T he Pillar's last remark gets to me the most. I still can't shake my mourning over the boy I loved but can't remember. Adam and my Tiger Lily seem to be all I care about in this world.
"I am listening," I say. "Tell me what you want."
"I want him," he says without hesitation as he clicks his TV on. It shows news coverage of the Cheshire Cat murders.
"You're not going to tell me this is the real Cheshire Cat, are you?" I chortle.
"What do you care? Wonderland isn't real to you, correct?" He smirks. "I will guarantee that you leave this asylum twelve hours each day, see the world outside, do the little tasks I ask of you, and then come back and sleep in the asylum at night."
"That's not possible. The judge says I am insane. It's official."
"I believe you noticed I have an effect on Dr. Truckle. Trust me. He will do as I say."
"I assume these tasks have something to do with catching the Cheshire Cat?" I raise an eyebrow. This conversation seems surreal to me. I'm not sure if I am not just hallucinating it.
"If you do as I say, we'll catch him," the Pillar says. "Don't worry. I won't ask you to shoot a gun or be in great danger. You'll just help me solve some puzzles about him, and then go to bed like any obedient mad girl."
"You realize this should be the police's work, right?"
"Trust me; they can't catch him. Besides, wouldn't you feel better if you helped in catching him and saving tons of other girls from getting killed?"
I like the idea, although saving people isn't something mad girls should be doing. "And what will I get in return, other than the chance of seeing real sunshine and snow for the first time in the last two years?"
"I am hoping that at some point, you'll remember Wonderland again, and I can prove your sanity. But I know you're not enthusiastic about this idea," he says. "Tell you what: I can make Dr. Truckle get you a cell like mine."
"I don't care about the cell," I say. "For my first mission out, I want my Tiger Lily back."
"The Tiger Lily again," he says.
"And a bigger source of sunshine for it to grow in my cell."
"I like a girl who knows what she wants. We have a deal," he says.
I nod, not knowing exactly what I am doing. All I can think of is that I will get out of this place, even if it's for a few hours a day. I wonder if I will get to go watch a movie or go out and eat ice cream like normal people do. "Deal," I say.
"Frabjous," the Pillar chirps. I find it silly that he uses this word, but I also find it amusing.
"How do we start?" I ask.
"Why don't we start with that silly straitjacket of yours? I heard you're a master of escaping it."