Alice into Darkness

Keep the Secrets

It seemed that Eileen had realized already that her sister was standing at the other side of that door, since she began to calm down and soon it was clear that she was not sobbing anymore... Alice decided to wait a little more, and after that she opened the door and walked into that room as quietly as she could.

The place was about the same size as Eileen's room at Snowflake house. There was a large shelf filled with plushies and books, the wardrobe was small but stylish and a huge mirror was standing in a corner... the floor was made of polished wood, and a great window provided a nice view of the trees and the gardens at the other side of the street.

"Purple door" Alice said, and after that she sat on the very soft bed right beside Eileen- "What's the matter, Eileen? Please come with us, Mom has prepared Artificial Turtle and shark! We know you love that..."

"I just... I just needed to be alone for some time" Eileen replied, and then she looked into Alice's eyes just for a moment- "Yeah, purple was Cathy's favorite color and this was her room here in Seaside Creek... Those are her plushies, and her favorite books, and that wardrobe is full of clothing that belonged to her, and... and it's all mine now."

"Catherine would be happy to know that all of her belongings are in your hands now..."

"What am I going to do with all of this?" Eileen gasped, and then she began to sob again as a few tears flowed so fast down her face- "You know what am I going to do, Alice? I am going to grow up... I shall be a teenager soon, and an adult woman after that... and Catherine? She lost the chance to live, and she will always be a little girl in my memories, and..."

Eileen broke down in tears once again, and Alice just hugged the girl in silence as she released all of that sorrow and pain.

After all, it was true that Eileen would grow up and eventually all of those girly things would be just dark reminders of what had happened to Catherine... Alice recalled that Eileen and Cathy dreamed of someday starting a bakery together, and she came to see that now Eileen was crushed because she was going to grow up and forever leave Catherine behind.

Eileen knew that Cathy would be just a ghost of her past, and she feared that all of this tragedy would haunt her for the rest of her life...

"I know it feels awful right now" Alice whispered, happy to see that Eileen was calming down a few minutes later- "After all, it happened so recently... You know what happened to me when my father died? At first I felt alone, and dark, and frozen... I was sure that my life would be just sorrow after that, but eventually I recovered..."

"T-thanks, Alice..."

Alice spent some time looking in silence at the window, and the books in those shelves, and the sweet skaellyn plushies and the drawings of castles and horses that decorated every wall... So, this was the room that Cathy inhabited every time that the Ayllawels visited their house at Seaside Creek!

The place was really beautiful, and Alice enjoyed the idea that if Eileen would not want all of this then perhaps the room and everything inside of it would fall in her hands someday...

"Come sister, we have to go downstairs! Artificial Turtle... and Shark!"

"Alice, that's not everything" Eileen whispered, and at that moment her sorrow began to transform into something that looked more like concern and angst- "I know I promised! God knows I promised, but I think that I cannot keep the secret anymore, Alice... When I look into my mother's eyes, I feel that I have to tell her the truth someday..."

"What do you mean?"

"The nightmare that awakened me last night, it was not about a Jabberwock" Eileen explained with a shaky voice, and Alice already feared what she was going to say next- "That nightmare was about you, Alice... You, materializing in the air from a stream of violet sparks... You, with that dagger and your hands covered by blood..."

"You promised, Eileen" Alice said, and at that moment her sweet voice became cold and harsh all of a sudden- "I saved your life, and you promised! I killed a wolf, it was a wolf that was about to devour you at the Haunted Forest that day!"

"That was your true face, right?" Eileen asked, and at those words Alice felt a freezing shiver sliding down her back- "What you present to us every day is something else instead, it's not the real you... Why do you do this, Alice? Why do we have to keep that secret? I do not want to lie to my family anymore!"

"You know what everybody thinks of Magic" Alice replied, trying her best to keep herself from doing what she wanted to do at that very moment- "I am a good Mage, but everybody would think the worst of me! What does it matter if we lie to the others? What difference does it make? I saved your life that day, Eileen..."

"It's not about just you and me anymore... You know what other secret I have to keep now, Alice? The Guards are lying to everybody! I know that Elric McAllister is dead, I saw you hacking off his head, with my own eyes... Why are they doing this? What are they trying to hide from everyone?"

"The Guards have good reasons to invent all of these stories about wolves, and gas leaks, and Elric McAllister breaking into houses" Alice replied, and her eyes became just as cold as her voice- "Eileen, please continue to keep our secrets... If you value the fact that I saved your life, and if you give even the slightest value to the relationship between us... Keep the secrets! Please..."

They looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds, Eileen sobbed, Alice sighed and after that she stood up and walked alone towards the door... Alice came to a halt, and then she slowly turned around and stared at Eileen just waiting for her so they would leave Cathy's room and go downstairs together.

However, Eileen remained sitting on the bed and she was staring directly into those cold and violet eyes...

"What killed Catherine, Alice?" Eileen asked, and all of a sudden her weak voice had turned defiant and strong- "Come on, you are a Mage! You tell me... Was it a wolf, too?"

"Eileen, if you ever ask that to me again... What killed Catherine, would come looking for you."

Alice displayed just a hint of her real face as Eileen stared at her, and then she easily transformed into the cold but sweet Alice that everybody knew and loved... Eileen came to accept that she had no choice but to keep the secrets for her, and after that she joined her sister and they walked downstairs side by side without another word.