"The ladies come to the table and we all have tea." That single line seemed to be spinning around in Alice's head not escaping like a normal thought. It felt like it was eating at her like she would never stop thinking about it and with horror she briefly wondered if she was one of them. Had she too gone crazy after death and this was what it was like? No, she thought, she knew she had to keep her wits about her even with that phrase in her head.
"Alice." A man's voice spoke to her deep and authoritative
She froze the phrase suddenly forgotten. She opened both her eyes and sat up on the ground, her face fully intact, taking in the world around her. It was still night and she was still by the road. She realized she must be mistaking. Jordan had mentioned they were getting more powers but there was no way they could start to come out at night or talk on their own. She couldn't even remember why she laid down here but the dread began spreading through her body with him here and her friends missing. She tried to ignore the voice coming from the treeline and called to Clay frantically she loved Tom and Jordan but she just knew that there was one person that she needed to have with her and it was Clay. Finally the voice reemerged even closer.
"You can't ignore me." He complained, sounding more like a spoiled child not getting his way than a leader of any kind.
She slowly stood and took a deep breath before facing the man who had existed the cover of the trees, the man that they had all grown to fear and hate. The raggedy man in his red harvard hoodie was standing before her with a smile on his face. She guessed it was a smile anyway, with the bad gash on his lower lip his expressions always looked more exaggerated. She held her breath, scanning the treeline desperate for even the slightest hint of where her friends might be.
"I know I must be dreaming because you're talking to me. What do you want?" She stared at him defiantly making sure to keep the quiver out of her voice.
He lifted his hands and bowed in a gentleman's gesture. Still keeping that smile on his face. He gestured widely to the world around him. "This is what I wanted you to see. You have no control over anything but I thought I would give this to you."
Alice didn't know what he meant but she was tired of playing his games and wanted to know where her friends were and why she was sleeping at a time like this. Last thing she remembered was hearing a car speeding up past her friends and her. "Just spit it out!"
He focused on her clasping his hands together with obvious delight. He looked like a small child who had just gotten his way in an argument with a parent. "I wanted to say goodbye to you. You see, Alice, I have won, you, along with your friends, are dead."