Alice Awakened

Strangers to Friends

Clank clank clank...

I threw the blanket over my head, trying to tune out the annoying sound coming from somewhere inside the room.

Clank clank clank...

"What the fuck?! Why won't this stupid thing budge?" a familiar voice said. "Hey, Trouble, wake up! We got things to do!" Gabriel. Why is he here?

Wanting to sleep for a little more, I ignored his voice and turned onto my side. Before I'd had time to cozy up on the bed, assuming I'd be able to go back to sleep, I felt a bit of pressure on my thighs and then he was shaking me awake.

"Stop it," I whined, wriggling away from his grabby hands. He stopped and let out a cough. Soon after, the clanking sound started up again.

So noisy.

"Stupid thing is stuck. Argh!"

I pulled the blanket off my head, sat up and asked, "What is it? What do you need? Can't I sleep some more?"

As I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, I noticed Gabriel's silhouette was over near the windows, across from me, fumbling with the blinds.

Should I be concerned that he's here this early in the morning? I wondered what had happened yesterday with Mr. Blackbourne, after I'd rescued him- Oh yeah, I did. Wait. How did everything go yesterday?

Then, just as I called Gabriel by name, ready to set a few things straight, he finally got the blinds open, making the room flood with sunshine and my eyes almost go blind.

It made me squint my eyes and cover them, as I heard the screeching sounds of the blinds being opened.

"There!" Gabriel huffed. "Fuck these ugly blinds. Rise and shine!" Get your butt up-"

I caught a whiff of a slightly sweet perfume, as Gabriel busied himself opening windows. With his back still facing me, he went on and on about the agenda for today. His voice, as lovely as it sounded, had me wanting to throw a pillow at him for waking me up, blabbering non-stop about some meeting I needed to attend tomorrow.

"What meeting?" I asked groggily, cutting him off for a good few seconds before he turned to face me.

"Have you not been listening to what I was say---FUUUCKK!!!"

His screaming made me flinch so hard that I had to clench the sheets against my body to gain some control.

I screamed back at him, questioning the reason for his outburst. My tone got higher by the second.

"YOUR HAIR!!!" Gabriel screeched, pointing back and forth between my head, the bed and the floor.

Feeling uneasy about the situation, goosebumps beginning to show on my skin the moment I saw Gabriel almost losing it, I made my way to him. "What is it, Gabriel? Is it a bug? A spider? Help me get it off!"

I immediately started shaking my head, scared that I'd got some creepy crawlies on top of my head.

Still freaking out, I jumped up and down, almost on the verge of crying, when suddenly Gabriel steadied me on my feet. He then combed my hair using his fingers, showing me what had freaked him out. As he gently pulled his hand back towards him, a look of wonder slowly painted his face. The terrified look gone, he released a shaky breath.

Slowly, his hand kept on combing my hair. There goes my hair. And more hair. And more.

My eyes widened as I craned my neck to the right, towards where the bed was. From where I was standing, I could see that, from my scalp, an impossibly long trail of blonde locks now led up to the foot of the bed.