Alice into Darkness

Wacky Squirrel

Alice already knew that the travel to Sparks Hollow would be hard, but as the hours passed she realized that maybe she had underestimated that journey quite a bit... her feet were starting to hurt really bad, her legs were tired and it was only thanks to the excellent food that she had enough energy to keep advancing like a reindeer.

"You are going to love Wacky Squirrel, Alice!" Eileen said, looking up at her friend for a moment as they walked side by side- "I am not sure, but I think that we have to stay camping there for a few more nights..."

"Why have you been camping for so long?"

Alice continued to look at the purple lakes with great curiosity, just trying to understand how it was possible for a color like that to exist and why it would be quite similar and different from violet at the same time... It was surreal and fascinating to her, and she also wondered whether that liquid would be similar to the sweet and sticky fluid that had almost killed her the other day.

"We had a Firebug infestation" Eileen explained, shivering a little as she recalled the terrifying bugs that had been crawling all over her room- "So Dad called the Pest Control, and they said that the only solution was to fumigate the entire house with Aethyl Vallathion and so we decided to stay at the campsite, because the hotels at Sparks are really expensive..."

"That's bad" Alice said, not very sure whether she wanted to know what Firebugs were or not- "Eileen, what are those purple lakes? That does not look like water, so what is it? Can we drink that?"

"What? Alice, do not even touch that thing! You really are not from around here, are you?"

"I already told you! I came here from a world very, very far from Wander's Land" Alice replied, now wishing that she had not made that question- "Anyway, I hope that we'll arrive at that Wacky Squirrel whatever very soon..."

"We are almost there!"

The rescue experts continued to guide the Snowflakes and Alice back to the campsite, the terrain was full of fallen trees and boulders and they stopped in order to rest for awhile multiple times, but finally they all arrived at the outskirts of Sparks Hollow when the air was getting cold and a dazzling yellow sun was drawing close to the horizon...

"Welcome!" the campsite captains cheered, some of them even crying with relief at the return of Eileen and her family- "Welcome back to Wacky Squirrel! We knew everything was going to be fine..."

Alice was quite happy to discover that the campsite was a very nice place, with stylish gardens and colorful camping tents installed between pine and oak trees everywhere. There was a small lake in which some people were rowing and fishing, others were preparing their campfires for the night and then everybody began to clap and cheer for the rescue experts and the Snowflakes.

After all it had seemed almost impossible that Eileen would still be alive, and most people were sure that the expedition would return to the campsite carrying a corpse...

Many of the other families dashed to congratulate Eileen's battered parents, one of the captains said that a party would be organized and Logan hurried to take his little sister back to their private camp area, which was composed by three beautiful tents in orange and blue installed at the summit of a small hill.

Eileen got inside of her orange tent, Logan kissed her hair and then she quickly fell asleep...

"Hello" Alice said, acting as casual as possible as she sat on the grass beside the teenager- "Logan, right? Eileen told me about you, she said that you got a sword for your birthday... Well, I guess that by sitting right at the entrance of her tent you want to make sure that she does not get lost again!"

"Miss Layttel" Logan replied with his mellow voice, blushing a little at the cold and yet strikingly beautiful Alice- "Thank you, thanks so much for saving my sister..."

"Just call me Alice!"

Alice did realize that Logan's handsome face had changed its color just a little, but she had never seen this physical reaction before and so she had no idea what it would really mean-

"Alice, then... Do you really live at the Haunted Forest?"

"Yeah, but apparently I cannot stay there because of all the wolves and night criers..."

Logan Snowflake was too intimidated and freaked out to keep talking to Alice, so they just stayed there in silence for a long time after that. The wind became very cold, the sun disappeared at last and soon the entire campsite looked intriguing with so many campfires glowing like magic under a vast starry sky...

"There you are!" a female voice cried out all of a sudden.

Alice turned her head to discover that Eileen's parents had escaped from the celebration, climbed up the hill and arrived at their camp area at last. They carried what seemed to be a violet camping tent folded inside of a bag, both of them looked really tired and it seemed to Alice that they had something to say and yet they had no idea how to actually say it...

"Hello..."

"Alice, I am Albert Snowflake and this is Grace" the man said, bowing respectfully at her- "We cannot... We do not want to let you go back to that nightmare that the Haunted Forest became, not after you saved our little Eileen, so... Would you consider to stay with us, at least for some time?"

"Look, we already purchased a new camping tent, for you!" Grace added, displaying a sincere and yet timid smile- "Alice, if you stay... We'll give you a complete tour of Sparks Hollow, and who knows... Would you like to visit our house, perhaps?"

"That would be great!"

Albert and Logan installed Alice's tent while the first rockets were fired from the gardens below, people were celebrating and soon the sky was full of dazzling explosions that released showers of blue, orange and violet sparks... It was a spectacular event, but the Snowflakes were exhausted and soon they disappeared inside of their tents.

Sparks Hollow looked like a vast collection of parks, houses and church towers a little distance to the North, the town was full of lights and Alice stayed for a long time just admiring the rockets and sparks with tears flowing from her eyes...