US AGAINST THE WORLD

Part 5 - The Hour of Desperation

INT. ALICE'S BEDROOM. 3:30 PM.

The door to Alice's bedroom cracked open and a green eye peeked inside. It surveyed in every possible direction for something large and purple or almost equally large in obnoxious rainbow pattern. When this did not turn up on the scan, she burst into the room, lifting her bed skirt, ripping open the closet door, and finding nothing but a stack of blankets in the chest. This puzzled her greatly.

In the kitchen, her mother was rummaging through the fridge and Brian was at the bar. Alice passed them stiffly for the back windows, inspecting the yard like there was a burglar alert and disappearing out the patio door. They didn't seem to take note until she returned, hair whipping by her as she made her round back to the living room. Her mother followed her.

"...Alice? Everything okay?"

Alice rose from a crouch behind the armchair and stared at her with her hands behind her back.

"Everything's fine, Mom!" She chirped, working the little-girl charm. She paused to smile and then sauntered towards the under-stair closet with her hands on her back, muttering to the floor. Her fingers lightly touched the knob of the closet door before she paused and turned around. Not so surprisingly, she was still being watched. Alice darted her eyes around.

"...Can I help you find something?" Her mother persisted.

Hmm... help her find Hatter and Hare. She was thinking not.

"No, I can find it." She smiled again and then fidgeted. "I'm gonna use the restroom first."

"Alright..."

Alice slid her right leg in the direction of the bathroom, and the left quickly followed. As she backed into the hall, her mother slowly shifted across the room to watch her daughter's awkward approach for the door. She laughed a little before slamming it behind her.

A swat of the shower curtains revealed an empty tub.

"I can't believe this," she whispered to herself in distress.

A convincing enough time passed before she emerged from the bathroom and came wandering back upstairs. Her sister passed her, but this just disturbed the girl even more. She returned to the bedroom with a giant lump in her throat. Her hands dangled at her sides as she walked circles on the rug. In doing this, it became apparent to her that a piece of paper unfamiliar to her was sitting at the corner of her desk. She picked it up with a gaping mouth, sure she was about to discover a whole new dimension of shit.

Our wonderful friend Alice!,

This is Hatter and Hare. We just wanted to tell you that we found a park in this confusing neighborhood of yours and that's where we are. It seemed like a good idea so you don't have to be worried anymore about your parents finding us. We hope to see you soon.

P.S. Please bring money, if you have some.

She read it over several times, the frown lines on her face drooping more each time.

.

.

"Hey mom?" Alice's voice uttered out of nowhere, causing her to jerk. She turned around and Alice had just appeared next to her, looking anxious.

"Y-Yes, sweetie..." She replied, rinsing her hands in the sink all the while.

"Can I go to the park?" She paused. "I mean... with Kim? Can we both go to the park right now?"

"I guess... How long will you be there?"

"Just a little while..." A clock nearby read 3:54. "Until 4:30. I'll be back for dinner."

"Okay. Just remember not to talk to anyone you don't know."

"Oh, I won't," she said through her teeth.

"Have fun," her mother added, but she could already hear the front door slamming.

The note in her hands was starting to stick from perspiration as she walked, and in all truthfulness, she was about to rip it right down the middle. Her mind was so clouded from angst she had to take a moment to even remember where the bloody park was.

A pair of swings lightly swung in the wind as a small blue figure in the unfocused background came marching from across the street. No one was on the jungle-gym, or the monkey bars, or the structure. She peeked up the bottom of the slide and the only thing inside was the echo of her voice. After she'd circled the whole place once, she stopped by the rock-wall tower with her arms crossed and heard giggling from up above. Her eyes squinted and determined, she climbed the tower and pulled herself up. She stopped before she had flung her legs over and the guys were huddled at the other end smiling at her like this had all been a funny game.

She sunk down onto the bottom, the tight squeeze of her and two adults at the top of this little structure inhibiting most positions for her legs besides an uncomfortably high criss-cross. She laid her arms over her knees and leaned forward.

"You guys are gonna get me in serious trouble."

Hatter's amusement quickly flickered out. "What did we do this time?!" She glared at him for even asking the question. "We did everything you wanted us to! We didn't stand in front of windows, we didn't go into anybody else's bedrooms,"

"We didn't use the toaster," Hare pointed out. Hatter nodded vigorously.

"We left the house exactly as it was."

"Oh, you left it all right," Alice retorted. Hatter seemed utterly shocked.

"Wha- You never said don't leave the house."

"I said not to go anywhere!"

"W-we thought you meant 'don't go anywhere... in the house'," Hare tried. "While your family was there, that is." Alice, discomforted by this conversation's growing volume, poked out her head and glanced around the structure. She leaned back in.

"No. I really didn't."

"Well, you weren't clear," Hatter stated shamelessly. "Even if you were, I don't think you understand how badly we needed tea."

Alice looked like she wanted to strangle a bitch now.

"Speaking of which, we were wondering if you had any cash on you. We tried going to the store, but they wouldn't accept our money. She said it was monopoly or something."

"What?"

"We just need about 12 bucks, but if you have more, Hare wanted to buy some back-up underwear in case we're here longer than expected." She looked to Hare, who nodded matter-of-factly.

"12 bucks? Are you kidding me? It takes me weeks just to save up for a fudge bar."

"Don't your parents give you money?" Hare wondered aloud.

"No. They're total cheapskates."

"Well isn't there anything you can do?" Hatter asked.

"... I don't really think it's worth it, to be honest."

The two placed their hands on their hearts and gaped at her. "Alice... I can't believe what I'm hearing!" Hatter exclaimed.

"Well you're not going to be here forever! I came here to take you back and you're going through that mirror! End of story!" They sunk down a little and Hare slapped his hand on Hatter's shoulder. "I just have to think of a way around my parents."

"M-Maybe you could pretend you saw a shooting star, and then everyone would come outside to make a wish and we could just walk upstairs," Hare suggested. Hatter thought about it and nodded, agreeing it seemed completely sound.

"Uhm... that's not going to distract everyone," Alice pointed out.

"...Someone in your family got something against shooting stars?" Hatter asked with a furrowed brow.

"N-No...it's just... You're right that we have to distract them, Mr. Hare," as she said this he smiled, having received the first positive comment from her in the past 24 hours, "but I think we can do better."

Suddenly there was a scrape of a shoe against the sidewalk somewhere in the distance. Alice peaked out and for some reason Kim was standing at the wooden border of the park, looking around a bit on the confused side. "Oh shit." Alice dropped to the bottom with her hand on her mouth. It was the fastest they'd ever seen her move. She tilted her head up to them. "You guys stay right here, and don't make a sound, and don't move an inch," she ordered. They nodded simultaneously, and she rose to her feet and dusted off her skort. On the climb down, Kim came towards the area. "Hi Kim!" She greeted, like nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Hi... Alice," she tried to say just as pleasantly.

"Come on, let's go on the swings!" Alice grabbed her by the wrist and lead her away. She started swinging immediately with a very determined pump. Kim slowly made herself comfortable, swishing herself at the bottom.

"...How's it going?"

Alice grinned wide.

"Pretty good! I have hardly any homework this weekend. How about you?" Kim scratched the back of her head.

"Well... besides a giant research paper..."

"Oh. Bummer..."

"I was kind of... gonna work on it tonight, but..."

"Oh... well... What're you doing down here?"

Kim paused. "...You... Your mom called my house and told me you headed out." Alice's swinging suddenly slowed.

"OH! OH YEAHHH. Sorry. I... forgot.-"

"-I kind of wish you'd asked me first..."

"Oh! Well... I was in such a hurry I forgot to call."

Kim cocked an eyebrow. "You do know that if your mom hadn't called, I would've never known I was supposed to come out here....right?"

Alice realized the giant hole in her explanation and nervously laughed it off. As Kim looked none the more satisfied, she dug her feet into the bark dust and turned towards her.

"Okay... the truth is..." Kim waited expectantly. "I wanted to come here alone. And I didn't know what else to say so I could leave the house."

"Oh..."

"Yeah! So if you want to go back... you know. I totally understand."

"Well I could stay for a little while..."

Alice bit her lip and looked to the tower. She felt sure she had just seen the tip of Hare's ear. "I~ don't think you should! Really - that paper's not gonna write itse-helf!" She laughed.

"...Well... ten minutes won't make much a difference."

"It will," Alice insisted, sending Kim into a state of true perplexity. "Trust me," she swished her hands out. "It's happened to me before. Woke up ten minutes late and had to print my paper and run out to the bus at 950 words. The teacher wanted a thousand," Alice stated gravely, wide-eyed. Kim's dropped to the ground.

"Hm... Well... You have a point... We can talk tomorrow, right? I'll call you?"

Alice nodded vigorously. "Yeah!"

"Okay." She rose from the swing. "See ya later, Alice..."

"See ya!" She waved as the girl headed back down the street. When she disappeared at the corner, Alice's smile turned upside down. She ran back to the tower with utmost haste and climbed to the top.

"We've gotta get going, you guys."

"Oh, alright," Hatter said, rising.

"Mr. Hare? Can you tell me what time it is?"

"I... don't think my watch counts anymore." Hare shrugged. Hatter plucked Hare's arm and took a look.

"12:30, that doesn't sound right at all."

"Hmm... I guess Wonderland's four hours behind?" Alice pointed out.

"So Rabbit wasn't just being an asshole..." When Hare realized he'd come to this conclusion aloud he covered his mouth. The trio were silent a moment.

"Okay," Alice renewed the conversation, "I've come up with a plan since. When we get to my house, you both will stand on either side of my door. When the time is right, I'll call you inside and you'll quietly walk up the stairs towards my room."

"...Well what are you going to do?" Hatter asked.

"Don't worry about that."

Truthfully, Alice wanted to keep the directions as simple as possible for these idiots.

They climbed down the tower and headed for Alice's house, but she wouldn't let them walk anywhere near her - they had to follow twenty-feet behind and look like a pair of stalkers instead.

When they reached the front lawn, they tiptoed to the door and Alice used her last moments outside to breathe deep and swat her hands in front of her. The door opened and closed behind her. "I'm home!" She yelled. A muffled "dinner'll be ready soon" was heard from the kitchen. Alice came to the downstairs bathroom, closed the door, and paused in front of the toilet. Her hands rose to the toilet paper, and after some mental preparation, they slapped at the roll repeatedly, shooting a long row of squares right into the toilet bowl. When the pile looked good, she squinted her eyes shut and flushed. It looked like the water rose, but everything went down, like she would've appreciated any other day in any other situation. Suddenly she spotted a rubber bendy-man of Brian's laying on the floor. Impulsively, she dropped it into the water with a ker-plunk and added toilet paper again. Her flush this time was quickly sending the water upwards. Alice took a deep breath and made her best theatric scream before rushing out the door and hopping around in the living room. "MOM, DAD, HELP!!!" As if on cue, her father came from the other end of the house.

"What is it, Alice?!"

"THE TOILET'S OVERFLOWING!" She danced about and put her hands on her mouth as the water slid over the edges of the bowl and spread across the bathroom floor. He rushed in to examine the damage, and soon after her mother and Cathy made the scene. "Oh God oh God oh God, all I did was flush!" Alice whined. As the spectacle grew, Alice looked to the front windows.

"Somebody get me some towels!"

"I WILL!" Alice replied, running up the stairs. She returned with a stack in her arms large enough to obstruct her vision and noticed that the whole family was now watching the toilet. When it seemed like a reasonable time to seep backwards, she did so quietly and cracked the door open, showing nothing but a tense grimace to the guys as cue. They hunched over and went off like soldiers in the line of fire. Alice rapidly closed the door and rushed back over to the family to fake a teary-eyed apology. Everyone not working on the toilet gave her sympathetic looks and patted her on the back. Brian, on the other hand, smirked.

"That must've been some turd!" He uttered, almost unable to restrain himself from laughing at his own joke. Alice's guilt-ridden face transformed into an incredulous glare within the second.

"I DID NOT DO THAT,"

"Sure, that's what you want us to believe,"

"Trust me, the biggest turd in this house is your head!" She shouted.

"You two, just stop. It doesn't matter - this stuff happens all the time," her mom interrupted. Alice made sure to stick her tongue out at this little asshole before checking the stairs. As they seemed to have made it up alright, she stepped away from the group nervously.

"I can't watch..." She tried convincingly. Luckily, her disappearance hardly struck anyone.

Up in the room, Hatter and Hare had done right by kneeling behind her bed when she returned. Without a single word, she stepped to the side of her mirror and pointed to it with lackluster. They got to the feet and shuffled around a little, frowning to one another and to Alice. This time Hare went first. He emulated her posture perfectly and stooped just a little as the mirror grew closer. A second later, his body had done nothing but smush against it.

They tried at this repeatedly and somehow the godamn thing didn't work. Eventually Alice snatched the contraption to lay it down on the floor and was sitting on Hare trying to literally shove him through like a certain amount of pressure might do the trick. A circle of condensed breath emanated from under his face.

"Alice, you're suffocating him!" Hatter whined, who was laying on the floor nearby with pink marks all over his face, having endured the same situation a few minutes prior.

"Why. Won't. You. Go. Baaaack?!!" She asked to the back of Hare's head. He muffled a response but it was incomprehensive.

"Alice!" A voice called somewhere in the house. Alice scurried up and started slapping at the two to get back behind her bed. She returned the mirror to its rightful place and opened the door.

"Yes!"

"Dinner's all ready!"

"Okay!" She leaned back in. "Stay. Here." They nodded, their dignity too damaged to argue, and the room became black.

"Jeeesh, Alice is a total bitch now," Hatter's voice remarked.