T he Cheshire is sitting on a chair in the middle of the stinking room. Water is dripping somewhere nearby. He is playing cards with a dead mad man on the opposite side of the table. I watch him lay his cards down while in Jack’s body. Then he possesses the man in front of him for the next move. Then back to Jack.
“Cheshire.” The Pillar approaches him with his rifle in his hand. I stay back like he told me. Seeing Jack having been turned into a puppet on a cat’s string is breaking my heart. I doubt there’s anything I can do for him after all these years. Jack didn’t even flinch for the moment when the Cheshire left his body. The boy must be really dead now.
“Pillar?” Jack — I mean the Cheshire — says. “Want to play cards?”
I think the notorious cat has really lost it.
“I see you have a partner already,” the Pillar says, playing along.
“He’s dumb,” the Cheshire complains. “Every move he makes, I already know.”
“Oh, it’s like you can read his mind.” The Pillar glances back to me for a second, then back to him. “I guess it means you’re a genius.”
“You think?” The Cheshire’s grin is a lame, timid curve on Jack’s haggard and older face. Who would have thought? “Please come play with me, Pillar.”
“How about I tell you jokes?” the Pillar says. “I can make you laugh.”
“Jokes don’t work,” the Cheshire scolds. “I’ve been telling myself jokes for fourteen years.”
“Laughed your tail off?”
“On the contrary — I’ve never laughed once,” the Cheshire says. “You know why?”
“Depressed being in someone else’s body?”
“No, because I knew those jokes.”
“Maybe the greatest joke you never admitted was yourself.”
“It’s true.” The Cheshire lowers Jack’s head. I can’t believe my eyes. “I lost myself in someone who isn’t me.”
“Jack?”
“Yes. But you have no idea, Pillar. The things I heard in Jack’s mind. The emotions. The sacrifice. It’s addictive.”
“Addictive enough that you gave up on your quest to burn every human being alive?”
“I don’t hate humans anymore.” He chuckles. It sounds as if he’s crying. “That’s why Black Chess gave up on me. They say I betrayed them.”
“Why do you love humans all of a sudden?”
“Jack.”
“You said that before.”
“And Alice.” The Cheshire holds the Pillar’s hand. Eagerly. For the first time, I see Jack’s eyes sparkle like they used to in the past. “If you only know how I — I mean, Jack loves her. It’s mind-boggling.”
“Listen, Chesh.” The Pillar glances at his watch. “Since you love Alice so much now, she could use a favor. Can you do that?”
“Alice?” The Cheshire suddenly realizes I am in the room. The way he stares at me is the optimum of madness: to love the eyes looking at you and hate the soul that occupies them.