Alice in new wonderland | By : englishwitch2003 Category: Titles in the Public Domain > Alice in Wonderland Views: 41931 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0 |
Disclaimer: This is a work fiction, based on the Alice in Wonderland book series. |
Englishwitch
Alice in new wonderland
Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with Alice in wonderland. It is a novel by Lewis Carroll.
Chapter 12
The trees were thick and the air was cold, something that wasn’t good for the two barely-dressed travellers. Alice and her partner Chester Kat walked through the shrubs and grass, following no set path except for what Alice’s compass dictated. Chester wore a pair of tattered trousers and Alice wore a shirt that was so long it served as a short dress. Both the garments were filthy and torn; they had seen a lot of ware in a short period of time. Chester and Alice held hands while they walked.
“Are we close my dear?” Chester asked, giving Alice his fanged smile. Alice looked at the compass and shrugged her shoulders.
“No way of knowing really. The compass points this way so that is where we must go.”
Alice had saved the life of Chester Kat from a large colony of wonderlands creatures known as Krull. He now saw himself as bound to her until he could return the favour. Something that Alice didn’t have too many objections to; after all the walking around she had done on her own she had more than pleased for company. Especially company that was so eager to please. Chester was more than willing to do anything that Alice said…anything!
Their journey could last for hours, days or weeks there was no way of knowing. Alice hoped it would be sooner rather than later; the sooner wonderland got back to normal the sooner she could get home. Home never seemed so far away. She could barely believe that she had been bored with her home life compared. While some parts of her wonderland experience were very pleasurable, the rest had been nothing but pain and hard work.
Alice thought about her home, her bedroom and soft bed. Her parents and the small serving staff; she missed the tea and crumpets the maid would serve on Sunday’s How long had she been gone? Alice had lost count of the days that had gone by since she had arrived in wonderland. Not that it mattered; time didn’t have meaning here, you could be gone for months perhaps even years and when you got home only seconds would have passed.
Alice froze on the spot. Chester took a few more steps and turned back to look at her.
“Mistress? What’s the matter?”
“How could I not think of this?” she muttered, ignoring him.
“Mistress?”
Alice didn’t answer, her head was going crazy with thoughts and theories that hadn’t occurred to her before. Time had no meaning in wonderland, travel in wonderland could work along a similar way. She had believed that wonderland was on the other side of her bedroom door and it had been so. If she could do something similar now she could step back home, then step back into wonderland wherever she wanted; right outside the front door of the Maid of Hearts. All she had to do was believe and it would be so; that’s the way things worked in wonderland.
Alice looked around wildly, she had to just find something with an entrance and she would be set. Chester followed her closely, concerned at her erratic behaviour.
“Mistress? What’s wrong? What are you looking for?”
“Ah-ha.” Alice said triumphantly; there was a hollow tree with an opening in the bark; a perfect doorway.
“Mistress?” Chester grabbed her hand and forced Alice to look at him. She looked at him as if was a stranger that had just walked up to her.
“Chester I have a very good idea that might help…me.” She said ‘me’ instead of ‘us’ because she wasn’t sure if a being from wonderland could come into the human world.
She pulled her bag from around her shoulder, a bag that contained her last few items, and handed it to Chester. He held the beg in one hand, looking at her stupidly. Alice handed the compass to Chester and kissed him on the cheek.
“Follow the compass, it will lead you to the Maid of Hearts. If this works, I’ll be there waiting for you.”
Chester looked at Alice confused as she dropped to her knees and looked into the black hole of the hollow tree. She closed her eyes and concentrated hard. “This leads to my home. My home.” She muttered to herself. “My home. My home.” She crawled forward and the last thing Chester Kat saw was her bare backside disappearing into the darkness.
Alice kept her eyes closed and continued to crawl. The damp floor of the hollow tree was hardening to solid wood and the rotting earthy smell had faded to something else. Something musty and strong that really caught the back of her throat. A familiar smell that reminded Alice of days in her youth playing hide and seek, especially hiding in wardrobes and cupboards.
“Mothballs?” Alice muttered in confusion. She cried out as her head based into something solid and hard.
Alice opened her eyes and was met with darkness. She reached out and her hand slammed into a wooden door. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she caught shapes above her. Clothing. Clothes were hanging down from hangers above her. She was inside a closet. It had worked. She was home.
Alice climbed to her knees and found the door handle in the darkness. She eased the handle and cracked the door ajar. It looked like the familiar hallway she had walked through so often growing up. She really had done it. Alice kicked the door wide and climbed to her feet. She was in the closet on the upstairs landing; where the winter clothing was stored. Alice stepped into the hallway and looked around. She could hear noises downstairs, probably her parents. It was tempting to go downstairs and speak to them, maybe she could get something to eat and drink before heading back to Wonderland.
“Perhaps a change of clothes.” She muttered to herself, looking down at the dirty torn shirt that had served for her clothing for the couple of days.
Alice shook her head, she decided to stick to her duty and return to Wonderland; it was the task she had been given and she shouldn’t delay. She closed the door and her eyes and began to concentrate.
“The Maid of Heart’s home. The Maid of Hearts home.”
There was a noise to her left that broke her concentration. Alice glanced over and saw a woman in a scullery maids clothes. She screamed and dropped her broomstick as she caught sight of Alice. Alice didn’t recognise the servant. But this was her house, what was going on? There were footsteps racing up the stairs. The scullery maid wouldn’t stop screaming, she was starting to back away from Alice. Alice’s confusion was growing with every second and the screaming maid didn’t help.
“What the devil?” A voice cried out behind her. Alice turned to see four people come running onto the landing. She recognised them, but their faces were only barely familiar. Mayhew the head butler, Sarah the scullery maid now dressed as the head housekeeper. The two most recognisable faces were those of her mother and father. But all of them, every person, look so much older. Sarah was twenty years old when Alice had last seen her and now looked to be getting into her fifties. Her father, a man who had always seemed young and strong to Alice now had thinning grey hair. He’d only had a few hints of grey around his temples when she had seen him. Mayhew looked so old and tired now, so close to retirement. Her mother, who like Alice had long golden hair, now had long silver hair and deep-set wrinkles around her eyes and mouth.
All of the aged people looked at her with confusion for a second; no hint of recognition showed in their eyes. Alice backed up against the closed door of the closet behind her. Her concentration was ruined and she knew there was no escape to wonderland behind her. She knew what had happened. Time had no real meaning in wonderland, nor did travel. Alice had proven that when she had stepped into a hollow tree and arrived in her families winter clothing closet. Alice knew her mistake; while she had concentrated on a location, she hadn’t focussed on a time. Wonderland had followed her orders and dumped her back home but the crazy place had decided to throw her, what looked like, decades into the future.
Sarah, the now head housekeeper, stepped forward and looked closely at Alice, recognition and shock appeared in her eyes.
“Miss Alice? Oh heavens grace it is you. You’ve returned to us.”
The recognition rose and appeared in everyone else’s and her mother began to cry. To her right the scullery maid had fallen into a confused silence.
“Alice?” Her mother said, she pushed past Sarah and Mayhew and ran up to her daughter. Forgetting all decorum her social class demanded she grabbed Alice tightly and hugged her child. The aging woman cried loudly and wouldn’t loosen her grip, as if letting go would make Alice vanish again. Alice had to force her mother to loosen her grip just so she could breath. Her mother looked at her, the makeup smudged from her tears.
“Alice? My precious daughter. My darling little girl. Your face, you haven’t aged a day? How is it possible? How did you get here.”
“Where did you go?” Her father demanded. His voice was the stern tone Alice had come to know but she did notice it was slightly cracked with emotion.
Alice looked at each of their faces.
“How long have I been gone?” She asked. Her mother rested a hand on her cheek, tears were in her eyes again. She couldn’t bring herself to say. Alice turned to Sarah and Mayhew.
“How long.” She demanded. The servants shared a worried glance but obeyed their employer.
“Twenty years Miss Alice.” Sarah said, she too seemed on the verge of tears.
“Twenty years?” Alice whispered to herself, wonderland had really had the last laugh. Her mother grabbed her hand looked at her.
“But that’s alright. You’re back with us now. You have been returned to us.”
Surrounded by all these people in the clothing their class demanded Alice’s upbringing began to return to her and the independence and disregard she had picked up during her time in wonderland, dressed in nothing but a dirty shirt that wouldn’t protect her modesty if she raised her arms, Alice began to feel totally naked and almost began to long for a dress and petticoats. She looked at her parents and then down at herself.
“Mother, father, please.”
Her parents understood and so did the serving staff. The scullery maid stepped forward, it would be her duty to help Alice dress, instead Sarah took Alice’s hand. Something which Alice was glad for; she preferred the slightly familiar face to the total stranger.
“Come with me Miss Alice. I’ll take good care of you.”
Alice almost cried as Sarah took her to her old bedroom. The place that had been so warm and welcoming for her was now cold and bare with white dustsheets draped over the furniture and portraits. Alice didn’t like the way Sarah’s shoes echoed off the walls, her own bare feet were next to silent.
“You’re mother and father worried themselves ill when you disappeared Miss. You’re father spent much of his fortune to hire people for your search.”
Sarah walked over to the closet and took out a blue dress that Alice had never seen before. The strong smell of mothballs leaked out of the closet and caught Alice in the back of the throat.
“You’re mother had this for you on your birthday. But you vanished the day before the dressmaker delivered it.”
Alice remembered that she had left for wonderland a couple of days after her eighteenth birthday.
“Where did you go Miss Alice? What happened to you?” Sarah asked curiously, staring at the bruises and various healing wounds arcos Alice’s body. “How is it that you haven’t aged a day Miss?”
Alice didn’t respond. Instead she unbuttoned her shirt and dropped it to the floor. Sarah responded automatically to the sight of her naked employer and began to open the buttons on the back of the dress.
Alice felt comfortable as she slipped into the warm clean dress and the soft petticoats. A lot of money and care had gone into making this dress. It was still good despite its age. Alice climbed into the dress and Sarah pulled it up, helping Alice pull it up to her shoulders and buttoned it up for her since Alice couldn’t reach them herself. Sarah took the liberty of pulling the dustsheet off the mirror and Alice got a good look at herself for the first time in a long time. Healing cuts and bruises were all over her arms and bare shoulders and probably a lot more underneath the dress. Her skin was slightly dirty and her hair was greasy, she had bathed in a lake a couple of days ago but it was a poor substitute to a proper bath.
“My goodness Sarah is that what I really look like? No wonder I gave the scullery made such a fright. I look positively gruesome.”
Sarah took a pair of small boots out of the closet and dropped to her knees.
“Pay no mind to Mary Miss Alice.” Sarah said sweetly as Alice raised one foot after the other and Sarah slipped them on and laced them up for her. Alice almost found it amazing how quickly she was slipping back into all of these habits now that she was back in her home and into some normal clothing. All the fuss of wonderland was beginning to seem like a dream, only her healing wounds and the age of her acquaintances served as proof anything had happened.
“There we are now Miss. You look quite respectable again. Better than walking around naked like that I’ll wager eh?”
Alice cast a look down at the dirty shirt she had been wearing. The dress was certainly more comfortable than it had been.
“It certainly is Sarah. Thank you.” Alice said sweetly as she began to move to the door.
“Oh it’s no bother Miss Alice. It’s just good to have you back.”
Alice walked down the stairs, looking around the home she had grown up in and left apparently twenty years ago. Now that she could get a good look at the place she really could see that it was looking older. Some of the paintings and drapes had faded a little. Mayhew the butler came out of the kitchen with a silver trey and a tea service, complete with scones, in his hands.
“Miss Alice, your parents are taking tea in the drawing room.”
Alice nodded and walked behind him. The smell of the scones, they must have been baked just a few hours ago, made her mouth water. Alice was fully aware of how slow Mayhew was moving now, his white hair was thin and wispy and his back was slightly stooped. Twenty years was a long time when you just skipped it.
“This is wrong. I shouldn’t be here.” She muttered to herself. Mayhew looked at her but decided not to ask. After this last half hour, Alice talking to herself wasn’t the thing to be concerned about.
As Alice walked into the drawing room her mother looked ready to cry again. Alice looked almost as she did the last time he parents saw her. Her father rose from his chair as she came over and sat down. It was polite for men to rise when a woman joined and left the table.
“My dear sweet Alice.” Her mother said as Alice sat down and around them Mayhew poured three cups of tea.
“Mother, father. I’m so sorry for what you must have gone through.” Alice said apologetically. She eyed up the scones with clotted cream and jam; Mayhew’s speciality.
“You are back with us now. That is the important thing.”
“Of course.” Alice muttered despondently. She couldn’t bring herself to tell her parents that she would have to leave again soon. She didn’t know what she would say anyway, there was no way they would believe that she had to go back to wonderland to find the Maid of Hearts and help overthrow the queen of spades and restore the throne.
Alice took a bite of the scone and moaned softly as her taste-buds exploded as the flavours invaded her mouth. After countless days of roots and berries, surviving on whatever the forest could provide, this simple scone with cream and jam was the greatest thing she’d ever had eaten. She took a sip of tea to wash it down. The flavour was so rich and strong, the liquid warmed her core and restored a strength that she didn’t know she had lost. She looked at her parents and they looked at her. Neither of them was saying it, but they were thinking it, what had happened to Alice? Where had she gone for the last twenty years? And more importantly why hadn’t she aged? Alice knew that she shouldn’t be here; this wasn’t her time. These people were not the parents she knew and this house wasn’t her home anymore. These people had been ravaged by twenty years of time and worry over their missing daughter and the building had grown cold and loveless as a result. She would have to change all of this. The next time she came back would be after her quest in wonderland was complete. Only she would concentrate on a time as well as a place and make sure she arrived home only a minute or two after she left. She would change this fate for her family by simply coming home.
“So what now?” Alice asked, making her parents jump. They had all bee silent so long the noise surprised them.
“What do you mean Alice?” Her father inquired.
“What do we do now? After twenty years I return, where do we go from there? Just visit family and friends as though nothing has happened. Go to balls and the opera like we used to? Introducing me as your daughter who went missing twenty years ago and hasn’t aged at all? What will you say to people?”
Her parents said nothing and Alice suspected that they hadn’t thought about this at all. Her tone had taken them by surprise, she used to be such a obedient child. Hunting with the Crudican tribe on horseback with a bow and arrow, surviving an attack by Aradia and taking down the Krull queen might have changed her slightly. Alice suspected that she would be going through a few more changes before her journey was over.
“We’ll deal with that business when we have to.” Her father said sternly. Alice finished her scone and tea and looked at her parents. For the first time since she arrived home she felt like crying herself. She knew what needed to be done. It was so tempting to actually quit and just stay home, but she had a duty to perform. A task given to her by wonderlands story keeper himself. She rose from her seat, automatically her father rose with her.
“Excuse me please.” She said quietly.
“Where are you going?” Her mother asked in a panicked tone. Alice bit her lip and decided a lie was the best thing.
“I must go to the toilet.” She said as quietly as possible. She had only been home thirty minutes and already she was embarrassed to talk about body functions.
Her parents nodded in their own embarrassment as she left the room. it was only seconds later that they realised that she might not have been telling the truth.
Alice made her way upstairs and into her bedroom. The place felt cold and underused. She couldn’t imagine anyone spending a good nights sleep in here anymore. It wasn’t the room she remembered. She closed the door behind her and started concentrating.
“The Maid of Hearts home. The Maid of Hearts home.” She muttered to herself again and again.
She may have been standing in her bedroom, in her house, with her parents just downstairs, with the tea and scones she knew but she never felt further from home in her entire life. This wasn’t her home, it had been once but not anymore.
Alice kept her eyes closed, opened her door and stepped through. She found herself almost relieved to smell the fresh air of the forest and the soft earth beneath her boots. Somewhere in the distance a bird twittered and the wind rusted the branches. She had done it; she was back in wonderland.
In the real world the serving staff searched the house from top to bottom for almost two hours before Sarah decided to deliver the tragic news. She came into the drawing room where Alice’s father looked at her expectantly, while her mother just stared at the empty seat and empty cup where her daughter had sat. Had it al bee a dream? Had it been Alice’s spirit saying goodbye? What had happened?
“Sir? Madam? I’m sorry but we’ve searched everywhere. We can find no trace of Miss Alice, save this.” She held up the old, dirty, torn shirt that Alice had worn when she’d reappeared to them.
“Take it away.” Her father said sternly. Sarah nodded and walked off to the kitchen to throw the garment away. As she moved across the great hall she preyed that wherever Alice was she was safe and would come home soon.
To be continued.
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