by Robert McKay
“For the time being, I do.”
“Very well then,” said Alice. “I shall take your advice and stay here on Nedra. That doesn’t mean I’m going to take all of my parents’ advice though.”
“Nor should you,” agreed Seamus. “Now that that’s settled, let’s go say goodbye to our friend Lyla.”
They walked back over to the gathering of their friends who had dug a small hole in the earth in the center of a ring of mushrooms. Her mother had told her once that a ring like that was called a fairy ring. They were a good omen that meant fairies had blessed the ground by dancing in a circle there. It was a perfect place to bury a beloved friend.
Dee and Dum sang a sweet, sad song for Lyla in beautiful harmony that would have seemed strange coming from such big brutes had she not gotten to know their gentle hearts. March recited a poem that made little sense because half of the words were made up, but even still, it told the truth; that Lyla was an amazing hero who had slain the vicious Jabberwock.
Alice tried to speak, but was too overcome to say much more than, “We miss you already.”
Seamus closed the funeral with a sweet speech about Lyla and her devotion to her family. Alice had assumed when Lyla talked about her family that she had been married and had children; that they were the ones lost to the Jabberwock. Instead, she had been the oldest child in her family, though not yet grown, when the Jabberwock had taken them. It was her brothers, sisters, and parents who had been taken from her. She’d grown up alone and fighting for her life. It had taken her years to learn to fight as fiercely as she had, but she’d done it all with the conviction that she would avenge them, and she had. In the end though, he said that the family she had died for were the people standing around her grave, her friends.
It brought Alice to tears again, which she found very unbecoming of someone who wanted to be a pirate. Then again, maybe she didn’t want to be a pirate. They tended to kill and plunder for selfish reasons. She had found she didn’t have the stomach for that. Perhaps there was something in the world for her to do that would give her a sense of pride and accomplishment, rather than make her feel like a selfish child. Something she could tell someone as noble as Lyla about with a glint of pride.
Dee settled the small bundle of Lyla’s body into the hole and pushed the dirt in to fill it. She was so small that it took almost no time at all. “Strange how someone so small could change so many lives so drastically,” said Alice.
“It is indeed,” agreed Seamus with a knowing grin.
“Where will you go?” asked Alice.
“Oh, here and there,” said Seamus.
“If I don’t know where you’re going, how will I find you again?”
“I suspect you’ll find us in the last place you think to look,” said Seamus sagely.
Alice found herself nodding at the cryptic advice for several moments before she saw the ridiculousness of the statement. When it dawned on her, it must have been easy to read on her face, because the hatter howled with laughter. It was a contagious, mad laugh that soon spread to their entire party. It was just the thing to lighten the mood of a funeral, and soften the ache of saying goodbye.
Each of her friends hugged her and wished her well, even The White Rabbit, whose tendrils somehow managed to feel comforting instead of like being squeezed by a hundred tiny snakes. “You take care of them,” said Alice.
“As long as they don’t get it in their heads to order me about like an inanimate object, I promise not to jettison them into space,” said Rabbit.
Alice giggled. “Close enough.”
“The hatter says we’ll meet again.”
“Yes.”
“Not soon enough,” said The White Rabbit.
Alice smiled and nodded. She patted his tendrils and walked away before she started to cry again.
Dee and Dum simply gave her massive, bone-crushing hugs and stalked off to pretend they were busy getting the ship ready to leave.
March hugged her leg and reminded her that tea time was the only time worth keeping track of. It seemed like sound advice for passing the time between seeing friends without going completely mad, so she took it to heart.
Her hug with Seamus was longest of all, and he was the one to break it. “I want you to take Snicker-snack with you,” said Alice. He tried to object and she placed a finger over his dark lips. “She’s a great weapon, but the longer I hold her, the more everyone starts to look like an enemy. If there’s one thing you all have taught me, it’s that I’m going to need friends if I’m to survive. I’ll never make friends if all I’m prepared to do is fight.”
Seamus nodded and took the sword and her scabbard from her outstretched hands. “You have grown very wise, Alice.”
“I’m sure I just read that in a book somewhere,” said Alice, doing her best to imitate his grin. “I really just want you to take her because Mother and Father would never let me keep her.”
Seamus grinned back. “Until we meet again,” he said, and stepped aboard The White Rabbit.
Cheshire had disappeared at about the time of the funeral, but appeared long enough for her to see who she was hugging. He disappeared with a final flash of mischievous yellow eyes and a whispered, “I’ll be seeing you.”
A few moments later, The White Rabbit took off and disappeared into the night sky. Alice waved until she couldn’t tell his white form from the stars in the sky, then turned and began the dreaded march back to her house.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The walk back wasn’t long, but it was crowded with thoughts. There wasn’t any way that her parents would believe any of the truth, and yet, the idea of lying about her adventure didn’t appeal to her in the least. It would be better for her relationship with them if she lied and told them she’d fallen down a well or something. That wasn’t a thought that would have occurred to her just a few short days ago. Her parents had instilled in her a steadfast belief that telling them the truth was the only good option. Now, she realized that sometimes the truth was far more complicated.
Her decision as to what to tell her parents seemed to change between each footfall on soft grass. Finally, she decided not to decide at all until she met with her parents and read their mood. She filled the rest of the walk with a mental debate about what kind of punishment she would receive if she told the truth. They would probably send her to some sort of boarding school, maybe even a military academy if they were particularly cross with her. Strangely, the thought of punishment didn’t affect her the way it had before her trip to Wonderland. Nothing they could do to her would ever be equal to the battles she had fought there. As the Mad Hatter had said, the punishments were simply advice to be taken or ignored.
She stepped onto the manicured expanse of her yard and realized there was still one more decision to make. Should she climb back in her window and wait for morning to deal with her parents, or should she go around to the front door and deal with them immediately?
One look at her disgusting clothes made the decision clear. There was no way she wanted to sleep another night in those blood-caked rags, and putting on other clothes would just ruin them unless she showered. Also, if she went to sleep, there was the possibility that the trip to Wonderland would fade away like the dream she swore it was for so long. The front door it was.
If she were a little more honest with herself, she just wanted to see her parents. To hug and kiss them and revel in their safety. She’d missed them. Would they feel as unfamiliar as Nedran soil did to her now, or would it finally feel like coming home?
The large red door had looked ominous for as long as she could remember, with its large metal knocker shaped like some sort of goblin or gargoyle with a ring in its mouth. Now, it was just a door and a harmless chunk of metal. The true beasts on Nedra were the Colarians and they only attacked the cities with their ugly gray ships. There was nothing in her house to be truly afraid of.
Alice reached up, grasped the metal ring, and brought it down with a heavy clack three t
imes. Lights flashed on and almost instantly were followed by the sound of running footsteps. It had to be well after midnight. Her parents should have been sleeping like the dead.
When her father flung open the door, it was obvious that he hadn’t slept properly in days. His hair was a mess and there were dark circles under his eyes. Mother came up behind him and then was pushing him out of the way in her rush to wrap her arms around Alice. It took her father several moments to wipe enough sleep from his eyes to realize what was going on and then he joined the hug. Dinah joined in at a lazier pace, rubbing her head against all of their legs as if she didn’t know what all the fuss was about, but wanted to be a part of it. She didn’t fool Alice one bit. If she was able, she would be giving her a Cheshire grin.
“What in the world happened to you?” asked her mother through her tears.
It was the moment she’d been preparing for. Time to decide on the truth or a lie. When she thought back on the last few days, on bravery, nobility, and the lengths great souls had gone to for the people they truly cared about, there was only one answer she could give. “I’ve had the most unbelievable adventure.”
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About the Author
Robert McKay is a clever nerd, who feels uncomfortable being called such. He believes in the oxford comma, puns, and true love. Stories that wrap all of these things together, along with some outer space adventure, make his heart go pitter-patter and his days a whole lot brighter. When he’s not writing, he’s probably reading, but if he’s not doing either of those things, he may be found bowling, playing tabletop games, or researching how much it costs to rent a space shuttle.
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