Chapter 4 The Cat

Within the castleteria, many people looked wrong to Amy. They were both people who walked out of a fairy tale book as well as... well Amy didn't know the other word to describe them. She just didn't have the word for it beyond... futuristic kind of... she supposed. Was that the right word? The word she was looking for was modern however she was from a time period before this style of clothing was ever created let alone worn. Amy had no idea what a sneaker or a football jacket was so naturally, she had no idea how to describe them without saying what it was in terms of you know. Like a sneaker would be a shoe that goes to your ankle and is laced up and has a bit of a whole shoe platform built in. Could she differentiate it from other shoes with the description? Probably not. Though there wasn't a lot of people. A few handfuls of like 40 people max if Amy were to count who she could see. Though she swore something was looking at her. It could be a person but she didn't see anyone looking at her. They could be behind her. That was possible.

...

Amy found herself in her dorm. She didn't know where it was but she was now sitting in a room by herself, on a bed. She was sure she wasn't hallucinating or anything. She just... blacked out... what time was it? From what she could see of her room, there wasn't anything on her side though the other half did seem to be decorated with red flowers, red bedding, and other red things one would find in a bed room. In fact, Amy would say it looked kinda rustic over there. Amy guessed that the shopping didn't happen as her side of this room didn't really have anything beyond the bed she was sitting on which was a wire framed one with a mattress, nothing special or fancy. Her back pack was on the foot of the bed while her wheel chair was next to her. How delightful.

Not really...

That feeling from earlier was back and this time she noticed something on the window sill. Blondie did say that the lower floors is where commoners were so she supposed it was possible. But this something wasn't like anything she had seen before. It was a white cat... but not a cat, its face was too flat, its tail was too long and bushy (?), and cats didn't have what seemed to be a scarf built into its fur. Or hoop things. Or red pink eyes...

"Hello Amy Liddell," the creature spoke, however it wasn't verbally. Its mouth didn't move, but she heard it clearly in her head.

Hello, she thought in response.

"My name is Kanbey. And I want to make a contract with you."

Are you a demon? Amy pondered.

"Nope, no demon."

Wait... that meant that this thing could hear what she was thinking. Amy paused and stared at it.

"My kind can conduct telepathic communications between each other, magical girls and those we wish to form a contract with, once you also make this contract, you will have the same ability without needing me to be here to do so."

Well that explains that.

'Contract? Magical girls?' Amy thought to the weird cat.

"I want you to make a contract with me and become a magical girl! In return for your service fighting the curses of the world, you get one wish of your choosing granted! Along with magical powers of course."

'A wish... for whatever I want?' Amy questioned.

"In return for battling curses, but yes. A wish of anything you desire. Could be as simple as a cake or as complex as rewriting reality. You can go wherever you want, bring back whoever you wish. Anything you want, I can grant."

'And just one wish for... fighting your battles?'

"It is not my fight. Besides as a magical girl, battling curses is a necessity if you wish to continue your life as a magical girl. You can quit at any time technically by not fighting. However, fighting will allow you to continue using your magical powers."

'Can I workshop it with you? Cause I have an idea... because its the only wish I can make.'

"Alright."

'Can I wish two things?'

"If they are tied together closely enough. So like if you wish for two cakes, I can do that. If you wish for the destruction of a group of people, I can do that. If you wish to restore a building and everything inside, I can."

'I can't be useful like this... I can't move unless I am trapped in my hallucinations... and I know how to be free of them... is to fix wonderland, to save it but... I can't... go back... I am scared and who knows what will happen if I do. But I don't just want to save it, to be free of this. I want the power to make it real... not just this thing in my head. And maybe it will help maybe it won't...'

"I would like to bring up that wishes are not permeant. They are as much as they aren't. Let's say you wish to heal someone, that person could be harmed once again with a similar or worse injury later on. Power vacuums you create can be filled in by others who might be just as bad. If you make a wish to heal your mind, there is no guarantee that you will die with your mind in a fixed state. It is completely possible for your wish to be a Band-Aid until you relapse back into your current state."

'You want me to be useful right? I can't move until my mind is right. Doc said he thinks I am stuck between here and wonderland, and that is why I can't move. And if I am in this ever-changing limbo that sees like a saw, I am no use of you and your battle against these curses. Only when the see saws me into wonderland can I move and I have no idea what's going on when I am. I would like to get off the see-saw if thats alright with you.'

"I suppose you are right. But you also want to bring it to life?"

'At least have the power to. I trust in that far more than what magic I may have as a magical girl. And there is nothing wrong with wanting to be in control of the damn teeter-totter. Even if it is for a little while.'

Suddenly the door opened to the dorm, Kanbey lept out the window, and Amy had no idea if it was safe for the wierd cat to do so. A girl with red hair and eyes and were those wings(?) walked into the room.

"Seems like you haven't moved since you got here..."

Well no shit... she couldn't. She would love to.

"Well, our schedules just came in."

The fae-looking girl placed the schedule into Amy's lap... as if she could open it... It took her a minute to realize her error before unraveling the scroll (why a scroll? a normal piece of paper should suffice).

Amy could read it... well enough. This was the first time she was really confronted with her lack of formal education, her time in the asylum from the age of 9 as well as how England viewed what a girl should be allowed to study. She could read it, she understood what letter was which but read read it, like think what these words would sound like was difficult.

The schedule read as follows:

First period was Arts and Crafts with one Professor Card. Cooking Class-ic and the following class, Home Economyths were both by Professor Momma Bear. Amy paused at that. She wasn't the best reader but she was pretty sure that no one names their kid Momma, and the Bear was making her... iffy. Muse-ic class (if she could laugh she would give a small one for the pun) was with Professor Pied Piper. The next class, Damsel in Distressing... Damsel in Distressing? The fuck did that mean? Damsel in Distressing... she was no damsel in distress! The only thing she was distressed about was her current state! Nothing more, nothing else.

The final one was Home Evil-nomics. Home Evil-nomics? What was that? She understood most of them. Art and Craft was Arts and Crafts, Cooking Classic was a cooking class, Home Economyths was close enough to Home Economics which Amy supposed was the case, but she wasn't sure. Damsel in Distressing... she wasn't quite sure what that entailed but she was sure the name was self explanitory. But Home evil-nomics? What does that entail? Why is evil in the name? Was it also home economics? Why was she in the same class twice?

"Prehaps they know of your sin."

Amy sighed through her nose as her eyes blinked open. Amy looked around before standing up, as her reality was that of a cobblestone street, with large buildings around her. She could see the sky cloud eels retreating from the sky, as eyes from windows and door holes seemed to look at her. She never knew whose eyes they were but she hated them looking at her. She never liked being outside in Wonderland, let alone on the ground. She rather be falling again, or in that classroom again, or in the asylum again, anything other than the streets with eyes watching her. She was sure they meant something... and she was scared of what that something might be.

"Oh hush cat. I doubt anyone knows about THAT. I am the only living witness after all," Amy spoke as she began walking, trying to find a place away from the eyes.

The grey cat only seemed to chuckle at that, its fanged grin not opening as it laughed through its teeth. Amy could hear the cat following her from the scraping of his claws against the stone.

"There is more than one sin committed by you. If you recall or not is up to you."

"I rather not stay for long. The eyes scare me."

"You who is watched and judged by a single parent's claim over you. Even stray cats are less judged than you."

"I am fully aware of mother's illness of the mind. I don't wish to continue to suffer the same illness as her. I always feared it and its been my reality for 5 years now. Not only that but I would like to stop seeing these eyes. Whose eyes are they anyways? I rather they stop staring."

"AMY!"

Amy snapped out of Wonderland at the scream of her name, air suddenly hitting her face as her arm was being pulled. Her body was limp again to her own muscles, as she was yanked back into the room. It seems Amy almost walked off the small balcony of the room.

"Oh my god... I... I can fix this..." the fae rambled. "I should raise the fence or something."

Amy could only be silent as the fae seemed to walk back and forth.

"My roommate almost just..."

There was a guilt to that. It wasn't Amy's fault. At least... she didn't think it was. It wasn't her fault her mind did this... To put her there... Maybe she shouldn't have tried walking when she couldn't see reality but...

She had no doubt she just accidentally traumatized her roommate. When that weird cat returns, she needs to make her wish... for both of their sakes.