That person's mother showed up again to ask what we knew of her, I want to see her again.
It's been a month since she went missing. Nobody seemed to truely know her, nor did I
unfortunately. She never truely smiled or spoke. In fact, the last time I ever saw her was
three years ago...
Never truely missed her until now. Why did I only notice her now? I feel so selfish for
putting in absolutely no effort to speak to or even see her.
Chapter 1 (Invitation)
Enrin laid on her bed, pondering about Alice with a pinch of self hate. A music box fell
from the top of her old closet. A nostaligic tune played, Enrin ignored it, until she
noticed Alice's name on the side.It was scribbled hurriedly in nauseating orange ink.
A note flew in from the open window and landed onto Enrin's palm, a message from Alice.
The message read "Join me. - Alice". Is this some sick joke or a message from Alice
herself? I raced to the open window, nobody outside. "Alice! Alice!" I shouted, nobody
answered. Part of me wants to think it was a prank, part of me wishes that Alice has came
back.
The sunshine that leaked through the curtains burned my eyes. The note was missing, so
was the music box, could last night be just a mere dream, a fantasy created by my thinking
too much about Alice? I searched for the note desperately, I really wanted to find it.
Unable to find it, I broke into tears.
"Dear, you alright?" shouted my mother in a worried tone. I hated people to worry about me.
"I'm alright!!" I yelled bacck. Afaid that she would come in to check on me. I headed
towards the bathroom to wash up. That was when everything went blank like a void.
chapter 2 (Friend)
A void, that's what I felt when I woke up and found myself in a blank white room,
devoid of what I thought of life. I turned around and saw an iron door. I open it and saw
the merry-go-round again, but this time, it was entirely black.
The world around me was entirely monochrome, except for the door I walked through, it had
flowers painted on it, bright and colourful ones.Strange, for an iron door of such
intimidating form.
A note landed softly at my feet, the same note from my dream, is this another dream?
I spot a person running away in the distance with blonde hair. Alice perhaps? I run towards
her calling Alice's name.
It started to rain, the raindrops were bold and black, it stung to the touch, I ignored
it and chased after that person. What I wanted was to find Alice and get out of this
bizarre parellel of my world. If this was a dream,I wanted to find Alice before I wake up.
That person stopped running, with a slight tinge of distain she said "Stay with me or
return back to your world." She turned towards me, her face was entirely black,featureless,
like it was covered with a shadow. Was that person actually Alice? Now that I remember,
Alice spoke so little I could hardly remember her voice.
"Alice, is that you?" I questioned her in what I hoped was a friendly voice. She nodded,so she is Alice. I don't think I should jump to conclusions that fast....
I was glad to see her again! Except she seems so cold now....I'll rather join her in this
surreal looking realm then that boring and dull world I was in before. Wait why am I having such thoughts now?
I took a deep breath and said to her "I'll join you....for now".Alice smiled and the
"shadow" that engulfed her face lifted. She looked the same, only older, she still looked as pale as when I last seen her. I had never seen her truely smile until now.
"I'm glad you agreed."
"Explain this place?"
"It's different from the world you and I used to be in,"
"How did we get here?"
"I stumbled upon this place a long time ago and invited you in,
I hope you can stay here with me, I don't want to return to that world
to find you again."
"Your mother is worried, so will mine...sooner or later."
"I don't have one!"
"Fine, show me around this place, show me what made you forget your own mother!"
"Very well then."
Secretly I had feared I would end up like her, to forget her parents. It certainly would
not hurt to explore this place a little right?
The rain cleared up and the world around us became colorful. Alice's hazel eyes
beamed with delight "It's five O clock now, the forest will show up!" Wait, wasn't it
morning just now? What exactly is the "forest" she mentioned?
My question was answered when tree-like people and animals burrowed out of the ground.
They stayed still after that, like statues.
Almost imediately, Alice said "They look kinda cool don't they? Oh yes! Typewriters! I like the tappity sounds they make! Hey Rin-rin do you like them too?" in a way that made me think of an overdosage of sugar.
Alice would never speak or even act like that back in our,no, my world. She was introverted and incredibly silent, this isn't the Alice I remember! Had she always supressed this side of her personality?
Alice waved impatiently at my face "Hey Rin-rin! Let's have a picnic!" "Uh,ok." I replied plainly. With a flick of a finger,she conjured up a woven picnic mat and a basket with a multitude of fragrances.
Dark tendrils that brought on a nauseating stench sprouted out of the grassy ground beneath us, they encircled Alice and latched onto her. Alice screamed and thrashed wildly. I tried my hardest to pull those tendrils away, away from her. I threw the basket at them too but it was pointless.
A large hole opened up in the ground, the tendrils dragged her inside. Everything else went back to "normal",as if nothing had even happened.
"Alice, I will save you." I mumbled to myself.Finding and getting her out of her was my top piority.
Chapter 3 (Guide)
I was at a loss, I knew nothing of this world nor where Alice was. Digging in the spot Alice was dragged into was just a waste of time.
"Your friend is pretty brave, ignoring those rules."
"Who are you?"
"Araisen, it's not my real name."
Araisen's eyes were covered with bandages, blind perhaps?
As if my mind was like an open book, Araisen answered "I don't see with my eyes, I use my mind, I can visualise you quite clearly you know."
Suddenly remembering Alice, I asked Araisen "Do you think you can help me find Alice?"
"What's in it for me?"
"Erm..I doubt there's anything."
"Oh well I'm bored anyway, alrighty then.
"I know somebody who would be very helpful in situations like this."
"In what way?"
"A fortune-teller who knows how things work here far better than me."
"You'll take me to him or her?"
"I'll lead you."
Chapter 4 (Info)
We walked along an empty corridor, a deathly white one, it reminded me of the white room I was in before. There was no visible door or doorway from what I could see, the entire place felt blank to me.
A blue sprite shaped like a star nudged me on the arm "Kill her! Do it! It'll be good for you" it said. Araisen smacked it aside, telling me to ignore it.
When we stopped, Araisen knocked on what I thought was an invisible wall. An incricately
carved door appeared, it reminded me of the antique chess pieces I found in my attic when I was younger.
Araisen blew onto the heavy looking marble door, the door flung open as if the air exhaled by her was an incredibly large and heavy boulder racing downhill.
What laid beyond that door was an amazing panoramic view of the land ahead,like in those traveling magazines I had found a month ago, except there was a major difference,the sky was completely white with bold black clouds even though it was not raining,the river was violet, the mountains appeared to be made out of porcelain and the forest was bright blue and moving on its own.
Just then, Araisen put her arm on my shoulder "Nice view isn't it?,too bad I can't see
what you are seeing right now."she said with sigh.I described what I saw to her, for some reason she can't quite imagine it.
There was a long pause, Araisen broke the silence by reminding me about the fortune-teller."We'll better get going." I said.
We reached a strange orange house that Araisen claimed to be the fortune-teller's home, it was awkwardly shaped with doodles on the walls, the front porch was lined with stones of
odd textures and shapes.
I was about to reach forward and knock on the door, when the door opened and out came a person, a short little boy who locked eyes with me for a moment until Araisen stepped forward and raised a hand,"Hey".
The boy sighed "Not another one," He looked directly at her this time, "Rai, stop that."
Araisen looked at him innocently, "Stop what?",he sighed again, looking even more vexed "You know what I mean,if I have repeat that again, so be it. Rai, rule number 67: People who have 'stumbled' or been 'invited' into this world are to be taken to the Hat Queen,Spider Witch or the White Thunder Wizard. You'll are going to get in trouble again for breaking the rules, I'm definitely not going to bail you out at all this time."
Araisen smiled slyly "If I get caught that is." As if she had suddenly been reminded of my situation, while pointing at me, she told him "I'm not gonna bother you, just tell me where is her friend." He eyed me suspiciously, "Your friend is?", trying to avoid his glare "Alice." I said. He appeared to be deep in thought for a moment,"Maybe he is not able to help." I thought,feeling rather skeptical about his abilities.After what seemed to be a long pause,he finally said "Your friend's a rule breaker and not a very good one either, best not to try finding her." Being determined to find Alice, there was absolutely no way I'll give up like this,so I ignore his words and simply asked him "So, where is she?""With Spider Witch,at her castle." he replied without any hesitation.I thanked him half-heartedly and possibly in a sarcastic way and left with Araisen,he sighed again as if he was pessimistic about us, no,me getting Alice back.
Chapter 5 (Trust)
Araisen said to me encouragingly "I know where Spider Witch's castle is, very clearly.",I felt glad, to have someone to be my guide in this unknown world, but maybe, just maybe, it's too much of a concidence to have somebody imediately helping me as soon as Alice was taken by those creatures or creature? (Those tendrils must come from some weird creature right? Plants are not that active.)
Araisen could not possibly be leading me into a trap right?! Araisen did look somewhat fearful when she struck that sprite.That sprite did say it was somehow good for me if I killed, or at least got rid of her. I really should stop thinking too much, Araisen is my only guide and the only one I can count on....for now.I should trust her.
I stopped thinking like that for a moment,until a message, torn out from a notepad appeared in my pocket, it read "DO NOT TRUST ARAISEN". I was surprised for a moment, it must have been written all over my face, when Araisen attemped to peer at the note, "What is that?" she said. I quickly stuffed it back into my pocket and mumbled "Nothing really."
We walked along a path, which she had claimed to be the shortest route to the castle,the path was stained with black ink, or was that goo? It smoked and bubbled, I tried my best to avoid the black liquid, it didn't work sometimes, so I ended up getting murky and sticky liquid on my feet and legs.Araisen, instead, walked directly on the ink barefooted, she completely did not notice the way it splashed onto her legs and shoes.Noticing that I was staring at her, she shrugged "I've experienced worse, it's not gonna kill you anyway."
I felt something, no, a lot of things falling out of my pockets, it was notes,pieces of wood,pebbles and even a scroll or two, they all read: DO NOT TRUST ARAISEN. Araisen did not notice anything as she walked ahead."Who am I supposed to trust here?" I said aloud to myself. She turned around and looked at me "You said something?" "Err..nothing." I replied quickly, she didn't notice the things that fell out of my pocket? I heaved a sigh of relief and continued to follow her, after all, what else could I do?
Something hit my head hard, it was a paper aeroplane, I took it and unfolded it,it read "Come to the bushes by the side, I can help you, Araisen will betray you, I'll explain later."
Seeing that Araisen was not looking, I quietly sneaked into the rose bushes next to me, I saw a red gloved hand in front within a much bigger bush(or fuzzy ball-shaped plant) beckoning me to go closer to it, I crawled towards it and it shot forward and pulled me inside.
I nearly screamed at how sudden it was, in the bush, a browned haired man with a fedora hat gestured to me to keep quiet, a long haired middle-aged woman who appeared to be the one who pulled me inside smiled at me "I'm glad you finally understood, that and you didn't alert her. I'm sure you're dying to know why, Araisen is a underling of an organization that imprisons your kind,we help to save your kind from them.No worries though, we give you the best lodging, until we find a way to send you back."
I nodded nervously,maybe I could trust these people. Standing up and straightening her long black and gold skirt, the woman looked at me and said proudly "Well, I'll better get you somewhere else now.""What about Araisen? Aren't you going to do something about her?" I blurted out. The woman patted me on the shoulder and smiled confidently "He'll take care of her, let's go." She led me away on a path I was not aware of the existence of,to a strangely modern looking buiding that appeared to be a giant compared to the city building I had seen before.
I was led into a room, that looked somewhat like a celebrity's, the woman said to me "This is where you will stay. "I hope you'll enjoy it." I was overjoyed, just then, something hit me, knocking me out.
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I hope it isn't too bad, I gotten rid of all those spelling mistakes I think. Would like comments.
It isn't finished yet, will post the rest later....and yes, I wrote this.
