With an extremely violent jerk, Alice bolted up at the table she was currently leaning on. The teacup that was next to her hand got knocked over. She stared at it for a moment, wondering where she was and what had happened. The familiar teacup glared at her, and walked huffily to the other side of the table.
She followed it with her eyes, and saw Tarrant sitting at the other end, examining a different cup with great interest. She hadn't the slightest idea why, but, when she saw him relief flushed over her. He didn't seem to notice her at first.
"T-Tarrant.. I-" She began to say in distress. She had to tell him. She needed to tell him.
"Yes yes, I know. I've been waiting patiently for some time now. I daresay my patience is running rather thin," He looked back to her, a look of slight annoyance on his features.
That's right... She thought, I'm about to tell him.. She was overcome with joy at the thought of telling him. What exactly she was going to tell him, however, she hadn't the foggiest. All she knew was she had to tell him. He needed to know.
Her heart pounded in her chest, and echoed all throughout her body. The beat ran all the way down to her fingertips and toes. She was all alone now, in a room filled with murky green water. She looked all around, but, couldn't see Tarrant anywhere. The place she was at was most unfamiliar, and the dim light that was carried in by the water was terribly ominous.
Her hair flowed angelically in all directions as she took in her surroundings in the calm water. There wasn't an end to it in site. For some reason, she didn't have the need to breathe any longer. Another heart beat.
She was sitting at the table, across from Tarrant. She was completely and totally dry, however. She never had time to dwell upon this thought, though. For the familiar urge to tell Tarrant something, some secret, was flooding all of her desires. It was stripping her of all other thoughts; she couldn't do anything but tell him. She tried to open her mouth, but couldn't. She was too scared to tell him. Heart beat.
She was totally submerged in the calm, green, water again. It had a certain decency to it. The way it calmed her, the way it made her stop fretting about telling Tarrant some stupid little secret. He didn't have to know. He wasn't here, anyways. She tilted her head to the side, to get a better view of a door in the dim green lighting. She daintily swam over to it, not wanting to disrupt the calm aura of the waters. Heart beat.
Again she sat at the table across from Tarrant. This time, he was eying her with poorly masked irritation. One eyebrow was slightly raised, as if he had been expecting her to say something. She didn't even have a chance to feel the urge to tell him this time; another heart beat came almost immediately, leaving her with this image burnt into her mind.
She had no idea where she was, this time. It was like her two consciences were fighting for control. The murky waters and the kitchen were flashing in and out of her vision like strobe lights. She closed her eyes to fight off the nausea the images were causing. She could no longer feel her body; the feeling of the water, and the feeling of sitting in the kitchen had pushed her senses to the max. All she was aware of was the images flipping all around her, and the pulsation running throughout her body. She felt like she couldn't take it anymore, and bit her lip as hard as she could, begging it to stop.
And stop it did. It didn't slow down gracefully as it had started up, but stopped immediately. Almost the same moment she had wished it away; it completely took her breath away, and she was left gasping for air. Lights broke out in her vision from having them clamped shut so tightly. She had an odd feeling all throughout her body. The feeling of absolute.
It almost felt as though she didn't even have a body. She was barely aware of anything. She laid in the odd abyss for what felt like years; she was no longer aware of how much time had passed. But ever so slowly her senses started to come back to her. She could semi-feel her body. Only the parts that hurt extremely bad she could sense.
After tallying which parts hurt, she slowly started opening her eyes, afraid of what she might see. The water. She could feel it now that she saw it; winding all around her, calming her. She decided that this was a safe place. Nothing could touch her. The water wrapped around her in such a definite, absolute way that she could barely bring words to her mind that described it properly. Now that she knew she was in it, nothing hurt any longer.
Looking just in front of her, she could see a steady stream of red gracefully floating in the water. Beautifully winding and twirling like smoke in front of her eyes. It was coming from her lip. After feeling it for a moment, she realized she had bit clean through it. But it didn't hurt; and when encased in the protection of the water, she knew it would be okay.
And there she saw that door again. For whatever reason, she could see it much more properly now. It was large, bold, and slightly ornate. She figured at one time it must of been a very grand door; it just had to. The black and gold paint was chipping and peeling, but it was beautiful nonetheless.
She looked all around the room, trying to find more doors. There may have been. For some reason, she wasn't registering things right. She could see them, but, when she tried to decide what they were, her intelligence failed her. One thing was definite; one thing was absolute; she had to see behind that door.
She knew behind there was the thing she had to tell Tarrant. She didn't know what it was, and could hardly think about Tarrant at the time, but, it was behind there. She had never been more sure. She just didn't know how to open it. She looked at it confused for a moment.
It had no handle, no hinges, no anything. It was just a big, bold door in the middle of a blank stretch of stone wall. She kept staring at it as if the answer would just come to her. It didn't seem like a good idea to touch it, for some reason. It had to be handled very delicately.
While reasoning, she could feel an almost evil presence coming from the door. The more she thought about it, the stronger it became. It wanted out of the room. It was pulsating through the water, disrupting it. The water was slowly turning dark black as an inky substance started pouring from the cracks in the door.
The closer they got, the worse the ominous feeling inside her grew. As one almost touched her, she saw a fleeting imagine of herself in a dark room, trying to push away a strange man.
Alice tried to scream but no sound came out. She started wishing that it would stop; it was scaring her. Suddenly, thick, rusted chains protruded from the walls and held the door shut. Alice watched in wonderment.
Did I make it do that? She thought as all the inky substance retracted back into the door, as if in reverse. I don't like this.. I.. I want out of here.. I.. want.. to.. forget...
Alice awoke with a start in an odd bedroom. She was breathing extremely heavy, as if she had just run a marathon. She had a thin layer of sweat all over her, and she was gripping the bedsheets as tightly as she could. Her eyes darted around as she tried to make sense of her surroundings.
"Ahhh.. Ivory, dear." A male voice said. She quickly turned and saw a very familiar man sitting in an armchair across from her bed. He looked tired, as if he had been there for awhile. "You've had quiet the rest, wouldn't you say? Two whole days, poor Tarrant has been worried sick. Of course we couldn't let him in without your consent."
"T-two.. days... Tarrant.." Alice started to choke out. Her voice cracked as if it hadn't been used in awhile. She couldn't remember the dream she had. Something about an ocean, maybe.
"Yes, yes. I just couldn't live with myself if I left your side. I felt it almost my responsibility that you fell and hit your head." He said with a tired smile. She felt a rush of affection towards him, which stopped immediately when she remembered the odd liquid he gave her.
"W-wait.. I remember.. You g-gave me liquid.." Alice said. Talking had never been harder than now.
"Yes. Anti-nausea medication you had a terrible reaction to. Unless you're not who you said you are, your body should of been used to the chemicals in it. I have no idea why it harmed you." Jonas said thoughtfully. He had a certain air to him. As if you just had to trust him.
Alice tried to fight the strong sensation to thank him, and tried to move on with her interrogation. But, anything she could say would probably give her away.. And Tarrant would be in a bad situation, also. She should of known medicine from this world would hurt her.. Ugh.. How could she be so stupid?
She decided to not say anything, but stare at the ceiling for awhile. A bit later, Jonas got up, and asked her if she'd fancy having lunch with him. She was painfully hungry, so she accepted. Away they walked together, but, she couldn't fight the feeling something was wrong.