Tap, tap, tap is all I hear coming from behind me. I keep my pace up, worried that if I slow that whatever… it is, will catch up to me.
I turn down the next street, which is just as dark and empty as the last one I was on. I hear a tick, tick, tick coming from behind me as if a watch is counting down the minutes I have left to live. The taps from behind me keep coming, getting faster and faster. I push myself to speed up even though my legs feel like they're going to give out. In front of me, the road ends and turns into a forest. I stop short and just stare at it, wondering if I should even dare to enter. The taps of the feet continue, getting closer and louder, snaps me out of my thoughts as I push my way through the dark forest.
The forest gets darker and darker as I go farther and farther in. Less and less moonlight seeps through the forest canopy making it harder to see where exactly I was going. The ticking gets louder as do the footsteps. I want to scream but nothing comes out. I quickly change my path, hoping to lose… whatever it is. I look back to see if it was still following me and I'm shocked at the sight.
The figure looks to be quite skinny but fit, considering how long it's been chasing me. It has raggedy hair that stops around its chin. It looks to be very human, a man from what I can see. But what surprises me most is that on the top of his head, pretty bunny ears stick up. I turn back just in time to see I almost ran into a tree and maneuver around it quickly.
What is that thing? Is it just a man wearing bunny ears or…don't even think about it, just keep running.
I turn to look back at the figure and see that the figure has slowed to a stop. I flip around, slowly walking backwards to keep a watchful eye on him. My steps are slow and cautious, continuing back as the silhouette of the hybrid creature stays standing in place. Then I feel the earth go from behind me. I manage a scream as I start to fall down a big hole. As gravity takes its place, spinning me slowly as I fall, I look down the hole to see it seems to never end. Another scream escapes. I look back up towards the top and see the man at the top of the hole, looking down at me, with an evil smile placed on his sweet-looking face.
The whole class was quiet, even my teacher. This couldn't be good… I knew I wasn't the best writer in the world but god, no need to make it so blatantly obvious. I look down at the ground, scurrying back to my seat, completely embarrassed by my failure. Why do I always seem to do this? No one else leaves the class at such a loss of words… The teacher jerks her head and starts clapping, the class following hesitantly after. Someone else took the stand and started to read their paper, but it was drowned out by my thoughts.
What had thrown them off this time? Was it the whole scheme of the scene or just the hybrid creature? Had I not introduced the horror and fear intended for the assignment? That can't be right though, I have the highest marks in class. Maybe it was too traditional? No, no I highly doubt any other student ever has written about a bunny-human chasing them into falling down a hole. Now that I think about it, it sounds so childish, so imaginative that any other college student would've passed up the opportunity to write about a child's nightmare. The bell rings and snaps me out of my thoughts. I slip all my things into my bag quickly, heading for the exit just before hearing my name called. I turn around to see the teacher waving me over. I nervously walk back across the room to her desk, where she sat with all the papers.
"Y-yes?" I ask nervously.
"You didn't turn in your paper for getting graded."
"Oh" I mentally give a sigh of relief and hand it to her. As I turn and head out, she says, "Oh… and Alice… amazing, as always. You never fail to astound me every time." I mumble a thank-you and hurry out of the room and down the hall to the nearest exit, keeping my head low and sticking close to the wall. Please get me out of this place. College is about as bad as high school, but with double the work load.
Finally in the parking lot, I slip into my old pick up truck, maneuvering the key into its other half. The engine roars to life and I start my short drive home. The streets are quiet and empty, but only due to all the kids being in school still. That's the one good thing about college: a better schedule.
My house is dark and quiet, probably due to my mom still being at work. Yes, I know, kind of sad I still live with my mom but hey! No rent. My mom begged me to stay, since she always gets lonely (dad died), and agreed to no rent if I stayed with her for a few more years; which is fine by me. I get lonely too without dad around…
I head inside and upstairs, into my room. My room is pretty plain besides the posters of classic bands on my wall like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Joan Jett. Some people think I'm a little young to like these bands but honestly, classics never grow old.
I drop my bag on the ground and plop into the chair by my desk. That's the one thing that's always messy in my room: the desk. It's cluttered with my laptop, notebooks, and tons of writing utensils. It's probably due to my outbursts of writing. I just get inspiration and can't stop until I've finished it. But lately, most inspiration hasn't been what it use to be. The things I write… are so vivid and realistic; almost like they're memories or even dreams.
I shake my head. Don't be silly Alice, you've always had quite the imagination.
I look around, catching sight of a strange bird flying by. What an odd place for a bird to be considering I'm surrounded by a thick forest. Where do I go from here? I sigh in frustration due to the lack of direction indicated and head down the first path I see. The trees seem to thin as I make it into a small clearing. It looked like a sort of tea party in session. Two or three tables were put next to each other and covered with an extremely long dirty table cloth to make the length required for the amount of people there, but there seemed to be too many seats open still. Placed atop, was countless tea cups, teapots, plates, etc, all miss-matched. The 'table' was accompanied by tons of mismatched chairs placed around it, some occupied and others not.
"Alice! We're so happy you could make it!" Someone purrs into my ear. I gasp as I notice a cat-human creature floating in mid air next to me. He had shaggy teal hair and subtle grey eyes that could pierce any soul. Two cute little gray and teal striped ears twitched atop his head and a swishing tail to match. His grin was extremely wide, showing all of his teeth, including the back ones. It looked so weird, but… cute and fitting on him. His chest was bare but covered in scars. "Sit, sit!" He pulls out the end table and I slip into the seat, taking notice of all the people surrounding the table.
On my left, was the guy with the bunny ears from my paper. He had pure white, wavy hair and some odd brown-red eyes with cute white ears sticking up on the top of his head. He wore a red vest with a worn-out tank underneath and a black bow-tie hanging around his neck. When he reached across the table to grab a teapot, I noticed his pin-striped skinny jeans. Very strange to see on a guy. He had some silver watch on a chain connected to the belt loop and a gun in his back pocket. He seemed to be wearing… dark red nail polish too? A few seats down from him was yet another rabbit-looking human, with brown hair, all raggedy like the white one, but stop closer around his ears. He had soft brown eyes and brown ears, sticking up funny. On his right ear, part of it looked like it was bitten off. He was wearing a dark grey, off the shoulders long sleeve that cuts off just above the belly button showing 2 swirly tattoos on his hips. A simple black ribbon wrapped around his neck a few times. Was his lip pierced too? Dang these people are strange…
On the right of me, a few seats down, was a pretty and petite girl with a very pale long brown hair, crystal blue eyes, and little pale brown mouse ears on her head. She was wearing an orange bandeau with some black suspenders holding up her short black school-girl skirt. On her right thigh, she has a garter holding up a dagger. Floating in air a few seats down from her was the cat-hybrid man. My eyes shifted as I saw movement at the far end of the other table.
There, was a man, looking very tall, dark and well… handsome. He had on a large dark green top hat with a black ribbon tied around it and a 10/6 tag sticking out along with some feathers and jewels. A piece of art if I do say so myself. Under the hat was his blacker than black hair. He was wearing a cream tux shirt unbuttoned and rolled up sleeves with a green ribbon tied loosely around his neck and a dark green vest to match his hat. His hand lifted his tea cup to his lips and I saw him wearing one fingerless glove. His startling green eyes stared across the table and into mine. I turned away and blushed but no one seemed to notice because everyone was busy drinking their tea.
"SWITCH!" yelled the top-hat man and everyone scooted down a seat, but me and the hated-man.
"Alice you're supposed to move down a seat" said the mouse-girl.
"Oh… right… Sorry…" I get up and quickly move down to the next seat, slightly embarrassed by my lack of common knowledge. I was now one seat closer to the hatted man, which only made me more nervous. I took a sip of the tea, which tasted sweet like cherries just before the hated man once again yelled "SWITCH!"
Everyone moved down yet another seat, this time me included. I would keep taking a sip and moving down seats. I was having fun, even though this seemed like child's play, but I couldn't help but to smile and go along with it.
Finally, I had reached the seat next to the hatted man. He looked down at me and smiled, "Hello Alice" he said in a deep, soothing voice.
"Alice, get your ass out of bed! We have class in 20 minutes!" someone yells at me as they slam their hand on my desk, "I know you were up all night writing but I think we both know your mom would be fucking pissed if you didn't succeed high marks in writing!" I groan in reply, "ALICE! GET YOUR ASS UP RIGHT NOW OR I'LL GET A BUCKET OF WATER!" my eyes burst open.
I glare at the man in front of me, "You wouldn't fucking dare!"
"Oh I would. You know I would." He threatens.
"Alright, alright I'm moving." I groan as I get up and scramble around my room for clothes and such, "Go make me breakfast bitch." I growl at him as I tug my shirt off.
"Oh gee, I don't know. I like the show I'm getting right now." I look behind me to see his eyes racking over my body ever so slowly.
"Charles you pervert! Out! Food now!" I shove him out of my room and lock the door.
"Not like I haven't seen it before!" He teases as he heads downstairs. I start closing the journal I had been writing in, but notice it empty. I swear I had written it all down… Or was it just a dream? I sigh and finish getting dressed and grab my bag, heading down the stairs to the kitchen. He had just finished making my pop-tarts and wrapped them up in a napkin, handing them to me. From there, we head to his car and speed our way to the campus.
"We better not be late of I'll so have your ass for it." He grumbles under his breath as he parks the car.
"We aren't, we aren't, you just like being super early every fucking day." I snort as I get out of the car. We hurry through the halls and make it into class just as the bell rings. Taking our seats, I began to think about that tea party.
Was that all a dream? I seem to be having them a lot lately. My mom says that dad would always tell mom of my exotic dreams that I had when I was much younger. But now, he's sadly dead. Anyways, my dreams went away after he died. Just a few days ago, they started up again. I have no clue why, I haven't had one for 9 years until now. I don't exactly remember anything about them, all I do remember were the characters were very unrealistic and bizarre and the place had a name, but it's slipped my tongue.
All those…. Things were so realistic looking. The white haired bunny-man, the brown haired mouse-girl, the brown haired bunny-man, the cat-guy with the huge grin, and the sexy-hatted man…
The sexy hatted man… with the black hair and the green eyes and the big top hat. Why oh why must I curse myself with these thoughts. I'm ogling a fucking dream boy I had. DREAM BOY! I mean seriously? Come on Alice, get a hold of yourself. I shake my head as I try to focus on what the teacher is saying.
"Today you will be writing…" The whole class groans, but me. I don't see why everyone is so annoyed by writing. It's a way to express yourself in a world of reality where not all things always seem possible. But when you're writing, it can be out of this world. "…about an exotic character or creature. Be very descriptive, that's what you're getting graded on." She gives me a knowing look before turning away.
Oh what to write, what to write… The endless possibilities that come from my one silly dream world. I pick up my pencil and start scrawling across the paper quickly as the words just come to me.
I walked down the dirt path slowly, taking in the aura of the whole place. The purple mushrooms, singing flowers, candy trees… I stopped when I see movement high up in one of the trees.
"Why hello my Aliceee, It's a wonder to see you here today." The voice purrs as I look up to see a man lying on a thick branch, looking down at me. The man floats down gracefully and stands in front of me, where I can get a clear view of him.
He is very scrawny as if not fed properly but towers at least a foot over me, making me look up at the sky just to see his face. He had shaggy teal hair, which sounds very…odd but worked perfectly for him. Next, I saw his eyes. Those gorgeous subtle grey eyes that seemed to look straight into my soul. I shuddered and looked down, not able to bear the intensity. His chest was bare and covered in more scars than one could count. He was wearing some bright, teal skinny jeans that seemed to have had better days. What is this guy and teal?! He had on a checkered belt and no shoes. In the background I saw something move. HE HAS A TAIL! And what do you know, it was gray and teal striped. I look back up at his face taking notice of the teal and gray striped ears sitting atop his head. A human-cat? A cat-human? What world have just fallen into?
I backed away from him slowly, suddenly scared of the fact that he was not normal. I stumbled but got up quickly and ran away from the strange… thing.
"No! Alice! Wait!" The thing called after me but I didn't look back.
I get up and turn my paper in as the bell rings. Outside the classroom, Charles is waiting for me, "Hey Alice, I can't take you home today I have work. Can you walk?" he smiles sheepishly, having just realized his mistake only minutes before. I smack him upside the head.
"You idiot! Why didn't you tell me? I could've driven myself!" I hear him groan, rubbing his head.
"I'm sorry Alice! I forgot!" He whines, giving me the puppy dog eyes.
"Well go on! I have a long walk ahead of me." He smiles and mutters a thanks, kissing my forehead and hurrying out. I sigh, the nerve of him…
I head out the school and down the street, seeing as how I have a few blocks to walk.
So how does my mind come up with all these bizarre things? I doubt I could… dream up such characters, with so much thought and detail put into each one. Well, I could, but not on the spot like that. It's like I already knew them without even having to think about it. What if it's not dreams and memories, but paranoia or something?
I shake that thought out of my head as I look over to the right of the street and notice a girl leaning casually against the building. She is wearing a bandeau and a cute little school-girl skirt. Her combat boots add height to her, considering how short she looks. I notice her looking at me and smile in return. She has long brown hair and crystal blue eyes. She looks a lot like the mouse girl but without the ears and tail. I turned my head back to the road in front of me, panicking a bit as my mind registers the realization. It can't be her. She's only from my stories so it can't be her…
"Alice." the girl says in a sweet voice. I stop dead in my tracks and look back at her. She not only looks like her, she sounds like her too. She smiles sweetly at me. I sprint as fast as I could, away from her and my crazy dreams. I just want to be back in the safety of my own home, where I know I can at least think I'm normal. I may be crazy, or insane, but it won't stop me from thinking otherwise in my own fucking home!
oOoOoOo
First chapter revised! I'm getting a little excited! I tried to make it a little longer because you guys always complained about my chapters being super short. I don't know when the next one will be up, but I am working on it right now so hopefully soon.
Oh! I will also be starting my Harry Potter fan fiction! An OC, old characters, old setting, new plot twist ;3 it'll be fun! It'll be a mash-up of all different kinds of pairings but who will end up with who in the end o.O'' Check my profile for it I should have it up soon :)