Chapter 18, let's go! Enjoy!
Disclaimer, still don't own anything Alice in Wonderland. ;'(
The book in Alice's hands fell from her grasp and landed on her bed with a faint swish of the pages. Her eyes were far away and her mouth hung open.
It couldn't be true. Aunt Imogene was always Aunt Imogene, wasn't she?
Alice jumped off the bed and paced along the floor. She had to be. Her mother had never said anything about Aunt Imogene changing her name. But she'd also never said anything about her aunt disappearing for so long.
Alice sat back down on her bed and held her head in her hands. This was too much, too much to handle on her own and too much to handle in one day.
Maybe I should go for a walk, Alice thoughtstanding up and turning towards her closet which was on the other side of her bed, but something caught her eye.
On the bed was a small piece of yellow paper sticking out from inside the cover of the book. Hesitantly, Alice picked up the book and read the small journal entry inside.
Day 184
Today was magical! We walked in the gardens and hid under the rose bushes and whispered secrets like we were children, and once we left he handed me a small slip of paper.
Don't read it until you're in your room. He whispered to me, and walked me all t \he way there. The moment I let my door close I opened the paper. He wrote me a poem! It's the sweetest thing in the world.
I never thought I would ever love someone as much as I love him, but I do. I do. I do. I do. And I love the secret message he put into the poem.
Imogene.
"A boat beneath a sunny sky,
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July —
Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear —
Long has paled that sunny sky;
Echoes fade and memories die;
Autumn frosts have slain July.
Still she haunts me, phantom wise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.
Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.
In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:
Ever drifting down the stream —
Lingering in the golden gleam —
Life, what is it but a dream?"
Alice put down the book and opened the small piece of paper, reading it once then twice before reading it out loud to herself.
Alice shook her head. This…this is impossible, she thought softly.
This poem mentioned Alice by name, and that was an impossible feet. Alice hadn't been born yet, and the fact that she hadn't found Underland yet either was obvious. Yet in this poem Phelan mentioned her by name? Why?
And what was the secret message? The only thing Alice noticed that might have been secretive was the fact that her name was used.
Alice put the paper down on her bed and gazed at it for a long time before she finally gave up. It's late…she thought fuzzily. The sun had already gone down and the sky was an early twilight. I'll figure this out in the morning. Alice picked up the paper and set it on the table then grabbed the red bound book and placed it on top of it.
Alice walked into her bathroom and stripped off her clothes, starting the hot water to her bathtub and grabbing a soft white robe she found in her closet and waited for the water to arm. Once it was full she stepped inside and let the water rise to her nose and just sat there, shutting her eyes and willing her worries to float away. But they still lingered so after ten minutes Alice abandoned her desires to let her worries float away in a tub of hot water and five minutes later returned to her bedroom wearing a long white night gown with her hair falling down her back in damp curls.
She walked back to her bed and sat down on the edge reaching for her book, but as she went her eyes caught when she saw letters on the very start of the poem. They spelled her name.
Alice gasped and grabbed the paper from the underneath the book, sending it tumbling to the floor. It did spell out her name, plain and simple and suddenly, Alice was reaching into her bedside table and pulling out a pencil and a piece of paper. Carefully, she wrote down the rest of the letters as the appeared down the poem and when she saw done, she had written Alicepleasanceliddell.
Alice stared down at the paper then she stood, running to her aunt's bookshelf and going through some of the old books from when her aunt was a child. When Alice was little she wrote her full name in every book she owned and hopefully her aunt did the same. She picked up an old picture book and pulled to the first cover and gasped at what she saw.
Written in slanted and crooked letters was Alice Pleasance Liddell.
The book fell from Alice's hands and a hand flew to her mouth. Her aunt, the woman who she'd been taught to know that she was very ill and practically insane shared her name. She had to know more, she simply had to.
Quickly, Alice ran to her bed once more and grabbed the book that had fallen, and with twitching fingers she flipped to the very past page her aunt had written in.
Day 396
Today is the day I leave this place that has been more of a home than anywhere else. I know it's not where I belong, but no matter what I will always believe it is truly my place, no matter what everyone else may tell me. Phelan is gone and has left Iracebeth in charge of my departure. I have to just do one last thing before I leave though. I've packed the few items I want to bring with me that will seem normal inside a practical world where magic doesn't exist. Today, I will visit Imogene's grave and I'll tell her I'm sorry I failed. I couldn't make Phelan happy, not really. But no matter what, Imogene's memory will live on.
Imogene.
Alice felt her heart break at the last few sentences of her aunt's last entry. Imogene, or rather Alice, had spent so much time in a world that she was apparently never supposed to belong too. And she had her heart broken too.
Just like I have, Alice thought sadly, and then she knew exactly what she had to do. But first she was going to need to speak to Hatter.
Thank you James Birdsong for guessing the right answer before I could reveal it to everyone! You are too smart for your own good, and to all of you who guessed
Alice, stop being so smart! I'll have to add extra twists just to keep you surprised next time. Please review! :D