In 1865, a young girl by the name of Alice Liddell went missing from outside of her home in Oxford, England. Left in the care of her older sister, Margaret, no one could understand how the seven-year-old had disappeared so suddenly. Yet, after multi...
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THE TEARS WERE QUICKLY DELAYED as Alice turned her head and caught sight of Percy standing near her. He bore an awkward stance, his face unsure of whether or not he should be here, while his body was stiff. His back remained perfectly straight with his chin pointed up. Alice wasn't sure if he was asking her out of sincerity or if she was in some sort of trouble.
"I wasn't aware that I was hiding in the first place," she told him, " I just wanted to find somewhere quiet for a few moments."
There was a look of disbelief that shot across Percy's face as he raised a brow. " You? You wanted to find somewhere quiet? I don't believe that for a second."
"I wasn't asking you to," Alice replied with a casual shrug. "The truth of the matter is, sometimes I do enjoy being left to myself for a few moments. It allows me to collect my thoughts uninterrupted. As much as I love adventure and wild excitement that comes with my friends, sometimes, the quiet just allows me to listen."
"Listen to what?"
"What is worth hearing," she said, " sometimes, it's the advice I need and I've been ignoring all along."
Percy watched the first-year student with a look that spoke of caution. He didn't know Alice very well, but he knew very well that the usually smiling girl had to be up to something or something had to be very wrong. And while his mind first went to the idea of a prank, he could see the tears that had yet to fall from her eyes and realised that it must have been the latter.
"Are you sick or something of the sort?" He folded his arms over his chest. "That's the only time Fred and George get like this."
It was almost as if he was tempted to check the temperature of her forehead, but Alice shook her head.
"I'm not sick. If you're that concerned about me, you're welcomed to sit and keep me company though."
"I-I'm not c-concerned!" Percy stammered with a shake of his head.
"Then why are you still here?"
Percy opened his mouth to respond, but once again, he was left with no comeback. Somehow, her innocent retorts always managed to leave him unsure of what to say because he didn't want to come across harsh to someone who wasn't doing anything to be mean to him. She turned her head away from him, returning her gaze to look out the window. However, it didn't stop her from talking to him.
"You're lucky, you know?" she said as he continued to stand there. Part of him wanted to walk away, while the other half of him knew it would be wrong to leave Alice when she appeared to be in a fragile state.
"Lucky? How? I don't feel so lucky."
The corner of her lips pulled into a smile, enough for him to see as he slowly made his way to sit across from her. He just had to hear how he was the lucky one.
"Because you have a really big family," she told him, " and all the ones I've met so far are so incredibly nice. I wish...I wish I had that still. At the time, when I did have them, I didn't think much of it. I focused on all the negatives when I should have seen how blessed I was. Like with my sister, Margaret. I always saw her as the one who nagged me because she told me that I needed to push myself, focus on my studies and get my head out of the clouds."
Suddenly, she let out a small laugh but Percy couldn't ignore the tears that fell at the same time.
"You remind me of her a lot."
"You just insinuated that I nag you, is that it?"
"Well, you kinda do," she giggled, " you have to admit it. You're the only person outside of a professor to tell me not to loiter in the corridors."
"Would you rather have me or a professor tell you?"
"I suppose it doesn't matter much," Alice said, " I've been so used to getting into trouble without even trying."
"And why is that?" Percy asked. "What is it about trouble that you enjoy so much? Because I will never understand why it brings Fred and George so much entertainment."
Alice thought about the question for a moment, as Percy seemed genuinely curious rather than just bitter. It wasn't so much the idea of trouble and punishment that Alice enjoyed, it was the freedom that came before it.
"What is it that you like about doing what you're told to do all the time?" she countered. "Does it not come across as boring to you? You have to wait upon the word of others, rather than taking your own path. Even if I get into trouble, at least I tried to do something different. That's where the entertainment comes from, not from the trouble itself. At least, in my experience, I can't speak for your brothers."
"So you like trouble because it's different?"
"Maybe, but then again, we would have to look at our definitions of trouble. Everyone has their own definition or opinion as to what trouble is. You find loitering in the corridors as trouble, whereas I find something along the lines of getting my head chopped off as troubling."
Percy's eyes drastically widened at her response. "Well, if I was faced with the idea of someone chopping off my head, I would certainly see that as trouble as well. So I don't think we're very far off with our definitions! Those are a bit extreme to be compared, don't you think?"
"Yes, but that was only because I was trying to make a point. What I meant was, I don't find miniscule things you find troubling as very troubling at all. And your brothers don't find getting into trouble as a bad thing because it leaves them with plenty of experiences that they find exciting. They come out of it smiling all the time. And yet, if I look at you, I rarely see you smile. So, I ask you, is trouble really as bad as you make it out to be?"
Left to think for a moment, Percy couldn't help but find himself completely dumbfounded by Alice's words. It sounded like nonsense originally, but the way she explained it, it did make sense. And after spouting such words of wisdom, Alice acted as if she had said nothing as she began humming to herself.
After a moment, Percy cleared his throat.
"What song is that?"
"It's one that I learned from the flowers," Alice said, " it's called 'Golden Afternoon.'"
"You learned it...from the flowers?" he repeated. " Oh, you mean, from that Underland place-"
"Wonderland. And yes."
"Well, how could you learn something from the flowers, like a song?"
Alice chuckled before she started to sing the song for him. "You can learn a lot of things from the flowers, for especially in the month of June."
"It's January."
"There's a wealth of happiness and romance...All in the golden afternoon."
"It's also morning," he pointed out.
Letting out a sigh, Alice leaned forward and poked him in the forehead gently before standing up.
"You really need to develop your imagination, Percy. You might find yourself enjoying life more, you don't have to take things so literal all the time."
"There's nothing wrong with pointing out fact," Percy said. "And you can't spend all your time imagining away."
"Why not? Life seems so much happier that way. I suppose that's why Margaret and I tended to clash so often. She was a realist, much like yourself...I guess it was what led me to disappear in the first place. Reality was nothing special, but it was always forced upon me from a young age."
