ALICE

CHAPTER 5- KNAVE

Her mother had always insisted she wear dresses, which Alice had always found bizarre. She would rather wear a pair of jeans with a top, rather than dresses which hardly allowed movement. Heck, she would even settle for simple pyjamas.

"You are early!" Announced Knave, as Alice approached. "Let me guess, you could not resist meeting me, and do not bother correcting me if I am wrong, which I know I am not so..." He let the sentence hang.

Alice just stared at him in astonishment. Was he actually being serious? "Are you done?" She asked, after a long moment of staring at him.

He smirked. "I can never be done with how charming I am!" He replied, his voice full of enthusiasm. Alice put her head in her hand. He seemed to take no notice, as he continued excitedly, "There was this one time where..,"

"And I would love to hear all about it, but perhaps another time?" Asked Alice, cutting him off.

He looked a little disappointed, but still smiled. "So, I see there is going to be a next time!" He observed.

Alice chose to ignore this. Slowly, she asked, "So, what are you?"

"Irresistible!" Replied Knave, as he began to examine his nails.

Alice closed her eyes, trying to be patient. She needed answers and Knave had them. She took a deep breath. "If you say so," She said through gritted teeth. "But what I meant to ask you was, are you a ghost?"

Knave looked at her. "Yes and No." He calmly replied.

Alice suddenly had the urge to grab him by his hair and bang his head in a tree, but that would not help her get her answers. "Would you elaborate?" She asked impatiently.

"I could, but why should I?" He asked. Alice raised an eyebrow. When she did not reply, he added, "You are someone I barely know, so what makes you think that I am going to start telling my secrets, just because you appear to be trustworthy?" He finished.

"So, I do seem trustworthy to you?" Alice pointed out.

"You...., What?" He broke off, as he realized what he had said. Knave coughed. It seemed pretty human. He looked at her, his blue eyes staring into her hazel. "Why is this so important to you?" He demanded.

Alice looked at him evenly. "Because, your answer could help me make sense of my whole life!" She replied with full honesty. If there was one thing Alice was sure of, it was that no matter how desperate the situation was, the truth always worked.

Knave nodded. "I think, I understand what you mean." He proceeded to sit under a tree. After a moment of hesitation, Alice sat next to him. "I am cursed to be a ghost!" He finally said.

"Is that why I can touch you, because you are not exactly a ghost?" She asked.

Knave shrugged. "Maybe? I am as new to all this as you."

Alice shook her head in confusion. "How long have you been like this?"

Knave gave a dry laugh. "I lost track of time. Maybe, four years? All I remember is that one minute I was a normal twenty-year-old, and the next I am a ghost who seems stuck in these woods!" He sounded frustrated.

Knave began to rest his head on his knees. Alice immensely felt sad for him, followed by sudden anger towards the person who did this to him. "Who put the curse on you?" She demanded.

"A witch!" He replied, without looking up.

"A witch?" She asked incredulously.

Now, he did look up at her. "Why is that so hard to believe?"

'Because they do not exist! ' Alice wanted to shout out, but then held herself back. If ghosts existed, then surely witches did too. Besides, she got Knave talking with quite difficulties, she could not lose her chance by disagreeing with him.

Alice shook her head. "It is not! I was just shocked." She said. She believed it was not fully a lie.

Knave remained quiet. After a while, he said, "My father was a witch hunter, the best of his kind. My mother always used to warn him, that his job might end up ruining our lives, but my father was an adamant man. Not that I blame him, he was doing the right thing. Killing creatures that were dangerous was not something bad." He paused.

Alice watched him as he took a deep breath. Everything about him seemed so alive, that she had to remind herself he was a ghost. 

The minute stretched out. Alice remained patient. Finally he said, "Everything was fine until my twentieth birthday! I still remember that day perfectly. I was sitting with my parents, all dressed up. My parent's faces were beaming with happiness, as they began to explain to me what it meant to be a full-grown man. Then suddenly, she appeared out of thin air!" 

His eyes were fixed on his boots, as he continued, "She called herself Cora! My father had stabbed her once and had thought she was dead, but apparently, she was not. She was out for revenge ever since. I remember her saying something about my father taking away some years from her life, and babbling some other nonsense. I had barely paid her any attention. I was only looking at my parents, who were standing in front of me, shielding me from her gaze. They had been panicked and horrified. I am sure you can guess what happened next!" He said, in a pained voice.

When Alice said nothing, Knave continued, "She saw me and laughed loudly. The witch Cora, had found her way for vengeance. She set a curse on me. I was doomed to remain as a ghost, stuck in these woods, with no one to see me and with no way to return!"

Alice swallowed hard. What could she say, sorry? Knave did not look like someone who needed her sympathy. Instead, she asked, "What about your parents? Surely they must've tried looking for you. Maybe they are searching for you even now."

Knave laughed without humour. At last, he turned to look at her. His blue eyes looked very tired. "They would look for me if they remembered me!" He said, in a rough voice.

"What?" Was the only response Alice could manage. She was shell-shocked.

Knave explained, "Before turning me into a ghost, Cora told my parents that they would forget about my existence and would live the rest of their lives as if I had never existed!"

Alice felt something hot against her cheeks. She was crying. She quickly wiped her tears. "So you are bound to these woods forever?" She asked.

Knave nodded. He shook his head as if clearing his thoughts, then turned to her. "I will admit, life was pretty boring until I found you lying in these woods that day," Alice felt her sadness melt into embarrassment, as he continued, "I was really surprised when I found out that you could see and touch me. However, I was even more surprised when I saw your other ghost friend." Alice knew he was talking about Maria, she also suspected she knew what he was going to ask her next. "So, since when could you see ghosts and how?" He asked, proving her right.

Alice found no reason to hide anything from him. "Since I was seven!" She replied. "And I still do not know how or why I can," She paused. "That is an answer I have been searching for a long time!"

"Do your parents know?" Asked Knave, with genuine curiosity.

"No! My mother does not know." She replied firmly.

Knave narrowed his eyes. He was about to say something, when suddenly Alice heard Maria call out, "Alice, where are you?"

Alice stood up hurriedly and glanced at Knave, who had already vanished. She stood there, looking at where he had been sitting a minute ago, when Maria appeared. 

"There you are!" Maria said with relief. Then, she looked at Alice angrily. Putting her hands on her hips, Maria asked, "Madam Alice, do you care to explain?"