SOMEWHERE IN THE FUTURE
I wake up in a big bed inside a white room with cushiony drapes and modern furniture. I am suffering from a headache. Mr. Tick and Mrs. Tock told me it would subside soon. It’s surreal to imagine another version of me lying on a couch a few years ago in the backroom in the Inklings, while I am here in the future. All at the same time.
I straighten up, remembering that the March Hare’s life is at stake. I haven’t had enough time to get to know him, but he reminds of Constance, whom I saved in my first mission. Both are pure children at heart, and all I want to do is hold them tight and protect them.
But where am I? How many years into the future? And how has the Inklings turned into this beautiful room I am in?
The headache begins to subside, and I get off the bed. This room is big and beautiful. Mostly white.
I am wearing a white dress. The tiles on the floor are black and white, like a chessboard. Except they’re made of elegant, expensive, shiny material like I have never seen before.
There is a window to my right, overlooking a garden. It catches my eye. I can’t help but look.
The garden is vast. Endless. Full of lilies and greens. It reminds me of… wait… is that a hedgehog the shape of a rabbit?
It is.
No. Not a rabbit. A March Hare.
I realize the garden is another fabulous replica of Wonderland, probably designed by the March Hare — in the future.
Does this mean he is alive? Does this mean I will succeed in getting back the keys and saving him?
Too many ideas roam in my head and stir that headache back again. It’s surreal being in the future. All those possibilities.
I turn and face the room again.
I walk to a wardrobe — probably my wardrobe. When I open it, my mouth hangs open. Look at those beautiful shoes. And at those endless, beautiful dresses. All mine? I pick one after the other and take a better look at them. They don’t look my size. A little bigger, belonging to someone a bit chubby.
Then it occurs to me. I am in the future. I could have gained weight. How old am I?
I put down the dresses and locate the mirror in the room. A wall mirror. Beautiful as well, with calligraphy on the white frame.
Standing there and staring at my reflection, I look much different. Not just older. I have gained weight. Not much, but it explains the dresses. God, I have a couple of wrinkles under my eyes. I must be in my early thirties.
I can’t tell whether this is fun or shocking, seeing myself so many years into the future. So I let it go.
“But wait, Alice,” I say to my reflection. “You live in what looks like a good house. You’re probably rich. Does this mean…?”
The words are stuck in my mouth. But I think all of this means that the Inklings won. There can’t be another explanation. Whatever the Wonderland Wars are, I’m sure I wouldn’t be living as luxuriously in the future.
Unless we won.
“We won!” I raise my hands in the air and shout like a kid with a trophy. “Yeah!” I bend my elbow and wave it in the air as if I am surrounded by an audience of millions.
Really? We won?
I run back to the window and open it. Why isn’t there a soul outside?
“We won!” I scream out at the garden. “Suck on this, Black Chess.” I jab my finger at no one.
I am jumping in my room. Left and right. Wondering where my friends are. What happened to them in the future? Fabiola. The March Hare. The Pillar. Where are they?
And Jack? Is it possible I found a way for Jack to stay in this world?
All kinds of thoughts weigh down on my shoulders. I can hardly breathe from the excitement. I need to meet someone to get answers.
I run to the door, hoping to meet whoever is living with me in the house.
But then I stop. My heart drops to the floor when I hear a voice outside. It’s not the voice of a Wonderland Monster.
It’s a sweet voice.
Of a child.
But it scares the heck out of me.
Why?
Because a little girl is standing by the door. She is about six years old. She has blond hair, flabby cheeks, and an incredibly amazing smile. She is holding a lollipop and licking it.
She looks at me.
Then she says, “What’s taking you so long, Mum?”