Alice into Darkness

We shall be Free

That day Alice slept deep and happy at the Attic and she had a series of intense dreams, completely safe from the guards that searched outside for a mysterious man that they would never find... there was nothing that would disturb her peaceful rest, and she compensated for the many nights that she had not been sleeping well since November had started.

Alice dreamed of the delightful gardens, beautiful houses, fantasy creatures and crystal castles that she had seen in her visit to a place called Wonderland all those years ago, but she also dreamed about the life that she had enjoyed at Surrey and of the many happy moments that she had shared with her sister.

All those travels that she had experienced beside her incredible father, their sailing adventure through the Northern Sea and the night when he finally died after a long battle with pneumonia...

Alice dreamed about her mother as well, and she could still see the look of her terrified blue eyes as she was being stabbed to death by her own daughter... The images of that warm and black liquid covering her hands were some of the sharpest that Alice had ever experienced in a dream, and the awful screams of Mary would be replayed for her over and over again.

The day passed, Alice slept through the entire night and then it was a new day at last...

A seventeen years old Alice screamed with great joy and pride as her father sailed the ship beside her, the waves were high and the open sea looked vast and dangerous ahead... The wind was strong, nothing would stop them as they began yet another adventure and the friendly sky was a clear shade of blue.

"Hold on to me tight, Alice!" Alistair Layttel cried out, mastering the helm with all of his strength- "We shall reach maximum speed, and get ready for some really high waves!"

"We can do it, dad! We shall be free... We can do this forever!"

Alice held her father's left arm with both of her hands as they both enjoyed the absolute freedom that sailing represented, the Violet Star was cutting through the ocean like a dagger, her elegant black cloak rippled in the cold wind and then the dream began to fade part by part...

The Northern Sea vanished, Alice could hear the wind no more and then she realized that she was back at the sad and lonely Attic-

"What is that?" Alice whispered, slowly opening her eyes as a very different reality gradually reformed all around her- "What happened? Just how... How long have I been asleep?"

Alice discovered that a grayish light was coming from outside, the air was very cold and there was a raven standing on the windowsill at the other side of the glass. The large and dark bird stared at her with great curiosity, and surely she had been awoken thanks to its loud caws and cries.

"I was having a really beautiful dream, you know..."

Alice abandoned the little nest that she had built for herself with the blankets, she yawned a little, her hands felt quite weird thanks to all of that dried blood and then she looked outside through the window... It was a gray and cloudy day, there was fog everywhere and even the trees of the forest were barely visible at all at the other side of the gardens.

There were sad and solemn chants coming from a distance, chants that Alice had learned well after her father had died...

"It's her funeral, for sure" Alice whispered, suddenly realizing what was happening outside- "Yeah, those chants are coming from the Meadow... They all must be gathered down there! What to do, Alice? Come on, this is your perfect opportunity to escape and to never come back to this place..."

Alice stood up in a hurry, she combed her hair with her fingers for some time and after that, making sure that she carried both her dagger and her longsword, she finally departed from the Attic and walked downstairs as silently as possible... Alice listened with great care as she tried to detect the presence of any person around, but it turned out that once again she was alone in the entire house.

Alice visited her personal room just to grab her favorite photographs of her sister and father, a bag of blue silk in which she kept some of her silver and gold, a vial full of a mysterious clear liquid and her classic black cloak...

"Farewell, Layttel Manor..."

Alice dashed downstairs with great agility and speed, she opened the gates as she smiled with sheer excitement and the sharp and cold wind hit her in the face when she ventured outside, finally ready to leave Surrey behind and start the new and mysterious life that waited for her.