Be My Alice

Leo Meets the Pillar Sisters

We walked through the forest. Trees and bushes, nothing out of the ordinary, right? Not exactly. There were bits of toys lying around such as marble and pieces of dominos. There were weird mutants flying around like a rocking horse chair and a pig with big wings. Also, the forest looked like it was stuck between spring and fall. I bumped into a hard backside. I looked up to see Sam stopping in his tracks. I gave him back his trench coat. He managed to catch up with the Red Knight after he grabbed me. If Sam hadn't come to me sooner, I don't want to even imagine what Crimson would do to me. The way he keeps looking at me makes my skin crawl. I feel disgusted just thinking how his eyes keep checking my body like I'm the last piece of pizza. Ugh. I might not want pizza any time soon when I get back.

...if I get back.

"The Vale of Tears. We are not too far off track." I walked over beside my guide. We stopped in front of a river where a giant statue of a woman crying tears out of her stony eyes. "The Pillar Sisters are not far off. We should arrive momentarily. Let us proceed", Sam said as he headed north walking past the statue.

Ever since he saved me from Crimson, Sam's been a bit... off. More on edge. Crimson swore to do whatever it takes to get me to his Queen. Or maybe whatever Crimson has in mind. God, I feel queasy.

I looked up at the statue. The crying statue continued to cry creating an endless waterfall. I don't know why but I felt sad looking at her. I wonder if the statue was Alice or maybe one of the earlier ones. How can any Outsider deal with Wonderland?

I took the vial out of my pouch. I wondered if any Alice went through the same thing as I did. Did she have an obsessed red knight coming after her? Did everything want to either eat her or kill her?

Would our paths be different or similar?

There was something inside the bottle. I raised it over my head. It was tiny drops of silver liquid in the bottom. I knew those weren't there before. Were they?

"Leon, you should not dawdle. Time is not a kind man." Sam's words brought me out of my mindscape. I looked over at Sam who gave me a blank stare. What Crimson said did bother me. I knew Sam was dangerous. I literally saw him stabbing a knight's neck with a needle! Of course, I'm unsettled! Even when Sam went all the way over to save me, he had blood on his gloves and drops of blood on parts of his clothing. Honestly, I'd rather take my chances with Samuel Hatter than be with "Sir" Crimson. At least Sam doesn't look like he wanted to eat me. But I should be on my toes. If Sam really is the Mad Hatter, I can't tell when he'll lose his marbles. When the time comes... I don't know if I'm ready for the battle between us. He managed to get me to sit down just by dodging. If it were a real fight, I probably wouldn't last a minute.

I pocketed the vial and ran after Sam. We continued walking through the forest. The deeper we went, the stranger things we encountered. Large snails. Weird flowers. Tall and large mushrooms. On our path, we saw a giant snail protecting a giant purple bottle spilling a never-ending stream of purple liquid. A label tied to it said, "Drink Me". Wait. I've heard about this in the story.

"We need to speak with the Pillar Sisters", Sam told the guarding snail, "It is a matter of urgency."

The snail studied us with a long stare. It nodded slowly. Sam walked into the purple pond. The moment he reached the flowing water, his size shortened. And I don't mean he lost weight. He's literally as short as my hand. The small Hatter and the giant snail looked at me to follow.

"You want me to be tiny?" I dared myself to ask already knowing the answer to my dumb question.

"This is the way to meet the Pillar Sisters", Sam answered. I groaned. I didn't like the idea of being a teeny tiny ninja turtle. Sam walked out of the pond and suddenly grew back to his regular height. I blinked. Don't you need to eat something to get big? "The moment you bathe in the DRINK ME waters, you can control how you shrink."