This is just an idea. Dunno where I'm going with this o.o
"Off with their heads! And the rest in shreds! The Alices are dead! And so are our dreads!"
The children in the distance screamed in delight when they finished and chattered away by the morning sun. One little girl in the group stuck out her arms like wings and ran around the rest.
"Watch out! I'm an Alice! I'm an Alice!" she shrilled. "I'm going to kill everyone!"
The children again screamed in laughter as they avoided being caught by the girl. They did everything in their power to avoid her: jumping from poles, rolling across the grass, and climbing up trees. Finally after a few minutes, one boy was caught. The moment the girl touched his shoulder, he fell onto the ground and twisted in pretend agony, shrieking, "The Alice! The Alice!" before falling into a fake death.
The result was an explosion of laughter. Other boys assumed positions of soldiers and pointed their finger-guns at the girl and the 'infected' boy, shooting them down with gun noises emitted from their throats. The girl slumped down next to the boy before they broke into gleeful cheers with the others.
"Off with their heads! And the rest in shreds! The Alices are dead! And so are our dreads!" they chanted merrily again on the merry-go-round. Moments later, all their parents called, and the children parted ways to their happy families. The merry-go-round slowly spun to a stop, and the swings swung to stillness.
A particular brunette named Mikan was observing the scene as she patiently waited for her bus. Nothing, as much as a hint of emotion, showed on her face. She dragged her eyes away from the now-empty playground and towards the television store next to her.
"Breaking news presented to you by JBC. A fire was discovered last night burning an asylum north of Holo Lane. One casualty resulted from this incident. Investigators believe it was the works of an Alice-wielder on the loose. Be wary as you walk…"
"An Alice again?" a woman near her muttered in disgust. "I wonder why we can't just kill all of them?!" She nudged the brunette with her arm. "You don't like those stinking Alices either, right?"
She nodded.
The woman seemed satisfied with her answer. "See? Every person I've asked gave me that answer too. I wonder why we can't just segregate them to the other side of the world. Oooh, maybe we should just banish them to Mars."
Mikan remained quiet. Even when the bus came by, she bid a polite nod of farewell to the woman and transferred onto the vehicle, sitting down next to a familiar classmate.
The girl looked up in surprise, her dark hair flung back. "Oh hey Mikan!" she greeted cheerfully. "How're you doing?"
Mikan smiled. "Good. You?"
"I would say good too, but I'm actually a bit nervous for the examinations today," the girl admitted as she twiddled her fingers. She looked up to Mikan's confused face. "You know…the annual examination?" she emphasized.
"Oh, yes," said Mikan. "But it's just an examination of the body."
"They say it's that, but really it's to see if you have some freaky Alice power…" Her classmate dropped to a whisper. "…like what if they catch someone? What if some classmate near us was…an Alice?"
"...Then that wouldn't be good."
"Indeed," the girl agreed wholeheartedly with a shiver. "Ya know, last year….one boy got caught after the examinations…his two close friends also got caught and received the sentences."
"Sentences? What happened to them?"
She rolled her eyes at Mikan. "Seriously, do you live under a rock? They all died, of course…probably. I heard from my mom that the council is being stricter with the rules pertaining to Alices living…in our country. They should be anyways, thank god."
The bus halted to a stop, and the classmates around Mikan stood up and marched off, the brunette trailing behind with thoughts hazing her mind. The girl looked behind her shoulder and slowed down to match Mikan's pace.
"Did you watch Freakster last night?" she gushed to the brunette. "If you say no, I'm going to slap you."
"No, I don't watch television."
She slapped Mikan gently with a pitying look. "You missed out on soooo much. I can't believe you don't watch Freakster. Last night, they had some new addition to their Alice collection! You won't believe what one of the Alices' power was."
"What?"
"It was ice! She nearly froze the TV announcer, so they had to electrocute her and toss her into the control room. That was hilarious! There was another male Alice, but he wasn't as funny, so they just kicked him into the gas room and filmed how he was going to get out with a carrot. Kinda boring but whatever."
"I see."
"I think that male Alice died. Actually….I don't know. I didn't pay attention to that part. If he did, good riddance," she shrugged and nonchalantly walked to a destination different from Mikan's. "I'll see you later at the examinations, Mikan."
The brunette said nothing as she watched the girl walk away and whisked off to her own classroom. She passed by dozens of conversations also giddily discussing the latest Freakster episode; she walked on, her fist clenching and her jaw set in silent frustration. On the way, from the corner of her eye, she saw a crowd of people around a clubroom.
"Another stupid freak-lover," one person muttered as she edged closer. "Can't believe they would stand up for those monsters…"
She ignored the comment and slid her way into the crowd, her eyes finally reaching the scene of interest. A girl with pink hair, black and blue, sat stubbornly next to a sign that read, 'Justice for Alice!' Mikan noticed she was clenching her wrist that seemed to be bleeding.
A burly male student stepped on the pink girl's leg. "A filthy freak-lover is infecting our school," he taunted as he put more pressure on. "How disgusting."
She didn't say anything but gave a defiant look to the male.
"Oooh, I'm scared to death from your stare," he sneered. "Is one of your kinky Alice friends going to save you? Are they going to freeze me to death? Or burn me to a crisp? Oooh, maybe they'll even teleport me to Hawaii. I would like that!"
Most of the crowd howled with laughter. Mikan's eyes twitched.
"But I guess those disgusting monsters aren't here. Not like they'll dare to show up anyways." The burly male turned to the crowd. "How about we dunk this freak-lover's head into the toilet?! That ought to wake her up!"
The students around them cheered in agreement and roared, "DUNK HER! DUNK HER! DUNK HER! DUNK…."
Mikan walked away briskly, not giving a second glance or thought of the poor girl's fate. Her lips wobbled, and she kept her head down, avoiding contact of other students. She opened the classroom door and shut it behind her. Slightly shaken, Mikan took her seat in silence.
"Did you see the latest Freakster episode?"
"Dude, that was funny as hell! You think the other died?"
"Probably. But who cares about him? The other female Alice was vicious like some rabid monster!"
"Well, they did electrocute her. Kinda deserved it."
It was the same discussion all over school, repeated everywhere. The conversation was repetitive to the point of nauseating waves curling in Mikan's stomach.
No one had thought it was cruel. The only exception was probably the pink-haired girl, who was currently suffering from extreme bullying. Mikan sank into her seat in guilt. She had done nothing for her. Yet what would have happened if she did help her? Would the school just label them as outcasts? Or would she be put into the category of a freak-lover and be bullied until she could no longer stand it?
The chair in front of her squeaked. Mikan looked up to see a slender girl take her seat as she pushed her short, black hair back. It was the class representative, Hotaru Imai.
It was strange, but ever since Mikan sat near Hotaru on her first day of school, her grades increased by large increments. In fact, Mikan moved from fiftieth to second place in the matter of weeks. She secretly kept to herself that Hotaru was her study charm.
And because of that, she just enjoyed the presence of Hotaru sitting near her. To Mikan (and probably only to herself), there seemed to be a string of silent friendship that formed over the school year. Both never really partook in major conversations that demeaned the Alice race. And they were both known to have the best grades in their year – though Mikan could've sworn she was only average student before Hotaru's appearance at her school. Perhaps there was an air of academic motivation around the particular dark-haired genius, who – Mikan should mention – was worldly famous for her unique inventions.
All in all, Mikan still wasn't brave enough to talk to her. The most conversation exchanged between the two was Hotaru receiving tests, taking one herself, and passing the rest to Mikan, who was behind her.
Everyone was in their seats once the teacher arrived. He tiredly dropped his books and materials onto the pedestal and peered at the students through his glasses.
"We will not be following our usual schedule due to the annual examinations today," he announced, ignoring a few gleeful whoops, "So please line up in alphabetical order by last names."
Surprisingly, Mikan found herself behind Hotaru yet again. As soon as she felt her courage rise with the simple action of tapping Hotaru's shoulder, the line moved to the infirmary direction.
It was the usual rinse-and-repeat process. Mikan stood behind Hotaru in complete silence, her courage dwindling bits by bits. She had also been trying to ignore the pink-haired girl from before, who was now sitting on a bed, her head drenched and her arms and legs bandaged heavily. It was a terrible sight to behold.
The classmates around her snickered with murmurs of "freak-lover" and words of praise to the girl's bully.
"Hotaru Imai!" the nurse announced. Hotaru disappeared as the door clicked shut behind her.
Mikan stood at the front of the line as she tried tuning others out, clenching her fist tighter than before. She noticed another nurse had pulled a curtain in front of the pink girl, but before the nurse left, she threw a disdainful look at her.
Almost pitying but largely disdainful.
A freak-lover.
"Kill yourself, freak-lover!" A girl shouted and giggled with her friends.
"Yeah! Go die with that Alice on Freakster!"
"Freak-lover is crying!"
"How embarrassingly stupid."
Mikan closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on something else. It was hard. Stupidly hard.
"Hey, Mikan!" One of the girls tapped her shoulder with excitement. "Isn't your mother the host of Freakster?! Am I right?"
She bit her lips and nodded slowly with difficulty.
"See?! I knew it the moment I read Mikan's last name! It's the Famous K-"
Thankfully, the nurse cut the girl off as she called out Mikan's name. "In here, sweetheart," she ushered the brunette in a sickeningly sweet tone. "Just sit here, and we'll take some samples of your blood."
Mikan's ears perked up. Blood? Last year they only had to take a sample of their saliva. But she didn't protest when the nurse took out a small packet, attached it, and gave Mikan a small rubber ball. Mikan looked at it questioningly.
"You'll see," the nurse assured her and inspected the girl's arm, cleaning it before inserting a needle and probing until the tube filled a dark red color. "Start squeezing the rubber ball as much as you can. The more you do, the quicker the packet gets filled up," she ordered.
She followed the instructions without a word. It only took about five minutes before it was filled up, and the nurse completed it swiftly. "Now wait here," the nurse said and carried off the packet to a different room.
Mikan, out of boredom, observed the room around her, reading the posters of body anatomy and side effects of drug and alcohol. There was nothing else she could do, really. After rereading all the posters at least twice, a person in a lab coat burst in, flustered with messy hair, though he gave a quick smile in Mikan's direction.
"...ere's been one for rescue...should we wait?" Mikan heard him whisper into something invisible. He snaked out another door that was on the opposite side, and Mikan was left blinking cluelessly to herself. She twiddled her fingers and almost decided to read all the posters again when the nurse came back.
"Good girl for waiting," she cooed sickeningly and patted Mikan's head roughly before pulling her by the sleeve to another room. She unclenched her sleeve to point at a mishapened bed sitting at a corner. "Go lie there, and stay."
Though Mikan followed her direction, she felt slightly embarrassed that the nurse was treating her in such a condescending way. Perhaps the nurse was like this before, and Mikan had never noticed. It still didn't feel quite nice.
"Debora, is it set?" A voice came from behind the door.
"Indeed, it is, doctor!" the nurse replied cheerfully. "How strange that we have two discovered today, you know? It is a good thing that Professor Mouri refined the tests!"
Two? Refining tests? Professor Mouri? Mikan stared uncomprehendingly at the blank ceiling, completely absorbed in the cryptic conversation.
"Yes, yes. The other was Hotaru Imai, wasn't it? What a shame."
"Indeed," the nurse agreed. "It's terrible to think how close we were interacting with them before."
The conversation now struck a chord with Mikan as her eyes wildly darted to the nurse. Hotaru Imai? What had happened to her? Why was it terrible interacting with whoever 'them' was? Then, an earlier conversation replayed in her head, and the time ticking in Mikan's head stopped.
They say it's that, but really it's to see if you have some freaky Alice power…
"Why...aren't you an obedient little thing?" the doctor appeared, looming over Mikan with an equally sickening smile. "You are very different from the other one. She did quite a number on some of us before we had to knock her out...by force."
A cold tingle ran up Mikan's spine as cold beads of sweat drenched her neck. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't. The tests from previous years all indicated she was fine.
"As a gift, I'll present to you a nice, little nap," he chuckled as a syringe danced on his fingers, waiting to pierce someone. "I wonder..."
"No..." a small voice croaked, and Mikan found herself pushing...then wildly thrashing against the doctor. "No...NO...NO!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs. "Your test is lying! I'm not one! You're wrong! WRONG! Help! Help!"
"Guess I spoke too soon," the doctor muttered before calling out to the nurse for assistance. Mikan felt her arms pinned down as a needle painfully pierced through her skin. She struggled more before a blurry cloud formed in the middle of her vision. Her eyes felt unfocused. She felt her strength seeping through invisible cracks as her head lolled to one side.
"I'm...not...one..." she whispered desperately through the haze. There were uncomprehending murmurs dancing by her ear before a large, muffled boom blasted off the voices. She blinked slowly, trying to clear the fogs as two dark figures appeared and clashed with two white figures.
The white figures disappeared after Mikan struggled to open her eyes, and the two dark figures came closer and closer. One was close enough where Mikan could see two ruby orbs on its face. Her hand sloppily reached out and fell, only to be caught by something. It was leathery. Gloves?
"I'm...nooooot...oooone..." she choked as tears further clouded her vision. "Pl...eeaase..."
"You're safe," she heard, and that was all it took for her to fall into darkness.