Author’s Note

Author’s note is at the end of the chapter today.  :)

Chapter VIII

For the rest of the day, I don’t really do much.  Basically, I just watch TV, munch on some freshly picked out of the hospital's refrigerator apples and sleep.  Productive right?  At around six I start to hear a lot of commotion coming from the main rooms.  I sit up and try to hear what’s going on.  I can hear Sheriff Swan’s voice above the rest, sounding urgent and stressed out.  I can hear Dr. Whale’s voice also, trying to calm her down.

“Do something!”  I hear her shout.  I try and get up to go see what’s going on but the pain in my head refuses to let me.  Sighing, I lie back down and decide to take another nap.

*

“You look so beautiful!” Justine squeals as she adjusts my dress.  I look down at myself, at the vintage patterned lace covering every inch of my dress.  It was Victor’s mother’s dress that she wore on her wedding day and after all these years, it still glows with the same beauty that it had in her wedding photos.  “Are you ready for this?” Justine asks, folding my veil over my face.

“I think so,” I smile, playing with the loose string hanging on my left sleeve.  Justine notices and a look of horror spreads upon her face.

“Oh Elizabeth!  You’re supposed to be walking down the aisle in five minutes!” she says grabbing my wrist, “I’ll go see if anyone has something I can fix this with,” she says, turning to go.

“Wait Justine!” I call out before she gets too far.  She hurries back over by me, ready to argue but I stop her.  I take the pin holding her corsage in place and use it to tuck the piece of thread into the inside of the sleeve.

“A little trick I learned when I was younger,” I smile, but it soon disappears.  How did I remember that I learned this when I was younger?  I sit down and start to feel a little lightheaded as a distant memory tries to break through the barrier of the drink that led me to forget everything from my life in the Enchanted Forest to my sister Elizabeth.  I shoot up out of my seat.  I’m starting to remember things!  My heart races as I start to picture my childhood.  My memories are chronologically coming back from my child years to my older years! 

In the midst of everything, there’s a knock on the door.  I brush my thoughts aside and hope that everything will find its way back soon enough.  Justine opens the door to Alphonse standing there with a huge grin on his face.  I asked him a while back if he would be the one to walk me down the aisle and he happily accepted, and he really takes his job seriously since he knows I don’t have my father here to walk me down himself.  Alphonse has always acted as a father to me anyways so it all works out fine.

“Are you ready dear?” he asks, still smiling.

I take a deep breath and take his arm, “Yes,” I exhale, smiling.  I can’t believe I’m actually getting married!  I’ve been waiting my whole life for this moment.  The music starts and I can hear the creaking of wood as the congregation stands for my entrance.  I close my eyes, taking in the moment.  I let my feet do the walking as I focus on each of my senses individually.  The sound of the organ playing the Bridal Chorus, the smell of the little white flowers in my hands arranged into a lovely bouquet.  I can feel the cheerful atmosphere of the guests all around me.  All of a sudden, Alphonse stops walking and I stumble forward a little before I realize that we’ve reached the front of the church.

I open my eyes to see Victor smiling in front of me.  I glance to the guests and see a couple hundred people staring back at me, all smiles.  I know very few of the guests, but it gives me a nice feeling to know that they came for us.  Victor even brought his monster to the ceremony.  I gave him the nickname Frankie a while back; I think he likes it better than being called somebody’s monster.  He’s just sitting in the back, smiling, playing with a square of fabric.  I sigh in contentment.  Everything is just going so perfectly.

*

I wake up to somebody shaking my shoulder.  I turn to face whoever it is and see Jefferson standing above me, looking slightly upset.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, noticing his expression and the white scrubs he’s holding which are folded neatly in his arms.  He crouches down to the level of me on the bed.

“Nothing I need to burden you with,” he says, giving me a small smile and looking down at my hand.

“What’s up then?” I ask him, also turning my gaze to where our hands are only inches apart.

“Oh, I was just in the neighborhood, Henry just got admitted today and nobody knows if he’s even going to make it out alive,” he tells me.  My eyes widen in shock.

“Oh my God!” I exclaim, “What happened?”  How is it that he was just visiting me here earlier today and now he’s the one in critical condition?

“Um, he ate a something poisonous I think,” he explains, trying to brush the conversation off, meanwhile I’m sitting there with my mouth gaping open.  He looks upset also, but something tells me that there’s something else going on besides Henry that he doesn’t want to tell me.  I take the hint and let it go, if he wants to tell me he will.

“How are you?” he asks.

“I’m good actually, my head still throbs when I try to stand up, but Dr. Whale said that should pass soon enough,” I explain.

He looks up into my eyes, “Well when you get out of here I’m going to buy you an extra huge meal at Granny’s as a huge apology for all of this being my fault,” he grins.

“Is dessert included?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.  He laughs, shaking his head.

“I will buy you every dessert on the menu if you’ll forgive me,” he tells me.

“Well, you better call in our reservation soon then because Dr. Whale said I can check out as early as tomorrow,” I laugh.

“Will do,” he says smiling.  Then it’s as if a shadow crosses his face and he looks just as upset as he did a few minutes ago.  “There’s still something I have to do tonight, I’ll check on you tomorrow, okay?” he asks. 

“Okay, see you tomorrow,” I tell him, trying to find hints in his expression that will tell me what’s really wrong.  I can’t find any that I can decipher.  He gets up to leave, but turns to face me when he’s just about to turn out the door.

“Is there anything I can get you?” he asks.

“No, thanks,” I tell him, smiling.  He gives me another small smile and heads out.  I settle back into the crunchy sheets of my bed and try to get back to sleep for the night.  I try not to worry about Henry.  I’ll go and visit him tomorrow to give him an update.

*

“So where are we going?” I ask Victor as he helps me bring my luggage to the train.

“I’m afraid even I don’t know, my good friend Clerval is the one who planned the entire Honeymoon,” he chuckles.  I smile, Clerval is a great guy, but the thought of him planning our entire trip was amusing to think about.  I look back towards Victor’s car, he’s helping Frankie out of it and over to the train.

“Why exactly are we bringing him along?” I ask.  I really don’t mind that Frankie is joining us, but would it have really hurt to have somebody else watch over him for a few days?

“I’m sure Charles would’ve been happy to take care of him for you,” I giggle, following him onto the train.

“The guys said he’s been acting strange lately, that he’s been having extreme headaches,” Victor explains, helping him into his seat, which is a whole boxcar away from our seats.

“Oh, okay,” I say.  So he just wants to bring his work with him, I smile.  Well, that’s what I get for marrying a Frankenstein.

“Well, you can join me when you’re ready,” he says, giving me a kiss on the cheek and walking to where our seats are.

“Okay,” I tell him.  I look at the scarred green face in front of me entertaining himself by playing with his small square of black fabric.  He looks up at me and I smile sweetly at him, but something dark washes over him and he returns my gesture with an ice cold stare, clenching his large fists tightly.  It’s enough to make me freeze in my spot.  A few seconds later his expression softens and he turns back to his fabric.  I back off from him and walk to my seat, sitting down next to Victor.

*

We get to the lodge and Victor tells me to find our room while he brings up our luggage.

“Are you sure you want to carry EVERYTHING?” I ask.  As a consequence to bringing less bags we had to fit more into the bags we brought.  This means they are quite heavy now.

“I’m alright,” he says, struggling to even lift his huge suitcase full of his equipment until Frankie helps him out.  “Okay, um, you two can find our rooms.  Elizabeth, do you think you could help him into his room?” he asks apologetically. 

“No problem!” I say, gesturing towards Frankie to follow me.

We get to his room and I help him unpack his small bag of things, including his roll of fabric.  The black cloth was silky and smooth, like the cloth one would make hats with.

I gasp and drop the roll on the ground.  Jefferson!  His hat!  My heart races as I remember the last chapter of my life before I arrived to this world.  I remember our quest to the world of Oz to collect the Emerald crystals from the city for the fairy godmothers to make some super, more powerful fairy dust.  The Wizard of Oz caught us taking his precious crystals and sent me here alone as a punishment because Jefferson, with his hat, was too powerful to cast off.

A sudden growl interrupts my thoughts.  I spin around to see Frankie glaring at the fabric I dropped on the floor.  He looks up at me with a murderous glare and growls again.  My heart drops.  If the memory erasing compound is wearing off on me…

“RAHHHHHHH!” he yells, starting to make his way in my direction.  I gulp.  It’s wearing off on him too.  The brain Victor put in him is starting to remember its old life, his old life as an insane murderer who’s now in the body of a monster.  I slowly creep towards the door, trying to make myself look unthreatening.  He moves with every move I make.  I finally feel the brass door handle around my sweaty hand and twist it slowly.  It squeaks loudly and Frankie roars again.  I quickly swing open the door and run out to find a place to hide, making sure to steer clear of Victor so he doesn’t get hurt.  I sprint outside and into the forest, knowing that he will catch up with me sooner than later.  I think back to my old life and how I could transport to other worlds using only my mind and dreams.  Hoping that it would work if I try it now, I run behind the largest tree I can find and clear my thoughts as much as I can with a huge monster trying to kill me.

I breathe deeply and think of the safest place I know.  I think of the green lush forest surrounding my favorite place in the world, full of wonder and imagination.  I think of the little cottage in the middle of nowhere that I used to visit in my adventures there, the place where I met Dexter for the first time.  I try to conjure up every detail of that place in my mind and I can’t help but hope that after ten years he’s still around.  Cats have nine lives though right?  I guess I shouldn’t be too worried. 

Frankie roars again, getting extremely close to my hiding spot.  It’s too late for him to find me though; I can feel the wheels in my mind turning, taking me to the place I haven’t visited for more than ten years.  Taking me to Wonderland. 

*

I wake up in the grass in front of Dexter’s cottage.  The fragrant smell of roses greets me as I get up and brush myself off.  I gasp as I look down at myself, my hands, my whole body is younger.  Ten years younger to be exact.  I look the same as I did before the Wizard cast me off, with the exception of my dress, which is the same one I was wearing in Victor’s world.  I think back to Victor and feel terrible that it will seem as if I disappeared, or he will discover Frankie and think he killed me.  I wish I could go back and give him an explanation, but there’s no time for that.  I have a visit with a cat that’s long overdue.

I walk up to the cottage door and knock a few times, hoping that someone answers.  Thankfully I hear footsteps.  “Hello?” asks a drunk looking man with shaggy brown hair and crystal blue eyes.

“Dexter!” I squeal, ambushing him with a hug.  It takes him a minute in his drunken state to process everything.

“Alice?  Is that you?” he asks, pushing me away to get a better look.  He grins his famous grin and pulls me in for another hug.  “I can’t believe you’re alive!  I haven’t seen you for so long, nobody has, but how do you still look like your only nineteen when it’s been at least a decade?” he asks.

“I don’t know but I’m not complaining!” I laugh, “You know, you look like you haven’t aged a day either,”

“Well duh!  I live in Wonderland silly!  Even you know the little known fact that nobody ages in Wonderland!” he says.

“Yeah, I know.  If more people found that out this place would be more popular than Neverland,” I laugh, “Have you seen Jefferson lately?” I ask on a more serious note.

He pulls back again and looks at me with a kind of pity.  “Yes, actually,” he tells me, “He’s actually been here in Wonderland for the past few months, but his mental state has… deteriorated.”

“What is he doing here?   Can I see him?” I ask, getting more excited at the chance to see the man I’ve been longing for all these years, even if I didn’t remember him the whole time.

“No, you can’t see him.  The Queen of Hearts has him under her command at the moment; I’m not even sure what he’s been doing here all this time.  He doesn’t look happy to be here though, in fact, he looks desperate to get out,” he explains.  “You know, you shouldn’t be here either, after what happened between you and the Queen of Hearts.  She’s going to find out you’re here soon enough and send her guards to come looking for you.”

“I know, but I don’t know what to do,” I admit, “I’ve been gone for so long I feel like I just don’t have a place where I belong anymore.  I can’t stay here.”

“What about going back to the Enchanted Forest where your daughter is?” he suggests.  I can’t believe that I completely forgot that I have a daughter!  My heart gets heavy.

“I don’t know; she’s already ten years old now.  She has lived without me for all these years; I can’t just go back and explain to her where I’ve been all these years, and how I’ve abandoned her.  Plus, I’m nineteen again.  I couldn’t be a mother to her now, she wouldn’t want me,” I say.  My eyes start to tear up and I know that I want more than anything to see my daughter, but I couldn’t do this to her.  She has a life back home, a routine that she’s used to.  It would be unfair for me to just walk in and ruin everything.

“So what do you want to do?  Wherever you go, I’m going too!” Dexter exclaims, jumping up and grinning.  I smile at his goofiness and notice a colorful haze out the window coming our way. 

“What’s that?” I ask, pointing to it.  Dexter darts to the window.

“No, no!  I can’t believe this is happening now!” he yells, resting his hands on his head.

“What is it?” I ask again.

“It’s the curse that Queen Regina has been threatening everyone with!  The curse that is supposed to take away everyone’s ‘happy endings,’” he says in air quotes.  Ha, as if any of my endings have ever been happy.

“What is that supposed to mean?  Is it going to kill us?” I ask, getting worried.  I just got back and dying is SO not on my to-do list.

“I don’t know, but we have to get out of here,” Dexter says, grabbing my wrist and dragging me out the door and deeper into the forest.  The strange mist is fast though, it’s only a matter of time before it reaches us.

I stop, stumbling when Dexter tries keeping me going.  “This isn’t going to work,” I tell him, defeated.  He looks at me for a few seconds before his eyes light up.

“Can you still transport between worlds?” he asks, I can almost see a light bulb flash on in his mind.

“Yes, how do you think I got here?” I tell him.

“Transport us somewhere, away from the curse!” he says, bouncing up and down.  I look doubtfully at him.

“If this curse is the kind of magic I think it is, it’s going to have effect on every magical world,” I explain, remembering learning about curses in school way back when.

“Then take us to a non-magical world!  I don’t care, just get us out of here, please Alice!” he begs.

“Okay, okay, just hold on.  I’m sure there has to be at least one world out there that will work,” I grab Dexter’s hand, “Clear your mind and keep it connected with me,” I tell him.  I start to clear my own mind and focus my mind on finding a world without magic.  Suddenly I’m startled by the worst smell I’ve ever smelt, the smell of evil.  I can feel the curse wrap around my body, making it hard to focus.  Already I can feel the effects of the curse starting to take place, but I manage to summon up all my willpower and can feel the familiar wheels in my mind turning, taking us to a place where we will hopefully be safe.

*

 I wake up to people rushing down the halls, and yelling.  I notice that my head feels back to normal like Dr. Whale predicted so I get up and walk over to my door to see what all the commotion is.  I still can’t tell what’s going on.  Out of nowhere somebody gets pushed into me.  “Hey!” I yell as I stumble back from the sudden impact.

“Oh Elle, it’s you!” Simon says, peering worriedly down the hallway to where all the hospital staff is going.

“What’s going on?” I ask, trying to get a better view myself.

“Henry stopped breathing,” is all he says.  My eyes widen, did I hear him right?  What on Earth happened to him?

“What happened?” I ask, but his attention is still focused on the direction where Henry is being held.  He heard me though, because the whole story runs out of his mouth like a waterfall.

“Regina gave Emma an apple turnover made with a poisonous apple in order to get rid of her to stop her from breaking the curse.  Henry went to visit Emma and saw the turnover from Regina and tried to convince her that it was poisonous.  Emma wouldn’t believe him so he took a bite and collapsed.  Now it’s not looking so good for him,” he explains.

“Couldn’t the doctors just filter the poison out of his system or something?” I ask.

“No, because it’s not poison from this world, Regina somehow conjured up some magic to get an apple laced with the sleeping curse here,” he tells me.

“Can’t she use more magic to save Henry?” I ask.

“That was all she had,” he says.  He peeks down the hallway, which has gotten much calmer as everyone else was with Henry.  “Let’s go,” he says, pulling me with him down the hall.

We sneak over to where Henry is.  Lucky for us, his cubicle is made partly of glass so we can see what’s going on while still staying out of the way.

“Excuse me,” I hear a girl’s voice from behind me.  Both Simon and I turn around to see a brunette girl with wavy hair which is a bit messy, she looks pretty disoriented.  She looks about my age, maybe a little older.  “Do you know where I can find a man called Mr. Gold?” she asks in an accent similar to mine.  I for one have no idea who Mr. Gold is, but Simon seems to be the answer bag today.

“He has a pawn shop on the other end of town,” he tells her.  “Just turn right when you leave the hospital and keep going until you see a blue building.  It has a sign with his name on it, you shouldn’t miss it.”

“Thank you,” she smiles, making her way towards the door.  I look at Simon and he just shrugs.

“While you were out and around with Jefferson, I was hanging with Henry.  He showed me around,” he says.

Then a rush of cold air races past us as two figures run to Henry.  I can tell that it’s Sheriff Swan and Regina.  Both of them slow down as Dr. Whale and another woman walk silently out of Henry’s room.  They softly whisper something to them and Emma walks into the room.  A nurse is unhooking Henry’s equipment.  I glance at Simon and can see tears forming in his eyes.  I can feel them coming in mine also.  I try to hold them back, but I can feel the wet drops run down my cheek.  How could this happen to Henry?  All he’s ever wanted to do is help, and he died for Emma so she could still be here to be the one to break the curse for the rest of us.  He was braver than any of us.

We all just stand there.  Regina and Emma are now both in his room, with Dr. Whale who just enters again.  Simon and I try to get closer, but a nurse keeps us back.

“Can’t we see him?  We’re his friends,” I ask her.

“No, I’m sorry.   You aren’t allowed any closer at the request of his mother,” she says apologetically.

I sigh and keep watching from afar.  Emma is walking towards where Henry is laying lifelessly on the bed, tears streaming down her face.  She bends down to his level and pushes back some of his hair.  She whispers something into his ear and kisses him gently on the forehead.

Suddenly a gush of wind hits me, knocking me back into Simon, but he’s knocked back by it too so we both fall to the ground.  It’s as if a movie is playing in my head, a movie of every second of my life runs through my mind, it’s more vivid than even my dreams.  It’s kind of like when somebody is having a near death experience and their life is flashing before their eyes, but I’m not dying, in fact, I feel more alive than ever!  All the gaps in my memory are filled and I open my eyes, looking straight into Dexter’s.  Confusion entrances me briefly but then realization hits.

“They broke the curse,” I breathily say out loud to no one in particular.  I think back to my memories, which are actually memories now, not just myself remembering extremely vivid dreams.  Now they are real.  They actually did happen.  Even the previously fuzzy years we spent living here in this world are clear.  Wow, it’s crazy how I’ve been in this world for twenty-eight years and nothing struck me as odd that time has been completely skipping over us!  Without thinking, I wrap my arms tightly around Dexter for a hug, it doesn’t feel right to call him Simon now when I remember him as Dexter again.

“Alice we’re back!” he exclaims, jumping up and down, causing me to bounce with him.  It catches me off guard to hear him call me Alice again after all these years, yet if he were to call me Elle again it wouldn’t feel right, I can’t explain it.  I look around Dexter to see Regina running out of the building.  It’s understandable; people are probably going to be out for her blood now that they remember that she’s the one behind all this.  Now that the curse is broken presumably by true love’s kiss, she has no power over anyone.

Figuring it’s alright to see Henry again, we run over to his door and stand there smiling like idiots until he waves us in. 

“Are you crazy?” I ask, running up to him for a hug, which he gladly returns.

“I think a little bit of your husband is starting to rub off on me Alice,” he laughs.

Then I hear somebody clear his throat from behind me.  My heart drops and I turn around to see a very confused Victor standing behind me.  Well, I did always want the chance to explain things right?  Now that it’s here though, I just don’t know where do start.  I let Dexter take over mine and Henry’s hug and walk over to Victor.  “You probably want an explanation,” I say, looking down. 

“That would be nice,” he answers, his voice cracking a little at the end.  He clears his throat again.

“Come with me,” I tell him, bringing him to the now empty waiting room.  I figure now that the madness is over everyone is probably out reuniting themselves with lost friends and family.  I really wish I was with them; I really want to see Jefferson right now.   It feels a little weird to stand in front of Victor; he has always been only a year older than me, now he must be about thirty years old while I still look nineteen.  Then again, I’m sure Jefferson is also nearing thirty. 

“So, what happened to you… Alice?” he asks, hesitating before my name.  Well, I have to start somewhere, so here goes nothing.

Author’s Note

Hey!  I added multimedia character pictures for chapters 2, 3 and 4 so be sure to check them out!  I know that the end of season one is minutes away at the end of this chapter, but don’t worry!  There’s still another seventeen Microsoft Word pages left of the story!  Like I said, I won’t go into the events of season two in this story so don’t worry if you haven’t seen season two.  Thanks again for reading and remember to vote!  If you read this and never comment, please comment!  I like to see who’s all reading my story.  :D