“Mom?” I called out into the house. “Dad?”
After stepping inside, I could tell for sure that no one had been here in years.All the pictures we had in frames were now shadows on the walls and the furniture was torn to shreds, now a home for some creature.
I ran down the hall to my room and opened the door. All my paintings and belongings were still there. I quickly went and checked my parent’s room and my sisters’ room. There was nothing there. Why? How could that be possible?
“Mom! Dad!” I called out once again.
“They aren’t there, they left.” I could hear Morpheus voice in my ear.
“Where are they?” I asked.
“Gone. They left you here. They couldn’t stand being with you any more so they left,” he explained.
They gave up on me? Why would they do that? I knew that they got mad at me, but in the end they would always be there for me, right?
I had a big fight with them before I came to Wonderland. Would that have really made them mad enough to leave me? I would bring my grades back up, I promised that. Kate had said she would study with me, it was all going to be okay.
Because this wasn’t real.
I shook my head. “They wouldn’t do that, my parents would have never done that to me.”
“But they are nowhere to be seen, Alice, they couldn’t stand your bad grades, your attitude. You are a disgrace to them.”
“No, my parents love me and even though we don’t agree, they know these are the things I want to do.”
“They harp on you to stop wasting your time, you can’t believe that they will support you in what you want to do.”
“They may be hard on me, but that shows them I am passionate in what I believe in. They will come around, they always do.”
“Fine,” Morpheus’ voice sounded mad. “They may not leave you.” The scene changed, I was now at school. There was no one in the hallways, everyone was either in class or at the gym. “But what about dear Kate?”
“Alice,” Kate appeared in the hallway. She frowned when she saw me and stomped over. “Where have you been?”
“I… I don’t know,” I said.
“Well, never mind that. You are late and are probably going to receive another detention. That’s the third one this week!” she exclaimed. “I don’t know what has gotten into you but you are turning into someone that I can’t be friends with.”
Detention? What the hell was going on? I mean, I have had a couple in the past due to being late but never that many in a week. “What do you mean?”
“I have straight A’s, Alice, you barely pass your classes. I couldn’t be friends with someone who always receives detentions all the time. It would ruin my reputation.”
I shook my head. “Kate would never say that.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Oh really? Then who am I?”
“You are my worst fear, the Kate that I hope will never come to be. The one who I fear will turn her back on me. But that is only a fear, I know for a fact that Kate would never leave me.”
“Ugh, you are talking nonsense. You know, in reality, I should take your place. Your parents like me more than you anyway. You could just disappear and no one would notice.”
“Kate would never say that, she is my friend.”
Her mouth turned into a slight grin. “No one would notice.”
“My best friend would never leave my side,” I repeated again and again, letting it resound. “My best friend would never leave my side!”
The scene changed. I was no longer in the real world but in the Dark Forest. I had done it, I had successfully faced my fears of the real world. But why did I find myself here?
I stood alone, there was no one around me. I could hear creatures move around me, the fog taking over the land. My heart began to beat faster. How was I in here, how did I get in this wretched place again?
And why was I here? Although this was a scary place, it wasn’t really a major fear of mine, so why was I here?
That’s right, it was an illusion.
“Why are you all alone here, Alice?” Morpheus’ voice echoed around me.
“I... I don’t know.”
“Your friends left you, they couldn’t stand saving you any longer.”
I shook my head. “No, they wouldn’t do that. They wouldn’t leave me.”
“Take a look around, Alice. They aren’t here.”
“This is a trick. This isn’t real. You should just give up now, I won’t give into my fears anymore.”
“Not real, you say? Tell that to creatures at your feet.”
I looked down to see ten of the spider creatures that almost got me last time. I screamed and tried to kick them away.
“No one here to save you, just run Alice, run as fast as you can!”
I ran as he told me to, faster and faster into the woods. Twigs clawed at my skin, blood running down my arms. More and more spiders seemed to join the chase. I wanted to call out for help, but I knew no one would be coming.
I went past the flowers singing the lullabies, the blue lights calling to me to run off the cliff, other lights in the distance that were probably those fairy-things that wanted to kill me. I kept running nevertheless, as fast as I could manage.
Coming up to an opening, I stopped. I couldn’t believe what I saw in front of me, a table covered in moss.
I found myself at the tea party once again.
I glanced behind me to find that all the terrors were gone, that there was
