One Week Later

“Hello, you’ve reached 911 what is your emergency?”       

Alice took a final look at the mansion before her.

Smoke was already billowing out the first floor.

Hints of angry flames could be seen through the front windows.

Shifting the car into drive she pulled away.  

It really was…had been…a beautiful place.

“Hello? Is someone there?”

Alice took a steady breath as she began her race around the island.

She spoke as clearly, concisely, as she could.

“My name is Alice Lockwook. I’m on Topaz Island, and there’s been a fire. I need help-medical help- right away.”

She grimaced as another labor pain shot down her spine.

“I’m….I’m nine months pregnant and my baby’s coming…now…”

Chapter 1

Alice opened her eyes.

She was in the box again.

Her heart hammered inside her brain. She tried to slow her breathing. She had gotten out before. She couldn’t remember how, but it had happened. She was sure of it.

Deep breaths.

In. Hold. Out. Hold.

In. Out. In. Out.

She could do this.

Another deep breath.

The darkness around her deepened.

The box was wining. She couldn’t let the box win.

Would it, could it win?

Alice’s shoulders slumped.

And now she had lost. She knew she had. Because now she was remembering something else.

That the first rule was you never let your mind consider that losing was an option.

Once you did….well…

Now she was stuck in here.

No.

She needed to fight back against those thoughts.

In. Hold. Out. Hold. In. Hold. Out. Hold. In. Hold. Out. Hold.                   

In.

Out.

She was getting it.

The darkness was disappearing.

The box was fading.

Alice could now see- she was no longer trapped in the darkness.

The box was losing its power and was dematerializing in front of her.

The light was coming in.

Alice’s heart lifted.

She was getting out after all.

She reached out in front of her- her hand splayed and strong just in case there were any lingering particles of that box still trapping her.

She needed to feel that the box was gone, that she could stretch out and be free.

Her hand thudded against a hard, clear surface.

Wait.

The box had become…transparent?

Oh no.

This, she knew, had never happened before.

And now that the light was pouring in, she could see blurs of shapes and colors swirling outside

But she was still trapped.

Her outstretched hand lay flat against the transparent surface still trapping her, only six or seven inches away from her face.

No longer trapped in the dark....now she was trapped in the light.

Not an improvement at all.

Rather, Alice became more terrified at this new, unexperienced and unfamiliar

horror.

How was this possible?

Why was the box changing?

With a gasp Alice realized her breath had been rapidly increasing the entire time, that she was beginning to feel faint.

No, no not this- she thought.

She began to feel dizzy. Her heart was racing again.

Alice tried desperately to slow her breathing.

It was ok, she told herself again and again.

It’s ok. It’s ok. It’s ok.

As long as you don’t scream, you can get out of this.

Just don’t…scream.

She closed her eyes.

In. Hold.

Out. Hold.

The box wouldn’t win, couldn’t win.

She was stronger.

She knew how this game worked…

Alice had definitely beaten this before.

She knew that.

She knew that.

In….

Out…

She was getting it.

Alice focused, her eyelids clenching, as she dove deep to remember her training, her lessons.

She knew they existed. Some part of her could remember going through this and another part knew she had succeeded many times.

So what were the tricks?

The white rabbit.

Yes.

If she could summon the white rabbit she would know, without a doubt, that this was nothing but a dream.

And if it this was nothing but a dream….her mind pushed harder…then Alice was completely in control.

Control.

This had to be a dream.

Biting her bottom lip Alice pictured the white rabbit.

Perfectly white, with dark black eyes like two shiny black buttons.

She opened her eyes.

And there it was.

She smiled. Her white rabbit. Curled up in her lap.

The little rabbit glowed, as the little rabbit always did, illuminating what little darkness there was left in the box.

Alice smiled again.

The rabbit snuggled close.

This was a dream.

Just a bad dream.

A deep slow breath brought Alice a shudder of relief.

Now she just had to choose to stop having the bad dream…and make it a good one.

This was the easy, beautiful part.

Another deep breath, a smile.

She was ready.

Alice took a deep breath and closed her eyes, the rabbit coming to a stand in her lap, placing a tiny, tender front paw on Alice’s chest.

But first she needed to focus, she needed to get rid of this glass box.

A dark shape lumbered in the distance, briefly covering both she and the rabbit in shadow.

Instinctively Alice looked up, squinting.

Something was out there now.

Something moving, both strange and oddly familiar.

She squinted her eyes and tried to bring the shapes and figures into focus.

The white rabbit began to dim.

But Alice didn’t notice- she was still squinting, still staring at the odd figures.

The more darkly colored splotches seemed to be congealing into a mass, no, multiple masses.

Alice turned her head.

There were at least a dozen of these masses, and they were moving in a circle around her.

Alice strained her eyes as she tried to focus on one of them, not noticing as her white rabbit began to shimmer and fade.

Were they people?

No. They looked…unnatural.

Fleshy colors and shrunken limbs.

Twisted bodies that dragged and flailed to move closer to her.

Her pulse was pounding.

The shapes moved closer.

And closer.

Alice hunched her shoulders and curled up as tight as she could.

Would the box protect her?

They were so close she could make out faces, or parts of faces, now.

Still blurred, like incomplete mannequins, but with empty eye sockets and open gaping mouths as if frozen in silent screams.

The white rabbit disappeared altogether.

Alice shut her eyes tight, clamping her hands over her ears and screaming with everything in her, from the root of every nerve and tendril.

And, as always, no sound came out.