Xocolantia: The World Made of Candy

Chapter Two: "Ash Falls Asleep At Wonderland Medical."

After running over a Keebler elf, I decided that I needed something stronger than pop and cigarettes, so I opened a of bottle whiskey that I had borrowed from my father. He had so many that he wasn't going to miss one or two. Even if he did notice he'd blame me for it anyway, so why not? I took a long swig, letting the amber liquid go down my throat and feeling the slight burn of the alcohol as it did.

I offered Harper some but they shook their head. "I'm trying to drive. I really don't need to get caught drinking whiskey, we've already ran over an elf for Pete's sake."

I laughed "That's exactly why you should at least take a swig, so that if we do get caught then maybe they'll just think the little guy had too much and passed out. That way we might be able to get away with just a D.U.I. You really should live a little Harp. I mean, come on, you're

19 this is your chance to be wild and young."

They shook their head again and said "Fine, but this is the one and only time. Got it?"

I nodded my head and said, "Sure, Harp."

I handed them the bottle and took it back once they took their swig of it. I laughed as they gave me a disgusted look. I grabbed my carton of cigarettes and continued to make my way through the rest of the pack.

It wasn't until I had gotten to my ninth cigarette that I had heard Harper say "Crap! I forgot to tell Mari that we were going to be late."

I suppressed an eye roll and said, "If you want I can text her from your phone telling her we'll be late."

They looked at me unsure and I said "I'll be nice."

"Fine."

I grabbed Harp's phone and sent a quick text to "Mari the Malevolent", a name that I had given her when I had figured out how she was treating Harper.

I didn't have enough time to take another drag from my cigarette when I felt Harp's phone vibrate on my leg. I grabbed the phone and quickly read the text.

It said, "Thank you so much for letting me know that Elizabeth and you were going to be late but next time could you have Eliza text me and not you. Because last I knew it was Eliza's phone, not yours. If you need a phone so badly then why don't you just get an old one from your parents? You don't seem to mind borrowing clothes from them. Bye! Oh and tell Eliza that I need some new lipstick and I ate all of her chocolate, xoxo."

I took a long drag from my cigarette to distract myself enough so that I wouldn't start saying the many curse words that had come to my mind about Mari the Malevolent. I looked at Harp and I could tell that they knew that I wanted to say some very bad choice words but they smiled at my effort not to. I read the text that Mari had sent and they had looked so sad that Mari ate all of their chocolates that I dug through my bag and gave them my own secret stash of chocolates. I said, "Make sure to either hide these from her really well or eat them before she finds them."

Harp nodded and put the chocolates in the center console so that they could grab some as they drove. I went back to looking out the window trying to find some kind of hospital or Emergency Room for our little friend. I had just finished my tenth cigarette when I saw a sign that said "Wonderland Medical."

"I found a hospital."

"Good, I was getting tired of driving anyways."

I put my blue lighter and cigarettes in my back pocket and put the bottle of whiskey back in my bag under my pajamas. I got out, opened the other car door then unbuckled and picked up our still unconscious friend.

I followed Harper into the hospital and let them talk to the receptionist while I sat in one of the surprisingly comfortable waiting room chairs I put our friend in a chair next to me. Harp sat by me to fill out papers. I saw a little girl with long blonde hair floating in mid-air while her mother seemed to be distracted reading a magazine. Every time she flipped a page she would just swish her finger to the side and the page would flip without her actually touching it.

I tried to see if Harper saw the same things I was seeing. They were too busy filling out the forms. When they finally did look up, the little girl wasn't floating anymore. Her mother had taken her daughter into a room down one of the hallways. I told myself that I was just sleep deprived. I grabbed my phone and saw that it was 2:30 a.m.

It must've been around 12:15 when we ran over the elf. We were driving, looking for a hospital for two hours and fifteen minutes.

Harp said, "You okay Ash?"

I nodded and said "Yeah. Just tired."

"Well, you could take a nap if you want. There are some benches across from us. It'll be at least a ten or fifteen minute wait and I can handle that."

"Just wake me up if you need me."

"Will do."

I got up to lay down on one of the benches that Harp had pointed out. Once my head touched the cushion of the bench I had entered a dreamless slumber.