Evelyn in the Country of Hearts

Trade Ya

I drag myself back to the Clock Tower, getting lost twice along the way. I realy needed one of those maps Julius keeps lying around. I slug past Julius' office, where he was currently working and head towards Alice's room. I creak open the door.  Catching her figure by the window, I see her observing something in her hands. I squint for a better look. It appears to be a vile identical to mine, except for it being completely full.

"Hey," I barge in.

Alice yelps, startled. Her fumbling fingers toss the vile into the air, and then swiftly catching it.

"You have one too," I say, pulling out my own vile. Only a fourth of it was filled.

"Yes," she eyes me nervously. "Are you going to drag me with you back to the human world?" She raises her vile over her head. "Because I will break this than go back!" She threatens.

I stare at her in confusion. Unable to think of a response to her hysterical behavior, I scratch my head in puzzlement. Alice continued to stand in front of me stiffly, waiting for my reaction, and finally I gave it to her.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Wha-What about you?! WHat do you want?" Alice demands.

I stare at my vile and then at hers. I grin, "Want to trade?"

She blinks, confused, "What?"

"Yea, I want to get out of here. You want to stay. With your vile, I can go home, and you can fill another useless vile. Deal?" I suggest excitedly.

"Honestly," she shakes her head in relief. "I can't tell what you are thinking." Alice hands me her vile and replaces it with mine.

As soon as her vile is in my hands, I spread my arms, waiting for the shit magic that would take me out of this hell hole. But after stationing myself like a god-sent entity for five whole minutes, I realized that the only thing that was going to happen was nothing. NOTHING.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" I revert to my bitter self.

Alice stares at me with remorse. The vile she holds is filled to the top, and mine is still filled by a fourth. We switch the bottles back again, and the liquid readjusts itself.

"This game is rigged," I mutter.

"Not really," Alice fingers her vile sadly. "You can't cheat. At least we can be grateful that there's no penalty for what we were trying to accomplish."

"It wasn't really cheating," I argue. "We were just trying to make each other happy. What's wrong with that?

She smiles at me, "Because we weren't. Our motives were selfish."

"Alright, fine. Not everyone is all sugar and spice inside, okay? Take the residents here, for example," I mention spitefully. "This place is so hypocritical. I can't wait until I can haul my ass out of here." I stomp out of her room.

"Where are you going?" Alice calls after me.

"To sleep!" I snap. "I've had enough for today!"