Painting the Roses Red

Once there was a girl named Alice and she was beautiful and well-behaved. She was a role model in all things right and good. She was the heir to a sizable fortune and was engaged to a wealthy Lord who would advance the family name politically and socially. All in all, Alice was exactly what everyone saw her as on the outside and that was what everyone envied.

But Alice had a secret, and it was a pretty big secret too. Alice had a voice in her head. Not a nice voice, oh no. The universe saw fit to send Alice a mean voice that told her to fight back and rebel against what was good and proper. To murder; scheme; lie; plot. Her name? Malice. Malice doesn't like Alice because Alice keeps her locked in a cage where no one can hear her except Alice and she can't move. She is trapped in darkness without a way to escape. Caught in a spider's web with only her sharp tongue to fight the spider, a manifestation of what is "good" and "proper". Control. Malice hates the lack of control. Of darkness. Of danger. Of freedom. Of life. What's the point of surviving if you don't live? She's asked Alice this many a time and only gets another question in return.

Is living worth risking a visit from Death?

He can only visit if he can catch us.

When Alice fell into Wonderland, Malice escaped her cage and became her own person. And for the first time in her life, Alice woke up to an empty head. She continued on her way, taking advantage of the blessed silence. She spared no thought as to where Malice might be, only that she was gone and she could focus on getting home and being the perfect girl everyone expected her to be.

Alice escaped the angry gossiping flowers, right before Malice came and cut them to ribbons. Alice had tea with Hare, Doormouse, and The Mad Hatter until she ran out of time. Malice appeared later and set their teatable on fire when they tried to wish her a very hhappy unbirthday. She was angry! She wanted her revenge. It wasn't their fault Alice kept ahead of her; she just decided to blame them.

Alice met the Cheshire Cat, but Malice met him first. When Alice woke from her nap beneath his tree, she was confronted with a bloody, brunette version of herself and a whispered "Boo" as her twin shoved a butcher's knife into her stomach. Never ignore an empty head. An empty head will get you killed. Alice drifted into Death's cold embrace as she bled out onto the hard dirt ground. The last thing she saw was Malice smirking down upon the scene of her revenge with Cheshire Cat's unhinged voice haunting the background. "We're all mad here. If you haven't noticed, I'm not all there myself." Echoing through her head. Her empty, stupid, head.

They fell into Wonderland together.

Alice was caught by death.

Malice was too fast.

She got away.

But only after she'd painted the roses red.

A bloody, bloody red.