X No Sekai

o17; Circle You, Circle You...

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The crazy doctor turned to face towards them, his face fixed in a menacing smile. “What? More patients?” then he laughed in his crooked voice. “But this time, I’m going to make sure my treatment isn’t a fail like others.” He pointed to the bones and laughed more. Oz and the rest of the ALICEs glanced at the bones. Did he do that to them? Oz thought, becoming dreadful of the person in front of them.

“Why, yes, young man,” the crazy doctor said, looking intently at Oz, his face still fixed in a menacing smile. “I just tied them up and made them drink something. And then I didn’t know it wasn’t edible and safe to drink.”

The 2nd ALICE tapped Oz’s shoulder and pointed. When Oz followed his glance, there were 2 skeletons. One skeleton was sitting up straight, but its head drooped. The other one had its shoulder rested on the skeleton. But what’s worse, all of them thought that they wore the same clothes of the 3rd and 6th ALICEs, only ragged, torn, rotted and full of dirt. “Wha-what did you do to the 3rd and 6th ALICEs?!” Oz exclaimed.

“Why, I don’t know them. How the heck should I experiment them?” the doctor said, his smile in a worried and menacingly glance. A white-fur and red-eyed fennec fox jumped on top of the crazy doctor’s head. It was carrying a huge injection with a strange blue liquid inside it. “Since you are already here, why don’t you feel at home?”

Then the fennec fox jumped off of the crazy doctor’s head and stared at Oz and the ALICEs. Before Oz could do anything, the fennec fox jumped towards him in the most alarming way and all he felt that something painful had pricked his head. And he felt that his blood, soul and mind were being sucked. He pulled the fennec fox away and he came back to normal. Shivering, he kneeled down.

“Are you alright?” the 4th ALICE asked, worried. The rest of the ALICEs had kneeled down beside Oz, trying to comfort him, all except the 1st ALICE. “That fox suddenly attacked you and started sucking your blood with that injection.” But Oz managed to nod.

“Tell me, where is the Red Queen hiding? Or at least a clue,” the 1st ALICE insisted.

The crazy doctor only smiled at her. “Over my dead body.”

The 1st ALICE raised her hand. “As you wish…” she said. When she was about to attack when quickly the atmosphere changed. All of them were in somewhat, an old school building that was abandoned and started to rot and leach. “Wh-where…” the 2nd ALICE muttered.

“We’re back in the human world?” Oz said, sounding like a total shock and a question. “But how come…” He stood up and noticed they were in the hallway. Just like any other normal school hallways, it had every classroom lined up to which seems forever. The smell was irritating and disgusting, for it smelled like it hadn’t been cleaned for years and there were rotting dead bodies or blood’s smell. Nonetheless, it wasn’t a very pleasant place to stay.

They decided to tour around. But mysteriously, ever other corner they have to turn, one of them suddenly disappears. Until Oz find that he was the only one left walking alone. It wasn’t long before he noticed it. He turned around and noticed that he was all alone and that behind him was a never-ending hallway. He started to quicken his pace, and then he jogged and quickly ran. He wasn’t so sure of what was happening to them now. Oz wasn’t sure if it was reality or still inside Xland, he wouldn’t know. He passed a classroom that was strangely lit with a faint, pale yellow glow of a lamp and he heard some children singing.

He stopped and turned. He was curious, but he wouldn’t dare to peek. He was afraid of something might pop up weird again. But, just one peek won’t harm, Oz said as he grabbed the door handle and slide the door open. Quick as a glimpse, there were no light from the room and no voices. The room was dark, abandoned, smelly and creepy. A sweat trickles down on Oz’s forehead. He was shivering slightly, and as soon as he closed the door, the light and the voices were on again. This time, when he opened it, there were children singing. All of them wore old-fashioned style, usually kimono. All of them were holding each other’s hands in a form of circle and in the middle, was someone Oz who doesn’t know and had her eyes covered from her hands.