ST. ALDATES STREET, THE ALICE SHOP, CHRIST CHURCH
I t takes me some time to find the Pillar. He keeps playing that silly game with me on the phone, where he sends me messages and guides me through town to find him. Instead of firing back at him for playing me, he's disarming my anger by using the tactic of waiting. I have no choice but to play his game. At this moment, I have no one else but him to help me catch the Cheshire.
And I will catch him. I feel so close to Constance, and this is beginning to become personal between me and the Cheshire.
I end up in front of the Alice Shop at 83 St. Aldates Street. It's a gift shop, really nice. It screams Victorian style but has a red door with the number 83 on it. A young crowd visits and leaves with a Queen of Hearts playing card, a drinking bottle that says "drink me," a big fluffy rabbit in a tuxedo, and all kinds of souvenirs.
A breeze of cold air rushes behind me all of a sudden. When I turn around, I see it's a school bus speeding up. It's just a normal bus, and nothing bad is going to happen. It just reminds me of my dream, where the rabbit killed my friends. Why does everyone else think I killed them? I don't even know what's real and what isn't.
My phone rings.
"Historians will tell you that the Alice Shop is what inspired Lewis to write about the Old Sheep Shop in Alice's Adventures Through the Looking Glass ," the Pillar says on the phone. "The truth is, this is the shop itself. Lovely, isn't it?"
"Can't quite say that, after you shattered my childhood memories." I purse my lips.
"You don't have 'childhood' memories. You have Wonderland memories. They will come back to you sooner or later. I don't promise you will like them, though."
"So why did I dream about the Alice Shop?"
"I can't think of something that could help in that shop. It's just the shop the Cheshire followed Constance to. That's it. Tourists come to visit it from all over the world. Constance just loved you so much, she wanted to buy you something special from it," the Pillar says, and I don't know his location. "The fact that you dreamt about it only backs up my theory that you're destined to save lives outside the asylum. You still want to stay lazy in your cell downstairs?"
"No." I'm confident about it. "If not to save lives, then to save Constance and catch the Cheshire this time."
"Can you write this down and sign it please, so I can use it in court when you change your mind again?" he says.
"Stop playing games. I learned my lesson. If Constance thinks I am her superhero, I will be. So don't waste time, and tell me something useful. Why did the Cheshire kidnap her again after I saved her?"
"Maybe you didn't really save her the first time. Maybe he let you save her."
"How so?"
"Maybe he just let you think you saved her," the Pillar says, "so he could know if you're the Real Alice because if so, you'll be a great threat to him."
"How can I be a threat to the Cheshire? And why don't you just tell me what happened in Wonderland in the past?"
"Other than the fact that I don't know everything, I have to protect certain assets of mine. Wonderland is like relationships: very complicated. Do I have to remind you that you and I weren't allies in Wonderland?" His voice is sharp as if he wants to carve the recognition into my skull.
"I didn't think I was friends with a serial killer."
The Pillar says nothing for some time. His silence is killing me. All kinds of crazy thoughts fill my head.
"I am really wondering what the Cheshire is after." Like always, he is a master of changing subjects. "Killing girls for fun isn't his thing. He is smart, sneaky, sly, and smooth, just like a normal cat. A killing spree isn't his thing."
"Then, where do I start looking for him? He must have a weak spot." I begin walking around the college. It feels good walking and breathing the air, like a normal person. I am starting to get used to it.
"In my caterpillar experience, a man's weakness always lies in their past, where all their dirty laundry is buried," he sighs cheerfully.