I heard a whimper from behind me. When I turned, I saw a cage. I took a step forward, my blade readied to draw blood, and I saw a pair of blue eyes. A young girl with long blond hair looked back at me.
“Ellis?” I whispered Her eyes darted behind me . . . so I turned too.
“Guess who?” Rabbit taunted as he grabbed hold of the Cheshire Cat’s hair and yanked him off the boy. The boy fell forward, hands in the dirt, his pants around his ankles. Rabbit spun the Cheshire Cat around and slammed him into the nearest wall.
The little boy ran to the cage. I opened the door. The girl and the boy watched me with huge eyes. “Run. Run, little ones,” I urged. The boy reached inside for the girl, dragging her to her feet. As they ran past, I stood in the girl’s way and asked, “Ellis? Are you Ellis?” My head cocked to the side. I thought she looked familiar, perhaps someone I knew long ago, with her long blond hair and her big blue eyes. She could only have been about ten years old.
She shook her head, folding her arms around her stomach. “She’s called Helena,” the boy said.
“Helena,” I repeated. Such a nice name. “Run.” I smiled and waved my blade. “Unless, of course, you want to see some blood spilled?” I added in excitement. I knew it would be such fun to watch.
The children ran. I laughed. The little ones had no idea what a show they would be missing! “Run, run, little ones. The little kitty-cat is about to purr and purr!”
Spinning, I gripped the Alice doll-head at my side by her hair.
“Impossible,” the kitty-cat hissed at Rabbit, who was holding him by the neck, glaring.
Rabbit ran his blade down the kitty-cat’s face. “Possible.” Then the kitty-cat looked my way.
His eyes squinted. “Ellis? Ellis Earnshaw?” He blinked. “You’re better?”
I shook my head and tapped my skull with my blade. That name cut through me. “Ellis, Ellis, Ellis. Why does everyone keep calling me Ellis?” I walked forward, but stopped when Rabbit turned his furious face to me. I nodded, then peeking from around Rabbit’s shoulder, I said, “What’s new, pussycat?”
Kitty-cat’s eyes widened. I smiled and hummed a teasing tune under my breath. “Poor, poor kitty-cat. My rabid Rabbit has come for you.” I skipped to the edge of the room and sat on the edge one of the tables there. Kitty’s eyes tracked me the entire way. “Naughty, naughty kitty—time to pay the price.”
“What the fuck?” Kitty-cat asked, just as Rabbit lifted his blade and sliced it across his mouth. Kitty screamed. I giggled, clapping my hands. Rabbit grabbed Kitty’s hair and wrenched him back up. Kitty’s flesh was cut, his cheeks. I screwed my eyes up to see better, and I suddenly realized what Rabbit had done.
“The Cheshire Cat!” I danced my bottom on the table in happiness. “You gave him a smile, Rabbit, a wide Cheshire Cat smile!”
But my happiness evaporated when I looked to the wall behind me and saw lots and lots of pictures. I jumped up as Rabbit dragged Kitty to a table in the corner of the room. Rabbit grabbed some ropes that were hanging on the wall beside him.
I focused my attention on the pictures. I didn’t like them. In fact, I hated them. Hated them so much I shook my head and closed my eyes to block out the images. “Rabbit!” I shouted as a sob escaped my throat.
I felt him beside me in moments. When I looked around, I saw Kitty tied to the table by the rope. I pointed to the wall. “The pictures, Rabbit.”
Rabbit faced the wall and studied the nasty pictures. I saw him squirm at the sight of the Cheshire Cat putting himself inside all the children of Wonderland, defenseless girls and helpless boys. He looked at them crying, screaming . . . and bad Kitty just laughing. Laughing, laughing for the camera . . . nasty, smiling Cheshire Cat.
A harsh cry thundered from Rabbit’s throat. Slowly, he put his cane back together. He rested it against the table I had been sitting at. I sat on a seat next to it. I looked on, blinking the sad tears from my eyes, as Rabbit unbuttoned his coat and slipped it from his shoulders. He placed it carefully on the table beside me. He undid his cufflinks and rolled his shirt sleeves up to his elbows. He reached for his cane once more and walked over to naughty Kitty, who was staring at him with big eyes.
I didn’t like those eyes.
“Dolly darlin’,” Rabbit said as he stood behind the kitty.
“Yes, Rabbit?”
“Come here.”
I stood up from the chair and skipped over to my Rabbit. I looked up at him, waiting for him to speak. Rabbit ran his lips over his teeth, then ordered, “Pull his pants down.”