Alice Mare

Human Nature

"You look like a wreck!" Cheshire said with a mischievous grin across his face. He was hanging upside down from a signpost in the center of the road, his glowing eye squinting from a contorted smile I couldn't see.

"What? You're ignoring me aren't you?" He said as I passed him.

What I was feeling right now couldn't be explained by words, it's like a storm was surging deep inside my chest, anger, sadness, guilt. My feelings were tossing and turning so much that it made me feel like my hearts was just about to burst.

"C'mon now no need to get so worked up from someone you just met!" Cheshire chuckled, doing a somersault and landing on his feet without a sound, just like a real cat.

"Letty was my friend!" I choked as I tried to hold back the tears.

"So what if she was your friend?" Chesire asked, the usual jolly tone he had suddenly turned calm and low. "Humans are always like that, young or old, boy or girl, they're always the same. Parasites, backstabbers, traitors, from one age to the next, a quality that never changes."

Hearing that practically had sent me over the edge. Wheeling back as fast as I could I dashed towards Chesire, planning to pin him to the signpost he was just hanging from. I could already see the scene play inside my head, I would have caught Chesire by surprise and slam him on the post, he would act as if he was hurt but then offer me his classic maniacal smiles then everything would be back to normal, or so I thought. Just when I was just about to tackle Chesire, I suddenly found myself slamming into the post fast and hard, but no Chesire in between. Instead I felt someone pull me up from my collar, turn me around, and slam me once again unto the post back first. I felt every ounce of air leave my body as I crashed into wood, feeling splinters dig into my back.

"Now, now no need to get all physical!" Chesire chuckled.

"I was merely stating the true nature of humans. I'm sure you've been betrayed even once in your life right?" Chesire asked, lifting me up higher, his grip on the front of my shirt tightening.

I coughed, at least it sounded like a cough, the mixture of my previous forceful impact with the post and Cheshire choking me by my shirt had tightened my airways making it hard to breathe.

"Oho... Don't tell me you forgot about that too?" Cheshire flashed his classic maniacal smile.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" I managed to gasp despite my throat constricting by the minute.

"Oh right... You lost your memories." Cheshire actually said with a hint of sadness in his voice but it quickly disappeared and was replaced by another creepy smile.

"So tell me... Is it really empty inside of ya? Is there even a slightest kind of anything?"

"I-I don't know! P-Please p-put me down!" I thrashed around as best I could, hoping to free myself from his grip, but as soon as I did Cheshire just simply let go.

I gasped, feeling the air fill my lungs.

"That so." Cheshire said while looking down at me.

"Well I'll ask you again later." Cheshire smiled and patted my head, a sinister smile creeping across his face. "See you later, Alice."

I watched Cheshire start to fade, his body starting to become transparent, and for the first time since I woke up, I hugged my knees to my chest as tightly as I could and just cried my eyes out, hoping to calm the raging storm inside of me.

"Ah you came back." White Rabbit said as soon as he saw my silhouette. I spent a good amount of time trying to make myself look presentable but as soon as he saw me he asked.

"Why are you crying?"

"I-I'm not crying! I just... I just..." I fell into silence.

White Rabbit merely sighed and continued on. "One world to the next is it? What a bother."

"Y-Yeah..."

"Well fair enough! You recovered one of them." He motioned to the key that I had been unconsciously clutching all this time.

"Soon enough that world will vanish. The Alice seems to be hanging on by a thread now." He said ever so calmly.

"W-What? What do you mean Letty's hanging by a thread?" I asked, the sudden news jolting my mind.

"That man had made it that whenever someone tries to retrieve the world keys the Alice that housed the key will slowly disappear."

"W-What?! W-Who would do such a thing?!"

White Rabbit shook his head. "I know not his name, but he created almost everything here. I best stay away from him if I were you." The way he said it had sent chills down my spine, the warnings and the danger clearly projected in his words.

"I-If that's the case then... I should just leave the other worlds alone."

"N-No!" White Rabbit cried out surprised. "If you do that then you will never be able to get out of here." He said, finally regaining his composure.

"But if I go in again..." I never finished the thought.

"Then you will be trapped here for all eternity." I could feel my throat tighten as he said that. "But of course if you were to make haste, you would probably be able to save your friends." White Rabbit offered.

"Probably?" I echoed. "You're making me bet my friends' lives for a chance?"

"Well better a chance than the thought of being trapped here forever, which is, may I say, certain at this point in time." White Rabbit said with his usually emotionless face.

"But I..." I was still trying to say when he gently nudged me in the back, sending me walking back to the entrance to the other worlds.

"Now of you go to the next world my dear Alice. I'm counting on you once more" He said, shooing me away before I could even say a word.

I stopped just as I saw what lay beyond the second world door. The room was painted with a bright sunny yellow, books neatly lined along the bookcase, and fluffy teddy bears big and small scattered across the room. I took a deep breath then stepped inside, there amidst the messy tower of stuffed animals was a girl clad in red.

"Hello Chelsy..." I whispered and got no response.

"C-Chelsy?" I said a little louder.

"A-Ah... A-Alice." She turned around and looked at me but then quickly turned away, as shy as her counterpart in the real world. I spent at least ten minutes just standing there, waiting for her speak up but she didn't.

"U-Uhm... well... d-do you wanna play?" I asked, deciding to take the first step.

"Eh? Uhm... okay. C-Can you open the closet?" She replied.

I nodded in response and headed towards the closet that was sitting inanimately on one side of her room. Then mustering the strength that I needed, quickly threw the doors open.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

I awoke to the sound of the birds chirping outside the window. I squint my eyes against the sunlight that was pouring from one of the windows as I got up from the warm and cozy bed that I was sleeping on. The room was bright and cheerful, a good amount of light was seeping through the open windows, and stuffed animals littered the floor. Judging from the brightness outside it seems it was right about noon, just when the sun shines brightest at the center of the sky. The scene was so peaceful, so calming that it made me feel so light and washed all the negative things that I was feeling away, and that it made me take a longer time to notice the sleeping body beside me. As soon as I saw who it was I immediately jumped out of the bed. My feet tangled with the sheets as I did, sending me toppling down unto the floor with a thud.

C-Calm down! I-Isn't the girl supposed to be the one freaking out in this situation? I thought to myself. And as if on cue, the sleeping body beside me rose up from her spot, brown hair tousled from sleep.

"H-Huh? What? Allen?" She said looking at me.

"C-Chelsy?!"