Nursery Rhymes for the Mentally Ill

Just Paint The Roses Red

Chapter 22 - Ash

"White roses?! WHITE roses?!" The red queen said. "WHY are my roses white?!" She screamed. "Now what do I do?" But I step in suggesting, "Why don't you paint the white roses red?"

I couldn't keep my eyes open.. but I had to. The note said that Alice was in trouble. Leron had wrote that a seer had seen Alice being shot. I couldn't let that happen, I mean, we hadn't even got to the castle yet, though we were close. My eyes continued drooping and finally just closed completely.

The next morning I woke to a panik. Ross and Dani were calling out for Alice, but there was never a reply. I remember my dream....

    I felt the urge to go into the forest. I didn't know why, but I walked into it. Finally I came to a small clearing and saw someone I knew. I couldn't remember who it was, though. His hair was shaggy and brown, but he was my age. Atop his head was a sparkling gold crown, he was the king. The words I said next made no sense to me.

     "Jlowlanitho" my voice was a little more girly than the one I was used to and was warped so I couldn't understand myself.

     Suddenly a pain errupted in my chest and I looked down. I had been shot with a silver arrow. At the end was a pure white rose, but the rose had been turned red with my blood. That rose was the last thing I saw before the world before me went black.

Oh my god... ALICE!!! Immediatly I ran towards the same forest and followed my attraction to death, passing by two dead squirrels, fifty-three dead spiders, and a dead fox before reaching my destination. I was in the same clearing as in my dream and in front of me was a... horrifying, terrible, nightmarinsh sight. My eyes were glued to Alice with a silver arrow protruding from her chest. The red rose at the tip of the arrow was splotched with white, giving me the inpression that that dream had been no fake. My eyes were glued to this sight when Ross and Dani shoved into the clearing. The only thing that pulled my eyes away from the picture was a ghostly figure looking down at it across from me. We both looked up at the same time.

The girl across from me smiled sadly as I looked at her. Then her eyes widened and she hugged me. Her smell, her look, everything fit into place as I burst out into tears. Alice hugged me tighter and stroked my long hair as I sobbed. Her solidness frightened me. I clung to her as she shushed me. Finally I stopped crying and she shimmered away.

"Ash! Are you okay?" Dani cried.

"I- I saw Alice's ghost...." I sniffled.

Everything in the forest went silent as I thought. Over all the puzzel pieces I had.

1.) Alice was dead.

2.) I had seen her ghost.

3.) She was murdered.

4.) There was a arrow protruding from her chest.

5.) I had dreamed of her death.

6.) The only person at her death with an arrow was the....

"I know who killed her. Ross," I called, "What's the king's name?"