Lilians POV

I walked in from school and dumped my bag near the door before slipping my shoes off, my parents where in the kitchen down the hall yelling at each other again.

"I'm home" I said quietly as I could before walking upstairs into the bathroom.
I started taking the make-up off my face and combed my hair to get the knots out my hair. I got half way down the back when the brush got stuck on something. I pulled the comb out my hair but it was covered in gum.

"Real mature boys" I muttered as I washed and pulled the gum off the comb. I sighed and left the comb on the sink side and started walking to the hallway.

"This is not acceptable!" I heard mum yelling from the kitchen "what is Lilian going to think of a father like you who can't keep a job for a week!"

"At least I get to spend time with my daughter!" Dad shouted back.

I walked into my bedroom and shut the door drowning out all the sounds of their arguments. They don't know that I've heard every single argument they have. Mum gets home a little before me and Dad is often home or is home earlier. I flopped onto my bed and just lay face down into my bed. I lay there for a few minutes.

"I hate this." I muttered and pushed myself back up. As I did I saw something sparkle out the corner of my eye. I found a note on my bedroom window held down by a white gem stone. I peered out the window but (as I should have expected with my room being on the second floor of the house) no one was there. I picked up the stone with immense difficulty because of its weight and put it on my bed breaking a couple of springs…whoops…

I read the note carefully.

"Please, I need your help. I have a friend who is in dire need of a human. All you have to do is answer this question.

Will you wind?

Wind don't wind

Laplace's Demon"

It was obviously a joke. I crumpled up the note and threw it out the window. I shut the window and bolted it shut to make sure this didn't happen again… but as I turned round my whole room was covered in these notes, all identical to each other asking the same question. I put my hand to my mouth. I was too shocked to stay quiet but I knew if I screamed my parents would want to come into my room, which wasn't really a desirable option however odd the situation! I looked around. The only place not covered in this paper was my mirror. I could just see it out the corner of my eye but I was too scared to look because I could see what I thought was a white rabbit in a top hat staring at me from behind the glass.

"It's rude not to answer a question dear girl" he said in a smooth voice.

I was shaking. This couldn't be real, it's not possible. I wanted to scream but I was too scared.

"If you're shaking because you're scared you don't have to be. I won't hurt you." he said again "I just need you to answer the question, depending on your answer I can give you more instructions"

I chanced a glance at him. I was looking at me, smiling but… it wasn't a happy smile. It was a smile to cover up his real emotions. It might have been to reassure me but he seemed to be preoccupied with something else. I started to look away slowly and I dropped my hand from my face. He reached through the mirror and handed me a pen before repeating

"Will you wind?"

I took the pen and went to the nearest paper. I read the paper again and considered my options. Neither made any sense. Wind what exactly?

"Hey… Bunny man" I said to him

"I find that a derogatory term young lady." He replied insulted.

"Whatever" I sighed "what am I winding?"

"Aren't you a fan of surprises?"

"Not particularly"

"Hmm how boring" he paused thinking carefully about his answer "a doll"

"Excuse me?" I looked up confused

"A mechanical doll. She needs to be woken up or she may die"

"How can a doll-"

"Please. Just make your choice." He said restraining himself.

I looked down at the sheet. I had nothing to lose and I couldn't imagine that a mechanical doll would be that dangerous, right? I circled the word "wind" and put the pen down.

"Ok Bunny man. Now wha-" he'd gone "great, just great."

I turned around to get to my bed but I fell flat on my face.

"owwww…" I looked at what I'd fallen over and… There was a big suitcase… box…

Thing.

-Alice POV-

I sat in the darkness the lights of the artificial spirits drifted around me slowly.

"Alice" Laplace's demon said quietly so as to not make me jump as he entered.

"You're late" I muttered "any news?"

"They circled 'don't wind'"

"Dammit!" I yelled as I stood up and slammed my foot down causing white crystals to shoot out the ground "It's been far too long! Why are humans so useless?!"Images of Jun, Tomoe and Megu flashed in my mind again and I started to cry again. I'd given up counting how many times I'd cried since I had fallen into the darkness. Most of the time it was just because I missed he humans I had known… other times it was just from loneliness. Laplace's demon was away a lot trying to find a human to wake me up so I was alone a lot. Yes I was with artificial spirits but they weren't very good conversationalists.

Wiping away my tears I looked around and Laplace's demon had gone again. I sighed and sat back on the floor again.

Sometime passed… he wasn't back yet and he had been gone for longer than usual. At least I think he had. There's no way to pass the time in the darkness apart from the pulsing lights of the artificial spirits and they only lasted about three point five nine seconds… Then… I heard my box click open.

"We finally found one to wind Alice" Laplace's demon ran in and showed me what was happening in the humans world. A young girl, no older than fourteen, with shoulder length blonde hair that curled at the ends was opening my case. She was wearing a school uniform but it didn't look anything like Tomoe or Juns. She was sat in a small light green room. There were book cases on two of the walls filled with various text books, story books and a couple of manga books in the case nearest the door. A small window was opposite the door and a bed was on the left hand side of the room with a table and laptop on the other. She prised the lid open slowly and picked up my porcelain body. She turned me slightly, inspecting me. She then picked up the key and gave it three light turns and then…

I was awake again.