The creature screamed in agony. It looked mad, its eyes glaring at me. It wanted revenge and wasn’t going to stop until it got it. It swooped down and attacked again, jaw open as if it was going to eat me right there. I jumped out of the way as its mouth came at me. I stabbed it straight in the eye. It screamed. It collapsed on the ground, trying to make the pain stop. Quickly I swung the katana right through the neck. The body fell along with its head, never to move again.
“Take that you stupid worthless piece of crap!” I yelled down at it. My adrenaline was high and I had about enough of everything in this forest.
The fight must have been too much for my body as I suddenly collapsed.
“Alice!” Malcolm yelled.
I lied on the ground, staring up at the trees. Everything seemed blurry, one green mess. Maybe it was always like that, I didn’t know. I just wanted to get out of there.
Where did I go wrong? What did I do in my life to deserve this? Getting kidnapped to a world that didn’t exist? Then having to face my darkest fears and then taken into this wretched place? I just wanted to go home.
“Alice, can you hear me?”
My eyes flickered open. I had thought my eyes were open but apparently that wasn’t the case. I blinked a couple of times and found Malcolm leaning over me.
“You did it! You killed the jabberwocky.” He smiled.
“I couldn’t let it kill you, now could I? Who would save me when I need help?”
He laughed. “Thank you.”
Malcolm stared into my eyes and I into his. It felt as if time had stopped for a moment as he leaned in closer and kissed me.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” Kenny’s voice broke the magical moment. Malcolm backed away and I saw everyone standing behind him. Chase was frowning. I blushed as I sat up. Apparently everyone was fine, that was great news.
“She killed the jabberwocky, no thanks to you guys. Where were you? Why didn’t you defeat the jabberwocky like you were supposed to?” Malcolm tried to stand and collapsed once more. “Davis, get over here!”
Davis scurried over and knelt down next to Malcolm. “What happened?”
“We fell down the cliffside. I think my leg is broken,” Malcolm explained.
Davis placed his hands over Malcolm’s leg and closed his eyes. After a few seconds he opened them again. “All good.”
To my amazement, Malcolm stood up without a problem.
“What just happened?” I asked. Davis hurried over to me.
“I can heal people, Alice.” Davis smiled as he placed his hands over me. “Just take a deep breath.”
It hurt badly. I could feel my sprained ankle fix itself. I bit my lip in pain, not wanting to seem like a weakling. But god it hurt.
“All done.” He stood up and looked at the jabberwocky. “You did this?”
I nodded as I stood. “Yeah, I guess I did.”
“Amazing!” Melvin came up beside me. “Not many people have gone against a jabberwocky and lived to tell the tale.”
“We aren’t out of this place yet, boys.” Malcolm straightened his collar. “Now, let’s get a move on it.”
Night finally came again, by then I had almost fallen asleep, but my mind was still racing, thinking of all the things that happened that day. The jabberwocky, the kiss. Mostly just the kiss was what I kept thinking about. I didn’t particularly want to think about the jabberwocky ever again. But the kiss, what did it mean? Was it just a ‘yeah, we did it’ kiss? Or did it mean something more than that?
Chase was taking first watch. he sat near the entrance staring out into the darkness. They had captured another trising and used it for light. This one put up less of a fight, which I was thankful for because it meant that it wouldn’t try to kill us in the morning, at least that’s what I hoped.
I went over and sat next to Chase. He didn’t even glance at me.
“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked.
“Nope, my body wants to but my mind won’t stop.” I smiled.
“Thinking about that kiss?”
I couldn’t believe he asked that. I looked down at the rocks beside my feet.
He spun around to face me. “What does he mean to you?”
“I... I don’t know.”
“You shouldn’t like him, he isn’t the man you think he is. He’s cold and dark and nothing can bring him out of that. Not even you.”
These words, they didn’t describe Malcolm like I knew him. Malcolm had been kind since the moment I had met him. “What are you talking about? He is nice and sweet.”
“If you knew him as well as I did, you would never say that. There’s a darkness inside of him that will never leave, that is why Morpheus can’t affect him, Malcolm’s heart is much darker than that Circus leader could ever imagine. But it’s your choice, just don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Chase turned back away.
I opened my mouth to say something, but decided not to. I didn’t want to gossip behind Malcolm’s back. If I was going to find out about his past, I would ask him myself. Deciding to try and get some rest, I headed back to my spot and finally fell asleep.
Over the next two days, we made our way further towards the Circus. Never had my body been put through so much strain, not even in Becca’s ballet classes. I was glad I was at least in
