Chapter 64: Chapter 63 – Alice but not that Alice

"Hello, Mr. SmartySmarty. Did you come for a floral head wreath as well?" Said the gentle voice in the darkness.

Startled, Noah opened his eyes and jumped up, to his feet from the ground.

"You are quite jumpy, Mr. SmartySmarty." Said the girl in a beautiful sundress and a flower wreath on her head.

"Who? Where? What's going on?" Noah looked around in confusion. "I know this place." Said Noah after a moment finally realizing something.

"Of course you know, silly. You've been here with a Funny Lady." Said the girl sitting in the flowers.

Noah was standing on a hill full of multicolored flowers of all kinds that covered the ground like a blanket. This was the place from Lina's dream.

"How did I? Why am I here? Where's Lina?"

"Funny Lady is not here today. I guess she is busy." Said the girl.

"Who…are you?" Asked Noah looking at a strange young woman, who was talking in a childlike way.

"Oh, sorry. Silly me. I did not introduce myself. I am Alice. Nice to meet you." Said the girl standing up and stretching her hand to Noah. Noah carefully took her hand in a greeting.

"Oh, and I am not that Alice, by the way. I did not come here with a smart rabbit and I do not know a Hatter either."

"Ooukey." Voiced Noah. "I am…"

"Mr. SmartySmarty! Yes I know."

"Noah is what I was going to say. Anyway, Alice, do you know how I got here?"

"You jumped here like a rabbit…Hoooo" Said Alice and then her eyes enlarged in a face full of expectation while she took a deep breath. "Are you a smart rabbit that makes rabbit holes to wonderland? Do you know where the Hatter is?" She asked in a whisper.

"No. I think I am not a rabbit. And I don't know a Hatter." Said Noah looking at her questioningly.

"Ooooooo." Voiced Alice in disappointment. "But you do jump from dream to dream like a smart rabbit. So at least it's something." Said Alice and sat back down on the ground continuing to make another wreath of flowers. "Don't be sad Mr. SmartySmarty rabbit, maybe we can find our own Hatter?"

"I don't get what you are talking about at all."

"It's okay. Bobby doesn't usually understand me either. But he pretends like he does. He is so silly."

"Right." Said Noah facepalming.

"System?" Said Noah. "System, can you hear me?"

"Your friend is not here." Said Alice.

"My friend? System? What do you mean it's not here? It should be if I am here."

"You gave it away. So it's not here."

"I…gave it?" Muttered Noah and he finally remembered what happened to him before he woke up here. "The voice. That asked to give them control."

"Yes. They asked for your friend so you gave him away. Mr. SmartySmarty isn't very smart it seems."

"Why would you name me SmartySmarty then?"

"I did not name you that. They say that you are Mr.SmartySmarty, so I call you that."

"Who are they?" Asked Noah.

"They?" Said Alice with a questioning look.

"Yes. You said they call me that." Explained Noah.

"Who are they?" Asked him Alice.

"That's what I asked." Said Noah lifting his hands slightly in a questioning way.

"What did you ask?" Asked Alice.

"Who are they?" Said Noah.

"They?" Said alice again with a questioning look as if he was asking something stupid.

"Aaargh. Fuck." Said Noah frustrated.

"Hooooo." Breathed in Alice looking at him with a scared face. "Mr. SmartySmarty swears! Bobby said bad people swear. Mr.SmartySmarty is bad!"

"No. No, I am sorry. That was an accident." Said Noah apologetically. "You just don't make any sense."

"Mr. SmartySmarty is angry at me." Said Alice with a sad face

"No. No I am not. Listen, Alice, do you know how to get out of here?"

"You just jump out like you jumped in."

"Riiight." Said Noah with an emotionless face. "How did Alice get here?" He asked.

"Funny Lady showed me this place. But she ran away when I talked to her. Funny right?"

Noah remembered the dream he had with Lina and the way it abruptly ended after someone spoke to Lina. Now that he remembered, that voice back then sounded like Alice.

"You were there. In Lina's dream."

"I've been here a long time. But yes, I saw you and Funny Lady jump in the field together."

"Jump…Yeah." Said Noah with an awkward look on his face, while Alice looked at him questioningly.

"Alice I don't really understand how I got here and why I am here. Can you help me get out?" Asked Noah, changing topic.

"You are here because you were running away. Why would you return to where you had to run away from?"

"Running away?" Noah remembered the last moment before he got here again and the black tentacles that dragged him into the darkness. "From what?"

"Your nightmares of course." Said Alice stopping her wreath weaving and peering into the ground with a strange face.

"Nightmares?" Asked Noah noticing her strange reaction.

"Mr.SmartySmarty really isn't smart at all." Said Alice. "You were jumping from dreams to dreams with your friend and you saw many many things. There were nightmares in them too. You took them with you. Your friend hid them from you and used them to give you powers. But you released them. And let them have your friend."

Something dawned on Noah. Everytime they read a story in his mind's realm, a small imprint of that story was left inside his mind's world. Mountain, school and many other things. But there were also those scary stories. The ones that made him throw up. The ones that made him lay shivering in the ground after he ended the read. The horrors that they decided to read one at a time, diluting their influence on him with many good stories read after every bad one. Now that Alice mentioned it, these stories did not leave any imprints in his mind. Was the system hiding them?

"You seem like you met, nightmares before, Alice." Said Noah silently.

"Yes. I had nightmares too in the past."

"Had? You don't have them anymore?"

"Yeah, I did wshoo-wshoo and they are gone now." Said Alice waving her hands around.

"Wshoo-wshoo?"

"Mhmm" Voiced Alice affirmatively.

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"Alice, I want to save my friend from the nightmare clutches. Can you help me wshoo-wshoo them?" Asked Noah.

"Of course not. I can't wshoo-wshoo your nightmares, only you can." Said Alice.

"Okay. I get it. But I don't know how to wshoo-wshoo. Can you teach me?"

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" Voiced Alice a prolonged sound with a thoughtful face and a finger under her chin. "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm" Continued she after taking a breath in.

"Alice?"

"No."

"No? Why not?" Asked Noah

"You did not say the magic word." Answered Alice with a smug face.

"Oukaaey. Can you PLEASE teach me how to wshoo-wshoo my nightmares." Asked Noah.

"Okay if you ask so kindly, I can't reject, right?"

"Thank you." Said Noah as Alice was standing up.

"You have to see it if you want to learn. Here, look at this." Said Alice and suddenly there was a black box in her hands. She moved one of her hands to a small object on top of it that looked like a small cork that closed the hole. "Look inside." Said Alice and opened the cork when Noah bent to peek inside the box.

Suddenly he was dragged into the box through the small hole and the world around him changed. He was in the cage, his hands were chained to the wall and there were women in torn clothes around him. Some were chained like him, some just lay on the floor unmoving with empty eyes staring into nothingness. He heard endless screams of women from all around him. Then he heard the grating sound of the metal gate of this cage and looked to the gate. A devil with no face entered the cage and started to whip and beat one of the girls on the ground. Then he walked to one of the girls that was chained to the wall and forcefully spread her legs while she was screaming and struggling, and started to rape her while he slapped her face. After a moment he looked at Noah and walked toward him. Noah started to struggle in his chains trying to get away and noticed that he was wearing clothes that looked like a worn out women's dress and his legs that were peeking out of that torn dress looked like small girls. 

Demon grabbed his chin and a horrible smile spread in its blank dark face with no eyes or nose.

Then Noah woke up in the flower field again breathing hard in horror, while looking around. Once he jumped away from the black box, Alice put a cork back locking the hole in it.

"What? What was that?" Asked Noah with a panicked voice. 

"My nightmares." Said Alice silently looking with a sad look at the box.

Noah looked at her with horror and realization dawned on him. 

"Oh, Alice…" Said Noah with a gentle voice.

"It's okay, Mr.SmartySmarty. My hero came for me and beat the demons. But nightmares stayed. I had to wshoo-wsho them into this box myself. Because my hero could not do it." Said Alice.

Noah just stood silently without saying anything.

"Well this is how you wshoo-wshoo them. You paint a very very strong place for them and you wshoo-wshoo them all inside and lock them there.

"Paint?" Said Noah thoughtfully.

"Yes, your friend did teach you to paint in your mind, right?"

"You mean the mind canvas skill?"

"Mhmm" Said Alice and her black box disappeared. "You have to paint it very very sturdy." She said.

"But can I use them without my friend?" Asked Noah.

"Your friend only teaches you. They are your abilities. You just need to remember them." Answered Alice.

"I see." Noah closed his eyes and started to imagine his skill in his mind after some time he finally felt his connection to the skills that he had. "I can feel them! I can feel them, Alice!" Said Noah opening his eyes, but saw that Alice was gone.

"Alice?" Called Noah looking around, but saw only the flower field.

"Thank you, Alice." Said Noah and closed his eyes feeling his connection with the skills again.

******

"Hey, Alice." Said Bobby coming out of his room and seeing his sister in the sundress sitting behind the table waiting for breakfast while happily humming. "How's my little sister doing today?" He asked, kissing her forehead.making her giggle.

"I am very fine today. I met a new friend."

"A friend?" Asked Bobby looking with a raised brow at a woman coming out of the kitchen with plates.

Woman shrugged her shoulders with a smile.

"Yes. I met Mr.SmartySmarty." Said Alice.

"Who is this Mr.SmartySmarty?" Asked Bobby.

"Mr.SmartySmarty is a rabbit that jumps from dream to dream." Said Alice with a dreamy voice.

"I see. A dream rabbit."

"Alright, I have to go. You be nice and listen to aunty, ok?" Said Bobby.

"Mhmm" Answered Alice.

"Bobby you will not eat?"

"I am getting late, aunty. The team will be waiting for me." Said Bobby, grabbing a few things from the plate. And walking away. Then he stopped and walked back to the woman.

"Please, be careful with her today." Whispered Bobby to the woman's ear. "She seems to be overexcited today. I am afraid she might run off somewhere again."

"I know. Don't worry." Whispered back to him woman.

"Alright. Have a nice day." Said Bobby and ran out.

"Good luck." He heard the woman's voice from behind him.

Bobby walked the street toward the adventurers guild remembering that dark day again. 

How he barged into the Nobles house and was almost killed. How Paula and Jake saved him. How the mad old woman slaughtered every single person in that house. He remembered the horrors he saw when he came down into that cellar under the mansion.

Alice was always a strange girl. Seeing and saying strange things. Always living in her abundant imagination, but ever since that event….It's as if she escaped the real world all together. Deciding to live in a fantasy rather than in this terrible world. Becoming an eternal, silly little girl. 

Bobby breathed out while shaking his head and dismissing these thoughts. He entered the guild building where his team waited for.

"Bobby! You are late again." Nagged Jake.

"Can't come in time at least once?" Asked Rey.

"Sorry, sorry guys. So where are we going today?"

"The lower levels are getting overwhelmed lately." Said Jake. "We were requested to clear out a few levels."

"Ok. Let's go then." Said Bobby while looking around and noticed Miss Louriat with a dispirited face. "Any news about the tamer kid?" He asked silently from Rey.

"No. It's been a week now. Investigators are furious. I heard Paula went to hospital yesterday and put the guild manager on the hospital bed again just as he got out of it, just to vent her frustration."

"I am sorry for the guild manager. But better him than us." Whispered Jake. "Let's go."

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