Through the looking glass: Reflections
I sit here in my small room in the asylum, looking into the looking glass they were so 'gracious' enough to give me. My room had gotten too 'dangerous' for me, so they took out all sharp things and objects I could make sharp so I wouldn't cut my self. Someone is brushing my auburn hair, I can't see anything but darkness and the looking glass, but I feel the gentle tugs. The looking glass is the only thing left of my life. The fire took everything else: my parents, my little brother, my cat…and my sanity as well. I wish the person across the hall would crying…that plus they are always cutting themselves to get attention.
As I gaze into the bleeding looking glass, I see a girl staring at me in amusement. She has sad, almost insane, hazel eyes and short shoulder length brown hair. Wait, I'm supposed to see me in my looking glass. But she reminds me of someone that I knew, but ran away…the one who named my cat after her self…a friend who left before the fire took my life. "Dina." The girl's pale lips smile cruelly as I realize no one is brushing my hair any more.
I look up at the wall and see a mirror that shouldn't be there. While I am sitting on a hard chair, the girl is sitting on a log in a small clearing. As I stand, so does she; what ever I do, she does too. It's almost like she's my…reflection.
Help us Alice…
She walks up to the mirror as I do the same; our hands look as they touch, but only through the mirror. My other hand desperately clenches the looking glass as I stare into her face as she mouths to me…
Come to me Alice, help us…
The mirror cracks from between our hands, blood flowing from the cracks and our hands. My looking glass slips from my hand because I am scared. The world goes dark as I hear the looking glass shatter into a million shards of crystal.
*********************
Darkness enveloped me, I could feel and hear the air around me, but I couldn't breathe. I'm surrounded in it, but none is filling my lungs. I feel a limp ear fall across my chest followed by a gruff voice following its removal.
"We have no time to waste. Faint of heart and loss of breath."
The feel of cloth brushed against my arm. A girl's soothing voice whispered into my ear. What made it so soothing was that added to the familiar British accent was a slight American one.
" I know it might be much, Alice. But hang on to life with what little sanity you have left." Then just a bit softer, probably meant for my ears only, "Just please don't leave me, Alice, please don't."
A harsh laugh came from the left, "It's no use talking to a corpse, lass. She has no time left."
The girl's presence to my right went away as I heard a rock crash into a wall. Her voice grew harsh as she spoke. "Quiet Rabbit! I've had enough of your quotes of time. She is not dead!" The feel of soft lips on mine woke me, but still my eyes remained shut. She blew life-giving air into me twice before my chest started to respond to the air. A light hand caressed my cheek as she sat up, her voice completely changed. " If Alice dies, Wonderland dies with her."
A new tone came from Rabbit, "You know of Wonderland, lass. With you living as well, so shall it live."
My eyes open slightly and I see my friend the Rabbit staring at me from above. Dina looks as if to smile but it does not come.
"As I said, Rabbit," she said gently, causing him to look at her, "If Alice dies, so shall Wonderland." I looked at her, and resting in her lap was a very wicked looking blade.
*********************
'Amazing, I was able to fall asleep for the first
time in years, in peace anyways. I guess having someone with me helps. Rabbit
left some time after Dina had to put her blade up so I wouldn't cut myself.
She's changed so much since I last saw her. She wears a gray dress cut like
mine and she still has the apron I gave her when we were growing up. She also
has a new necklace that has an Alpha pendant on it; I think her brother gave it
to her… I wonder where her brother is.
'One of the little people in the mines gave me
this little book. Dina said that writing in it would help me keep sane. I guess
being able to write down your thoughts would do that. But I was never that good
at writing my thoughts down…'
*********************
I picked up my head from the book and I see Dina facing away from me, talking to someone. I sleepily rub my eyes as I listen to their conversation.
"You shouldn't have brought her in," a husky voice chided Dina, "she's too innocent to take this burden."
A splash came from their direction. Dina shook her head, "I don't care, she and I were lonely." She shrugged lightly, "Besides, she had started to slip."
An anorexic cat hopped onto the log to sit beside her. A silver hoop earring sparkled in the moon light as it tilted its head, speaking softly to her, "Why do you say that, child?"
Dina chuckled softly, "Well 'kitten', Alice has always been my sanity and I am hers."
I stood up, placing the book in a pocket, and narrowed my eyes; "I wish you wouldn't talk about me like I wasn't here."
Dina snapped her head back towards me, no sympathy shown in her eyes. "I thought you were sleeping."
I pulled out my little book and held it between two fingers, lying to her, "I was writing."
The cat jumped off the log and gracefully as he could, walked over to me, a grin too big for his face tormenting me all the while. "The child woke up I see." He rubbed against my leg lovingly while wrapping his bony tail around my leg.
I looked down at him, noticing black tattoos all over his body. "I see you've changed also, kitten." I saw Dina move suddenly, but when I looked up she was just staring into a small pool of water lit by glowing mushrooms around it.
The Cheshire Cat sat beside me and spoke up as he disappeared. "Your friend wishes to show you the truth, lass. Follow her judgment, she's not as ignorant as she seems."
Dina never looked back at me as I walked towards her. When I hesitated to sit down on the log, she patted the spot next to her. "I don't bite, Alice, you should know that."
I sat down beside her, "I haven't seen you in over seven years, you might have changed." A soft huff of laughter caused me to turn to look at her.
Her chestnut hair half hid her face as she bowed her head. The light from the mushrooms cast a demonic shadow over her passive features. A sparkle flashed in her eye as something ran over her wrists, then as the pool began to ripple. "Are you crying?" She shook her head no as the ripples came faster in the pool. "Then why…"
She fell to the ground and looked up at me with dry eyes. "I'm bleeding because of you. Because of what is happening to you."
I just looked at her with a blank look on my face. "Dina…I-"
"Do you know what they call this pool? They call it the 'Fall of truth'." She sighed and put a hand in the pool causing it to slowly turn red. "This pool will show you anything you want to see Alice. But there is one thing I must tell you before I show you what you must see. This also shows you what you what you do not want to see."
I kneel down beside her and look into the pool. The pool had a slow moving picture surrounded by a blood red boarder, kind of like the picture screens at home… In the middle of the screen is a girl sitting on a plain chair holding a looking glass. Her auburn hair covered her face, but her emerald eyes show through the shroud. On the bed in the corner is a battered up stuffed rabbit. I looked up at Dina in shock, "Is that…me?"
Dina brought up her hand and just stared at the wide gash on her wrist. "Yes, and across the hall is me, trying to bleed her pain away."
"No!" I jump back, but the log trips me and I fall back and hit my head on something. "this isn't true…I'm alive…I'm…here…"
Dina stepped over the log and gave me a friendly kiss, "Yes you are here." She started to laugh as my eyes closed. "You are here because you are the only one who can save us…"
Authors notes: Yeah. I know I shouldn't be starting up another story…but I don't care. Sigh. Oh yeah…Alice nor any of wonderland belongs to me. They belong to their creators. But Dina does belong to me. She is my split personality and I love her very much. Please stay tuned to see how Dina fits into Alice's past…and this is not a past fic…
Chaio^^ Alora-chan