Chapter 2

"-tor! Doctor!"

He heard the voice of a young woman along with footsteps that slowly faded away. His fingers twitched, and his eyes gradually opened wide enough for him to observe his surroundings. Alice found himself lying on a bed which had of course, been a hospital bed. 'So, I survived, huh?' thought Alice, as left out a sigh of relief.

After a few seconds, he hear the footsteps of someone approaching his room. His initial guess a doctor, since he heard a woman run off, calling for one.

The door handle turned and the door opened. Behind the door was a man who was, judging by his appearance, should in his forties. He was around 170 centimetres tall, and he wore rectangular framed glasses. The man approached Alice who was now sitting on the bed and opened his mouth, "You are finally awake. How are you feeling?"

Slowly opening his mouth, Alice replied, "I am feeling fine."

"That's a relief. Do you remember what happened?"

At the doctor's words, the memory of what happened became vivid again. Alice was reminded of the feeling of sinking under the dark sea where no matter how much he screamed, no one would be able to hear him. It was such a disturbing experience that couldn't properly be described in words.

*Blegh*

Alice threw up, remembering what happened.

"Easy, there. Calm yourself down. You're alright now. Here, drink some water," saying that, the doctor passed him a bottle of water. Alice opened the cap, and gulped down half of the bottle of water in an instant.

"You know, you've been unconscious for 20 hours? Some fishermen near the sea saw someone jumping off the cliff in that stormy weather and rushed towards that place and found a boy who was sinking deep into the salty water."

Alice didn't say anything and just kept his head hung down, refusing to meet the doctor's eyes. Despite his facial expression, Alice was actually quite thankful to both the doctor and the fishermen for saving his lives.

"Your life is precious, don't throw it away," said the doctor. Alice quietly nodded.

"Also, we called your uncle. He's been in the waiting room for ages. You should better meet him."

Alice, who lost both of his parents in a car crash when he was 9, had been taken care of by his uncle ever since. His uncle was unmarried and was now in his forties. The night when Alice decided on suicide, his uncle had been away on a business trip, and would have returned a bit after 10 o'clock in the evening. Hearing the doctor's words, Alice gave a slight nod.

Soon, his uncle entered the room. His eyes were filled with tears, and he rushed towards Alice and held him in a tight embrace. Scolding him, saying that he was really worried, he hugged Alice.

After a good minute, or two, his uncle him go.

"Alice, promise me, you wouldn't try to tak—no, even think of taking your life ever again," said his uncle.

".....Yes, I promise," Alice replied in a soft voice.

Even without the promise, Alice wouldn't have tried to kill himself again. It's not because he felt guilty, but rather, he was traumatized.

Soon, Alice was discharged from the hospital and went to his house with his uncle.

'Now what will I do? To be honest, I still don't want to live in this hell again, but I definitely don't want to be one step away from embracing death,' thought Alice. Although, this was better than sinking to the bottom of the sea, but it was still hell for Alice. He definitely didn't want to go outside, as his bullies lived near his area. He would be repeating years which, for a student who was once in the top, was a severe blow to his pride. Not to mention, he could no longer concentrate on anything. He didn't have any hobbies, as he found nothing interesting. 'So what exactly am I gonna do?'

He kept thinking of what he could do that'd make him escape reality. Of course, a normal person would probably think of games, novels, comic books, etcetera, etcetera, but as mentioned earlier, Alice didn't find them interesting. He has tried quite a few games before, gave a shot to many novels and comics of different genres, but none of them could give him the feeling of escaping reality. Yes, by escaping reality, Alice means to escape life. Everything that holds him down, he wants to escape it. Games, or novels is a way of escaping one's problems, but not life itself, even if for a little bit.

Alice didn't sleep and browsed through the internet, searching for a way, but of course, he couldn't find anything. He stayed up the entire night doing nothing, but thinking. The next day was the same. Sitting on the sofa, Alice was still thinking of what can be done. Three house flies came and sat on his hand. They rubbed their front two legs against each other, as if they had found a new prey. A normal person would feel a slight tickling and would shoo away the flies, but Alice was so deep in thought that he wasn't conscious of his surroundings.

Gradually becoming more and more irritated when he couldn't find a proper answer. He went to his room, laid down on his bed and closed his eyes for a second to clear his mind. It was already evening and the sound of rain falling outside could be heard.

The next second, when Alice opened his eyes, he saw a dark figure. The figure was slowly approaching Alice. Since the room lights were turned off, it was hard to see in the dark. The sight of a mysterious figure approaching Alice made him quite horrified. He wanted say something, he wanted to run away, but he didn't, no more like.....he couldn't. 'What the hell?!' thought Alice.

He couldn't move his body. He was in a state of paralysis. He saw that the figure had approached his bed, and what he saw in the faint light that was coming from outside the window shocked Alice to the bones. He saw himself! The figure of Alice, hanging his head low and staring at Alice was such a sight that Alice couldn't have imagined he would ever see. Alice couldn't move and could only look at the other him in fear.

Then the other Alice, who was standing near the bed where Alice was, slowly walked near the window and...jumped off!

Suddenly, Alice, who was lying on his bed shot up, as his body was once again able to move and rushed towards the window. He looked out and saw the same violent sea and two hands moving desperately. The hands looked so pale, as if they had no blood in them whatsoever. The hands struggled for a while and the sound of someone crying, "Help, somebody help," could be heard. After 5 seconds, the hands slowly started to sink down into the depths of the dark sea, and the sound of screaming could no longer be heard. Alice looked at this sight complete in horror, unable to do anything. All of a sudden, the air around him became thin, and he fell on his knees, clenching his chest, grasping for air. He closed his eyes and thought, 'No....No!'

"Ahhhh!" Alice opened his eyes and saw that he was lying on his bed. He was breathing in and out violently, trying to catch his breath. 'A dream, huh? Thank goodness!' thought Alice.

Whilst being relieved at the fact that it was a dream, a thought crossed his mind. Although, the concept was unrealistic, it felt way too real. Almost as if it actually happened. Alice's eyes gleamed in a new light, as he found his answer.

"A lucid dream!"