Chapter 13

  Prophet's head ached, she could hear her heart pounding, the room around her was poorly lit by candles and an old chandelier, the wallpaper had once been white with flowers and forest animals, but it had yellowed long ago and was covered with water stains and mold, a long dining table sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by mismatched wooden chairs that didn’t match each other or the table.

  Prophet's arms, legs, and waist were tied to an old wooden chair, with flaking white paint, her legs were forced apart by the size of the chair, she had been changed from her black and grey Titans uniform, and into a dirty baby blue dress, didn’t even reach halfway down her thighs.

  The air stank of mildew and urine, she assumed that some of it was hers, since the chair beneath her was wet, across the table from her stood a tall thin figure, holding a small tea cup, between 2 long bony fingers,

  “Alice, you’re awake” The voice was raspy, he straightened out, and slowly made his way around the table, he wore an old green top hat, and a faded green and brown suit,

  “Who are you?” Prophet asked, her throat was dry,

  “Why Alice, it’s me, the Mad Hatter” The man stepped past her, tracing her jawline as he passed, he started fiddling with something behind her, “Oh, you’ve forgotten again, poor Alice” His tone was a mix of pity and impatience, Alice went rigged as she felt him suddenly right behind her, she could smell his stale breath and felt it’s warmth on her right ear,

  “Let me jog your memory Alice” Prophet’s chair was jerked to face a white sheet, that was pinned to a wall, somewhere behind her a VHS tape was slid into a player, after a couple seconds of whirring, an image was projected onto the sheet.

  The image was a photo of a teenage girl walking across a city street, she had blond hair and blue eyes, she had a small ring through her nose and was wearing a dark pullover, black jeans, and tall black boots with lots of buckles, she seemed oblivious to the camera, the next photo pulled out and showed that the photographer was quite a distance away, in the next couple pictures she was wearing a dark blue school uniform, with a patch on the sleeve that read ‘Gotham Academy’, with a crest that Prophet couldn’t make out, several more photo’s flashed by.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  The last semi normal picture showed the girl sitting, looking clearly displeased, in front of a cake with the words ‘Happy Birthday Alice’ written on top, next to her was an older, tired looking woman, they were sitting alone in a booth at a diner, the photo was taken from the next booth over, the next photo was drastically different, it was taken with flash in a dark room, it depicted the girl, laying on an old, white painted, wooden bed in what looked like an old children's nursery, she was wearing a dress that looked similar to the 1 Prophet was currently wearing.

  Several photos chronicled the girls imprisonment, 1 photo was a close up of her face, she was crying, her nose ring had been ripped out, and blood trickled down her top lip, in the next picture she was laying on a concrete floor, in a pool of blood, the dress was heavily disheveled and displaced, Prophet fought back the urge to vomit, the final photo was of a tree with the word ‘Alice’ carved into its bark.

  Prophet sucked in a breath as she felt a hand on her right breast through the dress,

  “Fuck you” She said, her voice quiet, her throat tightening,

  “What?” The Hatter asked, his breath still warm on her ear,

  “Fuck you, you fucking bastard” She threw her head back, the back of her skull connected with his cheek causing him to stagger backward, he groaned in pain,

  “Alice, that mouth of yours, always getting you in trouble” He hurriedly shuffled around behind her, Prophets head pounded worse than before, she heard him replace the tape in the player, “Don’t worry, we’re going to help you learn to hold your tongue” The projector lit up the sheet in front of her, pictures flashed by quickly, each 1 flashed for only a second or 2, most were close ups of plants and bugs, old castles and tea parties, it was after a minute of the pictures flashing by that Prophet heard the audio from an old Alice in Wonderland movie begin to play, her head ached worse and worse, her eyelids were growing heavy.

  Prophet awoke covered in sweat, the room was darker, it felt like the shadows were reaching out from every corner to grab her,

  “Rachel” A girl had suddenly appeared beside her, she had pale grey skin, with 2 sets of glowing red eyes, she had the same messy bob as Prophet, but colored white, she was wearing a white cloak that matched her hair,

  “Help me, please” Prophet begged, the girl looked sympathetic,

  “I’m sorry, I can’t help you” She said, regretfully, her voice was a little raspy,

  “No, no, please, you have to help me” Tears blurred Prophet’s vision, the girl placed a hand against Prophet’s cheek, wiping away a streak of tears,

  “I’m sorry, I can’t, not yet, it’s gonna be ok” She said, sorrowfully.

  A shriek of laughter erupted from the shadows, terror gripped Prophets body as she watched another girl step from the shadows in front of her, she looked looked like Prophet and the 1st girl, she had inhumanly pale skin, that was contrasted with her black messy hair, and a pair of jet black eyes, her mouth was curled into a twisted smile, she was wearing a black cloak that melded with the shadows that surrounded her, the hood was pulled over her head, the rest of the cloak was open revealing her pale bare skin, beneath the cloak she wore only a series of chains, a large chain was pulled tightly across her breasts, held in place by a dark, heart shaped lock set between them, a second chain looped into the back of the first, and clung to her spine, all the way down to a series of smaller chains that fitted tightly around her hips and held a metal plate tightly between her legs, Prophet closed her eyes tight as she approached, she felt her breath in her ear,

  “Don’t worry Rachel, I’ll help you” She whispered, taking a step back, she placed a foot on the chair between Prophet's legs, and laughed as she kicked it over.