Chapter 16

Alice and the Pink Bunny – Kori's life story

-Kori's POV-

Emptiness overcomes my soul each time I awake from the bloody nightmare. It was more of a torture compared to seeing the real scene; at least, I will be able to feel something.

"I'm home!" the door swung open with a loud bang as it hit onto the wall. "Oi Hime (姫: princess), look what I've brought you!"

I was not entertained, not even a blink of an eye. Usually I would respond to his nonsense, but not this day.

"Hey, you feeling better today?" He asked and placed the soft toy in my arm. "This is for you, Kori chan." He said with a smile.

His blue hair brushed past my face as he sat beside my bed.

"Well, Ou Sama (王様: emperor/king) wants me to bring this 'knight in shining armor' for his princess." He said and toyed with its long pink ears, "Even Ouji Sama (王子様: prince) misses his darling sister."

I ignored his long-winded speech and stared down at the floor. There, I could see his beige-coloured bag pack, inside was a shining looking book that took my attention. It was not the usual Japanese tales storybook he had brought that day, but an English book, 'Alice in the Wonderland'.

"Alice in the Wonderland." I said in a soft voice and pointed to the book.

Surprised by my respond, Ayato took the book out of his backpack and put it in my palms. "You wanna read it?" he asked and I nodded. "No samurai story today?" he asked again and I shook my head.

"Oh well." He said and flipped open the book. Although there was little illustration, I could see that this book was interesting through the words that were featured on the first page.

A land of voyage and nonsensical dreams.

The poker that seemed to surrender to thee.

The rabbit and a cup of tea,

The grinning cat, the signs and the big fat pea.

As Alice got trapped in this never-ending dream,

You'll get to see your theme.

Well, Alice might be the key.

It was not the usual 'Alice in the Wonderland' that I've read from any other books, or seen on any other television programs. This was a book that Ayato had borrowed from a friend from overseas. As soon as Ayato realized this fact that it might not be the book for my age, he wanted to stop reading but I place my hand over it and stared at the book.

"Continue reading." I demanded.

As much as he wanted to stop, he wanted to hear me talk, so he resented to my request.

Once upon a time,

There lived a blonde hair girl by the name of Alice.

Alice was a very beautiful girl,

She had large blue eyes and fair maiden skin of a princess.

Alice was under a willow tree one day,

Reading a book beside the running stream that took her fear of loneliness away.

Her fingers flipped through the pages,

Her mind was flashing with magical creatures.

"Oh, how'd I wish that I could have such nonsensical dream."

I read through the page and flipped to the next. My mind was flashing with the scene and I didn't want it to stop.

A gust of wind,

A warming ray,

Sound of steps,

The clock's ticking.

Her eyes spun and nymphs danced upon her fingertips,

A blink of an eye,

An astonishing sight.

A rabbit, all dressed in a tie and a bow passed by.

A clock on the right,

A letter on the left.

"Who are you?"

It asked the little girl,

"Oh well, never mind.

I'm late and the queen's not going to wait!

I'm late, too late!"

Alice was surprised,

"The rabbit talks!"

She squealed and jumped to her feet.

"I'm going to follow it."

She decided and ran after it.

I wasn't really sure what this means but I could still picture the situation.

Ayato looked at me and flipped the page. There was an illustration, a monochrome picture, of a little girl dress in a dress, grey-and-white stripy socks and black leather shoes chasing after a grey little bunny that wore both a tie and a bow on it's collar holding onto a small clock on its right paw and a letter on its left paw.

"Alice ran after the bunny," Ayato started and pointed to the little girl, "What will happen?"

I stared at the picture really hard, until I found something queer about the picture. I pointed to the background to show him, there was a rabbit hole at the corner of the picture with a black and white spiral pattern.

The words read:

She ran and followed its tail.

How far she went,

She didn't know.

All to begin with,

The chasing of the grey rabbit,

It led her around the garden,

Pass the flowerbed,

Pass the soaring swallows,

Into a dark rabbit hole.

Ayato flipped again, this time with a smile as he found my lips dancing with the words.

It was so dark she couldn't see.

"Wait!" she screamed.

"Wait for me!"

She crawled a little faster,

Fear of losing sight of the rabbit,

She lost her touch,

And down she fell.

Her eyes ran everywhere,

Scanning the hole she fell into as soon as there was light.

There were candle floating upside down in mid air.

Clocks were stuck onto the walls like gold in a mine.

The numbers of the clocks did not end at twelve,

XIII, XII, XI, X, IX, VIII, VII, VI, V, IV, III, II, I.

There were bells ringing,

She could hear the magpie singing.

But as soon as she realize,

She could hear the Angels weeping.

"What are these?" I pointed to the numbers.

The man pulled the bunny's arm over the numbers and explained that it's numbers in another language. Then he read to me, "thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

"That's a weird timing, clocks usually have twelve numerals." I said with a playful frown and Ayato laughed. "Wait till Ou Sama hears about this."

I hugged onto the bunny and continued reading.

Down she went and fell onto a big flat land.

A room with zillion doors

Big and small.

"Oh where should I go now?"

The girl sighs and stared at the white marble table.

There was a key.

"I bet the rabbit went through the door where this key fits."

She said and took the key.

She tried a few,

But it couldn't fit.

The key was way too big.

She became upset,

She was panicky.

She began to cry,

It took her a long time to stop,

Soon she was surrounded with a little stream.

Just then, a little squeak.

"Here, try me!"

There was another illustration, at the end of a page. A little door with a very big doorknob.

On the next page, there was Alice and the little door.

Alice bend down and stared at it.

The door squeak,

"I'll lead you to the queen,

Where the rabbit's going,

Now open me."

Alice poked the key in.

She turned the knob and it opened to another theme.

There was a garden in the scene.

But she was too big to be in.

Alice began to cry,

She knew it was not possible to enter for her size.

She cried and cried,

She even took no pride.

There were cookies served on the table,

She took them and ate them without thinking on the double.

Soon she began to shrink.

Smaller and smaller she'll be.

Soon, the size of an ant she became,

Drowning into the water that appears out of nowhere.

The water washed her through the little door,

Into the garden that she saw before.

She laid her wet body on the green grass and sighed.

The light blinding her eyes.

Then, darkness covered and there was a face,

A giant dodo dressed in a cape with an equally big purple rat as a friend.

"Serves you right for drowning in you own tears."

The dodo said and ran away.

"Hey wait!"

Alice said,

But only the rat stayed.

"Hello rat."

She greeted,

The purple rat stared at Alice and said,

"I'm a purple rat and my name is Rat."

"Yes, I can see that."

Alice replied and patted the giant rat.

"Do you know how to find the queen?

I need to talk to the rabbit with the bow and tie on its collar."

"The queen's advisor?"

It asked and scratched its head.

"He's going to a party at the palace,

The queen's order."

"A party? I love parties!"

Alice squealed in joy and smiled,

"I hope that she'll let me join the party."

"They'll be playing croquet,

The queen is inviting everybody."

The rat replied and pointed at the east.

"The rabbit went this way."

Then, another illustration, there was the rat and Alice, both running indifferent directions.

Alice ran east, thanking the big purple rat

While the rat ran west saying,

"Off to the palace!"

"Alice's tricked?" I asked Ayato and he said no. "Wait till you see what happens, Kori."

On the next page, there were flowers everywhere. The beautiful picture amazed me and I was staring in a daze, until the clock beside me rang. It was ten in the night and time for bed.

I sigh and close the book while my guardian tucked me to bed.

"Ayato will continue reading it tomorrow right?" I asked and he nodded.

I couldn't think more, and soon I fell into the hands of the weariness just like any other ten years old kid at bedtime.

But this time for the first time, there was no bloody nightmare before my eyes but what I saw was Alice's sightings.

The pink bunny Ayato passed to me was dressed in a bow and a tie. "My name is Kumagoro and I'm your friend." It said in a tiny voice.

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The next day I woke up smiling, yet with a tear down my face. I didn't want to think more so I wiped my tears and said, "I wonder what will happen to her."

End

Koaru: Alice in the Wonderland huh…

Yuki: It's cute. That's my favorite fairytale! I always want to write something like that.

Koaru: Whatever Mad Hatter, are you celebrating your Unbirthday today?

Yuki: Yes! Yes! Sing me a song!

Koaru: Oh boy…it's so tiring talking to her.

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