1 01 | Like Alice in the Wonderland
01 |
• Like Alice in the Wonderland •
✧･ﾟ: Third POV:･ﾟ✧
Shivers ran down Quartz's spine out of both — fear and cold. Once her eyes flickered open, they looked over the dim-lit room she was lying in. Her vision was unclear and her head was spinning. Wearily, Quartz sat up, her hand reaching out to massage her throbbing temple.
Blinking once and twice, the blur in her vision faded away. A gasp left her trembling lips as she noticed the pool of blood on the ground. In any possible way, she tried to think of how she could have ended up in what it looked like a basement, and more importantly, whose blood was on the ground.
Quartz scanned her shivering body in an attempt to check if she had any wounds. A perplexed look etched on her face once she realized that she didn't have any, which meant the blood wasn't hers. Her mind tried to recall the earlier events from the day, but no memories popped up.
Instantly getting up from the dusty floor, panic and horror settled within her. She couldn't remember anything that happened that day. Despite the clear panic on her face, slight relief washed over her when she knew for sure that she didn't completely lose her memory from her entire life. It was just that one day. She thought she might be going crazy, or maybe she was trapped in her worst nightmare.
Footsteps echoed throughout the room and each step grew louder and closer, causing Quartz's heartbeat to fasten. Her eyes trailed the ceiling of the room she was in, assuming the person was stomping their feet upstairs, at least that was where the sound was coming from. Her eyes continued to follow the sound until it stopped. Right behind the wooden door was where the sound of the stomping feet died down.
Quartz waited for the knob to twist and for the door to swing open, but a minute passed and none of that happened.
A female voice said from the other side, "I know you're awake. I can hear you breathing." Her voice was unfamiliar and clam.
The thing that panicked her more was that the girl behind the door could hear her breathing. She was sure no human would be able to hear someone else's breathing from ten feet away.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to let you go with your heart beating." The girl paused, waiting for Quartz's response. When she didn't get any, she continued, "I really want to hear your voice. I'll be back with something that will probably make you scream." With these words, her feet began to stomp once again, fading away with each step that was taken.
Once Quartz couldn't hear her footsteps anymore, she thought of how she could escape without getting caught. She assumed that the door was locked. If someone else was in her position, no one would choose to go through that door when they didn't know what was behind it, right?
A plank of wood dropped on the floor, before another one dropped. Quartz's head snapped to see what was the cause. She felt a cold breeze blowing her hair away from her face. That was when she realized that there was a small opening on the wooden wall. She supposed that the nails were loose in the planks that dropped.
Luckily, the opening was big enough for her to fit through. Footsteps started approaching the room she was in, causing her heartbeat to thunder in her chest. She immediately went to the opening and tried to squeeze through it. As she got her head and her arms through, she caught the sound of the keys connecting to the lock.
Quartz grumbled in a hushed tone, struggling to get her hips through the opening. After a few wiggles, she finally managed it. She was relieved until she felt a hand grip her foot, dragging her ferociously. Grasping onto the leafy ground, she refused to budge.
"You don't want to see what I am capable of." The girl warned through her gritted teeth.
Quartz couldn't see her face from the darkness, although she could tell that she was furious from the tone of her voice. None of them were giving up on letting go. And from that, Quartz grew hopeless. She thought she wouldn't see the daylight ever again or she thought she would never get to star-gaze with...
Quartz's shoe loosened up from her foot due to the girl gripping on it. She took it as her chance to run away from the cabin as fast as she could. She could feel her sock getting dirty from the soil.
Her left foot was the one that was shoe-naked. Unexpectedly, her untied shoelace caused her to trip on a log. Wincing, she gently rubbed on her left throbbing arm. She was sure that a bruise was starting to form.
A few howls were heard from a distance, making a million questions crossed her mind.
Realizing that wolves were in fact nearing towards her, she immediately got up from the ground and took off her shoe so she could not waste any time tying her shoelaces.
Panting heavily, she ran with all her strength, her adrenaline pumping. Twigs were snagging at her hair and scratching her arms. The ground was uneven and leafy. Branches were cracking underneath her feet, creating a sense of satisfaction trembling through her body.
A well-known, excruciating scream that she heard from the distance made her gasp. Even though the owner of the scream was her dearest and the best of the best friends, she refused to return back and save her.
She tried to ignore the scream but failed. It broke her heart, knowing that this person was in agony. She wasn't able to do anything about it because she was a coward, at least that was what she thought of herself.
Veronica Morrison was the owner of the scream.
That friend of hers was loved by plenty of people. She had a bright future, and yet, Quartz still willed to cower away.
Her legs and her lungs screamed at her to stop, so she did. Catching her breath, she leaned against a rough tree trunk. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably and her muscles were sore.
It wasn't so dark since the full moon was giving out its light, and it was dancing against her horrified face.
She didn't take enough time to take in air for her lungs since she was afraid that the wolves would get to her. Slight relief washed over her once she saw a car, only a few yards away. She rushed towards it, her teeth grinding against each other.
Once she reached it, her fingers instantly wrapped themselves around the door handle.
Locked.
Patting her jean pockets for the keys, she cursed underneath her breath when she figured out that she didn't have them. From her remaining memories, she was positive that this car was hers, but how come she couldn't remember where she left the keys?
As the wolves neared, her heart threatened to escape her chest. Suddenly, she could feel herself falling backward. It felt as though the earth's she couldn't pick herself up anymore.
Darkness spotted her vision.
♡ ♡ ♡
Her eyes flickered open from the harsh brightness of the light bulb above the seat that she was sitting on. The first thought that came to her mind was that she was back in the evil girl's cabin. Taking in her surroundings made her realize that the room she was in didn't seem to be in the cabin. The walls were painted white. Right beside her seat was a metallic tray with medical tools.
Her subconsciousness was telling her to loosen up, although she couldn't get herself in control.
"You're up." A deep voice startled her, causing her to immediately stand up but her head throbbed, making her wince. "Careful there," The same voice warned her.
Looking up at the guy's towering muscular frame, she observed in his appearance from his dark brown hair, olive-green eyes to his white doctor coat. The small, warm smile he was wearing made him look less intimidating.
His smile faded just when she asked him, "And who are you?"
His expression slowly twisted into shock as though he was having a hard time in believing in something. "It's Aaron Walker. We take art classes together."
She shamelessly scanned him from head to toe. "You're a student and a doctor?"
"Yes, a veterinarian. My uncle taught me everything I needed to know," He replied, grabbing onto a wet towel.
There was an emotion written over his undeniably handsome face, although it was unreadable.
Holding the towel, his arm extended towards my bleeding temple. He stopped about an inch away as he spoke up in a soothing tone, "May I?"
Once Quartz nodded her head in confirmation, she felt the cold towel lightly dabbing on her throbbing temple and his warm fingers placing themselves underneath her jaw to hold her face still. "How did I end up here?" She asked him.
"I was about to ask you this question. I just found you unconscious at my yard." Aaron grew more concerned than he already was. "Is it okay if I ask what happened? I need to know how you got wounded."
From the look on Quartz's face, he knew that she might not be comfortable with sharing her story. That was why he asked her kindly.
All Quartz was thinking of was how could she share her story that she didn't even know.
She was still speechless and her gaze was unfocused. Wondering how she ended up in a cabin earlier, she got frustrated by how she lost her memories. It was such a mystery. If she could be capable of anything in this world, it would be to go travel back in time, only to find out what happened.
Looking up to see brilliant green eyes watching her, she noticed that Aaron was still waiting for her response. "I was in the woods and fell in a hole."
She instantly regret that lame lie she told. Falling in a hole? Like Alice in the Wonderland, she thought to herself, doing her best in holding back a laugh.
In fact, that wound on her head was from when she first woke up in the cabin, when she was unable to remember anything that happened from before. And the stitched wound on her left arm, which she assumed Aaron stitched it for her, was definitely not from her "fall".
Aaron seemed unconvinced by the excuse she used. He was a doctor after all.
Every part of Quartz's body was hoping that he wouldn't question any further. Her wide eyes searched for any predictable action.
Thankfully, he didn't bother to do so, even though he was curious. He analyzed the wound on her temple once again and stated, "As crazy and weird as it sounds, it doesn't seem like you hit your head. You have the exact same wound on your other temple," He referred to her right temple.
A small gasp escaped Quartz's lips, her fingers reaching out to her right temple, only to be met with warm liquid. Blood. She didn't recognize it at first because of the none stop thoughts flooding in her head.
Aaron started applying bandages on each of her temples as he talked, "And as for the wound on your arm that I stitched, it seemed like you were attacked by some animal. The scratch is too deep to be from the twigs."
Quartz couldn't handle any of this anymore. All she wanted was to go back home, sleep, wake up the next morning to forget any of this had happened. "Thank you, but I just want to go home," Her voice came out shaky.
Getting up from the seat, her knees buckled underneath her, and the room began spinning. Before she could fall, Aaron immediately wrapped his arms around her waist to support her. "I told you to be careful. You need to take your pills and rest, then you'll be ready to leave tomorrow. Alright?"
Quartz knew that staying in a stranger's house wasn't acceptable, and yet she couldn't do anything about it. She felt weak and unable to function. "Yes." She struggled to maintain eye contact.
He grabbed her arm to wrap it around his neck, before walking out of the room and into his living room. When he carefully lied her down on his couch, she observed her surroundings.
It was pleasingly neat and clean. It smelled ancient. There was a decent amount of record and book collections. They were neatly placed in dark wooden shelves. Beautiful portraits were hung up on the bright walls. The television had a small screen, like those back in the '90s.
Aaron disappeared into another room, then came back with a pill, a cup of water, and a comfy blanket. Handing her the pill and the cup of water, he unfolded the blanket and covered her with it.
She muttered a 'thank you' after downing the pill with the water. Her eyes felt heavy as she rested her head against a pillow. She wanted to grab her phone and text Liam, her dear brother, to ensure him that she was fine but she was already drifting to deep sleep.
A few feet away, Aaron watched her falling asleep as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. His eyebrows were furrowed, deep in thought, wondering what this poor girl had gotten herself into.
