The Howling
Chapter 1
Hi this is my first story. I haven't written anything since high school so apologies if my grammar is atrocious. I also wasn't sure how to space the paragraphs out. English was never my forte. Tbh I was just feeling a bit bored/depressed when I decided to write this and thought it would be a good way of getting back into the swing of things. The story itself is not very original. There are probably 100's of laby fanfics featuring the off spring of Sarah but here's my take on it. I hope you can make sense of my drabbles. I'll try my best to correct any mistakes if u see any.
And yes the title is based off the within temptation song. It's one of my favs. Saw them last year, they were great.
In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.- Alice in Wonderland
It had started as a fairly normal day. Every day was a normal day for Alice Williams and that was just the way she liked it.
Alice liked the solidarity of reality. She had never been a dreamer or a fantasist. In her life there was no fairies nor goblins and no alternative dimensions where these creatures even existed.
Everything was just how she expected it to be.
There was especially no Bog of Eternal Stench.
But even so, Alice still reminisced in these stories her beloved mother, Sarah, used to tell her as a child every night.
Stories of a labyrinth, a beautiful young girl and a goblin king who fell in love with her and gave her 'certain' powers.
Alice missed her mother dearly. She also missed her mother's imagination and creativity that she herself never quite picked up.
It was fitting that her mother named her Alice.
Alice in Wonderland must of reminded her slightly of her beloved Labyrinth tale.
Today, however, all she could think about was her mother and the life she may of had if she was still here today.
Don't get her wrong, she loved her Uncle Toby unconditionally. He had became her guardian after her mother passed away and treated her just like his own.
It had been nearly 7 years since her mother passed. Now, 18, Alice had just graduated high school and was starting community college in the fall.
Alice was never particularly academic. Never smart enough for an Ivy League school like her Mother but none of that ever mattered to her.
She loved music, singing, composing and playing the piano. Even if she struggled to read sheet music due to her dyslexia but she was good at it and took pride in it. So it seemed a fitting choice to choose to study music production at college.
A milestone in her life that her mother would never get to see.
"Alice, are you okay?" her Uncle Toby's voice was soft and gentle behind her.
Alice sighed. She must of spaced out again, lost in thought as usual.
It was no wonder though. She could never really focus right on the anniversary of her mother's death.
"Yeah," Alice replied. She was currently sitting on the window sill of her mother's childhood room within her grandparents home.
She turned to her Uncle Toby and gave a weak smile. "I'm fine honestly."
Her uncle sat on the window sill beside her.
"You're sure you want to look after your two cousins tonight? I hate doing this to you, especially... today of all days. If you're not feeling up to it, I can call the baby sitter?"
"It's fine Uncle Toby, it gives me something to do," she said.
Toby and her grandparents were going to a family friends funeral; Mrs Callaghan if she remembered correctly. She was a nice old lady. She used to watch Alice when she was younger. She didn't remember much of her as she had stopped baby sitting her quite early on due to her health problems.
Normally she would have attended the funeral but not today for obvious reasons. She just wanted to stay inside. Plus Alice didn't mind watching the kids by herself. She had done it everyday since she was 16 while Toby was at work.
"I'm worried about you, is all," her uncle sighed. "It's unfair of me to leave you especially on a day like this."
"It's hard for both of us," Alice tried to reassure him.
Her Uncle Toby and her mother had been the closest of siblings. When her mother died he was devastated just as much as she was. She had never seen her uncle Toby in such a state and she wasn't sure she wanted to see him like that again.
"Trust me, the worst that could happen is the house burns down," Alice teased slightly, trying to lighten the mood.
Her uncles's mouth twitched up with a sly grin.
"Or both my children and niece are kidnapped by the goblin king," he laughed.
Alice grinned. Her mother had also often read the labyrinth story to Toby when he was younger too.
"I think we should probably stop reading that story to the kids though." Her uncle said thoughtfully.
Alice stirred for a moment. She suddenly felt a tad defensive over the raggedy old leather book. The book her mother lovingly gifted her many years ago. It was, after all, just a silly old book with no value but to Alice it was her passageway to understanding her mother's eccentric and intriguing life.
"The kids are driving me crazy. They keeping telling me that they'll wish for the goblin king to take me away every time they don't get what the want," her uncle's eyes twinkled.
Alice relaxed at the clarification.
"One day I fear he might actually appear," he chuckled.
Alice laughed too.
"Thank goodness it's just a fairytale then," she grinned.
Unbeknownst to Alice however, Toby had cringed slightly at his own choice of words.
Her uncle Toby left shortly after with both her grandparents. She was feeling quite bored and unsure what to do with herself. She always felt out of place in her grandparents home.
Her cousins, on the other hand, were in the living room bantering back and forth with each other. Her oldest cousin Sarah (named lovingly after her mother) was lounging on the sofa.
She was a pretty girl for her age, soon she would be turning 10. Sarah had long dark hair and striking green eyes. She was very similar in appearance to Alice's mother. As a child she used to feel envious of her cousin for this reason.
Alice didn't inherit much of her mother's good looks, however. She had mousy, tangled and more often than not, frizzy long blond hair. She was quite plain looking in every single way, or that's how Alice saw herself anyway.
Apart from her eyes.
Her eyes were two different colours, one blue and the other brown. The condition was called Heterochromia, which in itself sounds really cool and unique if it wasn't for the fact that she also had another condition, known as Anisocoria.
This condition made her pupils unequal in size, meaning, one pupil was bigger than the other. They were mismatched and weird looking, well once again, that's how Alice saw it.
Alice had learned to ignore the taunts from her fellow school mates throughout the years. She honestly didn't care about her appearance at all to be quite frank. If anything she embraced being a bit different. She had "the weird" as her friends liked to teasingly call it but she was happy and that was all that mattered.
Tim, Sarah's little brother of 2 years, was playing with his plastic dinosaurs in front of the fireplace. With nothing better to do Alice bent down to sit on the carpet with him.
"Yay! Alice you can be brown dinosaur," he giggled.
Alice grinned. "You know his real name is T-Rex right?"
From outside there was a faint howl of a wolf in the distance. Maybe it was just a dog. Alice couldn't tell.