Doll Sized ft. Charlotte & Kitty
"We're going to be stuck here for a long time," Kitty sighed as she folded her arms.
Both of them knew that the Rabbit Hole was the physical manifestation of Adelaide's deepest fears and insecurities. Most of the time there would be a clear narrative but today her thoughts was all over the place. Appearing almost hysterical. Kitty didn't like this one bit. The last time Madam had a severe meltdown only the Master could calm her down. Even then, he didn't manage to escape unharmed.
"We need to find Master. I don't think either of us can calm her down down."
Kitty's instructions made Charlotte frown. She knew what Kitty was hinting at when she told her to find the Master. This situation was beyond their control and potentially very dangerous. The two of them needed to get their guests out of here before Madam transported all of them into her labyrinth. There was no telling whether the monster living there would be awake. If it was then their chances of escaping was very slim.
Charlotte tried her best not to sigh. "I'll try to find Sir. Please keep them safe, Miss Kitty! I remembered there's a door on this floor that would take me back into the abandoned servant's quarters. Hopefully, I can find Hans and get him to help me."
She slid down the pile of buns quickly and ran towards the edge of the table. She hesitated, knowing how far away the floor seemed from where she stood. She almost backed down but her sense of duty spurred her forward. Squeezing her eyes shut, Charlotte recited the words from Psalm 91 under her breath. She recentered her thoughts around God and took her second leap of faith.
She curled herself forward expecting to hit the hard wooden floor. Instead she found herself rolling in a patch of grass. She was back in that strange lavender meadow. A battered wooden door stood a few feet in front of her. Charlotte blinked. That was easier than expected! It felt as if Madam wanted her to get Sir.
"Don't worry, Madam! I'll be find Sir and bring him here as quick as I can," she announced.
She picked herself up and made her way towards the door. She didn't know for sure that this was the way out but she decided to put her faith in Madam. Surely the kind woman hadn't was aware they were trying to help her deep down. Charlotte felt a little happier at that thought and twisted the knob. She stepped out.
And found herself surrounded by tall hedges…
She was in the Garden …
What the Heck? ft. Kindall
Kindall doubted he had a vivid dream before. His dreams made a lot more sense than what was unfolding before his eyes. His mind couldn't accept the fact that they were really sitting at a round table. He swore there was a long table here moments ago.
What the serious fuck was happening here? He woke up as his friends were walking in quicksand. After that, there was that blinking jellyfish and the lily pad raft. He must be going mad!
Adelaide was right about this one. Adelaide? Was that her name? Kindall was surprised that he managed to recall that bit of information. Somewhere deep down he remembered her smiling cheerfully as they entered her dining room. There was a lot of food, music and pumpkins. The memory seemed out of place but it was better than nothing. He was confident that his memory was returning gradually. Hopefully, it would all fall in place before he went mad for real.
He clutched his head at the temples and let off a sigh. Trying to remember why they ended up here was more annoying than cajoling a drunk Ethan and Kelsey to leave the bar and let him drive. This had to be the bad Karma Marten warned him about. Some Buddhist philosophy about bad things coming back to bite you. He merely shrugged back then when she mentioned it during their late night movie session with the rest of their friends. Now he was starting to regret it. Maybe he should paid attention when she was telling them how to negate bad Karma. As long as religion wasn't involved, he'd probably be fine doing what it takes to prevent this weird shit from happening again.
Kindall almost accepted that. His mind rebelled against it and soon the guy found himself trying to rationalize the whole situation again. He came back to one conclusion. This was Kelsey's fault - technically! They went into the woods to look for her and they ended up in Hannibal's castle.
Or was it Bowser? Or …. Saw? He couldn't remember the title. It was some outrageous story about a man kidnapping people and torturing them. Probably Saw. He remembered that Bowser was enemies with a bouncing man called Mario.
God! He was surprised he even remembered that! He'd need to talk to Ethan too once he figured out how to get them out of this mess.
Shoving his frustrations aside, Kindall copied the rest and lifted up his cloche. He stared. There on the plate was his father's head …
huh? A strange chill ran down his back as a weird sourish sting welled up at the back of his throat.
His dad? Hobart Kindall here? He stared for the longest time ever. He made sure to memorize his dad's schedule for October and November. October 15th to 21st - Zurich. Meeting a drug manufacturer. October 22nd to 27th - Canada. Checking on the main branch and interviewing some potential interns. October 28th to November 5th - Perth. Visiting Grandma with Mom. Australia was a day's worth of travelling from Bellwoods. 25 hours the last time he checked.
There was no way …
"Dad? Where's Mom?" He asked skeptically. Surely his mom would be the first one to insist on coming back. He could almost imagine her raging and shaking Hobart until he managed to buy the tickets. She'd storm through immigration and insist on bringing her hunting rifle with her once they got into the car. Hopefully she didn't! He knew his mom wasn't the trigger happy sort but he didn't trust anyone with a gun when they were stressed. He could only hope Mrs. Nolan would persuade her otherwise. He wasn't there to stop her himself.
"She's in Perth with Mom. I was worried so I came back. Your Mom is worried too. Kindall, I know you're an independent young man but …"
Hobart droned on. His voice flat and almost lifeless. It was a contrast with the actual Hobart Kindall knew. The lacksidisy man who saw the brighter side of life. Milton's face began warming up. He pressed his lips harder as his eyes pierced through fake Hobart's. Bespectacled eyes met bespectacled eyes and suddenly it came crashing down. He saw it. The one detail that was bothering him!
Hobart's spectacles! His dad lost that gold rimmed pair three months ago. He wore a black framed pair now. Kindall knew this because his dad couldn't resist sending him a "selfie". It was more like a passport photo to be honest but that was beside the point.
A ringing sound filled Kindall's ears as he felt the warmth rushing towards the rest of his body. He hadn't felt this angry before. This was a sick joke! Kindall bunched his hands up into tight fists and slammed them against the table. He slammed them again as his shoulders tensed visibly. His entire body began shaking. Without thinking, he picked up the fake Hobart head and tossed it across the room. The head smashed against the wall and stained it with a sickly orange color. There was a loud squelching sound as the broken head landed on the floor. The insides were dull orange almost like a pumpkin.
Kindall blinked. He expected to hear the sound of metal meeting brick. Maybe a loud crashing sound followed by lots of metal bits and wire. Not ..
that! He stared for a bit before sinking back into his chair looking totally dazed. His brain was surprisingly blank. He wasn't even aware that the rest of the heads turned into pumpkins too. Strange jack-o-lanterns with a red flamed candle inside them along with a "memento" from whoever they were pretending to be.
Milton's mind was blank. He failed to form any semblance of thought as he stared at the smashed up pumpkin on the floor. Numbly, he staggered to his feet and went over to kneel down beside it. He began examining it out of curiosity and disbelief. He rolled it here and there before extracting Hobart's lost spectacles from the mushy remains. He made a soft "huh" as he held overhead to confirm if it was the real deal. No one knew how or when Dad lost his favorite glasses but Kindall recalled how they realised it. His parents were staying at the Red Copper over the weekend. His dad had woken up and realised his glasses weren't on the bedside table. He groped and crashed around the entire room blind as a bat. It was so bad that his mom needed to get the spare pair from the car!
Come to think of it … if his dad was blind without his glasses, it was a little weird that he didn't realise that he lost them.
He felt a proper conclusion was a little out of reach at the moment despite him discovering his father's spectacles. He knew the conclusion ought to include the weird heads and the person responsible (the sicko?). He shrugged and stood up. "That was … odd," he managed to say finally. "I think we should leave here."
He couldn't bring himself to call this place the Red Copper. It felt so wrong! There was no way that old Mrs. Lyons would allow anyone to play such a twisted joke on her guests. She scold them for even suggesting it. She'd be so loud that Matt would come running down from his room on the third floor to chase them away. So yeah, this couldn't be the real Red Copper. This was so bizarre! He wanted to know why anyone would bother to go through such lengths to torture them. It was both fascinating and pitiful at the same time! He wondered what the mastermind was like. He bet the person wasn't that insane. Planning something of this scale needed them to be able to reason.
Milton stopped his brainstorm session when he glanced in Jace's direction. The poor guy looked very pale and shaken. Kindle was a bit unnerved at the sight. He had never seen Jace this upset before. Usually Jace would be the one calming people down. Now it looked like Jace needed someone to cheer him up. Kindle knew he wasn't exactly the best man for the job (Ethan filled that role too) but he was the only one not so preoccupied at the moment. He glanced briefly at Ethan before making his way towards Jace. He had to slow down a bit to sidestep the congealing vomit on the floor but he managed to get there without stepping into the puddle.
"You alright?" He asked, placing a hand on Jace's shoulder.
He used his other hand to grab a napkin off the table and held it up. He paused hoping that Jace's answer would give him some clue on how to proceed. He knew there were some tried and true methods for consoling people. Offering them a hot drink like tea or cocoa, asking them to talk about their problems or giving them some space. He preferred the last option as it involved the least amount of emotions. Dealing with someone else's emotions was stressful and very messy. He flexed his fingers nervously before deciding that saying a little more probably wouldn't hurt. He guessed that Jace could use some prompting too.
"You don't look too good but I won't offer you a cup of tea unless you really want it. You could talk about it if you want."
Whatever progress they made came to an abrupt end. There was a loud clatter as a trap door fell open overhead. There was barely a millisecond between the door opening and Ana tumbling down with a noose around her neck. She didn't even get the chance to scream before the group heard an audible snap. Ana's eyes glazed over rapidly as she continued dangling above them like a macabre chandelier. This time it was Milton's hand digging tightly into Jace's shoulder. He was once again at a loss for words.