The colossal, pure white door swerves open for me straight away. All I can see is shadow. There is no light or sound reflecting off walls. I raise my eyebrows in fear.
‘’ No biggy. Just a castle with no one inside…’’ I step in and the first noise I hear is my step reverberating.
Clang! I take a leap backwards and start to reverse my steps. She is going to get me, I know she is… I turn to pivot away from it but the supernatural has got me. I faintly reminisce that I slam my head onto the durable floorboards with a stifled pound in my head and the indistinct but budding droning of vibrations fill my ears up and overwhelm my brain. It’s filling me up, blood roaring through my ears and brain. The dark overwhelms me…
‘’… some sugar lumps. Uuuh some buttered fingers… a pinch of lagoon salt…’’ A faint hiss screeches through me. ‘’ Some more fingers…. Mmmmm…. A slither of cat hair…’’ A plop of ingredients falling. ‘’ That shall do it. For now anyway.’’
My eyes force open then droop shut again. The blurriness of the room powers my head and sags my eyes again. I groan silently, massaging my blood-shot and now very irritated eyes. The figure gasps.
‘’ Aaah at last our dummy is awake.’’ I moan again. Dummy? I ain’t no dummy. I’m actually one of the cleverest in my school, thank you very much. Oooh dummy. Crash test dummy. Yeah I’ve been in the wars a bit.
‘’ Who’reyanwhayoudoin?’’ I mean who are you and what you doing. I think anyway. I’m so fatigued I don’t particularly care.
‘’ The White Queen. And I’m making you an injury potion.’’ What have I done now? ‘’ I’ve sorted your breaks from earlier before and now I’m finishing your head mould.’’ I broke bones? I’ve banged my head? White Queen?
‘’ WhereamI?’’ I don’t remember anything.
‘’ Nothing at all? I need a memory potion for you. You’re in Murderland. Remember? The dark side of Wonderland?’’ Oh yeah. I fell didn’t I? Came here and saw all these murdering beasts. I remember now.
‘’ Just some stuff.’’ I arouse myself up and forcefully prop my arm on the table.
‘’ No no no. Don’t do that. You’ve broke that arm. Use the other arm.’’ She tuts and messes around like I am a toddler. Really? She is just as mad as any other person in Murderland. She just doesn’t have the murderness. I hope…
‘’ So… Why am I here?’’ She finds this funny.
‘’ Oh sweetie, my pet took you here.’’ She leans in closer. ‘’ I’m the only sane person here. Well saner than them.’’ She smiles evilly- a glint in her eye staggers me. God forbid she wants to murder me. There’s no place safe anymore here. Maybe Absolem can help…
‘’ And who’s your… pet?’’ My stomach somersaults simultaneously.
She makes an absurd face. I mean I know who it is; I just need to be sure… ‘’ Why Cheshire Cat of course.’’ A swift wind-like figure props by her head. She starts stroking it. As if by my happiness, mauve and cobalt emerge into stripes and form the character of a cat. He looks relatively the same, apart from his olive, distinct eyes and jagged teeth.
‘’ Hello Venus.’’ Ches purrs. His tail sways back and forth, finally curving at the end. Is that statistically possible? I’m positive tails are bone. ‘’ Welcome to Murderland.’’
‘’ Thank you. Pleasure to be took here…’’ White hums to herself quietly spraying, probably trying to remove the faint reek of decomposing flesh. I hope she doesn’t use it in her medicine…
‘’ Always a pleasure to see you Venus.’’ Ches floats upside down and vanishes completely. His eyes form back and his smile broadens into a cat grin. Well.
‘’ I’m just making dinner. Do you want to join me?’’ Dinner? From what I’m smelling, I don’t really want dinner.
‘’ No thank you. I must be on my way. I am extremely late.’’ I courteously decline.
She takes a step back. ‘’ No you must stay.’’ She clearly states.
‘’ Why, may I ask?’’ I have to prepare for the worst.
She cackles. ‘’ Because you are dinner.’’ She raises a pepper holder and twists it.
‘’ I am terribly sorry but I am late.’’ I urgently try to stop from running away. She must not know I’m scared. I always imagine six impossible things before breakfast. I may have to do it at lunch too.
‘’ Aren’t all Wonderlandians? Or should I say Murderlandians? As what my sister calls them… anyway you aren’t going. I’ve prepared all the salad and soup and everything.’’ She pouts which reminds me of a doll. Christ she is a cannibal. No wonder her sister left her…
‘’ Well I’m terribly sorry-‘’ I start slowly backing away to the door. ‘’- but the White Rabbit must see me.’’ The lie spins off me. ‘’ Red Queen wants to make me a Murderlandian and I need to kill. She enlisted the White Rabbit to coach me.’’
The White Queen’s eyes widen. ‘’ I’m surprised you’d say yes. Iracabeth is such a manipulator…’’ So are you, tricking people to come to your castle only to get eaten. I wonder but not say aloud. I’d definitely be eaten then.
‘’ I don’t particularly want to kill.’’ I tilt towards her and whisper, ‘’ What do they kill?’’ I need to know; before they kill someone…
‘’ Wonderlandians. Alice needs their blood to live.’’ She whispers. Her teeth protrude a bit outwards. ‘’ They won’t kill you. You’re an Above person. I might though…’’ She licks her lips. I take another step. Wrong choice. It catches her attention and her eyes turn obsidian. I stagger back and fall. She lunges towards me and I roll over. Her teeth hit my bare leg and she bites. I scream and kick her out of the way. Her jaw makes a sudden cracking noise and she hollers in agony. Her hair turns crimson as she screams and her veins extend out of her neck. I stand and run. I run. And run. Get to. The door. I’m nearly there. I clamber to the door, hitting a wall and aching my ‘’ broken ‘’ arm. I scramble for the knob. My fingers keep slipping. No… She thunders through the door, wood shard splitting everywhere. She looks around everywhere for me. She faces me and smiles.
‘’ You’re going to be dinner. Come on, I need to freeze you.’’ She makes a grabbing motion. She thunders towards me and I open the door. She sprints straight outside and I bolt her out. I hear thuds and screams as I tightly lock the door. Bang! Bang! I slither my back down on the door to the floor. I raise my legs and place my head in the gap. She’s gone. She won’t get me. Unless there’s a back door… Great I’m trapped. Well I may as well explore the castle. I go back into the kitchen and look inside every drawer. Yeesh! There are so many knives. Long, short, meat, bread you name it: it’s there. I shudder with the thought of blood coating the knives. The tremor makes my skin feel like skin. Scaly and reptilian.
I head into the living room. This is different. It’s very dark and 1960s style. Is this how long Alice has been like this? Since 1960? Or are they just stuck in this time and Alice was just tortured to live like this? I sit on the tip of the sofa. It’s very hard and bony. I stand back up shocked. Is this sofa made out of bones? My stomach flips and the bile rests in my throat. Hurrying back to the sink, I retch and retch. I take a glass of water and wipe my mouth. I look back up and see the face of the White Queen smiling like a clown. My eyes widen. She inclines her head and I scream. She laughs and runs. I run up to the staircase and find a room that is locked. The key is on the side. I snatch the key and fumble it through the hole. It opens immediately and I deadbolt the door on the inside. I breathe profoundly, ignoring the views of the room. I close my eyes and breathe. I’m safe. I finish my glass of water and put the glass down. The action makes a hammering, resonating noise. It travels through the house. I gulp fretfully and breathe raggedly.
‘’ Ok there?’’ I knock the glass over and a smash echoes the room. She is there again. Smiling and being freaky. I scream and she screams. I scuffle unlocking the door. She can’t hear it from both of us screaming. I open the door and escape downstairs. She finally notices and steadily follows after me with the exact same speed as me. It’s a good job I can do PE lessons or else I would have been eaten. She thumps the walls. Smash! She smashes the wall and she blunders past me. Thump! Thump! My heart reaches the speed of a hummingbird (700bpm). I’m going to die. She straddles on the floor like a doll. Her head shakes riotously. I can’t get past her. What am I going to do? I remember my gymnastic classes. I’m gonna have to flip over her. Shouldn’t be that hard. I’ve nailed flips. I back away going along with my plan.
‘’ What you going to do now, child?’’ She thinks I’m scared. But I’m not: I’m ready. I exhale sharply. 3…2…1. I sprint towards her, her shocked face constructing the adrenaline. Pump! Pump! I jump. This goes in slow-motion like a movie or TV show and I turn perfectly, doing a somersault and landing behind her. I sprint to the door and open it, slamming it shut after I get out. I jump victoriously and run away from the callous dwelling.
I feebly catch: ‘’ I’m going to get you!’’ from the dwelling but I don’t care. I just run. 333Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOvaKU3pxJ
