Deck of Cards

Chapter 2

Alice felt as if her head had hit hard steel, and any movement she made caused her to feel dizzy and nauseous. Her eyes were only halfway open, but the dim yellow lights didn't make her vision any clearer, nor did it make her feel any less nauseous. With a slight grunt, she tried to pull her hand to her head, as if to feel if it was still there. She had become completely numb, yet something warm was dripping down where she had hit her head.

Gathering all the strength she could, she forced herself to sit up. She was quite wobbly, and had to catch herself with her hands on multiple occasions to prevent herself from dropping down to the floor again, and possibly hitting the wound on her head. But she was too stubborn and determined to give up. After she had briefly collected herself, and her vision had gotten clearer, she peeked around in the room she had found herself in.

The brown striped wallpaper and crumbled up at the corners, and were rather dirty. the floor was some sort of marble, but didn't appear to have been washed for months. Maybe years. But as she turned around more to inspect the room further, she realised that the room was completely round, and covered with doors.

Some were thick, others were slim. Some were tall, while others were short. The only thing they seemed to have in common was how old and worn out they appeared. The metal on the doorknobs had begun rusting, and some of the doors had clawing marks or were covered in moss.

"How odd..." Alice mumbled to herself. In an odd way, it was fascinating. The room had an oddly familiar atmosphere, and had the smell of roses and peppermint. A smell she was sure she had smelled before. Then again, those scents weren't uncommon.

She slowly stood up, her legs shaking slightly due to the soreness and discomfort of her legs, but she managed to balance herself, much to her surprise. She didn't even notice it right away, but she had grabbed onto a lonesome table with a glass key on top. Her eyes were fixated on the key, as she carefully picked it up as if it were a fragile infant to inspect it closer.

A key made of glass hardly seemed practical, but it surely was beautiful. She could feel every graceful cut made to the glass, and the smooth cold surface between her fingertips. It didn't take her very long to limb around to each door to see if the key might've fit into one of them. This all felt like a routine to her, yet she couldn't put her finger on when this had ever happened to her.

Unfortunately, so far none of the doors had opened. But she didn't seem surprised. This felt expected, despite her not being able to explain why. "Are you lost dearie?" Spoke a quiet and hushed voice. Alice jumped a little, as she turned around. Her eyes were met with eyes completely red, that were staring right back at hers. She didn't except to hear voices, nor hallucinating animals. Then again, she did just hit her head.

"I-... Wait no I..." She looked dumbfounded at the rabbit, who had begun grooming itself by rubbing its own nose.

"Pardon. I didn't mean to startle you." He said, with a light chuckle. His gestures seemed oddly human, for the most part.

"I don't understand... How come a rabbit can talk? I must've hit my head harder than I thought!" She huffed, rubbing her head in confusing, smearing out some of the vital fluid on the side of her forehead.

"I'm afraid I'm not actually a rabbit!" I tried to sound somewhat confident in his statement, but his voice was still fragile. "This is simply a side effect of the curse. N-nothing else!" He whimpered, definitely embarrassed.

"Curse?" Alice cooed. her interest had clearly piqued.

"Y-yes... The Queen's curse... She has changed many people here into animals... Things have become less predictable as well! I-it's impossible to tell what will make you grow and what will make you shrink... E-everything has just been turned upside down!" He cried in despair, clothing onto a silver pocked watch.

"I'm very sorry mister... Rabbit?"

"Look... We need your help!"

Alice's face was covered with confusion, as she tilted her head. "My help? With what exactly?"

"To lift the curse of course!" He whined, bouncing up and down with clear frustration and fear.

"But how am I supposed to do that? I just got here! Not to mention, I'm stuck in this room with nothing else but a glass key and a table. Neither of which have been very helpful so far!" Alice had certainly become more annoyed by now, and the rabbit only looked more meek than before.

"S-silly girl!" He uttered hesitantly. "You've done it before, so you can certainly do it again! The White Queen said so herself!"

"What? Who?" Alice crossed her arms, staring down at the rabbit.

"The Red Queen remade the curse! A-and the White Queen stated that you'd surely be able to undo it once again!"

"And how could she possibly know that?" Alice said, not very convinced yet.

"It's not a matter of how! You've done it before, so logically, you'd be able to do it again!"

"Well I can't! I have no idea where I am, nor do I have any idea why you think I have done this before!"

After that, the rabbit let out a tired sigh, shaking its head. "You really have no clue? Doesn't this hall seem even slightly familiar? I mean sure I-I guess the curse has had its toll on this room but... The key is the same! And so is the wallpaper pattern!"

Alice narrowed her eyes, revealing a frown. Although her memory was foggy, she did in fact feel as if she had seen aspects of this room before, even if she couldn't tell exactly what it was.

"Perhaps..." She mumbled, "If I were to see more of this place I could start remembering?" She suggested, looking down thoughtfully.

The rabbit's ears peered upwards at the sound, before he quickly nodded, albeit a shaky one. He the began digging into the pockets of his coat, and pulled out a small bottle with an orange liquid inside.

"H-Here... Drink this. just a sip." He said, holding it up towards Alice. She made sure to carefully get the key as well, and then taking the glass with the odd liquid.

Just like he had told her, she only too a sip of the bottle before she handed it back to the rabbit. The rabbit looked up at Alice, as Alice looked down at the rabbit. He seemed to grow taller and taller, alongside everything else in the room. The table was now completely out of her reach, and she was barely comparable to the rabbit in size.

"Do you feel alright?" He asked worried, but Alice only nodded. "I'm fine thank you..."

With that out of the way, the rabbit impatiently let Alice towards one of the smaller doors. It had a dark chocolate brown color, and looked just as worn out as the rest of the doors. It has flower petals cut into the wood, which resonated with Alice somehow.

But she shook it off, inserted the key, and twisted it. The door gave a light click sound, and both Alice and the rabbit promptly peeked trough.

"O-oh dear..." He mewled, shivering slightly.

Alice looked baffled by the sight. She was staring into a big garden, covered in trees and rose bushes. But it was clear that much of it had been burned down, and some of the smoke was still visible. Some roses were completely white, but most of them had a red color splattered onto them as well, sending a shiver down Alice's spine.