The Dream

She breathed hard and fast, running through the endless dark woods closing in on her from every side. Her hands clasped her torn and frayed dress frantically. Her eyes were wide and fearful, sweeping back and forth as she ran, looking around for anything that might be coming after her.

She didn’t seem to know that eyes were watching her from everywhere. From above, from below, from the sides, from inside. Her bare feet made soft patting noises against the light dirt path as she ran for her life. Those white trees passed by in blurs against the black background making up the sky, almost turning her whole world completely white.

She ran and ran and ran, but no matter how fast she ran she didn’t seem to go anywhere. The poor thing seemed to be getting tired. She wished that she could stop, but her legs wouldn’t obey the command. Soft whispers floated to her ears: Stay with me Alice…are we not friends?

Her hands moved to her head as she covered her ears and screamed. “Stay away from me! Leave me alone!” She closed her eyes and willed it all away. “No! No! NO!” she cried, crystal tears streaming down her face, her breath came in choking sobs, and finally her legs had to stop moving. She collapsed mid-stride and fell against a gnarled white tree. Red leaves fell around her from the impact of her body. She looked up as if dazed, her tears almost forgotten. The blood red leaves fell against the black sky as if they were in water. Her mouth opened in wonder and one small sob escaped.

Alice…don’t leave me…

She looked down at her hands, lying flat and splayed out on the silvery-black dirt. Unconsciously, they clenched, making the dirt clump under her fingernails.

Alice…

Slowly they unclenched, revealing bright red spots. In a second the two spots transformed into bright red roses with bottle green stems and sharp thorns. She stared in wonder at the new plants before she felt something slide down her face. Reaching up with one of her dirty hands, she gently touched the spots under her eyes.

Her hands came back red. She screamed and choked as more red flew from her mouth. Using the trees to pull herself up, she began to run again, holding her hands to her mouth as she cried bloody tears. She did not go far before she was forced to stop again, this time because she was coughing red. Falling to her knees in the middle of the silver and black path, she hugged her middle and wished with all her might that she would wake up and everything would be normal.

Alice?

She looked up at the sound and saw a familiar bone white figure of a young boy standing in front of her. That same bright red scarf was wrapped around its neck. It had black holes were its eyes would have been and a black crescent-moon smile as a mouth. It stood not far from her, smiling down at her on the ground. She backed away on her hands and knees.

“Get away from me!” she croaked, backing away until her back was against a pale tree. “Leave me alone!” That smile did not falter. It stepped forward slowly with a slight skip in its step. That long white coat ruffled in the non-existent breeze and the moonlight hair flipped back and forth.

The bloody tears had come back in force against her cheeks. “Please,” she whispered to the creature. “Please, I just want to go home.”

The creature halted not one foot away from her, that smile frozen on its face. She thought it felt somehow different, and her heart beat faster than before. So painfully fast. One hand went to her chest again. Her breathing accelerated until her chest was moving three times for every second.

Home?

She nodded, finding it difficult with the sudden pains in her chest. Her body was starting to go numb.

Why? Why? Isn’t it fun here? Aren’t we friends? Aren’t we all friends? Aren’t I your friend?

The voice had gotten louder with every question, and by the end it was screaming in her ears. She closed her eyes and huddled into the tree. She began to whimper to the dark air, “Please Mommy…Daddy…please…” Her tears had stopped, but not because she was no longer sad, no, more like she couldn’t produce any more.

The corners of the creature’s smile slowly turned down into a frown. The white fingers clenched into fists. The black holes bored into her, but she could no longer feel them. She could no longer feel anything; she would no longer feel anything.

The white creature turned away as her body paled and began to transform into a small white tree with blood red budding leaves. On this tree a single mirror hung from a branch, and a silky red ribbon was tied around the trunk.

A single black tear dropped from one of the creature’s eyes, as it fingered the scarf around its neck. It turned back to look up at the sky through the other white tree branches. The white crescent moon gleamed clearly through the black sky. The creature’s mouth turned up and imitated the shape.

Alice…

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Still not the worst dream I've ever had...
...Yeah...don't even ask me what this is, because I really can't tell you much. What I can say is that this was supposed to be a Prologue type thing for something much bigger. I might still do that, but I haven't been able to get on my computer very often recently and that's how I usually write things...unless I really have nothing else to do.
I wrote this a while ago and found it while I was cleaning out my computer. I think my writing has gotten better since then, so if it seems mediocre (more than usual, I guess) that's why. I used to have a character sheet for this thing's later chapters but it was in my old notebook from last year, so I'll have to dig that out to refresh my memory if I actually continue this monster. That is if I didn't throw it away by mistake...