Chapter One: Consciousness

Alice woke in a cold sweat, afraid as she always was upon waking. It was a place between reality and fantasy, where logic fails you when you need it most, and your most fantastical nightmares take form.

And everything felt very real. Too Real. There was more clarity then there was in the real or dream worlds could ever possibly present her. Sights were so vivid as to have a way of seeing all sound waves around her; textures could be determined by smell. All five senses could be accessed by any part of the body. She nearly puked at the taste of the wax inside her ears.

This was routine though, and she knew all too well how to fix it, or at least suppress it for the rest of the day.

"Where'd I leave my COKE?" Alice said hatefully in a pained and groggy voice.

She had laid out a rail last night specifically to minimize the impact that waking had on her body and mind throughout the day.

"Gregory!" shouted Alice in a hoarse, raspy voice. "Did you take it?"

No response.

"Gregory get up here now!" Alice shouted again, a small mist of blood leaving her mouth.

After about ten seconds slow, heavy footsteps began to ascend the stairs. Alice hadn't the strength to shout again, so she settled for waiting to scold her so-called guardian until he entered the door, forgetting entirely about her locks. She listened to the footsteps echo through the hallway.

"Have I been called?" Gregory said from the other side of the door without trying to open it.

"Where is my Coke?" Alice attempted to shout, but muffled by the blood flying from her throat. "I know you took it! I can't find it anywhere!"

After a moment of silence a long sigh came from the other side of the door. "Calm yourself hon, I have not entered your room since the last time you let me in, not to mention all the locks on your doors and windows. Calm down and I'm sure you'll find..."

"I know you took it damn it!" said Alice cutting off her elder. "You've been scolding me for I don't know how long about using it so you went ahead and took it!"

Gregory sighed again. He knew for a fact that no one had taken it. Having watched her lay the rails out last night, leaving when she was about to pass out, and instructing her to lock the door behind him, it was clear to him that nothing had happened to it.

"You left it in the same place you always do, Alice. Please find it and use it so that you can return to reality."

Silence

"Alice did you hear me?"

Silence again.

About a minute later the sounds of bed-cushion springs squeaking filled the air. It took about another five for those squeaks to vanish. A loud snort followed by an agonizing fit of coughing and sneezing followed. After another five minutes, the sound of her locks being undone ended Gregory's burden of trying to follow Alice's actions with his ears.

"I'm… sorry." Alice said shyly. "I… wasn't myself yet."

"Has the high worn off yet?"

"Not yet. It lasts and average of five to ten minutes. I'll still be in pain when it wears off, but I'll at least be lucid."

Gregory gave her a pained look of sympathy. Every since Alice had shot up the intentionally circulated and poisoned "vorpal sword", distributed by the jabberwocky, she had been in a tragic state. Worst of all, it didn't have any physically visible effects to spot it until it was too late. Anyone who looked at her would think she was just a normal little girl, until they saw the blood running from her lips

He placed his hand on her shoulder "You know I'll never try to make you stop the drugs again." Alice looked up at him sadly "I know that you need them, that they are actually keeping you alive."

Alice looked back down. "It's going away. The high I mean." She choked back a tear and turned back into her room to get changed without closing the door. Gregory did not look away. As Alice stripped away her clothes, he strained his eyes for some sort of physical change in her body that would indicate that she was nearing the end. After not finding any signs, he still continued to stare at the body of the beautiful girl he had taken in, and wondered how long she had left.

After putting on a long sleeved fishnet shirt and a black-blue dress over top of it, she said blankly "I'm going out" and grabbed her backpack.

Greg was startled "You can't do that, you are not well! Just a moment ago you couldn't tell up from down! Do you know how often young drug addicts like you get kidnapped?"

Alice let out a sigh.

"Give me a quick test on my awareness like you always do and leave me the hell alone."

Greg choked back his protests and did as he was asked

"What is your name?"

"Alice Christine Liddell."

"What is today's date?"

"March 15, 2113."

"Who am I?"

"Gregory. You are my only friend in the world."

"What is your birthday?"

"The fourth of May, 2098."

"Where are you right now?"

"…"

"Alice did you hear me?"

"…Hell Greg… I'm in hell"

She brushed past her friend, guardian and lover, and made her way to the steps. Greg went after her and stopped her.

"You passed the test but…" He reached for his wallet and pulled out a fifty dollar bill, "… take this with you, I know that you are low on money, and drugs. I don't want you to start turning tricks to get them."

Alice stared at him belligerently for a while before finally snatching the money and darting out the door, furious and teary eyed.

Greg sat quietly, sick with worry, and spoke aloud "I love you Alice, be safe!" as if she were still there to listen.