Alice’s House, Oxford
“Y ou have some nerve coming here,” Edith welcomes me by the door.
“I’m here to see Mother.” I try to sound indifferent. Last time I was here, the two sisters almost killed me. This time I could kill them, but I don’t want to.
“She is not your mother.” Edith glares at me.
“I know. Just tell her I want to ask her something.”
“She isn’t here.”
“Do you know where I can find her?”
“I don’t. Just go away.” She is about to close the door, but I squeeze my foot in. Edith’s stare tenses. The darkness inside me must have surfaced. She’s scared.
“I just want to know about my real family.” I look away to make it easier on her.
“You have one?” She chuckles.
“So I’m told. I was wondering if my… your mother knew about them.”
“She never mentioned it. She definitely thinks you’re a homeless orphan. Still are, as far as I can tell.”
“So she never mentioned anything about my past?”
“You have no past, Alice,” Edith says. “You don’t even have a mind to rely upon.”
I ignore the comment. “How about the Pillar?”
“Not again.” She sighs.
“When I was here last time you said he was a bad man. You warned me about him.”
“And you never listened.” She puts a hand on her waist, the other against the door-frame.
“I was wrong.” I play along. “Just tell me why you warned me about him.”
“Mother used to say he taught you how to be evil back in Wonderland,” Edith says. “Of course, I have no idea what she was talking about. Your Wonderland stories must have driven my mother crazy.”
“What else?”
“I’m telling you there is no Wonderland. Are you deaf?”
“Just tell me what Mother told you about the Pillar.”
“Some hallucinations about you collaborating with him to find his weakness.”
“Weakness?” I tilt my head.
“Eh, some terrible story, straight out of a cheap late night B movie,” She says. “Something about the Pillar killing people close to you, or maybe children, I am not sure.”
“So?”
“Story goes that the Pillar was invincible, and that you planned your revenge by befriending him, killing people all over Wonderland, hoping to find his weakness and eventually kill him.”