A/N: Her father's absence has depraved Alice of even the smallest and most trivial things that made all the difference for her. But she finds strength in an unorthodox place.
Silly Strength
The tower was quiet. The lack of sounds just made her imprisonment feel worse than ever. Time had stopped completely and her suffering felt eternal. In the stillness around her it didn't matter whether she would suffer in silence or scream her pain out to the cold, uncaring walls. The result would be the same – she would still be alone, cut off from the world and her father.
Life without her papa was hard. There was no one to quell her fears and distract her from the cruelty of her predicament. There was no one to love her. And the lack of laughter made her painfully aware of that. Her papa always knew how to make her laugh. Whether with a funny story or a silly game, he always knew how to make her feel better, how to brighten her day and make her miserable existence a little more tolerable.
Now that he was gone though, so was the laughter. She could talk to her stuffed animals and make up ridiculous stories but the laughter always rang a little hollow with the loneliness of having no one to share it with, with the fear that she never would.
Still, she clung to it because she'd learned it was the best medicine. She used her imagination to throw sophisticated tea parties with bizarre etiquette and go on unbelievable adventures in all the crazy places her imagination could concoct. And on days when her mind only provided her with dreadful scenarios for her uncertain future, she turned to the memories of her papa making the silliest faces and goofing around to make her smile and laugh. They worked their miracle even now and made her do just that. And every time she found it in herself to laugh was a reassurance that she was strong enough to make it through whatever life had in store for her.