Alice In Kavaland: Chapter 10
- Henry Livingston
- Feb 18
- 9 min read
THE BEST PART OF WAKING UP
As far back as anyone can remember, sunsets have been a beautiful thing to behold. Many choose this special time of day for memorable occasions, like proposals to be wed, or chances to inform significant others of news that a little one will be in their lives in nine months. However, they pale in comparison to its earlier twilight twin… sunrise.
Sunrise brings hope for everyone. For some, simply making it through the night is a task and for others it means they have a chance for something much better. A better life, a better opportunity, or a better way of life. For Alice that struggle is real, but nothing compares to the hangover she is experiencing at this very moment.
Alice stretches out trying to motivate her body to move. She has done this before, yet something feels off, “why does the room look different,” she thinks to herself.
“What are you moaning about today, Alice,” Ellie thinks slowly opening her eyes and exhaling heavily, “the room looks the same as it did before.”
“Not sure, but whatever it is, it isn’t right,” Alice responds slowly looking around the bedroom, “this doesn’t look like my room at all.”
Ellie sits up in bed and looks at her tattoo, “that’s because it is my room and it is fine. It could do with a little more maid service, but other than that it is fine.”
Alice looking up at Ellie from her arm, pinches herself.
“Ow,” Ellie says through clinched teeth, “what is that for?”
“Why am I on your arm,” Alice questions looking down, “and why am I wearing a blue dress like Alice in Wonderland?”
“You were illustrated like that,” Ellie says nonchalantly scooching to the edge of the bed to put on her slippers, “it was mother’s idea really, but the tattoo artist took it literally and designed you exactly like the character from the books. She was remarkably detailed in doing so, right down to the hair band, hair style, and black penny loafer shoes.”
Alice feels the hairband, “no, no, no, no, no, NO, NO! This cannot be happening,” she says in disbelief, “how am I supposed to help Callisto like this?”
“Who?”
“Callisto, mother’s tattoo.”
Ellie walks over to her stripped cat in a comfy chair and rubs its head, “did you hear that Elliott, mother has a secret tattoo,” she says nuzzling the well-fed pussycat, then moving across the room toward the door she continues, “man, she never ceases to surprise me. I wonder where it is?”
“It is nowhere; I had it cut off.”
Ellie stops, “how would you pull that one off,” she questions lightly tapping the side of a large jar with a Giant Blue Morpho butterfly cocoon in it, “good morning, Nala, I cannot wait for you to transform and see how beautiful you are going to be.”
“I hired Red Canary and his crew to dig up her body with special instructions to cut off the hand with a tattoo on it.”
“Red Canary is the name of my car and mother is very much alive with both hands intact as of last night. Alice, where is this darkness coming from? You are starting to worry me a little bit. Where is that happy, curious tattoo that I have come to love?”
“I am NOT a tattoo,” Alice spits irritably.
“Correct, you are something different and not in a normal sort of way. I’ll tell you one thing is for sure, you are a tattoo,” Ellie voices like she has heard this rant before, “but could you do me a favor this morning and dial it down a notch with the drama? It is early and I haven’t had my cup of coffee yet.”
Off to the side, another tattoo adds to the conversation, “me either.”
Alice looks at who else is talking to Ellie and she sees her ring-tailed lemur butler, Martin, sitting on a chair reading a book; Two, No Luggage, by J.S. Tucker, “what is happening?”
“Apparently, we are going to get our morning coffee from the kitchen,” Martin says not looking up from his book, “its not like we have much of a choice, we go where she goes, because we are a…”
“…captive audience,” Alice says softly finishing his sentence.”
“Exactly,” the lemur speaks with added emphasis.
Alice sinks to her knees as if reality has told her something, that she is just now realizing loud and clear; that she has always been a tattoo. The stories she believed were hers, were only just that… stories. The memories were of Ellie’s past, and because she can hear Ellie’s thoughts, it felt so very real to her. Like the memories were originally hers, not her hosts.
Tears flow slowly down Alice’s face. Reality feels too much for her to handle, and it is beginning to show.
Ellie’s arm felt like a soft, yet taunted trampoline to her knees. It’s texture similar to that of a large steak without the smell and tacky surface.
Alice sensed that she had been betrayed, but where did this imagination come from? Why do the stories and experiences feel so real?
Ellie sits down with her morning coffee and notices Alice crying, “I hope I didn’t make you cry, Alice.”
“You didn’t. It is just…, I thought the memories I had were mine.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, for starters, you were my tattoo. Also, Nala, and Elliott, although I knew him by many different names, Cheshire, Nebuchadnezzar, and Simon, they were my other living tattoos. Turns out, I was wrong about them too.”
“Maybe, you were thinking these thoughts because you were based off of the character in mother’s book.”
“That makes sense. I just felt like it was my life, but the truth blindsided me with reality. Now, I need to come to grips with that,” Alice stands up, “it is time to face the music.”
“Are you going to speak in idioms for the rest of the day,” Ellie questions blowing off her coffee to cool it down.
“Not sure, but if the shoe fits…,” Alice stops her words and notices Ellie’s cup, “does your mother stay here?”
“Nope. This place is all mine. Now that you mentioned it, she has never stepped into my humble abode. Mostly because she thinks it is my sanctuary and she doesn’t want to invade my space, but I think she just doesn’t like this part of town,” Ellie takes a sip of her coffee, “why do you ask?”
Alice says, looking around the kitchen, “no reason, just a question.”
Ellie takes another sip from her cup.
“Could you help me to get some of my memories back,” Alice asks politely.
“Sure.”
“Do you have any children?”
“God, no.”
“Did your mom give you any of her old things? Like flatware or Tupperware containers?”
“No, bought everything brand new.”
Alice squints her eyes to see new appliances, new dishes and a fully stocked chef’s kitchen. Complete with recipe books, country kitchen décor, a rice bin, a toaster, a coffee maker, and… Tupperware containers underneath the cabinets. At another glance, Alice notices that the coffee maker has no coffee in it at all, “Ellie…?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you have a Keurig?”
“A what?”
“A single serving coffee making machine, a Keurig.”
“No, never heard of it, why?”
“How are you drinking coffee?”
“Carefully, of course,” Ellie says, blowing over the cup and taking another sip.
Alice stares a little more and sees that the hot cup of coffee Ellie is blowing off has no steam rising from the top, but Ellie is being extra careful not to burn her tongue every time she sips.
Slurping next to her is Martin enjoying a cup of coffee too, “where did you get that from,” she says walking over to the ring-tailed lemur.
“I made it,” he voices being careful not to spill its contents after being poked.
“Ellie, do you allow us to make tattoos without your permission?”
“I do not,” she adamantly speaks.
“Did you feel any pain when Martin made his cup of coffee?”
“He made a cup of coffee. I didn’t feel anything.”
Alice smiles, “hmmph, I’m curious, what’s for dinner tonight?”
“Oh, I am ordering Chinese. I do not cook.”
“Really?” Alice sits down on Ellie’s arm, “do you shop at thrift stores?”
Ellie puts her mug down of the table hard, “where are all these questions coming from, Alice,” she spouts slightly agitated.
“My mind.”
“Could you tell your mind to stop please?”
“Just one more question and I will not ask another question, promise.”
“Fine. What is your question?”
“First a test,” Alice pinches herself.
“Alice, what the heck,” Ellie snaps reacting to the pain.
Alice pinches Martin.
“Ow, what the heck, Alice,” Martin says pulling his arm away from Alice.
Alice smiles again, “so, if you buy everything brand new and don’t shop at thrift stores, oh, and your mother never gave you anything to furnish your apartment with, why are you drinking from a mug that says World’s Best Mom?”
“Mother must have left it when she visited.”
“Ha! You said your mother has never come here.”
“Well, she did once, I was just lying.”
“Funny thing I learned from my living tattoos, is that they know when I am lying. I could not tell if you were or weren’t lying to me though,” Alice slowly walks down Ellie’s arm like she is a lawyer at a trial, “you didn’t feel it when I pinched Martin, only when I pinched myself. You pretended to drink hot coffee, but no doubt the cup was empty, because there was no presence of heat rising from the cup.”
“I blew the heat off of it,” Ellie defends.
“You don’t know what a Keurig is. Which means it wasn’t a thing when you were able to learn about it. My guess is this whole thing is one big lie. Not just your words. Wouldn’t you agree…, Callisto?”
“You think you are so smart, don’t you Alice,” Ellie speaks with darker tones, “I will have you one way or another,” she continues as the background melts away like a Salvador Dali painting.
The sound of birds chirping outside the window make their way into Alice’s ears as she slowly opens her eyes. She is in her room.
Looking up at the ceiling with tears forming in her eyes, she begins to quietly laugh, “dream magic,” she says irritably, “Cheshire,” she calls as she sits up.
“Yes…,” he answers appearing on her forearm, “what can I do for you, Alice?”
“I need you to teach me dream magic.”
“Dream magic takes years to master. It is…”
Alice interrupts, “you did it in less time than that.”
“You are correct. I am known to be a quick study.”
“So, teach me,” Alice says stubbornly.
Cheshire’s smile stays as his body disappears, “I don’t want to.”
Ellie speaks up, “I know it. I can teach you.”
“Since when do you know how to use dream magic?”
“All magic tattoos know how to.”
“Not true, but not entirely incorrect either,” Cheshire softly whispers appearing closer to Alice’s ear.
“Don’t be mad, Cheshire,” Ellie says with a smile and a curtsey.
“We’re all a little mad here, especially you my dear,” Cheshire says as his grin lessens, “we need our insanity to feed the mind. Something you know plenty about,” his smile turns into a frown and disappears completely.
Alice looks at the spot Cheshire disappeared from. The area had a circular mark left that kind of looked like a ship’s life preserver, “that was uncharacteristically odd of Elliott,” Alice thought, but his hint gave promise to something being off about her first tattoo, “Ellie, I’m going to go back to that Mermaid Stars coffee house we went to a few weeks back and get my lukewarm americano. What should I wear?”
“Sweatpants and a hoodie would be a good choice.”
Alice grins, “one, I will never go back to a coffeehouse I was embarrassed at, Ellie would know this. Two, Cheshire never comes when I call him. Three, I have watched Inception about ten times, and I know how to figure out dreams from reality. Why would you let Elliott help me?”
Ellie’s eyes narrow and the darker tone returns, “I didn’t. Foul play fat cat,” she looks up at Alice, “he helped you figure out it wasn’t real and that I wasn’t your precious Ellie.”
“Foul play? I would say checkmate,” Cheshire’s smile says appearing and vanishes again.
“Matters not. I’ll deal with both of you later,” Ellie spits angrily.
Alice continues to grin.
Ellie locks eyes with Alice, “still think you’re so smart, don’t you? We’ll see who has the last laugh, soon enough… Alice.”
Alice opens her eyes and leers as the dark voice echoes in her mind. She is happy to see her room and all of her stuff right where she left them. The feeling of finally being home. As if she was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz appreciating her house in Kansas, after her journey from Oz.
“Are you okay, Alice,” Ellie questions, “you tossed around quite a bit in your sleep.
“Yeah, I think I’m good,” Alice speaks sitting up, “tell Elliott when you see him, I said thanks and I owe him one.”
“I’d be careful with your words; he’ll hold you to it.”
“I know, but it is totally worth it. All of you are.”
“Well, at least you’re up. Coffee,” Ellie suggests cheerfully.
Alice smirks and gets up to head to the kitchen, “definitely.”
“Well, you know the best part of waking up is Folger’s in your cup.”
Alice laughs, “nice one, Ellie.”
“I sound just like the commercial, don’t I?
“Like you wrote the thirty-year-old jingle yourself,” Alice says with a slight giggle.
“Did you really like it, or are you being sarcastic again?”
“No sarcasm at all, Ellie, it was… perfect.”
Alice shoos away a fly off the countertop. It flies down the hall and into another living space in the apartment. Its multifaceted eyes catch sight of a Styrofoam cooler sitting across the room. It lands, sensing the decomposing presence inside, and waits for the moment its contents will be seen again.
THE END... ?
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