Alice in Reality

Alice sat comfortably in the crook of the cement troll’s arm, listening to the traffic zip by on the overpass overhead. Without looking into the bag, she reached down for another Cheeto before popping it in her mouth.

“I don’t think I can use you as definitive proof. Everyone will just assume you were made here out of cement. No one will believe you were punished by an evil queen to remain encapsulated here for all eternity. But maybe if I could find a way to free you, I’d have the proof we need!” Alice stood up, excited with a new sense of determination. She stared with enthusiasm at the statue that remained blank and unmoving. “I know if you could still speak, you’d tell me how awesome an idea this is. Now I just have to figure out where to start.”

Alice sat back down and nuzzled up against the statue before continuing to eat her Cheetos. Absent-mindedly, she glanced over to her left and saw the receptionist from her doctor’s office staring at her with a slightly crazed expression. She looked like she was trying to cover up something furry behind her back, and she obsessively pushed her glasses back up onto the bridge of her nose. The receptionist motioned for Alice to come and follow her. Alice glanced back up at the troll, who remained emotionless, encapsulated in granite.

Alice walked hesitantly over to the woman, watching the receptionist’s eyes shift back and forth anxiously.

“Ms. White? What are you doing here?” Alice questioned.

“Looking for you, Alice, obviously. We don’t have a lot of time. I know it is all real, and I can take you to the Blue Caterpillar,” Ms. White answered. She shuffled her hands behind her back, and Alice thought she saw a slight glimpse of fur poking out.

“I don’t understand… You always seem so … normal? You always seem totally uninterested in me,” Alice mumbled, trying to recall all her previous encounters with the receptionist. Ms. White glanced down at the clock on her phone and seemed to bounce with nervous energy.

“I know, I’m sorry about that. I had to help you prove once and for all that it is all real. I couldn’t very well do that by sitting in the chair next to you in Dr. Hightopp’s office. Now, come along quickly, he’s waiting.” Ms. White grabbed Alice by the wrist and started to pull her through the thick bushes lining the street. Alice hissed and cringed with each twig and branch that got caught in her hair or scraped up along her arms.

“Don’t you know a better path?” Alice shouted. Ms. White didn’t bother to answer her or even acknowledge her. Instead, she gripped tighter around Alice’s wrist and kept running through the bushes into the dark forest ahead.

Once they were in the forest, Ms. White slowed down, but she didn’t let go of Alice. Alice glanced all around her and saw twinkling lights and slightly glowing mushrooms along the path. For a moment, Alice thought she could hear the clinking of tea cups and strained laughter somewhere in the distance.

“Is this one of the melting places?” Alice asked, stunned and in awe of the mysterious land around her.

“It is, it’s how pieces have been slipping through, like the Caterpillar. He’s most anxious to see you. The Red Queen has been causing so many problems both here and there. Oh, Alice, it’s such a mess!”

“That’s terrible! What can we do?” Alice questioned, following through the forest. There was a clearing coming up ahead, leading to a different part of town. The part she used to frequent when searching for something to take her back.

“Well, that’s why we need you, Alice. The Caterpillar and the Cheshire Cat think they have a plan….” Ms. White pushed her way through the clearing and onto the sketchy back alley street decorated with wildly colored graffiti. She marched Alice right up to the large Hookah bar on the corner and sent her in through the purple doors.

Instantly, a wave of tainted smoke hit Alice in the face. She coughed and did her best to wave it away with her hand.