Alice in Reality

As Alice staggered to the back, she couldn’t help but feel everyone was glancing at her and whispering about her. She saw odd sideways glances and a low murmur of secret voices throughout the bus. She didn’t recognize anyone on the bus and had no idea what all the whispering could be about. Alice huddled herself into a small ball in the back of the bus and proceeded to look out the window and ignore her fellow passengers. She pulled out the cookie in her hand and wondered if it would even work in his land. Perhaps it was worth a try if it would keep everyone from looking at her so suspiciously. She popped the cookie in her mouth and chewed slowly. As she did the glances and whispers started to fade, as if she faded from view of all the other passengers.

After ten minutes on the bus, her ear perked up when the driver announced that the University was their next stop. She tried to think about where on campus she could possibly find the Knave and why she hadn’t seen him there before. Alice gathered up her notebook and Cheetos before exiting the bus. This time no one seemed to notice her at all.

Alice walked quickly onto campus and started racking her brain to think of where she might find the Knave. She hadn’t spent much time with him when she was in the other realm. He spent most of his time chained to the Queen or in prison - two places Alice took great care to avoid.

“Don’t be late, Alice. It’s tea time,” called another voice from behind her. She turned but no student looked up from their phone as they walked mindlessly through the pathways.

Alice glanced around the school and had a strange feeling that she was being watched and something was following her. She continued to glance behind but repeatedly saw nothing. She felt a bit like she was losing her mind.

“Alice, over here, Alice,” called a soft voice carried by the wind. She couldn’t tell what direction the voice was coming from. She swirled around but saw nothing suspicious, just the blank faces of the scattered students walking towards their classes.

She looked down and saw a card on the ground. She reached down to pick it up and saw that it was the Queen of Hearts. It had a black arrow on it pointing towards the astronomy tower. Alice narrowed her eyes and picked up her pace. As Alice made her way towards the observatory, she thought she could hear her name being repeatedly called out but again - no one was there. For a moment, Alice considered taking the drugs that Doctor Hightopp had prescribed, but she felt certain she wouldn’t be able to succeed in finding proof if she let herself be numbed out by those reality-inducing drugs.

Alice opened the door to the tower to see red rose petals and hearts scattered all over the floor. The Queen was here. Just as she was preparing to climb the stairs, a hauntingly familiar laugh bellowed through the small oval building. She glanced up to see the Red Queen holding the Knave by the throat and leaning him slightly over the glass railing.

“I believe you are looking for him. Well, my dear, you’ve come to the right place,” the Queen cackled. Alice narrowed her eyes and instinctively balled her hand into a fist. Without a word, Alice started to climb the stairs. All she needed was to kill the Queen once and for all, save the Knave, and bring him to the doctor. Then she’d finally be free. The Queen continued to laugh as Alice climbed the stairs. “I must say, you were much easier to manipulate here. I thought it would be more challenging to defeat you on your ‘own turf’ as they say, but you seem much more susceptible to losing here.”

“If you wanted me to continue to lose, you shouldn’t have shown me where you were hiding, your majesty.” Alice choked out the last words in a sarcastic tone, dripping with disdain. The Queen frowned.

“You are half out of your mind, seeing things, hearing things, taking all kinds of drugs, you don’t even know what’s real anymore. You honestly think you can beat me in a face-to-face battle?” The Queen laughed and smirked but Alice could hear the fear in her voice.

“I defeated your precious jabberwocky. Compared to that, defeating you should be easy. Let the Knave go and let’s settle this, just you and me.”

The Queen tossed the knave aside and Alice urged him to run to safety. He tried to move forward to help Alice but the Queen continued to push him back. Alice pulled out the small dagger that she always kept in her bag and began circling the Queen. The Queen pulled out her heart-shaped scepter and now it was Alice’s turn to laugh.

“You’re in a land without magic. What do you think you’re going to do with that?”

“Bash your skull in, my dear, of course,” the Queen answered with a playful smile. Alice frowned. When she had the Queen positioned over the edge, Alice launched herself at the Queen - dagger first. In one quick motion, she stabbed her and sent the Queen flying over the edge of the railing. She cried wildly as she felt, looking truly pained and panicked. Alice watched, shocked at how easily the Queen was defeated.