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The Power that Lies within the Dormant

A conversation that occurred some time as Aceli and Madam Hatteress were washing the dishes for once...

Aceli: (as she rinses the foam of the crockery with care) How does Dormouse look like, Madam Hatteress? I've never seen him before...

Mad: Oh, Dormouse? He's a skinny boy with glasses. The bookworm type. (pauses mid-drying a teacup) He loved reading stories. It was either sleeping or reading. Didn't do anything else besides that, I recall.

Aceli: How come I don't see him around?

Mad: He's gone. I have no idea where.

Ace: Did you and March Hare tease him...in the old days? (says tentatively)

Mad: (a small sigh) Ah, we did. Rather terribly, I'm afraid. But it was the way we passed the time back then. I do feel rather guilty when I think about it.

Aceli: Then do you miss him? Sometimes?

Mad: (turns to look at Aceli with a puzzled look) Aceli, what's on? Why so many questions? You sound like you're investigating something.

Ace: Oh, I'm sorry. It's nothing much really...(a pause) Just having a curious and curiouser moment. (hastily hands Madam Hatteress a saucer to dry)

Days and nights after...

She wants to freaking kill me.

It was just my 'unluck' that I landed from my reality-to-dream fall on somewhere along the river bank as I re-entered this Wonderland. Just a few feet away from Alice who was riding on March Hare. Now, if you don't know, March is a creepy monster of a 'hare', more or less about the size of a killer whale. He had dull black fur and huge, creepy yellow eyes. Not the most pleasant creature, and not one I'd like standing in front of.

I had literally, very literally, landed myself in a bad situation.

The duo...wait.

Cheshire.

He was with them, perched proudly on top on March's head in the form of a lazy black cat whose fur colour meshed in with March's. He had the nerve to grin down at me.

I glared up at him, feeling betrayed but not the least bit surprised.

Stupid me. I had imagined that we were on roughly good terms with each other, even though I knew he wasn't one to be depended on. The damn cat was just playing around. I found myself clenching my fist. Alice looked down at me like she was looking at a puddle of mud in her path.

" How nice to see you, Ayli."

The nickname somehow brought a pang of pain to my mind. It was what she used to call me, back when we were little and still 'bestest friends', before the incident, before everything fell out of gear and broke down. It kind of hurt.

I breathed in deeply.

"Same here, Ally."

"Well, I'm so sorry that Daisy can't play with you today. She's sleeping so that she can have enough energy to play tag with you later, " she said in a sweet voice normally directed little children. It irked me.

"Why are you doing this, Alice? Why do you freaking hate me so much!" I yelled angrily and stared into her ice-coloured eyes. Eyes that I used to compliment as a small girl when we were playing hairdresser games.

"That is a stupid question. You know why, " she said coldy.

Frustration began building up in me. The childhood memories came flooding back in one huge tidal wave, sweeping all my walls and common sense away.

"Aahhhh-" I spat a swearword out, "It wasn't my bloody fault!"

"Excuses, excuses."

"I said sorry! Sorry, sorry, sorry, a thousand times over, even though it's no one's bloody fault that Robbyroo died," I cried out in a wobbly voice, gesturing violently. This surge of overwhelming emotions was making me say things I normally wouldn't. " I turned a deaf ear to all those bad rumors you've spread about me, took all the cold treatment without defending myself, I let you humilate me in front of the whole school just because I...hoped so desperately that you'd stop being angry and we'd be friends again..." My vision was going watery, but I couldn't let it show. It'd only egg Alice on.

"Friends," the girl muttered. "Friends? Us? That is total bull."

That really hurt. Really hurt.

"Yeah," I blurted and laughed out bitterly. It sounded like the sour cackle of a mad woman to my ears. I was really losing it. "Total bullshark. I was stupid to let you shoot me down for the past eight years. You'd never forgive me. What the heck was I thinking?"

We glared straight into each others eyes.

"Exactly," she hissed.

March Hare lunged forward suddenly, all claws unsheathed.

My heart twisted painfully from the onslaught of rage burning inside and pure ice terror.

Then I woke abruptly, sweaty, gasping breathelessly, with all my muscles feeling rigid with fear. Eyes snapped wide open.

It's okay, it's okay, I assured myself. Breathe! Inhale, exhale...

My heart calmed down as the minutes slipped past.I sat up, rubbed the goosebumps down on my arms, and pushed my hair back. The blue digits of two a.m. glowed on Car-Z's windshield. The world was so quiet, so peaceful. If only my dreams could be the same.

I swung myself out of bed and sneaked to the kitchen. The hum of the fridge was reassuring. Reality seemed most fragile at the early hours. And so I spent the next two hours sipping coffee and shivering miserably, feeling so alone and helpless. At some time, I remember putting my face against the cold surface of the kitchen table and letting the tears fall silently...