Alice Mare

Letty and Rick

I waited for the creature to close its huge maw and snap my neck in two, my eyes shut tight and my hands in small fists. I was holding that position for what seemed forever until Letty gently nudged my back.
“Allen.” She said her voice shaking a little.
“Go! Run!” I said to her as I blindly tried to push her away.
“But the game’s over, we won.”
“What?” I asked, my eyes shooting open as I did. I first looked back at her, she was standing just behind me, her face a little pale, droplets of sweat trickling from her brow, and an awkward smile on her face. She must’ve been as scared as I was. Seeing that Letty was okay I turned my attention to the little creature that started all this. It was still in the same position as before, minus the gigantic jaws that were ready to chop my head off. It looked bored for some reason, probably because it had lost in the game.
“You win.” It said miserably.
“But how?”
It looked at me annoyed just about ready to pounce on me. “Because you answered correctly! What are you some kind of dimwit?!”
I backed off a bit, slightly offended by his reply. I I have never thought that he was part of the game, what happened here was pure coincidence, a stroke of luck. I took a moment to look at him with me “special” eye to try and see what difference the creature held only to see that it was so obvious that a toddler can see it. It had these huge bunny-like ears sticking out of its head! I tried no to look so surprised as I stared at it.
“So will you let us go now?” Letty asked from behind me.
“Of course a deal is a deal.” The little creature said.
Letty had turned around as soon as the little creature said it, eager to get away from the little creature.
“Wait!” I cried out which stopped Letty in her tracks.
“What about my eye?! You turned it into this aren’t you going to do something about it?!”
“Hmm?” The little creature raised one of its tiny eyebrows. “You don’t want it? Are you sure? It may be helpful in the future.” The creature said, a wicked grin across its face.
“N-No! Just take it off now!”
“If you say so.” The little creature said as it lunged itself from its seat and unto my face, blocking my eyes, nose and mouth.
“Get it off me! Get it off me!” I cried out from the pain as I felt its little teeth penetrate my skin
 “Allen!” I heard Letty call my name amidst the commotion but my mind was so focused on getting my attacker off of me that it barely registered in my head. By this time I was already choking from the little creature’s saliva since it had been dripping from its jaws, drenching the front of my shirt. I tried to pull it off before it could eat my entire face but all my efforts were in vain since it had locked itself in this position. Not long after I felt someone pulling on the little creature too, probably Letty, and with our combined efforts we managed to yank the thing off before it could do some serious damage. As I regained my vision I saw Letty pulling the little creature from my face and tossing it aside. Immediately, as if on instinct, Letty knelt down in front of me, wiping my face with her skirt. I had small trails of blood trickling all over my face, probably from the places where my attacker had sunk its teeth, but besides that and the fact that I was soaked with the little creature's spit, I was okay. I looked at Letty as she worriedly wiped my face clean, there I noticed that the hazy and distorted vision that I had was gone.
“My eye… it’s back to normal.” I whispered and touched my left eye, still not believing it. I glanced around for my attacker but didn’t see him, instead beside me was a piece of paper that was neatly tucked beneath a small stone.

“Is this the deep forest?
I should go back. I’m fine, but she doesn’t like living here.
She’ll say it grosses her out again.
Why does that witch tease her so?
I have to do away with that evil witch.”

I sighed as Letty and I walked in silence. After reading the paper we had both decided to go back to the old shack that I’ve found. I was to clean my wounds while Letty would try to find something to eat. We’ve been trudging on for a while, both of us too exhausted to even speak a word. However, though my body was sluggish my mind was still exploring a certain thought. The last note had been popping in my mind lately, resurfacing every time I dismiss it from my thoughts. I’ve formed a mental picture of it inside my head from thinking too much, something was wrong about this message and I knew it. The letter appeared to be written by the same person since the penmanship was identical but the way the message presented itself was different, it seemed to be told from another person’s point of view. I was still pondering the thought when I bumped into Letty who had stopped abruptly right in front of me.
“Rick’s not here…” She said glumly. “Rick always talks to me when I’m alone and he teaches me all this stuff I’ve never experienced.” Oh crap, I had completely forgotten about Letty. She was already feeling down without Rick here and now she had experienced something traumatizing, but here I was thinking of something useless while she silently endured her loneliness.
“But he always seems a little sad. Except when we’re talking, then he’s having fun.” She sighed. “I wonder why…”
“Perhaps you’re the reason he can keep smiling.” I said without thinking which made Letty look at me surprised. “I-I mean maybe because uh…” I tried to come up with something, I knew I was starting to blush and it would be embarrassing if Letty saw it. “M-Maybe because for him you’re an important person.”
Letty looked surprised then giggled. “Maybe so.” She said.
“Allen… do you have someone important to you?”
The question caught me off guard so I answered as honestly as I could. “I don’t know… I can’t remember.”
“Oh right… You lost your memories. I’m sorry for asking you such a sad question.”
“N-No it’s fine. C’mon let’s get a move on.” I replied as I walked right past her, not wanting her to see tears streaming down my face that I myself didn’t know what was causing it.

Letty and I continued our little journey back to the shack, the walk felt like it lasted for hours, probably because Letty stopped at almost every little thing that peaks her interest. A cloud shaped like a snail, a butterfly hovering about, we had so much detours I lost count. Further down the trail we finally see evidence of our destination, a trail of smoke coming from the chimney no doubt. We hurried along the path but as we did I noticed strange changes in our surroundings. Trees were now made of candy canes, bushes were now huge chunks of chocolate, and the air smelled so sweet that it was sickening. The house was in full view now, its windows lighted and the door's outline shining, we were just about to reach the door when The Cheshire Cat popped out from nowhere.
“Hiya! Looking for something?” He greeted us, his solitary eye glowing yellow.
“Chesire?!” I cried out, catching Letty as she fell back from the surprise.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Oh nothing just wandering around… Oh hey! Haven’t seen you before! Hello, Alice!” He said, looking at Letty with his one good eye.
“Huh? My name’s Letty . I’m not Alice.” Letty replied defensively.
“Nah you’re Alice. Cause I said so. But I’ll let it slide.” Cheshire Cat chuckled. “I overheard you two talking while passing by and thought maybe you’d want this back.” He continued in a sing-song manner and pulled something out from behind his back.
It was fairly big, dressed in a white long-sleeved shirt covered by a black vest and black pants. It looked bluish and weak as Cheshire held it from its collar, its white hair hanging loose.
“Rick!” Letty and I cried out in unison as we ran towards him.
“He was looking pretty tasty, so I thought I’d just eat him. I mean, really, guy’s pretty broken.  Plus I got a second one! Whatcha macall it that… one rock two birds?” Chesire said dropping Rick unto the ground.
“It’s two birds with one stone! What did you do to him?” I asked, shifting my attention from the now collapsed Rick to Cheshire Cat.
“I didn’t do anything!” Cheshire Cat said, raising his paws defensively. “Just found’em like that.”
“T-Te…” Rick tried to speak but his voice came out hoarse and raw.
“Sshh! It’s okay, don’t talk just rest.” Letty said, stroking Rick’s face as she did.
A sinister grin crept along Cheshire’s face. “Well, I’ve done what I did. Let’s meet again in a dream. See ya!” Chesire said as he slowly faded out of sight.
“Allen we have to help him!” Letty cried out almost hysterical.
“A-Alright! Grab his shoulder we’ll get him to the shack!” I said to her, sliding my shoulders under Rick’s.
“Rick? You’re okay right?” Letty asked while doing the same.
“T-Tea…er.”