Why am I here?

Chapter 1

(Brooklyn 1935) (Cerrie-leigh's P.O.V.)

I was walking down the street to the diner when I heard a fight going on behind it. The smaller man tried to throw a punch, but the taller man caught his fist and punched him in the face, the other man fell into the trash cans. As he was about to do further damage, I got included and kicked him where the sun don't shine with my high heels. I hate wearing these, but at least they come in handy for something.

The other man's eyes widened when the man fell to the ground because of a small girl like me. "Thanks." Was all he managed to say before the taller man grabbed his ankle and dragged him down as he crawled back up to his feet, still slightly hunched over because of my kick.

He punched me in the face and grabbed my neck and pinned me up against the wall, his ice cold hand creeping up my warm thigh. My eyes looked all over the alley for resources, until my eyes landed on two boys running down the alley. My brother and his friend, James Barnes.

James went to check up on the man while Alex grabbed the hair on the back of my captor's head, causing me to drop on the floor choking and rubbing my neck while Alex slammed his head against the wall, knocking him out cold.

My hand went from my throat to my eye, which was swollen shut and I could feel the bruise forming. "You've got quite the shiner kid." The small man smiled, helping me up.
"Thanks. Call me Cerrie-leigh, or Cerrie for short."

"Cerrie, as in Alex's little sister Cerrie?" Bucky asked.
"The one and only!" Alex said proudly.
"Alex's told us quite a bit about you. You've got quite the reputation, almost as many alley fights as Steve!" Bucky exclaimed, grinning as we walked out of the alley.

"How come you look nothing like your brother?" Steve asked, as Alex has brown scruffy hair and grey-ish-blue eyes with well-tanned skin. My hair is bright red, along with the star on my cheek; abnormal, electric green; my skin is quite pale, about white.

"Remember Bucky's ex, Chloe?" Alex asked.
"She thought I was getting Alex to talk some sense into Bucky and so she kidnapped me and chucked me into a vat of chemicals, after she branded a star into my cheek, that is." I explained, interrupting my brother.

"Why that little-" Steve started, getting angry.
"It's okay now. She was taken to the asylum." Alex explained, holding Steve back.
"You could tell she was crazy by the way she hung around Bucky." Steve confirms, finally calming down.

"Have you ever heard about the superhero 'The red ghost'?" Alex asked the duo.
"Yeah...?" They asked suspiciously.
"Follow us to our house." He said, steering them into our alley. It was late and Bucky told his Mother that he was spending the night at a friend's house.

Steve told his Mother too, she was beyond pleased that Steve had started to make more, new friends. "Wait here a minute." Alex said, shoving them lightly onto the ragged sofa. Alex kept them distracted while I got dressed into my costume, or outfit, whatever you like to call it.

It was a pair of red and black stripy knee socks; black boots that went up to my higher ankle; black boys shorts with braces holding them up as my waist was smaller them most people's, they were underneath my black dress with red polka dots. The dress had small rips, and stitches where bigger ones had been caused recently, or even many nights before.

I also had a mask that covered my face but my eyes, my electric green eyes.

************

"Where are we going?" I asked, as we used our small amount of collected money to buy four train tickets, the other three knew where we were going, however I did not. I saw the newspaper in Steve's bag and the date said: Friday 13th September 1935. Nothing rang a bell.

The ride took a couple of hours and I fell asleep on Alex's shoulder, a few minutes after Steve fell asleep on Bucky, listening to the gentle hum of the train and Steve's quiet snores as Alex and Bucky talked about sports and their favourite teams.

"Cerrie? Cerrie, wake up!" Alex shook me gently, I noticed the train had stopped and Bucky was picking Steve's waking figure off of the scarlet seating with yellow and blue swirls. We walked onto the platform. I was slightly limping, as I had slept on my leg and it had gone fuzzy.

"Are we here?" I heard Steve ask. I looked behind me and Steve and Bucky walking up to us, Bucky was carrying Steve's bag, which was bulkier then earlier then before. A small brown parcel poking out of the flap. A white square of cotton was fixed over my eyes. "Wha-what the hell are you guys doing!?" I asked, clawing at my blindfold in an attempt to rip it off.

We walked for a while, Bucky picked me up and placed me on my brother's shoulders, as I kept stumbling over my own two feet and scuffing my shoes on the dirt and pavement. "Up you go!" Bucky grunted as he lifted my small body up, why was he grunting if I was so small?

A few minutes later, we stopped walking and I could hear loud talking and chattering along with screams of joy and laughter, there was carnival music too. I could smell hot dogs, cotton candy and the sea. The sea? Now this makes me want to know where we are even more!

"Now can you tell me where we are?" I whined as I flapped my arms like a bird's. I thought I was flying off Alex's shoulders, but it was only Bucky lifting me off whilst laughing, Steve and Alex joining in after the soles of my shoes touched the ground.

I felt the knot of my blindfold being untied and it slipped off of my face. I looked up, shielding my eyes from the sun, I saw the iron gates casting their shadow on the four of us scarily. What they read was the most exciting thing I had ever seen. Coney Island.

"Happy birthday Cerrie!" The boys exclaimed, Steve handed me the brown parcel as Alex handed me a second. I couldn't stop grinning as we sat down on the warm sand of the beach. "Open ours first." Bucky said, getting excited, threatening to open it himself. I handed Alex's parcel back to him so I had space on my lap to rest it because it started to get heavy.

I untied to string knot and ripped off the brown paper. What I saw made ever so small tears fall down my white cheeks, I saw the book Alice in Wonderland. I looked up and a terrified scream came out of my larynx, black eyes. All I could see were black eyes.

They weren't in their sockets where they were supposed to be though, they were implanted in their palms. Everyone I could see was like this, all but Alex; Steve; and Bucky. Bucky's clothes had changed, his brown hair was hidden by a navy blue top hat; a red scarf covered his neck, where I could also see a faint line, a scar, was concealed; a navy blue trench coat covered his yellow-ish shirt; syrup coloured boots that went up to his mid-shin covered the bottoms of his baggy breeches.

Steve had long flowing hair tied up in a baby blue bow; his trousers and shirt had hanged to a white blouse and a baby blue dress, his legs were covered by black and white stockings; his feet were in neatly fitting black girl's patient shoes; a white apron was hung around his neck along with being tied around his waist in a neat bow.

Alex had a brown suit on; his trousers were tucked into a pair of white stockings with ruffles on the top; more ruffles were seen at the hem of his waistcoat and the collar of his shirt. Brown patient shoes housed his feet, they looked too long or too big for his feet. Large matted ears grew out of his head, causing his to scream in pain.

I looked down and I was dressed in pink and purple stripes. Striped stockings; short skirt; my shirt was designed like a vest and my feet were in purple ballet shoes. behind me was a striped tail, hanging limp off of the hem of my skirt. My red hair was pulled into twin buns with ears sticking out in front of them, one pink and one purple.

I was finally dragged out of my fairy tale when I had icy sea water dumped over my head. I screamed, causing Steve, Bucky and Alex to cover their ears in pain. "What happened?" I asked. "You tell us." Bucky said, looking at me and Alex.
"She has hallucinations rather late at night, that's why she was screaming that time you two came around." Alex explained.

The second present was from Alex. It was a small leather book, half with lines in, half plain without lines in. "Oh my god! Thank you Alex!" I cried. Bucky handed me a small box.
"What is it Buck?" I asked him.
"Open it and see silly." He laughed. I opened the box and found a white rabbit! "Now you really be Alice!" He smiled.