The Power that Lies Within the Dormant

T for language

"You're lying."

All around us students crowded their way to the next class. None of them noticed the weird conversation going on. Alice flicked one of her golden locks as she gave me the 'eyebrows-up'.

"I'm not, Aceli, I'm not lying." She smiled prettily at a cute boy going past before focusing on my disbelieving, stubborn face. "Daisy did wipe some one out before. You were just lucky she used up all her power before she got you." She put a hand to her mouth and asked me in a stage whisper,"Haven't you eveeer wondered why you've never seen the Dormouse before?"

I frowned. The conversation betwwen Madam Hatteress and Duchess floated back to mind.

"No way..."

"Yes way, Aceli, yes way. And you're going to be the next person Daisy erases off from my Wonderland!"

"Why did she do that?" I reeled back, seething, my mind not registering Alice's threat, "Dormouse and Daisy...aren't they supposed to be..together?"

Alice pouted. "I guess you don't know anything, intruder," she said in a voice that got on my nerves, "and why should I tell you? Let's just say they fell out and Diasy's decided to clean him right out of her life-and out of their world." I gaped at her. "A bread-and-butter fly's gonna go in your mouth. Anyway, see you tonight. It just might be the final one." The girl giggled crazily and clapped her hands.

" I can't wait!" And with another flick of her golden curls, she sauntered off. Someone jostled into me, knocking me right out of my stunned daze.

"Hey, watch it!" I snapped. The boy scrambled away, grumbling under his breath. "Blitch."

"That's witch to you," I hissed back nastily. "Your 'blitch' has just left." The boy rolled his eyes at me and disappeared into the remaining crowd.

I might seem like an OK girl at times, but I'm not.

I can get damn mean: I just need to find a reason.

Right now I was fired up at that girl, that Alice. Man, she's really getting on my nerves, what with manipulating others to do what she wants, like getting me wiped out, dreamworld-speaking, and snobbing it in my face during the day. One day, that volcano containing eight years of pent-up rage is going to explode, and all hell's going to break loose.

"I can't wait," I mimicked in a high squeaky voice and pulled a face at her back. She didn't notice, of course. I licked the side of my mouth thoughtfully. All hell's going to break out? Right! I happen to like a bit of chaos myself. It's time to retaliate.

When I return to Wonderland in my dreams, it's either properly, by lift (a large bottle with a rope around its neck lowered through the Rabbit Hole down to the Entrance Room with its Doors) or improperly, (by falling through space and landing somewhere in Wonderland), or randomly (just opening my eyes and finding myself someplace). Tonight I opened my eyes and found myself in the Teapot House.

Dormouse's Teapot House.

I felt slightly saddened even though I have never met the Dormouse. Perhaps it was because I've never met him, that I felt sad. Did Madam Hatteress and March Hare feel anything when he was gone? Was he too much of a background person for them to care? Or was he simply a subject of cruel amusement for them to bully and tease around? I should ask Madam Hatteress some questions. (March Hare is Alice's devoted monster/ride/pet/friend/and others, so I am definitely not going to ask Hare)

It was probably near sunset in Wonderland, since the light that filtered in was dwindling away to nothing, leaving the Teapot Room in gentle blue-hued darkness. I looked around for the current guest. The boy was still snuggled under the blankets. I crawled over to him.

"Hey, when are you ever going to wake up?" I asked softly. To my utter surprise, the boy's hand twitched in response. A surge of excitement filled me. I tapped his cold cheek.

"Wakey wakey!" I called with encouragement. The skin under my hand suddenly cracked. I froze.

"...?"

Slowly, slowly, I took my hand away. A piece of something lay in my hand. Shell. My eyes went back to the boy and the cracks across his cheek. This current face was fake! I reached out and gingerly plucked off a larger piece of ultra-thin, skin-coloured and textured shell. Underneath the crack was ...another face. With baited breath and careful hands, I peeled off more from the area. The skin beneath the 'shell' was warm. Somehow I felt like I was peeling off the shell of an egg, the mask of a newly-introduced character just born. Absurd. But I did it anyways. I progressed until about half of the face was revealed and sat back. The 'covering' was harder to pluck off than I imagined. I leaned forward to examine the new face.

He was Asian, maybe Chinese, maybe of another country, I'm not good at telling. Ten or eleven from my shaky age-guess-o-meter. I scratched my head. Before this, when I looked at the boy, he was just, well, a 'featureless' boy. He had a plain face, but it lacked definition. It's hard to explain this progress from 'just someone' to a 'person with character'. Being the usual lazy me, I didn't puzzle over it more than a few seconds since it could burn my brain if I thought about it too much. Just going with it, I sighed and gazed at the kid.

His eyes opened slowly. They looked up at the ceiling drowsily for a moment before sliding their focus unto my curious face. The life slowly flowed into the dark orbs.

"Hi," I greeted softly. The boy blinked a few times as he woke up. "What's your name?"

He stared at me owlishly. I had a feeling he couldn't hear well yet. All the gears were still clicking into place.

"What is your name?" I asked a few moments later again. The boy pulled his arms out from under the blankets and tried to sit up. "Wait." I put a firm hand on his back and helped him up. The boy placed a small, bony hand to the other side of his face and pulled off the remaining shell in one big piece. I took the shell from his hold and set it down with all the other fragments I piled up on a small thin blanket. Now that I could see his real face completely, I found him rather adorable to look at.

"Do you know where you are?"

The boy tilted his head to one side thoughtfully. "Ariss(Alice)...Wonderland?" He said uncertainly.

"Right!" I grinned happily. "What's your name?"

He shook his head faintly.

"You don't have a name? Then can I give you one?"

He nodded. I fumbled through the names in my mind.

" Um, Eric? Brad? Peter? Rue?" Then this name just flashed into my mind, out of the blue, a name that could have been...part of my life.

"Damian...is that an okay name?" I asked him. He must have heard the sad tone in my voice because he seemed puzzled and looked into my eyes searchingly. I blushed.

"Ah, that was one of the names my brother could have had: Derrick or Damian," I explained. "But he...died before he even got born." I looked at my hands lamely, wondering why I was telling him this.

"Damian," he repeated solemnly in his small voice, accepting the name I've given him. I smiled feebly.

"Well, I'm Aceli. It's a odd name. Can you say it?"

He sucked in his bottom lip.

"Ace...Eris."

I was startled.

"No, not Eris. 'Ace-Lee'. You almost had it."

"Eris."

Baffled, I studied him. He looked at me calmly. Maybe since he accepted my name, I'd have to get a new name from him too. Logic.

"Aceli?" I cheeped one last time, hopefully.

He put his hands on my shoulder. Those slanted, entrancing eyes with their black orbs bored straight into my being. My breath got stuck inside my lungs.

"No," he stated, firmly like a child who had made up his mind.

"Eris." Goddess of Chaos.

And I had thought: ...All hell's going to break out? Right! I happen to like a bit of chaos myself. It's time to retaliate.

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