xxAlicexx

Well no longer small, but still stuck in a gigantic forest in which you had no idea where you were or how to escape there wasn’t much hope for the two of you still.

Blaine was cheerful as ever, if still confused about what had happened with the flowers. “You told them you were on a mission? For the Queen? What if there was no Queen?”

“We’re lucky that there is then,” you sighed, climbing over a fallen tree that was covered in moss and black slugs. You almost gagged when you accidentally scrapped over one and it exploded into a black and purple mess all over one of your black and white stockings. Grabbing a leaf, you began to try to scrub it off, but it was no use, and not that it much mattered. You had much bigger problems…

“But what if there hadn’t been a Queen?” he pressed, trying to hold back his laughter at watching you trying to clean off your stocking… with a leaf. “That might have made them mad and then they could’ve just eaten you for the trouble.”

You sighed again and stumbled over to him, “It was a worth a shot. And look at us now, big again and free from them. And now since we know there is a Queen, maybe she’ll be able to help us out of here. She must know where we’re at, being the Queen of this land.” It was a hopeful thought, but terribly wrong, as you would find out later.

“From what we’ve seen so far,” he pulled you over a puddle of brownish liquid, “Everything seems backwards and crazed. So I can only assume that the Queen of such a place will be just as crazed as the rest of them…”

You glared at him, wishing he would be a little bit more positive, which was a wonder in its self because usually it was just the opposite. You were cold, and logical where he was hopeful and happy. You hoped that wouldn’t be another side effect of this place, switching personalities with him, but as Blaine had said, everything was backwards and crazed so there was no knowing.

And the further you got into it, the worse things got. You thought about turning back and trying to find the cave and the three doors again, but that was such a long walk back, and you had come this far so why not keep going?

You could barely see through the leaves in the trees, but the sky seemed to have changed color again to a dull shade of pinkish purple without a cloud dotting it’s perfection. No matter how the sky changed, it never seemed to get dark, or become night.

*Maybe this place has no night…* you wondered, looking through the spots in the trees.

Blaine didn’t notice. Which was some what of a comfort because you didn’t even want to begin to try and explain it. He walked on, in silence, stopping every now and then and cocking his head as if he was listening for something. Maybe he was hearing things, because all you could near were the sound of the forest, though there wasn’t much life, so far.

It wasn’t long before you came upon a clearing, with a curious statue of two boys, holding each other around their necks by their arms. They were grinning widely, reminding you of that blasted cat, and you wondered if maybe he would show up to “explain” things to you again. But you found he was no where in sight, and the two of you walked up to the statue, or was it a statue? It looked so real, like a living breathing thing, but it was frozen still, grinning, taunting.

It’s eyes followed you, or maybe you were just imagining things.

“What’s this hideous thing supposed to be?” Blaine asked, reaching out to touch one of the boys.

“Blaine you shouldn’t-” you tried to warn him against something, yet again, but his hand landed on the chubby arm of the one nearest him and in one swift movement it grasped his forearm.

“Hideous he says, Dee,” one of them grinned tightening his grip on Blaine’s arm as he began to struggle to pull it back.

“I think the proper words to say when meeting someone are, ‘Why hello there. How are you today?’” The one who had been called Dee scolded, gripping Blaine’s arm painfully.

You stood there, in complete shock. They were twins, now come to life, and Blaine hadn’t been wrong when saying they were hideous. They had short, curly blonde hair, that was slicked with some greasy substance, and overweight to where their clothes could hardly hold in their round guts, while their brown eyes and grinning faces did nothing to compliment them. They were grotesque, with dirt covering them from head to foot, and gross reddish boils showing through where you could see their skin.

Blaine was still struggling with the one who held him, which seemed to you wouldn’t be such a hard thing to do, but the hand held him with inhuman strength.

“Let go of me you-”

“Oh he’s shouting now, Dum,” the one named Dee, said leering at Blaine, his eyes with a reddish gleam in them now. He took his brothers hand in his other and Blaine grabbed onto you before they set themselves to spinning in circles, dancing round and round, laughing as you lost your footing and fell with a loud thump to the mossy earth.

They wheezed and put hands on their knees as they caught their breath from the dance, and it gave Blaine a chance to escape them. He ran to your side, and stood partially in front of you, to protect you, but you pushed him aside gently.

“Who are you?” was the first thing that came to mind. Might as well ask…

“He’s Dee,” said Dum.

“And he’s Dum,” said Dee.

“Well that’s not very nice to call someone dumb,” you said without thinking about it.

“Nohow, but it is my name, that my mother gave me,” Dum laughed and the both of them slapped each others backs.

“I think we should get out of here…” Blaine said in barely a whisper, but you shook your head and signaled for him to be quiet.

“Do you happen to know a way out of this forest?” You asked kindly.

“Out of the woods, yes. Our of the forest no.” said Dee.

And to this Dee replied, “Out of the woods no. Out of the forest yes.”

You looked at them, confused as ever. “Do you, or not?”

They smiled at each other, and hugged, dancing in a circle again. “Where would you like to go?” Both of them sang.

“Out of this forest,” you pressed, slowly growing irritated with them.

“Then walk in that direction,” pointed Dee to the west.

“Or that direction,” Said Dum pointing to the East.

You groaned, and rubbed your head. “But which way leads out of the forest?”

“Walk far enough and your bound to stumble into a lake or something, and that is certainly out of the woods,” Dee commented and the both of them chucked loudly, patting each others backs again.

You sighed, and looked over to Blaine, who shrugged, not really sure what to tell you. You had the sneaking suspicion that even if you made the question as clear as could be, they would still give you a not so clear answer. “You Can’t help me in the least, can you?”

They leered at you, looking quite evil for the moment, as if thinking things that no man dared think of, until Dum’s expression softened and he looked very apologetic, “And what may we help you with miss?”

“You know damn well what you can help us with!” Blaine yelled, fed up with their antics. “Tell us how to get the hell out of this forest, and I won’t have to chop your ugly faces off.”

“Blaine…” you whispered, tugging on his arm to back him away from them, “Don’t be rude…”

“The Hell I won’t, they’re just toying with us,” he pulled his arm away from you, to keep standing where he was at, and pulled his sword from the sheath on his back. He pointed it at them, evenly, threateningly, “Now… answers.”

They were deathly still, like when you had first come here, and then they both broke out in grins, even just being threatened so harshly.

Blaine looked like he was about to attack them, and then a familiar, but not so unwanted voice spoke from above you.

It was the cat, sitting on the branch of a tree above you, who you had seen twice before, and he spoke like he always had, enigmatic as always. “Harsh words do nothing to these boys, but look here,” he pointed to the bottom of the tree, then turned his grinning face back to you, “And I think you’ll find a way to separate them.”

“That would be helpful,” you muttered to him, and to yourself, ignoring Blaine’s questioning again, as to who you were talking to. You walked over to the tree, leaving him to talk more with the twins, and found that there was small hole, which you could easily fit your hand through. Although reaching into a hole, at the bottom of a tree, in a very strange land would seem like a bad idea, you didn’t have much choice so you reached in, expecting it to get bitten off.

But as you searched around, your hand landed on something smooth and round, and you tugged on it, and pulled it out.

You looked down, completely disappointed, to see it was only a rattle in your hands, smooth and white, with a small crack in it’s rounded surface.

You shook it, and only a distant echo came from within, but it gained one of the twins attention, and he waddled over closer to you, but not too close as Blaine got in front of him. You turned and he gasped angrily, seeing what you were holding. “You!” He cried, pointing at the rattle, “You stole my rattle!”

You dropped it to the ground, as if it were poison, and backed away against the tree, “I didn’t, I only just found it under the tree.”

Dum, the one who was looking so angry, turned to Dee and pointed the accusing finger at him now, “Then it was you! I always knew you were jealous of my new toys.”

Dee narrowed his eyes, “Yes then? What proof do you have? You’re the one called dumb, Dum,” he chucked and turned his back, “So why don’t you leave the thinking to me.”

Completely outraged now, Dum cried and leapt for his twin, landing on top of him on the ground and began to choke him. Around on the ground they tumbled, choking, biting, screaming, until there was a loud crunch, and a cry.

You looked down over the edge that they had tumbled down, and saw that Dum was now laying still, a thick tree branch sticking out of his middle.

Dee was still for the moment, but then opened his eyes, and rubbed his head, groaning before he noticed his twins lack of movement. He moved over to him, shaking him, calling his name, but Dum did not move, nor breath.

Dee’s eyes filled with tears, and he looked up to where you and Blaine were standing, and shook his fist in the air, “I promise to you one day, I will do the same to you!”

“Come on,” Blaine urged, taking your hand, as Dee began to try and climb back up to where you were.

You and Blaine, and once you had gotten far enough away, he slowed down.

“I didn’t mean… I never wanted…” you muttered, feeling terrible for what had happened. “It’s all because of that cursed cat!”

“What cat?” He asked again confused to you mentioning a cat he never saw. “And how did you know to look for that rattle?”

“It was the cat!” You cried, grasping his shirt in your shaking hands. “He told me to look for it! He said that it would separate the twins… I only wanted to get some answers. I never thought it would lead to that…”

Blaine put his arms around you, to calm you, and he sighed, “Well… that’s only one enemy for us. And I doubt we’ll be seeing them again… we won’t turn back.” He was so concerned for you, talking about cats that didn’t exist, and thinking you were going mad from this whole experience. He would look out for you though, like he always did, and if anymore invisible cats appeared, he would do his best to chase them away.