The train track was stained red just as her apron, wet with the blood of her former therapist.
As she contemplated the beautiful mess she had made she tasted true freedom for the first time, no longer bound by the lies of her doctor she could finally be in control of her own life.
She looked down at the rusty key clutched in her hand, the key to her deceased sister's room, that Bumby had kept as a sick memento of the fire.
She could feel rage and disgust bubbling inside her stomach just like the first time, but also relief, in the end, she had just avenged his entire family that day.
Alice turned around and headed up the stairs leading away from Moorgate Station and back onto the streets of London, she felt her body getting lighter and lighter with each step up, sorrow was replaced with satisfaction and the weight in her abdomen ceased to ache.
As she reached the surface Alice witnessed how the Wonderland and reality came crashing, buildings were engulfed in vegetation, there were trees seemingly grown out of nowhere, with huge roots that made the path very irregular, colourful mushrooms twice here size adorned the sides of the street, and dices and playing cards littered the floor as far as the eye could see.
Alice was walking on High-end Street admiring the new look that the entire city had received from her madness.
The streets were desert, no sign of any man, woman nor children just her and the blissful silence, even at that time Alice knew very well that it was all just an illusion, a trick of her mind that would eventually decay and reveal the ugliness concealed beneath, but for now she could not do anything but enjoying this moment until the very last.
Fortunately, the streets weren't completely solitary, walking right beside Alice stood a menacing cat with a wide toothy smile, but she did not greet nor acknowledged the presence of her old friend in anyways and simply allowed the animal to follow her.
"Ah, Alice," the Cheshire cat spoke as they got closer to the end of the street.
"We can't go home again. No surprise, really. Only a very few find the way, and most of them don't recognize it when they do"
Alice tried to ignore him as much as she could, but she could not deny the truthfulness of his words.
"Delusions, too, die hard," he continued. "Only the savage regard the endurance of pain a measure of worth. Forgetting the pain is convenient. Remembering it, agonizing, but recovering the truth is worth the suffering. And now our Wonderland, though damaged, is safe in memory…..for now"
During every night Alice dreams about the day when she put an end to the tyranny of the dollmaker, saving the wonderland from his destructive plans.
It was a memory that haunted her every time she closes her eyes to sleep, but instead of resting, her mind would bring her to the place where an important chapter of his life ended, and this night was no exception.
She had listened to his speech many times before, but just like every other time Cheshire's speech made little to no sense, which wasn't all that surprising considering his cryptic nature, but now more than ever she felt disarmed against this new trial her mind gave her.
Even the cat himself didn't seem to notice the limbo in which they wandered.
Luckily for her, Alice had lived through this memory so many times before to know how to escape from, in fact it was quite simply the only thing she had to do was to walk until she reached the end of High-end Street and she would just…..

"Wake up, wake up Alice, Breakfast is ready"
Alice was awoken by the sound of slow and steady knocks to her bedroom door, lazily recovering from the slumber she looked at the clock mounted on the wall beside her.
It was very early in the morning and the sunlight had barely started to creep through the window.
Alice sat on her bed rubbing her sleepy eyes and answered the calls of her employer.
"I am awake Mr. Marchant, just give me a moment to change and I'll gladly have breakfast with you"
She could hear a faint chuckle from behind the door and the sound of footsteps slowly descending into the floor below.
Alice got out of bed and changed from her nightgown to her usual black and white outfit.
She splashed some water onto her face to remove any traces of sleep from her and took a good look at herself in the mirror before heading downstairs, her figure still small and frail, from the outside she seemed weak and defenseless but Alice knew very well the strength in her.
When the hallucinations finally subsided Alice had to face the consequences of her actions, she could no longer live at Houndsditch home, she had to flee and find a place to hide from the police that will soon be in pursuit to find Bumby's murderer, to find her.
She had to find a place far away from the crime scene, a place where he could live without rising too much suspect.
She remembered her parents referring to the opera house as "the only place where dreams come alive", in fact, her parents loved to bring her and her sister to the opera, something that she totally missed after the fire.
It was a risky decision, she knew it, but it was the only idea that she had, she gathered all the money, clothes and personal belongings that she could possibly fit in her only good suitcase and just moved away without telling anyone.
She managed to track down the staff manager of the London Royal Opera house, a cheerful old man named Jamison Marchant and begged him to make her work.
To her surprise Marchant was so kind that not only gave Alice a Job but also hospitality until she found a better place to live, which was something that Alice found rather suspicious at first almost unnatural.
All in all, Alice could consider herself lucky, she expected to live the rest of her day locked in a prison or in the streets as a prostitute, but here she was sitting on a table in front of a hot plate of bacon and eggs inside the house of her oblivious employer.
Marchant was sitting at the other end of the table with a cup of tea in one hand and the daily newspaper in the other.
He read through the article on the front-page, quietly sipping on his tea when suddenly his placid smile turned into a stern face.
He placed his cup on the table and handed the newspaper to Alice.
"Take a look at the first article"
Alice left the cutlery onto the plate and took the newspaper with both hands as she was still chewing on food, there she read:
MANGLED BODY FOUND AT MOORGATE STATION
She almost choked on a piece of bacon as she saw the headline, but continued reading as if nothing happened.
She found hard not to grin as she read the whole article, a few days have passed since that day and only now the police found his body, which was something Alice found particularly amusing.
The article explained how the body was found and that the severity of the injuries caused by the impact with a train made identification almost impossible, it's suspected that the victim is Angus Bumby, the notorious doctor that mysteriously disappeared some days prior to the murder.
The police stated that they were already investigating Bumby's disappearance and that this event will only contribute to finding clues to solve the case.
Alice could barely suppress the grin that appeared on her face as she reached the end of the article, normally she would be annoyed even disgusted by this vulgar display of attention towards a murder, but she wasn't, instead, she felt powerful.
The entire city was in dismay for this event, people feared that the killer might strike again, but Alice was only one who knew the truth, there were no witnesses that day, no proofs were left on the crime scene, there was nothing that nothing could possibly compromise her.
"I knew Bumby personally, he didn't deserve to die in such a horrible way"
said before emptying his cup of tea.
Alice placed the newspaper on the table and ate the last bits of her breakfast.
"He was a good man; I wonder who could have done this" Said Alice in a slightly sarcastic tone.
"Do you think that the police are going to find the killer ?" Asked Marchant
"I don't think so , there were no witnesses when the murder happened, and besides that, the killer has probably left London for all we know"
replied Alice.
"I think you are right, and please Alice call me Jamie, was my father's name you don't need to be so formal"
He got up from his seat and took all cups and plates from the table gave a quick glance at his wristwatch.
"Oh lord look at the time, you should head to the theatre Alice, I have to get some things fixed before I can come over," Said Marchant as he headed towards the kitchen.
Alice cleaned her mouth with a napkin and got up from her seat, she wanted to thank her employer for the meal but the man had already disappeared inside the kitchen where loud metal noises were coming from within, all this haste reminded her of the first time she met the white rabbit.
She decided it was best to leave him alone, instead she stepped outside the flat and onto the streets of London.
At that time of the day, there was little to no one on the streets, the air was humid that day and a faint mist billowed around her giving London an eerie atmosphere.
Alice didn't have to walk that far as the Opera house was just on the other side of the road, she could see that the main entrance was still closed but she knew a more private entrance that was reserved for the staff members.
She circled the building until she reached a small hidden door, she pulled out a key from her apron's pocket, opened the door and stepped inside.
The job itself was only supposed to last until the police gave up on the case, she didn't really have any care or concern for the opera house at first.
Despite that she learned to enjoy her job, even though she could only do backstage work, she earned enough money to have a life of her own and on top of that, she could watch all the shows that she wanted for free.

At the end of another exhausting day of work Alice lay in her bed reading a book with the dim light of a candle, she tried to distract herself with the novel she was just reading, but the lines on the book looked blurred and confused as she could not take away the concern she had for her wonderland, her mind was fixed on a memory that she could not get rid of it, and now more than ever she would gladly listen to one of Cheshire's many riddles.
When Alice finally got tired of the book, she places it on the nightstand and blew on the candle leaving her room completely in the dark.
She lay on the side with her eyes closed waiting for torpor to overcome her.
She kept telling herself that this time it was going to be differ, that this time she was going to return to Wonderland and meet all of her friends once again, that her wonderland was safe and that the nightmares were over, she kept telling herself all of that even after she heard the sound of trains whistling into her ears.