Behind Sanity

Chapter Fifty-Five

Behind Sanity

Chapter Fifty-Five

1

In a tiny padded cell within the stark walls of the Hatter’s Keep, two insane children stared at the clock mounted high on the wall.  They gaped at the second hand ticking by as if they couldn’t comprehend the simple motion, or as if the clock face was their God.  In a way, truthfully, it was, for it was the ruling center of their lives.  But no matter how vacant their faces, behind those grotesque fixtures was a deep understanding, and there was a knowing that, sometimes, even deities had to be violated.

They looked to one another, each giving a short nod, and then very gingerly, one climbed onto the shoulders of the other.

 Short, stubby fingers – some of them missing – reached out toward the clock.  The child nearly lost his balance, almost fell, but then became steady again, reaching onward.  He caught the clock’s second hand with a damaged finger, carefully beginning to spin it backward the way it had come.  He wound it gently back thirty-five minutes and stopped.

His job done, he climbed off the shoulders of his partner.  When he reached the ground, they turned their unpleasant faces toward each other and smiled.  Thirty-five minutes was enough change in the time.  Things would run a different course now.  Everything would be fine.

2

                 And thus, time was wound back in Wonderland, or simply in the Hatter’s Keep; no one could be certain.  But what was certain was that, thirty-five minutes ago, Alice was still alive.

3

                .alive still was Alice ,ago minutes five-thirty ,that was certain was what But  .certain be could one no ;Keep Hatter’s the in simply or ,Wonderland in back wound was time , thus And

 4

In the dungeon room in the heart of Wonderland’s vast woods, Alice’s body was penetrated by the saw’s messy, rusted blade.  It had ground into her center but stopped before her spine, and by all rights should have killed her.  However, Alice was the Champion of prophecy, and she refused to be killed.

It was only by the strength of her legs that the blade had not cut her in half, for her boots were planted on either side of the saw, pushing with all her might to not let herself be more damaged than she was.  She did not want to die!  After what she’d just seen in her visions, she could not die!  And when the blade stopped whirling because her severed hand had locked the gears, she began to kick furiously at the base to break it loose.  She’d sacrificed her left hand to jam the saw, and she could see it hanging above her in between the gears, dripping, but the skin of her wrist was sealing itself over, leaving her a clean nub.  As well, the wound in her stomach was vanishing.  The pain would fade soon after.

She grunted forcefully, kicking the base of the saw until it broke off the crane and crashed to the floor beside the crib.  The disturbance was loud, but after all that, she could not be bothered to care.  How had she lived?  There had been so much blood lost, and the saw had cut nearly all the way through her, ruining her organs.  Right?

Suddenly, words that Morgan had said came back to her – words that the cat and rabbit had told the child.

“It’s all just a dream…” she uttered so faintly past bloody lips that she was hardly aware she’d spoken them.

She couldn’t remember how she’d gotten back here once again, waking up to find the saw coming down at her again as it had once before.  This time, she had been stronger.  She had been given another chance; she would not waste it.