“Have you always wanted me?” He asked, going back to my confession.
“I never really thought about it before recently,” I said, giving it thought. “But I don’t think there's putting the cat back in the bag now that it’s happened.”
I’d been a bit naive about Shaheen. And now that he’d unleashed himself on me…a tremor raced over my body, making my fur stand on end. Well, I quite liked the way he handled me.
“Let’s go,” I said, turning into a cat and darting for the door.
* * *
Alice
As I ranthe birds sang their song of alarm louder and louder until my heart was pounding and I was racing through the woods in terror. They screamed warbling pandemonium that had me taking great big leaps between each stride.
My eyes darted into the twisted limbs of trees, attempting to see the loud birds but they were nowhere. Maybe they didn’t even exist. Maybe something else was making those noises, only pretending they were birds.
Abruptly I stopped running, trying to end the panic caused by nothing more than off-tune wildlife. As soon as I stopped, the birds did too. Silence rose around me like a flood, drowning the forest. My ears strained for noise but even my own breath felt muted. My heart thumped in my ears and I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to hear if something was right upon me.
I took a deep breath and moved deeper into the woods—my home. There was peace in accepting that Wonderland was my home. Also, it was a breath of relief to realise that I didn’t need to keep looking for something lost long ago. That wasn’t to say I wasn’t in pain for what happened to me. That I didn’t need to mourn what I’d lost. But a weight had been lifted from me. I felt lighter, ready to face my past.
Tall, densely packed trees created a blanket of darkness in the woods. I’d trudged into a more frightening spot of the woods in my eagerness to flee. It was almost metaphoric—that fleeing only caused me more trouble than facing things straight on. Unfortunately, I was non-metaphorically lost.
Mushrooms glowed a sickly shade of chartreuse, much paler than the ones near Cheshire’s Den. They pulsed and throbbed. I leaned forward, watching one expand and shrink like a heart. I held my breath and heard the lightest wheeze.
I sucked in a breath and hopped along faster with a tremble in my body. The sickly mushrooms grew more numerous and flowers suddenly burst open at my approach. They revealed a single large eyeball nestled in the centre of delicate pink petals. The flowers bent as they opened, aiming their lidless eyes at me.
I took off again, cursing myself for getting lost. I certainly liked making my bad traits into continued vices. Running off and getting lost was apparently the theme of my life.
At the moment I was frustrated with myself, downright angry really. I’d ran from Cheshire and Shaheen because I didn’t want to deal with it all and ended up in this mess. I wanted to be back at the Den. I wanted to tell Shaheen it was okay that he told me to eat the mushroom all those years ago. He looked so haunted by that—so convinced that I hated him now. He needed to know I didn’t hate him, that I loved him.
Suddenly the forest broke. I fell through the treeline, stumbling in shock. Before I hit the ground I turned back into Alice and was entirely nude. I landed on my belly, my fingers sinking into the loose soil.
I looked up at the tall flowers growing nearly four feet tall. This time when they opened up there weren't any eyes. No, that would be too pleasant. They had mouths all shaped like Cheshire’s, sharp teeth and feline—vicious and hungry for me.
I scrambled on the ground, my feet and hands scratching at the earth to help propel me forward. One flower bent down and nipped at my hip.
With a hiss, I leapt up and started to run for the edge of the clearing.
That was when the thunder started. The storm that never came. The great growling beast behind the clouds. I looked up and saw the shadow of something moving. Something large and loud—the murky silhouette of great wings unfurling. My mouth dropped open. It was real, there was something up there.
I felt pressure at my feet and looked down. Flowers were twisting around my ankles. God, I hated flower patches.
Two pointed blue ears appeared at a distance in the flower field. I squinted at them while kicking the flowers from my legs. The ears were grey actually and with blue stripes.
My instincts kicked in once I realised it was Cheshire. After all, the damned cat had been chasing me for years. Plus, I was concerned he was angry at me for breaking the contract by running away.
Mad Hatter’s words from before rose in my mind. About how Cheshire was a cat who wished to play with his prey until it died. Perhaps this was it. This was when the cat finally played too much with its prey. When the joy of playing ended and the need to kill forced its way to the surface. I couldn’t tell if the fear was rational at all but it motivated me to run.
Cheshire launched himself at me, pouncing through the flower stalks to take me down. I cried out, thrashing as he pressed his body on top of mine, subduing me against the earth.
“Cheshire, I’m sorry,” I cried out, tears bursting from my eyes.
“How sorry?” He growled, thrusting his hard cock against my back. He purred against my ear, before biting my neck and rutting against me like an animal.
“I’ll never forget the look on your face whenever you realise it’s me behind you in the woods. Such a terrorised expression, Alice.” He began laughing as I struggled beneath him. His hands wrapped around my wrists and held them down.
“You can’t kill me because I love you,” I blurted out in a panic, overwhelmed by my emotions. His laughter abruptly stopped.
“What?” He asked quietly. Before I could respond he flipped me around, pressing my back in the dirt and looming over me. His shadow was cast on my face, making me blind to all his features but one; the glowing emeralds of his eyes floating in the darkness of his face.
