This life of ours

Chapter one

Introducing Belle, Alice and Cindy

"Everything is falling apart. Make it stop, make it stop! Go away, you don't belong here, go home!" the young girl screamed, tears streaking rapidly down her deadly pale cheeks. Her eyes were widened in absolute terror, blue and slightly clouded; staring unseeingly into nothing. She fell to her knees on the hardwood floor, rocking back and forth in frantic movements, all the while chewing on the knuckles of her hands. Where her teeth tore through fragile skin, drops of blood started slid across it, painting the roots of nails and cracks of fingers a deep, disturbing red. She shivered as if she was trapped in a snowstorm, and not safely inside a warmed living room with merry flames burning in the fireplace.

Belle had no idea what had happened. The only thing she knew for sure was that she had gone to pour herself a cup of tea in the kitchen, leaving the young blonde to sort through the newly arrived boxes of books, and when she'd come back, said blonde had turned totally catatonic, yelling, striking at empty air and cursing at some horrifying enemy visible to no one but herself. That was before she apparently had decided to take defensive over offensive, and then the rocking had started.

"Alice? Alice!" Belle resented the edge of panic her voice had taken, but she hadn't got the slightest clue on how to deal with this sort of situation, and all her knowledge of first-aid and calming down someone with hysterics had left her mind, leaving her feeling help – and powerless. She had read a bunch about stuff like this, but what did it help when she couldn't remember a single word when actually needed? So she did the only thing that felt right by pulling Alice's injured hands from her mouth and forcing them to be still; she tried not to look at the girl's teeth, which were covered in blood she had smeared onto them. Alice tried to wiggle her way out of Belle's grasp, but the older woman kept her grip firm, locking Alice in a solid hold against her so that they were back to chest. "Easy, girl, easy.." Belle muttered soothingly into the other's ear, but that just sent Alice into a frenzy; she kicked violently and tried to shake Belle's arms off of her, "Let go of me! They're here, I need to go! The game is about to start!" The tears had stilled and the only sign they had ever been there was slightly glistening trails, one on each cheek.
Belle struggled to stand her ground and not let go of her friend, but with a last effort Alice broke free and plunged through the air, towards the open fireplace. Belle yelled something unintelligible and threw herself at her, but only caught hold of one ragged, blue sneaker, which came off without having done anything to stop Alice's crazy pursuit. "No!"

Thankfully, just before reaching the deadly inferno, Alice stopped. She stood completely still, breathing heavily, hands clenched into fists and blonde hair standing on end. Then she slowly, tentatively, extended her hand towards the flickering flames. Belle stared, somehow unable to move from shock, as Alice, whose eyes were glazed eerily, started humming a soft tune with only so few sentences Belle was able to understand: "Whiskers on kittens.. Hearts on a string.."
"Alice.."
"Strings break so easy.. Losing it like the king.."
"The king? What king?" Belle raised herself from the floor, and, very slowly and carefully, she made her way towards the girl. If only she could keep her talking.. She had read that delusional people could end up hurting themselves, though not on purpose. She also realizes that this probably was an unfair prejudice, since she didn't have any first-hand knowledge about mental illnesses, but only knew a little of this and a little of that from what she had read in one of her medical books. But no matter what she thought it would be a good idea to distract the girl before she burned herself. Easy, Belle. Cindy said she would be here to help with the books. It's only a matter of time
Alice, on the other hand, kept mumbling, "The king of hearts". A frown appeared on her forehead, making her look like she questioned Belle's sanity for asking such a foolish question, "She broke his string."
"Who?" Belle had almost reached a point where she could situate herself between the fireplace and Alice.
"The queen, of course." she started singing again, "Broken hearts.. Broken smiles.. Chessmate, dearest king.."
And then, after uttering these cryptic words, Alice fell to the floor, unconscious.

Cindy arrived a few moments later, carrying a couple of shopping bags, which she promptly dropped to the floor when she saw Alice's still form. Belle had dragged the girl onto the couch, trying to make her comfortable by popping her up against some pillows and covering her with a blanket. In the adult's opinion she looked awfully pale, but at least her long, dark eyelashes were fluttering softly against the faintly purple lids, indicating that she probably had tired herself out during her fit and had fallen asleep. "What happened?" Cindy asked, walking to improvised bed. Belle breathed out a sigh in relief. Taking care of people in need was more Cindy's thing, really. Belle herself had read a lot of stuff on the subject, but that only covered the basics, and it was not like she had tried anything like this before. The other woman had both worked with an aid organization, at a mental hospital and as a school teacher somewhere in some Asian country. She had had her hands in a little of this and a little of that concerning projects, and if anyone could help Alice, it ought to be her. Cindy kneeled down besides the girl. "Aurora was suspecting that she didn't taking her medication" she said, rubbing the sleeping Alice's hand soothingly while studying the bite marks, "I guess I didn't want to believe her"
Her gaze turned soft. "Oh Alice.." then her focus shifted direction and set itself upon Belle, "Tell me what happened?"
Belle rubbed her temples in an attempt to calm herself, but it did not really work. "I'm not quite sure, actually. One minute she was sorting through the books and singing some tune from a commercial, while I went to pour us a cup of tea, and the next she was totally out of it, screaming and talking to someone in her mind, breaking stuff and hurting herself.. I tried to calm her, but she fought back, and then she just.. Stopped. She stood completely still." Belle felt an involuntary shiver run op her arms. "Bells?"
"She started singing. Something about a king of hearts, and a queen who was hurting him, as far as I was able to understand. She talked about a game to, possibly chess, and said she had to go. I think Aurora might be right about her quitting her medication."
Stupid, headstrong Alice, who had kept insisting that nothing was wrong, and hadn't let on that she had been carrying a burden far too heavy for her frail shoulders..
Cindy sighed, a soft burst of air coming from between her parted lips. She brushed a few strands of corn blonde hair behind her ear and stood up, "We should call 112." She looked cool and in control, like she dealt with this kind of thing every day. To the eye of a bystander Cinderella Rosenberg looked more like a domestic housewife than a leader type; all soft curves, rosy skin and warm, trustworthy eyes, but she was always collected and good at taking charge when people counted on her.
"You do that" Belle agreed, "Then I'll call Adam. He got off of work fifteen minutes ago and said he would stop by the confectioner's, but I'll make him come straight home". She found her cellphone at the coffee table and found her husband's number.
"Belle?"
"Yes?" She looked up at Cindy, who was wearing a guilty expression.
"I'm sorry I didn't get here faster. I had to make sure Jaq and Gus had something to eat, and they had been making a mess, so I had to clean.. You know how it is..."
Belle shook her head disarmingly. The last thing she wanted was to make her friend feel bad about her habit of keeping things clean. Very clean. Actually, it was kind of an obsession, caused by a trauma in Cindy's childhood, but she was working on not letting it be a ruling force in her life. Belle's hand clenched by the thought of what had awoken this OCD in her. Or more accurate, whom. But she didn't want to think about evil stepmothers right now, not when Cindy was watching her in a nervous, calculating way. "It doesn't matter, Cind, you couldn't have known this would happen" Belle smiled, which made the other relax visibly. Cindy went to sit by Alice's side to call for an ambulance, while Belle called Adam. She would have to get a hold on Mulan as well, because after all her and Alice were sharing a room in their hall of residence, and if Belle didn't call her she would be totally beside herself with worry in a couple of hours. And there was no need to create more problems than needed. Besides, there was one more person she had to call, which Alice would not be happy about. But the unconscious girl didn't really have a saying in the matter, and it was the best for her.. Or so Belle convinced herself. All her loud thoughts were stilled as soon as a male voice reached her through the phone. She had to cough a few times to get her voice to function, but then she gathered all her courage. "Mr. Liddle? Hello, you're speaking with Belle Sanders. I'm a friend of your Alice. You might want to come, Sir. Right, I'll give you the address.."

End of chapter one

-

Just for the information's sake, and if anyone are in doubt:
Cinderella Rosenberg (Cindy), Jaq and Gus (Cinderella)
Alice Liddle (Alice in Wonderland)
Belle and Adam Sanders (Beauty and the Beast)

The variants of the characters I have borrowed belong to Disney