.”
I quickly got up off of him, embarrassed I didn’t do so earlier. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to— “
“Just teasing you Alice, a lot has happened, I don’t blame you for wanting to stay in my arms.”
If it wasn’t so dark, he would have been able to see the look of me wanting to punch him for saying that and because of how red I was getting. That was not why I didn’t get off of him, it was because of the shock of the sudden landing. I knew he was probably joking but it didn’t mean I still didn’t want to punch him. I glanced around, the smell of grass filling my nostrils. Grass, that seemed familiar—and not the ‘I’m from Oregon, everything smells like grass’ familiar.
“Where are we?” I asked. Chase didn’t answer but got up and headed towards the other side of whatever room we were in. “Chase?”
He slowly opened a door. The light hurt my eyes at first but then they adjusted and I couldn’t believe what I saw.
Buildings covered in flowers surrounded us. Just like in my painting, just like the vision I had in my mind the other day. Speaking of my mind, my head began to hurt. Pain shot through it like a bolt of lightning.
“Ow, my head.”
Chase put his hands on my shoulders. “Hold on Alice, everything will be all right. We just have to hurry, okay? Can you trust me enough to do what I ask? I promise everything will be explained soon, I just have to get you to the person who can help.”
I held my head and tried to nod but the pain was almost overwhelming. I bent down. I had been in a lot of pain before with migraines, but this was beyond overwhelming. I felt like someone was trying to split my head open.
“Hang on, Alice. It will just be for a little longer. You can get past this, I believe in you.” He picked me up in his arms. On a normal day I would question this, probably slap him, but there was no way I could walk. I had to let him carry me.
I wrapped my arms around his neck to keep myself steady and leaned my head against his chest. He didn’t say a word but started towards whatever our destination was. I wanted to ask more questions but it was nearly impossible. My head ached to the point where I could hardly think straight.
Chase took me outside and the bright sun made my eyes and head hurt even worse. The buildings around me looked like the ones I painted just the day before. It all seemed so familiar, even the roads were made of grass just like I had envisioned. The air smelled so sweet, almost like a field of roses.
As for the people, something about them seemed off—other than the fact they were wearing Victorian clothing, though after going to a few conventions, different style clothing never hit me as being peculiar. But as I looked at them, I found that I couldn’t see their faces. Some type of shadow covered them like a veil during a funeral. It was quite odd since there was no fabric but only darkness.
Yet it seemed like I had seen it before.
Chase started running through the crowd, no one paying much attention. He definitely had a good hold on me as I didn’t feel like I was going to fall at all. He really should try out for ballet at Tippy Toe, he was strong and from what I could tell, he had pretty good balance. I told myself to remember to mention that later.
I glanced up at him when I noticed something odd. He had purple hair, like deep purple. I almost didn’t notice because of how dark it was. I squinted at the top of his head.
“Chase, why are you wearing cat ears?” I asked. “And your hair is dark purple. When did you change your hair? Are you going to some con?”
“Don’t worry about it Alice. Not important right now.”
I closed my eyes and placed my head on his shoulder. I felt him laugh a little.
He kept carrying me through the grassy streets. I had no idea how long this was going to last but I knew that soon I needed something that would make the pain go away. I wanted to pass out so bad, but I had to know what was going on.
Chase stopped moving and I opened my eyes to find us in some strange alley. It was rather small, more like a passageway. It was dark in this area, giant trees towering before us against the buildings. We were stopped in front of an old wooden door, rather different than the glass building we had passed before. Chase knocked it with his foot.
The door opened to reveal someone I actually knew. Davis. He wore a brown suit. It looked good on him, very distinguishing.
“Davis, what are you doing here?” I questioned, half dazed.
“What am I doing here?” He pointed at me. “What is she doing here Chase? This is against the rules!”
Chase shoved past him into the building. “I don’t follow the rules, that’s why I exist. Besides, she needed to be brought here.”
“What are you talking about?” Davis squeaked, following Chase around the room.
“I’ll explain in a moment.” Chase set me down on a couch. I glanced around. The place was quaint, just a living room that had only a few pieces of old leather furniture. There were other doors, but I had no idea what they lead to, I presumed maybe bathroom, kitchen, and bedrooms but after everything that had happened, normal didn’t seem to exist anymore.
Chase turned to Davis. “Where’s Malcolm?”
“I’m here.” I watched as Malcolm came out of one of the doorways with Melvin. Their eyes widened as they saw me.
Melvin quickly grabbed Chase by the collar. “What have you done?”
“I had to bring her here. My suspicion was correct, the White Rabbit had found her. He almost killed her,” Chase explained as Melvin tightened his grip. He didn’t struggle though, but let Melvin get whatever f
rustration he had out.
“You can’t just stalk a girl; you have any idea how perverted that makes you?” Melvin went on. I thought about agreeing, as he did have a point, but Chase did save my life because of it. I really couldn’t complain.
“If I didn’t follow her, she would be dead!” Chase replied.
Malcolm ignored the two of them and knelt down beside me. He pulled out a small cookie and handed it to me. Something about all this seemed familiar. “Alice, you have to eat this. Fast.”
I grabbed it and without thinking it about it, drank it down in one gulp. I realized after the fact that eating some strange cookie that a boy handed me wasn’t the smartest thing to do. True, I knew him from school, but I didn’t know that much about him. My head was hurting so bad already that for some reason I thought it could help.
And I was right.
Memories came rushing back to me, memories that I didn’t know were gone. The locker. This place. Guards chasing after me and Chase and the rest of them coming to my rescue, Malcolm forcing me to drink some potion, just like they did now.
So I had been here before, that is why everything seemed so familiar. But there were still so many questions that were still left unanswered and now that my headache had subsided, I could finally get these guys to talk.
“Who are you all really? What am I doing here? Who just tried to kill me? What is this place?” Questions spilled out of my mouth.
Malcolm grabbed my hand. “Listen to me, this isn’t what was supposed to happen.”
I stared at him. He was wearing that dark green suit as I remembered him wearing the day before. His curly dark hair stuck out from underneath his burnt orange hat. He looked so handsome that I felt as if I was going to melt when he touched my hand. But I couldn’t, I had to figure out what was going on.
I pulled my hand out of his, letting him know he couldn’t smooth talk his way out of answering me. “What was supposed to happen? I don’t understand.”
“You were supposed to be told of this war before coming here. We weren’t going to force you into this but somehow they found out about you. We had to act quickly.”