Alys in Wonderland: Chapter One: Meeting

 Guys, look what I found. I wrote this a long time ago and totally forgot about it. I really like it, so I'm putting it on here. I'm debating whether to put on the rest of the chapters.




I don't know why, but an enormous part of me thinks this is very, very wrong. I’ve told this to my father a lot of times, but he assures me: it's the only thing we can do. The cold, white-washed hallways I'd walked down a million times seem foreign to me, the apologies of nurses who bump into me in their rush unheard to me as I keep the steady pace of my father. I want to see this new girl, but the pit of my stomach aches with anxiety. A girl of my age, and yet she’s done so many bad things that juvie won’t even take her. So, she was brought here, mostly because people think she’s insane. Well, not all sane people steal a car and then try to drive it onto busy train tracks. Maybe she IS nuts. But I want to see for myself.
"Here we are," my father says, stopping at a tall grey door with a slate that says,"Viewing Room 4". He inserts a key and opens the door a crack, then turns and places a hand on my shoulder.
"Dillon Fallon, do you swear to not utter a word on what you should see in here?"
"Dad," I argue," we do this every-."
"Swear it, son."
"Fine! I swear not to speak a word. Now, can we go in?"
My dad chuckles lightly."Sorry, I had no idea how eager you were." he pushes the door open and we walk in. He stops to talk to one of the nurses, but I go immediately to the tall window and peer down into the room below. A few doctors and nurses crowd the floor, constantly checking the stats on a large table that I can’t see all that clearly. One doctor stands on a platform, looking up at the girl who floats above them, thick glowing strands of blue around her wrists and ankles, her long blonde hair flowing around her face as if it has a mind of it's own, her eyes shut, her face serene. I feel my father step up behind me.
"What are those strands?" I asked.
"They are a new development we've been...forced to try out. Those blue strands are energy, the girls own energy, that we've used against her in order to keep her contained."
I turn to look at him, slightly stunned." You can do that?"
He almost laughs and nods. I turn back to the girl for a few more minutes before I hear the door open again. My father turns.
"So, you're finally here?"
I spin around to see the guard shut the door and lightly pushing forward a man who wore cuffs around his hands and a wild smile on his face.
"Been a long time, Doctor Fallon," he chuckles happily," so glad to see you well." He walks in and sits in one of the chairs."So silent?"
"Don't act like you've won," my father spits,"You and I both know this is the only way."
The prisoner looks surprised."Well, this is all a happy shock to me. It’s not everyday I get to leave my cell. I don't have a clue what's going on." He beams."Not that I really care. As long as I get to use my-."
"No," my father stops him,"not now."
The corner of the mans mouth twitch and his eyes turn to me."Oh, the shrimp. I get it. Don't want the kid to know anything, right?"
"Dad?" I ask,"what's he talking about?"
Father shakes his head."Son, it's got nothing to do with you."
"It can have something to do with you," the prisoner says, eyes still on me," if you want it too."
"No!" father yelled,"Son, go back go the-"
"I'm not going anywhere, Dad. I don't care if I have no right in this. I'm interested."
At this the prisoner beams even bigger, if that’s possible, and shakes his wild grey hair as he spins to face my father." I like this kid!"
My father turns from me, a worried glare on his face."We were discussing this matter."
The prisoner ignores him and turns back to me, still grinning. “What’s your name, shrimpie?”
I try not to make eye contact with him."Dillon, sir. And I’m not a shrimp.”
The prisoner nods, sitting back in his chair. “This may be more interesting than I thought. Keep your eyes open, kid."
I nod slightly, and my father glares as the man turns his gaze back onto him.
"Oh, right." he stands and walks to the window, staring down with an air of pride at the floating girl.
"So, this is my subject?" he says, his mouth for once twitching into a thin frown, his bushy grey eyebrows raised. "She's not terrible, but," he looks at my father, now, in the smallest way, serious," what is she capable of?"
My fathers stare is hard, as was his voice."Some drugs, stolen goods, and was sent to juvie. Got out a couple weeks ago and stole an SUV, which she drove onto railroad tracks. Went right through the gates and stopped right as the train came. A car rammed her from behind, saved her life. The driver of the car fortunately made it out alive, too."
The prisoner is smiling again, ignoring the bit of good news." So, she's got guts. Exactly what I'm looking for."
He sounds like he was buying her.
"So," I butt in,"What exactly is this 'treatment'?"
The prisoner turns to me, beaming,"So glad you asked."
"Davin," my father warned,"don't say anything you'll regret."
The prisoner turns to him, responding to his name, then looks out the window again.
"Have you heard of the fairytale, 'Alice in Wonderland'?" he asks, addressing me. I nod.
"Yes, I would think so."
Davin grins."Wonderful! So you are familiar with the character Alice. A strong willed, steadfast girl who just wants to get home, no matter the cost."
"Yeah."
"Well, the reason that she got through it all was because she had something to look forward to: seeing her friends and family again. She had hope. Now, I thought many years ago that, if we took someone with no hope, with nothing to look forward to, and put he or she in Alice's world, would they react differently? Would they have the will to fight? Would they give up at the very beginning? Or," he raises his shackled hands and places them gently on the window,"would they find the very thing they longed for for so long that they lost sight of their true meaning?"
I purse my lips."Sorry, but  what's the point? How can you recreate Alice's world?"
Davin looks at me and smiles almost sadly, shaking his head."One's wonderland isn't out here, Dillon," he says, raising his hands so that two fingers gently touch his temple," it's in here."
I step back, jolted by the thought."Brainwash."
He shrugs."Sure, that’s one way to look at it." He turns to look at my father."Well? Are we gonna do it? Was I dragged out of my cell just to re-explain my brilliant theory?"
Re-explain?
Father nods."Of course." he steps up to the table and flops down a big white envelope. Davin walks to the table and gestures to his shackled hands. With a wave from my father, the guard undoes the bonds and Davin open’s the envelope.
"Oh, good!" he says giddily, slipping out several sheets of paper,"It's all here."
I peer over his shoulder, trying to read the papers even as he tears through them at amazing speed. I catch the name Alice more that once.
"Here we are," he says, shifting to a new sheet of paper with empty blanks,"a new start, round two."
"You've done this before?" I ask.
He ignores me." Let's see, name: Alice."
I stop him as he finishes with the L."Wait! This is a new start, right? Why not a different name?"
He laughs loud."What's wonderland without Alice?"
"Well, why don't you spell it differently. Like...A.L.Y.S?"
Davin looks up at me." I'm really starting to like you, kid."
From the corner, my father clears his throat, but I can’t tell if the warning is for me or Davin."
"I'm interested very much in this experiment, Doctor Davin," I say, beaming like him. He looks back up at me again, his smile surely larger than mine.
"As am I, Dillon. And please,” He scratches down a few strange symbols on the paper before turning back up to me, his two different colored eyes holding two different emotions, the gold excitement and joy, the grey darkness and mystery, maybe even hate. My breath catches in my throat.
He smiles."Call me Hatter."