Ebony Roses
April 1, 2008
Section 1
Narrative
Total Words: 1,000
The Breaking Point
Alice sat cross-legged on her bed. Flickering flames cast by the endless candles circling her bed--banished the midnight darkness. Her fingers clutched the warm wood of the pencil as the graphite scraped roughly over the large sheet of paper. She sat up and stretched sleepily, her mouth opening in a revealing yawn. Grabbing her stuffed bunny, she carefully blew out each candle. Soft, cushy bed covers quickly encircled her in their warm, comforting embrace as she snuggled into her pillow. Faintly, she heard the whispering of her wonderland friends, beckoning her into sleep. Towering above her, the four, high posts of the bed guarded over her as she selfishly succumbed to "death's little sister."
Down below Alice's sanctuary, in an elegant, Victorian styled room, Alice's father thrust a final, large log onto the fire to last through the winter night. He stumbled through the dark room and towards the stairs to the bedrooms. Pitiful mewing sounded from one of the chairs as he passed it. Bending down, he stroked the ebony black cat that curled lovingly around the cushions. Softly sounding footsteps on the crimson red carpet whispered as he walked away from the cat, found the stairwell, and stumbled to bed.
Golden slits of cat eyes flickered with an unearthly glow in the firelight. It stared at the fire in a cold, calculating way. She stretched lazily and hopped down from the chair, languidly lurking towards the fireplace. Before it reached the threshold, it began to transform into a being. Suddenly, a woman stood, her perfect, seductive curves accentuated by the fire. Smooth, red, luscious lips curled in an evil sneer. Perfectly white, delicate hands smoothed out the creases of her red and black strapless gown that clung to her like mist. Tossing her raven hair back, she laughed manically as she grabbed a painting of Alice and placed it in the flickering fingers of flame.
"Save my victims, Alice. Cheat me of my sport, Alice. That, I can deal with." she hissed as the flames took hold of the innocent girl's picture. Flinging it from the fireplace and onto the highly flammable drapes, she laughed again. "But never take away my kingdom. Wonderland has always been mine, and it will always be mine! Anyone who helps you will be severely punished. I'll even deal with that cheating, kniving, grinning cat myself!"
Fire hungrily devoured the lounge's furniture and began to climb steadily towards the bedrooms of the elegantly decorated house. Every carefully, thoughtfully places knick-knack fed the flames of their destruction. Neighbors began to awake to the strange firelight that began leaping into their homes. Some barely bundled men ran through the snow in bare feet, hoping to reach help before the fire engulfed more houses.
Waking to the feeling of someone shaking her, Alice's eyes opened. Two furry hands clutched her shoulders and shook them, making her head slam against the pillow violently. She awoke, mumbling an angry curse to see the March Hare and the Cheshire Cat sitting on her bed. Her nostrils flared with the acrid smell of smoke. Coughing, she gazed out at the eerie, growing firelight that rose up the stairs, right by her parent's room. Screams tore from her throat like a living being as she fled her bedroom to find her parents. Fire caught at her dress as she slammed through the heavy, wooden door. "Mother! Father!" she screamed, tears running down her face.
"Get out, Alice!" her mother screamed, running towards Alice and picking her up.
Flames began entering the room like a sinister demon.
Her mother ran towards the window and kicked it open desperately.
"Save yourself, Alice! Get away from this house!" her father screamed as the flames caught hold of his nightgown.
Wind whipped around the broken window, feeding the ravenous flames as Alice's mother flung her out of the window and into the snow.
Her golden haired head hit the snow with a thud, knocking her out. Screams from her mother and father echoed into her ears before she lost all consciousness. This time, no wonderland inhabitants came to escort her to the dream world. She saw only blackness, and fire, and the Red Queen. Evil laughter filled her ears as the blackness finally engulfed her.
Now she sat, alone and unloved, on a rusty, filthy, creaky bed in Rutledge Asylum. Indescribable stains of filth, blood, and gore covered the white, tile walls. Her eyes never closed, glued into a blank, unthinking stare of abject horror. One cruel looking nurse injected some foreign substance into her arm and tucked a small, rotted, charred bunny underneath the other. Red fingernails brushed against Alice's face as the nurse stroked her hair fondly. "Poor thing… This will be the eleventh year of her coma. Maybe this old rabbit will bring her around."
She moved instinctively, for the first time since her second day in the institution. Alice gathered the bunny into her malnourished arms and buried her nose in it. Closing her eyes, her tears poured onto the rabbit, nearly soaking it.
Gasping, the nurse and ran out of the room, screaming for the doctor to come quickly.
Alice turned her face towards the open door, contemplating escaping from that horrible prison.
One dark shadow appeared in the open doorway. It stood in a black-tail coat and a high-topped hat. Tapping the ground with every step it took, its cane glittered menacingly in the faint light. "You selfish, misbegotten, and unnatural child! You smelled the smoke, but you were in dreamland taking tea with your friends. You couldn't be bothered! You were protected and spared, while your parents upstairs roasted in an inferno of incredible horror!"
Raising her arms to her ears, Alice blocked out the sounds of her guilt. She screamed and covered her face.
The stuffed bunny began to move and adjust itself so it looked at her. "Save us, Alice. Save yourself! Defeat this guilt inside you, and defeat the Red Queen once and for all!"
Note: I had to do this for my Advanced Composition course, in which we were supposed to have a 800 - 1000 word narration. No BE verbs (am, is, are, was, and were) unless in dialogue, and it didn't have to be an original idea. Since my teacher isn't that big a fan of Videogames, and would obviously have NO idea this was taken from a game, I decided to add a few things to explain it too her better.
I hope you enjoyed it!