Chaptah One

Approaching the door, she saw the same designs and things which always adorned the front of this particular door.  Every door had its own personal style.  This one had scraps of old parchment, each with hand written, nonsensical poems, crude drawings of creatures that stretched the imagination, and a golden stopwatch. It glistened, causing everything surrounding it to seem even older and more faded than they already were.

Euri knew to be careful when entering this room.  She leaned forward and pressed her ear to the door to see if she could hear anything in the room.  She heard crying.

“Alice?”

The crying abruptly stopped and Euri stepped back from the door, fearful for what was about to come.  The door opened just enough so that Euri could see who was inside, and hardly anything else besides them. 

“What do you want?” The twenty two year old AliceEuri asked grimly, her brown eyes reddened from the crying. 

She stared down at Euri, her brown eyes flashing coldly.  AliceEuri’s straight, brown hair elegantly fell down around her face, framing it to make it look even more serious.  Her hands rested limply on the door, her disheveled and blood-stained dress and apron are coming into view. 

“Can I come in?  I heard you were crying, and, well, I thought maybe you needed some cheering up.”

Alice blinked and stood there for a moment, staring at the girl as she pondered how to answer Euri’s question.  She scowled and sighed, opening the door fully to let Euri in.

“Thank you,” Euri said and walked into Alice’s room.  She had only gone into the room once before, and that was when Alice was first moving in.  Back then, it was a barren room with only a single bed in it.  Euri had tried to help Alice become more comfortable, but she was just quickly pushed out of the room.  Now, however, the room was different from before.  The left half of the room had walls which were painted a dark green color and the lush carpet was a deep, dark maroon.  A desk stood against one wall while a closet was by another.  A lone chair sat at the desk.   The right half of the room was different again.  The walls were padded white and there was a window that was covered in bars, and which looked into a void of swirling nothingness.  Euri blinked and paused for a moment. 

“Where, um, should I sit?” she asked, looking at Alice.

Alice gestured to the chair and walked over to her bed, sitting down on it and looking up at the cracked ceiling above her.  Alice lowered her head to watch Euri take the seat across from her and leaned over, resting her arms on her legs.  She brushed some dust off of her dress and waited as Euri continued looking around the room.

“That’s the portal to Wonderland, right Alice?” Alice looked up and over to where Euri was pointing.  A glowing, swirling blue vortex was on the wall where both halves of the room met.

“Yeah, it is.  I was just in there a while before you came in, actually.”  Alice sighed, turning her gaze back to Euri.  “It just wasn’t enough today.  Ruthlessly killing all those Card Guards didn’t help me relieve my stress.  It wasn’t fun anymore.  It was pointless.  It didn’t help me at all.”  Alice looked away from Euri, her hair falling down around her face to cover the tears forming in her eyes.

“Alice…what’s wrong?  You know you can tell me anything.  I’m always here for you.  I’m here for anyone, matter of fact.” Euri scooted her chair closer to Alice, “Please, Alice, tell me what’s bothering you.  Please, open up to me.”

Alice reached out to Euri and gently rested her hands on Euri’s own.  She took a small breath and looked up into Euri’s eyes. 

“Alice, you’re crying!  I’ve never seen you cry before.”  Euri felt heartbroken.  Alice refrained from breaking down into a mess, and stated, “I don’t think he loves me.”

“Who?  John?”

Alice sneered, “Do you honestly think that I care about John anymore?  He never believed in me.  He’s just been trapped in his own little world at that damn hospital.”  She sighed, her temper fading, “Euri, I’m afraid Furu doesn’t love me anymore.”

“What?  Why?  How could you even think such a thing, Alice?  Furu adores you!”

Alice angrily let go of Euri, crossing her arms in front of her, “No, he doesn’t.  He’s always playing around with other women.  We had this argument the other day, right?  About how I don’t want him touching other women, you know?  Yet he thinks that he’s in the right about it, and there’s really not much I could do about it.”  Alice paused to compose herself again, while Euri wore a concerned expression.  “Please, do continue.”

“Well, basically, I told him that I didn’t care.  I told him to do whatever the hell he wants, and that I didn’t care.  But… but… Euri!  I DO care!” Alice reached out to Euri, but stopped midway, lowering her clenched fists to her lap.  “He’s always having so much with other women.  You see him laugh and have fun all the time, don’t you?”  Alice glared at the young woman before her.  “It’s all YOUR fault that he’s distancing himself from me!”  Alice quickly stood up from the bed, advancing towards Euri menacingly.  “There was this one time when we laid on his bed and he confided in me that he liked you.  That he had had a huge crush on you for the longest of times.” Alice grabbed Euri by the collar of her shirt, lifting her up from the chair, “It’s because of you, isn’t it!  You’re the one who’s been trying to take Furu away from me! “ 

Alice ignored Euri’s cries of protest and wrapped her hands around the smaller girls’ throat, lifting her up from the floor.  “It’s your fault.  You and that damn Silver child.” Alice squeezed harder, causing Euri’s face to become flushed from the lack of oxygen, “I know how he looks at you.  Does he dare think that I wouldn’t find out about his escapades?”  Alice began trembling with rage, Euri’s eyes beginning to roll up in her head, her grip on Alice’s arms loosening.

 “Furu… hates me.  Euri, he hates me!  Damnit, why does he hate me??”  Alice yelled out as she threw Euri across the floor, causing the girl to bang her head off the door.  Euri’s lungs burned as they filled themselves with air once more.  She lay there, completely still as the color of her face slowly returned to normal. 

Alice glared down at Euri, who was currently gagging and coughing as air returned to her lungs, rubbing her throat to try and ease the pain of the bruise marks already forming.  “Get out of here, you damn jade.”  Alice turned her back to Euri, the tears streaming down her face, and she clenched her hand tightly around the hilt of her Vorpal Blade.  “Leave this place before I kill you.”

Euri struggled to get to her feet, using the doorknob for support, and managed to open the door.  “Alice…”

“Get out!” Alice screamed as she whirled around and heaved her Vorpal Blade at Euri’s head. 

Euri managed to dodge the knife and quickly left the room, the door locking behind her.  She sat on the floor, her back against the wall.  The door to Alice’s room was on her right side.  As Euri closed her eyes, trying to relax, she leaned her head over to hear what was coming from Alice’s room.  Euri frowned unhappily as she heard the all too familiar cackle of Alice’s psychotic laughter.  The sound was harsh, painful even - like nails against a blackboard. 

Saddened by Alice’s obvious descent into insanity for the night, Euri rose to her feet and slowly walked to the next door.  “Let’s hope this one isn’t as painful.”