Aliki in Paese Delle Meravigile

by Alloriana

This was a story for english class, based on Alice in wonderland. Murder, plot twists, alternate universe, modern day spin-off. :

Aliki in Paese Delle Meraviglie

The feeling of suffocation is not one I enjoy. I am not sure many people actually enjoy the feeling of death, pressing leisurely on their lungs as they struggle against the inevitable. Darkness can feel like you are drowning, especially if you happen to be afraid of the dark. Maybe I was having an anxiety attack, but my lungs felt like they were compressing into the battery compartment of a standard analog wall clock.

Everything was black, even the air seemed to be painted the color of soot. At first I thought it was another nightmare of nothing, but an echo of dripping water compelled me to move. Drip, Drip. Now that I mention water, this darkness was thick, damp even. Like I was in some sort of cave, but I could not be in a cave. I was just hanging out with my friends, in the sunlight, not remotely close to anything resembling a cave. So where was I? I did not have a clue.

The sound of water came to an abrupt halt and silence once more occupied the nothingness around me. Not for long it seemed, as a rhythmic tick aligned itself with my heart beat. It sounded like a metronome and I soon realized that it was a tick tocking of a clock. No sooner had that thought entered my mind when the floor gave out underneath me.

Falling can be fun, unless you are unaware of where you will be landing. The few seconds of weightlessness was almost bliss because color decided to become a factor, but I was falling so quickly that the colors were blurred. My fall came to an abrupt halt, my body felt suspended in mid-air before I fell the few feet to the ground.

I had landed in the middle of a forest. A very depressing forest by anyone's standards. Trunks blackened as if they had been burned, barren of leaves, as if the whole forest had spontaneously combusted. Walking to one of the trees, I ran my hand over the trunk only to quickly pull it back. The tree was oozing something thick, the texture was like tree sap but as I looked to the small amount on my hand I recognized the stark color of blood. The trees were bleeding into the graying grass. Where ever I was, I wanted to know how to leave as soon as possible. I wanted to forget this strange land of bleeding trees and heavy clouds. Maybe if I continued on my way I would be able to find a way home.

As I began to walk, the forest around me became lively. The trees where lush with fruit and flowers, giant man-sized flowers grew from the ground around the trees. Mushrooms, toadstools, and ferns began to become prominent as I continued. Looking up, my view of the sky was obscured by the branches and foliage of the surrounding trees. I see a flash of movement ahead, my head whips to search for what caused the small amount of black that I had glimpsed. I stepped off of the path, following the trail of movement as I chased after the black thing. It was not until I lost whatever I was tracking that I realized that I did not have the slightest idea as to where the path was. As I back tracked in an attempt to find the path, smoke wandered into my sight and a delicious odor entered my nose. I was compelled by some unknown force to follow the source.

I soon came upon a very large red speckled-blue tinged mushroom that looked as if touching it would cause someone to go into cardiac arrest. Sitting on top of this poisonous looking mushroom was an orange beetle with very long antenna, curling down from its head to the ground, and a purple pattern etched onto the top of its wings.

"Inquisitiveness squashed the lizard." It said.

"Pardon? Isn't it 'Curiosity killed the cat'?" I replied.

"Are you a cat?" It continued.

"No, but I'm not a lizard either." I said with a frown.

"Yes. You are."

"No, I am a human."

"Oh? Humans are mammals."

"Yes..."

"If humans are mammals then where is your fur?"

"Fur? Not all mammals have fur."

"Yes they do."

"No they do not. What about dolphins?"

"It is a good thing that you left the path."

"Why?"

"Inquisitiveness squashed th-"

"I know! You said that already..."

"Yes, but you inquired why. Asking why is inquisitiveness."

"So, I should not ask why?"

"Yes."

"Then how will I know why it was a good thing that I left the path?"

"Figure it out."

"But how?"

"Use that inquisitive mind of yours, be an investigator."

"But you said that it is bad to by inquisitive."

"It is bad to be inquisitive if you are only relying on others."

"You've confused me."

"Why?"

"Inquisitiveness squashed the lizard."

"Very good. Now you will want to go left."

"Left?"

"Yes left and then right, then you will find Chessy. He will point you from there. But remember to stay off of the path; well, unless you want to lose that nice little head of yours."

"O-okay."

It waved me off, and I continued on my journey. Following its advice, I veered left through a patch of ferns and more poisonous looking mushrooms. It felt as if I had been walking for hours when a gush of wind forced me to topple over. Peering around from my spot on the ground, I looked for the source of the hurricane force gust that had landed me on my butt. An owl turned its head to me, a rather large majestic purple and pink feathered bird with very beady eyes.

"Who? Who? Who are you? You?"

I glanced around, it seemed like the animals of where ever I was had two things in common, they could talk and they were brightly colored.

"Me?"

"Yes? Yes? You. You."

Scratch that, they had three things in common; talking, colors, and the ability to make me confused with in a few sentences.

"My name is Ali."

"Ali? Ali? No. Alice! Alice!"

"My name is not Alice, my friends call me Ali because my real name is embarrassing."

"Alice, Alice?"

"No, my real name is Aliki."

"Aliki? Aliki? Alice! Alice!"

"Well... It does mean Alice in Greek."

"Aliki is Alice! Ali is Alice! Alice is Ali! Alice is Aliki!"

"Um... Yes, I suppose that is true."

"You? You are the one they are looking for. Alice? Aliki!"

'Who?"

"Who? Who? Them. Who."

"And who is them?"

"Who indeed. The red knights. Who?"

"Red knights? Why do they want me?"

"Why? Why? Aliki why?"

"Yes."

"Queeny wants Alice, Aliki. She wants you. Who."

"Queeny? The Queen?"

"Precisely her. Her?"

"Why?"

"Why? You know! Ali! Find? Find. Glover."

"Glover?"

"Yes? Yes. He is quite mad. Mad?"

"Which way?"

"That way," He said pointing his wing to the right, "Will? He will be there with his friends. There? There."

"Okay, thank you."

"My my pleasure. Nice to meet? Meet. Aliki!"

"Um... Goodbye."

I left quickly, before the bird had a chance to question itself again. This Glover was harder to find then that Chessy bird. I got very lost. Sighing in frustration, I changed directions. One would think that going in the opposite direction in which you are directed will only get you more lost, but it in fact allowed me to find this Glover. He was sitting at a very long table, with only a set of china in front of him and his companions. The rest of the table was void of anything but the table cloth. At the center of the table stood a mortar and pestle made of white marble and filled with cocoa beans. Before my eyes these beans turned red and burned bright like coals before melting into a thick brown liquid, chocolate.

As I approached he looked up, but it did him little good. He was blind in one eye and partially in the other, the filmy blue made his eyes look blank. He stood and smiled, he was quite tall and looked to be barely older then twenty. His companions consisted of a rather spaced out looking green cat and a small pink finch. The cat rolled around in its chair, the cushion of which suspiciously looked as if cat nip had been sewn into it, and sat at attention when I approached, eyes wide. While the finch twited here and there on its table setting, fluttering with a clank. Glover gestured to the empty seat next to him before he began to serve the sweet substance to the others and myself. I smiled, chocolate definitely sounded comforting at a time like this, so I sat down and took a small sip. It was delicious. I took another slightly large sip before turning to Glover.

"Thank you."

"You are welcome." He said with a smile and an Irish accent.

"I believe his name is Chessy, he um... sent me to you."

"Yes, I thought he might. I've been waiting for you."

"For me?"

"Yes, Alice. I have been waiting for you."

"My name is not Alice."

"Oh, terrible sorry. I meant Aliki, but it means Alice so I was not far off."

"Yes... well..."

"He sent you here so I could protect you. However, I will be unable to do this."

"Protect me? From what?"

"The red knights of course."

"Why do they want me?"

"They don't. The queen does."

"Then why does she want me?"

"I will let her tell you. They will be here to arrest you in a few minutes."

Both the cat and finch stopped moving and looked up at me, "They are here," the cat tweeted and the finch mewled.

I looked around and noticed a handful of men standing in the shadows of the trees. They were menacing looking, with red suits and black ties that set them apart from the green forest behind them. Eyes black and emotionless, and hair inky black against their pale skin. I glanced at Glover,

"Why can't you protect me?"

"Because I believe that you are guilty. I do not help people who are guilty, only those who are innocent."

"Guilty? Of what?"

Glover smiled, "Nice try, we know what you did. Everyone does."

I tensed, the red knights were right behind me. One grabbed my arm and yanked me out of my chair, steering me toward the others. I shook myself loose before we made it to the group and made a break for the trees. I would have made it, but the pink finch flew in front of my face, forcing me to pause my escape to brush it aside. They grabbed me from behind, binding and gagging me with orange rope. I struggled, but it was no use. They dragged me through the forest, back past the bleeding trees and further into a direction of destruction. As we progressed buildings came in to sight, most were scorched like the trees, a few were lightly singed. I was brought to a large stone building, the biggest on the landscape. It was made of grey brick and adorned with gaudy red painted hearts, black rose bushes lined the outside. As the gates opened, a cornet sounded, the knights sped up their march to a slow jog. I was forced to keep up, still confused about what I was supposedly guilty about. As we entered the building, I gagged through the rope. Heads frozen in different emotions lined the walls, much like a hunter might display animals killed for sport. They brought me to a room with high ceilings, a red carpet leading to an equally gaudy throne. I could not suppress a shudder a my eyes fell on the Queen. She was gorgeous, long flowing hair and high cheek bones, flower lips that one could tell were smooth just by looking at them but a cruelty in her eyes made me realize that I was destined to be another head on her wall. I was thrown at her feet, the knights removed my gag and slipped away into the shadows. I was left bound in the front of all of the royals, and this scary queen.

"It is her! Alice the cur! Off with her head! I want her dead head!"

"Please! I did not do anything wrong! I don't even know where I am!" I pleaded.

"You vile child! You dare have the guile to reconcile with me?"

"What have I done? Nothing!"

"Ha, you have done nothing? Murder is not nothing you vile pig."

"Murder?"

"Murder!" She roared, "You are sentenced to death for the murder of A. Jack Heart, the prince of Paese Delle Meraviglie, my son."

To Be Continued...

This was a quick little short story based on Alice in Wonderland, it was an assignment for english class.

I may finish it... What do you think? Review please.

Alíki =alice in greek

paese delle meraviglie= Wonderland in Italian