“Don’t worry, my darling little sinning doll, we’ll spill as much as you need to satisfy the hunger.”
The rivers would flow so full that Satan himself would vomit at the sight of all the sin we would commit.
25
Scarlett
February 12th, 2023
Iwasn’t ready to leave.
I never thought I’d ever think like that about this hall. This hall filled with anger and pain and darkness, but here I was, the sound of Azrael’s watch ticking away.
I couldn’t feel the heat of his eyes, which meant he was staring at it. It must be almost time to go.
We had slipped into silence after he told me about satisfying that hunger. A hunger I thought I had done well at hiding. One that caused that pulse between my legs, that caused that pulse to shift to an ache the more he spoke it into existence.
I wanted to remain here in this story with him. In his world. It had to be his world, right? That’s why we were pretending. Or I was pretending. This was how he always was if it truly was his world.
This was who Azrael was. His real self. The snake, the tsunami, the ghost.
He was the corrupted, calculating Mad Hatter, and I was his enslaved Queen of Hearts, and the rivers would soon be as red as the heart he had slung around my neck.
But I had to follow his rules.
Anything to make this ache last longer. To keep this feeling growing inside of me. Anything to stay in this world.
I heard the slow click of the watch snapping shut. It had to have been his watch because the ticking stopped as soon as the soft click met my ears.
“Do you know what sign language is?”
Sign language? No, I had never heard of it.
He was quiet again. “When you leave this room, it will seem as if things are going back to the way they were, but that is far from the truth. You must remember who you really are because from now on, the girl you are outside of those doors,that’swho you are pretending to be. The girl who follows. The girl whoobeys. Your true self, that belongs solely to me. Do you understand?”
That feeling I called excitement rattled under my skin. I tapped my finger. I liked this game. I liked pretending with him. It was like a secret, and I wasn’t allowed to keep secrets, but I would keep this one. My own perfect little secret. Just ours. Just mine.
“I have put clothes in that room worthy of your name, Scarlett,” he said, warm tingles spreading across my skin. I really liked it when he said my name. “Worthy of the girl you will be if you listen well.” He stood once again. “Tick tock goes the clock for Scarlett and her hearts.”
I felt those muscles twitch in my lips again, and this time, I think one corner lifted. I couldn’t be sure, it felt strange and ugly, but if Azrael made it happen, it couldn’t have been that ugly.
The metal branches slid around my jaw once again and lifted my head. “Tick tock goes the clock for the hatter and his slave,” he sang quietly. “Stand.”
And I did, allowing his cane to lead me.
“You are not to sit like that for anyone else,” he explained. “That position is only for our world, do you understand?”
I tapped my thigh, the skirt flowing around me comfortably. I would do anything for him. Anything at all.
“Remember, this is not the Wonderland you knew. Where we are going ismyland. My world. Wonderland with a dash of hysteria and a hint of psychosis. Everyone has been cursed by a tar they cannot escape from, injected by the people behind these doors, but this Hatter will protect his pet from that very tar. It cannot touch his people. Trust is important in times such as these.”
I tapped my fingers, thrumming them against my thigh in agreement. He would protect me.
Nobody had ever protected me before. It made me feel…the only thing that came to mind was electricity warming my skin all around.
Wonderland had been tarnished by a darkness we couldn’t control. Everything was twisted and wrong, covered in madness. I could see it all forming in my mind. Everyone had turned evil, and we were the only ones sane enough to do something about it. We had to save those who deserved to be saved and paint the world red with those who didn’t.
Thiswas my true purpose; I could feel it in my soul.
