I gape at the sight of the White Queen. She is back into her caring state with her eyes changed back from the obsidian emptiness to the cobalt ocean. The only difference is her teeth; they are coated in blood. I shudder at her last kill she ate. It must have been straight after my escape and she found something else to eat. Her dress is covered in bits of what alarmingly looks like human skin and blood spatters. I shudder.
‘’ Venus!’’ She smiles evilly. ‘’ You’re back! And what pleasure do I owe you this time?’’ She glances down at my aggrieved leg. The blood trickles down my leg and the puss seeps out uncontrollably. It’s going to get infected if I leave it any longer. But we can’t leave. The White Queen will kill us. But we can’t stay or we’ll get eaten.
‘’ Hatter?’’ I speak shakily. ‘’ We can’t stay or go. And my leg is going to get infected.’’
‘’ What happened to it?’’ Hatter asks hesitating and taking small steps forwards, backwards. Forwards, backwards.
‘’ The White Queen bit me when she started her cannibalistic spree.’’ I whispered.
‘’ I have some disinfectant somewhere in my bag.’’ Hatter reassures me. ‘’ I can create a bandage out of the bottom of your dress.’’ He nods to the snowy white material at the bottom of my dress. I nod carefully, eyeing the Queen.
‘’ How are we going to get away from her?’’ I flick my eyes to her, who is still smiling evilly.
‘’ I don’t know. We’re going to have to follow her inside.’’ Hatter starts muttering. But I shake my head vigorously.
‘’ She’ll eat me. She was trying to get me frozen but then I leaped over her and locked the door so she couldn’t catch me. I don’t think she can leave the residence as she could have easily gone and caught me when I was outside. She just shouted that she was going to get me.’’ But she started walking towards us stealthily, proving my theory wrong. I grab Hatter’s hand, feeling safe and strong again. She nears us… I gasp. She snatches my arm and pulls me towards the house.
‘’ You are coming with me for dinner!’’ She screeches and I secretly wonder that she’s related to a banshee. I scream and scream for Hatter as he attempts to yank me away from the monster but the Queen’s grip is resilient. She is unwavering to not let go. We are soon by the castle (the Queen showing no ear damage from all my painstakingly horrific shrieks) and she shoves me inside with the Mad Hatter shadowing my fear behind her. She lets go of me and locks the door.
‘’ Her power is strength. That’s why she smashes walls and I couldn’t get you away from her.’’ Hatter whispers.
‘’ Powers?’’ I murmur back. I didn’t know that everyone had powers.
‘’ Every Wonderlandian has a power. More powerful people like the White Queen have more than one. The White Queen has two: strength and manipulation now. Back then it was manipulation, in a nice way, and fairness.’’ I nod understanding Murderland now.
‘’ Right then.’’ The Queen turns to face us with an amiable smile. ‘’ Dinner time. Come on follow me.’’ She strides off in the direction of the kitchen. We half-heartedly follow her, our bodies shaking like a leaf. ‘’ Now then. Would you like to see the garden? I’ve decorated it to perfection.’’ She giggles and indicates for us to come. We grudgingly follow her into the wretched garden and she opens the door for us to step outside.
Hatter’s eyes widen in horror and I violently force myself not to scream or retch. The garden is beautiful at first glance. Ordered and tidy. But then you look at the trees… They are warped and white with organs draping from them like Christmas tree decorations. Hearts, livers, stomachs, lungs and even skins are dangling from the trees. The blood of the innards are emitted on the trees and the bones are dispersed along the ground settling by flowerbeds and the bottom of trees. A single piece of rope is tied on the tree as a noose for hangings. With no leaves on the bare trees, the Queen’s insanity has cleverly articulated a metaphor so the trees bare ‘clothes’. It’s horrific beauty in the worst form. I can imagine the paranormal and supernatural loving the scene if it was inhabited.
‘’ Meet my victims, children.’’ She strolls out of the door in pride. ‘’ There’s so many here, I can’t count. But there is room for two more…’’ she looks back at us in temptation. There’s a glint in her eye showing lust. I dare not to take a step back as last time it caught her attention. ‘’ Hatter. You’re a gorgeous man. I would love to just take your heart from you. I’m sure it is very big and a perfect shape.’’ She steps closer towards Hatter, a doll smile spreading on her face. ‘’ A lion heart.’’ She mutters under her breath. Suddenly a piercing scream echoes the building. The Queen’s hand is inside Hatter, reaching for his heart. He floats up in the air with the Queen growing stronger as a light wind goes into her heart. I shriek in anger and fear and with force cut the air to push the Queen out of the way. I hear a rush of wind. A faint rumble booms underneath me and a thin layer of dust falls to the floor. The castle is falling apart… White lets go of Hatter’s heart and his body goes back to normal as she dashes away from the castle. I grab Hatter.
‘’ We need your power to happen now.’’ Hatter nods and starts to run. We go straight past the Queen pushing her out the way and she stumbles back inside. Panting, we get to the door in a blur, I unlock it and we race outside slamming it hard.
Inside we hear the Queen grunt and she falls onto the floor. Crack! And with that crack, the castle slowly falls to the ground, the smoke billowing upwards into the crimson atmosphere. The Queen, you could see clearly, was on the floor either dead or unconscious. We pant and pant and I rush to hug Hatter. He grasps me tightly not speaking for about a minute.
‘’ I thought I lost you.’’ I mutter into his chest, relief flowing through me, knowing that the Queen is gone.
‘’ Same here with you.’’ He mutters back raking his hand through my cropped, crimson cut.
‘’ Is she dead?’’ I ask even though I know the answer. He sighs in despondency, probably thinking about the memories with the former Queen.
‘’ Unfortunately, yes.’’ We overhear a feminine groan behind us and we gasp, turning around. Back where the Cannibalistic Monster was lolling unattractively deceased, a neat, blinding-white figure is now attempting to arise with no blood on her immaculate dress or on her dazzling teeth. She is beaming and acting jovial like back when she was sane.
Her awareness, however, is not on us and is focused on the debris. ‘’ Why is my castle like this?’’ She notices Hatter and frowns, clearly bewildered. ‘’Hatter you look horror-stricken, what’s happened here?’’ She squints at me. ’’ And who’s that?’’ Her voice is queenly again. She brushes off some stray specks of dirt on her dress. She inhales, obviously smelling the distinct aroma of flesh. ‘’ And what is that dreadful smell?’’ I open my mouth in shock. So does Hatter. He gradually smiles, opening up into a beam.
‘’ Your Majesty?’’ Hatter asks racing towards her. The White Queen smiles and says ‘’ Yes?’’. Hatter embraces her, to the shock of the Queen, but she gladly embraces him back. After a while, I cough awkwardly.
‘’ Sorry.’’ Hatter apologises and rushes back to me with the Queen holding his hand.
The Queen looks mystified. ‘’ Would someone please tell me what in Aboveland has happened to Wonderland and my castle?’’
I sigh in relief and Hatter starts to explain.
‘’ So you’re saying that my sister gave birth to Venus in Aboveland with the father as Stayne, ignoring my rules of her being exiled, came back as soon as Venus grew up and started torturing my people? And turning Wonderland into Murderland?’’ I nod solemnly.
‘’ That’s basically the reality, yes.’’ I assure her.
The Queen sighs in shock. ‘’ And I was a cannibal?’’ She shudders, grimacing.
Hatter stutters. ‘’ W-W-Well you tried to fr-fr-freeze Venus then e-eat her later. And you nearly k-killed me by taking my heart out of my body, so y-y-yeah.’’ The Queen gags. ‘’ Not to mention you had, um, human insides hanging on trees.’’ She heaves again.
‘’ You’re back to normal now though.’’ I reassure her, glaring at Hatter with his details. She nods slowly trying to understand the situation.
‘’ I have one question though,’’ She regains her regal posture. ‘’ Did you make my castle fall?’’ She asks me in interest. I begin to speak but I have no answer.
‘’ We actually don’t know.’’ Hatter looks at me with unease. ‘’ With that power of controlling the elements, she is a strong and powerful person.’’
‘’ Well, I’d have to be with the Red Queen as my mother.’’ The White Queen laughs.
‘’ She has a point. And that also means that you’re my niece.’’ She touches my face with a delicate feel. I shudder and whimper as my leg stabs me.
‘’ I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?’’ She staggers back, hurtful.
‘’ No it wasn’t your touch, well it was as the last time you touched me you wanted to eat me, but that’s not the reason. You bit my leg and now it’s infected.’’
‘’ Oh let me help you.’’ She reaches into her white bag, rummaging through the contents. Her eyes widen in horror and she pulls out a heart. I repulse. ‘’ Well I was an obsessive cannibal.’’ She laughs shakily. ‘’Ahahaha!’’ She pulls out a vial of a clear liquid and unscrews the cork. Hatter takes hold of the vial and pours it all on my leg. I yelp in pain as the disinfectant courses through my cut. It calms down after a bit, relaxing and numbing my leg.
‘’ Do you have a bandage, Your Majesty?’’ Hatter asks her. She shakes her head. ‘’ Well let’s do it the old-fashioned way then. Is it okay for me to rip the bottom half of your dress?’’ I nod. It’s ruined anyway from both Queen’s and Alice. I hear a tear at the bottom of me and Hatter ties it round my leg gently.
‘’ Thank you.’’ He nods twice, looking at me straight in the face. Hatter’s beautiful. He like paints the world. Instead of the dim black and white, he changes it into rainbow. He looks so happy now. Not broken like before. The White Queen is back to ordinary and we’ve escaped the commands of Alice and my mother. There’s only one problem left… getting rid of Murderland once and for all.
‘’ I’d do anything for you.’’ He says and I blush. White started looking at the both of us, sussing the situation out. She smiled radiantly at us. I blushed in return to her smile. She then smiles at Hatter as if to say ‘I’m glad you have found somebody new’. But we’re not like that. We are flourishing towards each other. We are plants growing our stems into each other. Like we safeguard each other from the world and its threats. We are nothing more.
I look at Hatter sadly and he gives me that look back as if he can read my mind. It’s not possible though. His power is his running ability. Nothing else. Unless…
‘’ We need to save our friends.’’ Hatter disrupts my ponderings getting me to centre on the problem.
‘’ Who do we need to save?’’ White asks. I smile in vengeance.
‘’ Absolem, the March Hare and Ches.’’ She nods steadily, gradually smiling.
She laughs sharing my revenge ‘’ I’m guessing from my sister?’’
‘’ From the Bloody Big Head! My lady, would you care for my plants while we’re gone?’’ The Queen scoffs in disgust.
‘’ Absolutely not! I’m going to help you. I’ve already banished my sister once. I’m going to do it again.’’ She flusters off in the direction of the mill. I look at Hatter in peals of laughter.
‘’ Your Majesty!’’ I shout. I can’t stop laughing. ‘’ Your Majesty! Are you going to look after Hatter’s plants after all?’’ She pauses from her strolling, turning around and striding back to us.
‘’ Of course not! I know my way around this land!’’ She picks up her dress, running back to us with dignity. Hatter rolls his eyes. I laugh a bit cruelly: I forgotten that she was a Queen. I should respect my elders; especially my family. ‘’ So Racy is that way?’’ She points over the opposite direction to where she came from.
I nod steadily ‘’ Let’s bring her down.’’321Please respect copyright.PENANAm9zNIHwIKP