Welcome to Wonderland

Amara's Tea Party

    Three days had passed since Summer's death. Amara had taken one day to grieve and had spent the next two days traveling to the castle in the south. She couldn't explain the feeling that told her to go to the castle; she just knew she had to go.

    When Amara at last reached the castle, she was exhausted. She wanted to know how Alice was doing, and how Raven was treating her, but she was far too far away to go and check.

    Slowly, the Queen of Hearts pushed open the huge, wooden double-doors that blocked the entrance to the castle and walked inside, nearly dragging herself across the cobbled stone floors.

    “Welcome!”

    Amara jumped and screamed on instinct. She looked around wildly and found, at the top of the stairs, Alice.

    But it wasn’t Alice—it couldn’t be. Not only was she here in the castle without Raven, but she was also carrying her head in her left hand.

    Amara took a deep breath to compose herself. “Hello, Alice,” she called, figuring it couldn’t hurt to just play along. “Were you expecting me?”

    “Of course. This is your castle, after all,” “Alice” replied. She giggled. “Come with me, Queen of Hearts. Let’s play some games together. Let’s have fun together.”

    Amara didn’t know what kind of “fun” this Alice was talking about, but she really did not want to find out. “I’m sorry, Alice, but I’m dreadfully tired. Maybe we can play tomorrow.”

    “Alice’s” shoulders drooped and her face fell (quite literally, as the hand holding her head dropped a couple inches), but she seemed to understand. “Alright,” she agreed. “Come with me, and I’ll show you to your room.”

    “Thank you,” Amara said calmly. She folded her hands in front of her, lifted her chin, and began the ascent up the tall, stone staircase.

    The pair went through many corridors, past many doors, and Amara peeked into as many of the rooms as she could. Some of them were normal-looking rooms, but some of them were stuffed with what appeared to be dismembered animal corpses. Amara tried not to throw up, and worked hard to maintain her composure.

    “Alice” led the woman to the last room at the end of one of the corridors, opening the door for Amara. Amara dipped her head gratefully to the girl. She went inside the room and sat on the bed.

    “If you need anything, my queen, just call,” “Alice” told Amara. Her body bowed, keeping her head held upright in her hand, then she turned and walked out, closing the door behind her.

    “Thank you,” Amara called after her. She looked around the room, searching for anything unusual, or any clues about how she might die. All she found were large white draperies decorated with red hearts, lots of the color red, and a few nice pieces of wooden furniture. Giving up, Amara lay back in her soft, plush, queen-sized bed, and tried to fall asleep.

    Amara's nightmare was vivid. She heard the tinge of terror in the insane Summer's voice. She saw the madness in the girl's blue eyes. She heard the sickening sloshing noise when the bullet pierced her brain and shattered her skull. And she experienced it all more than once.

    Each time one Summer died, another one was behind Summer, completely normal and sane. And then, slowly, that Summer would start fading away from reality, and once again, Amara could only watch and listen as Summer committed suicide, over and over and over again...

    Amara woke up screaming and sweating, her hands clutched around her sheets, her chest heaving in an attempt to gulp in air. She was safe. So was Alice. Alice was with Raven. Raven would protect Alice.