Down the rabbit hole

CHAPTER 8

Alice felt a chill through all of her body. At least Hatter wasn't him, and so she felt a little bit more relieved than before, but something was bothering her. Hatter looked almost terrified when he mentioned "The Prince of Hearts". Maybe he was an awful prince, or a very mean one.

She imagined this boy with black hair and black eyes. He must be tall, so that he could intimidate the people and animals of this place. His voice would br husky and ruff and he would wear a sword beside him to scare or threaten people. He would always also wear black...

Now she wondered if she would ever encounter him to see if she was right about his appearance and personality.

'Have you ever met the prince?' Maybe she would be right about some things, and why not ask someone who might have seen him?

'I have not.' Alice's hope was out the window.

'Do you know anything about him.'

'People say he is very Heart–'

'Wait, wait. I think I'd prefer not to know.' She quickly said. As strange as it could sound, when Alice heard the first few words she felt a wave of sadness. She could not understand people that where... Well, heartless. Her father was like that, and since she realized that, she felt so very sorry for the person. That is why she still loved her father, but she didn't want to find a small, miniscule place in her heart for the prince. She did not know him, and if she did she would get hurt. So she preferred not to listen to it, and she would not ask any more questions about him.

They kept on walking for a while, and neither of them said a word. The air was clear, and it wasn't particularly uncomfortable for her, she just wished Hatter would maybe say something along the way. She didn't like the silence, it made her restless. She wanted to ask questions, but she also didn't want to bother him since he said, all of the "others" understood the first time. She felt as if she needed to be... Like them in a way. Maybe trying not to disappoint him or anyone here, since she had already done that a few times. She thought of Chesire, The Hood, The door knob, Hatter...

She looked around them trying to distract herself with anything. The trees became thinner and thinner and the leaves became of an autumn color. A small breeze brushed her face and her hair. It almost felt like it was August for some reason. She sang a couple of Howdy birds, which said "Howdy do." when they flew by them. She thought it was funny since birds at home didn't talk. She slowly realized that this place was strange, but strange in a good way. She felt a little bit less scared of everything she saw, she even smiled at the whistling leaves, which they left behind a while back. They whistled tunes and made her look at the sky for a while. She skipped through the forest while Hatter looked as happy as she.

Time seemed different in this place, because it was almost night time. The sky was a silvery orange color. Alice looked at it and felt the warmth of the last sun rays on her cheeks as she kept on skipping through the woods.

'We are here.' She turned around and looked at him. His eyes were looking at her as he smiled. She looked behind her and her eyes went wide when there was a small path on the floor. Next to it there was a sign, and written in gold the name "Lumen" was written in cursive.

'Why is it called Lumen?' Alice had never heard of such a name. It sounded pretty and magical.

'It stands for "light". Us Lumen people call ourselves Moonwalkers.'

'Why?' Hatter seemed happy she was interested.

'I can't tell you myself so you will have to wait. There's not much mystery, it's just that instead of having sunbeams we have moonbeams.' Alice was taken aback.