Alice In Kavaland: Chapter 8
- Henry Livingston
- Jan 26
- 7 min read
Updated: Feb 18
SKIN DEEP REALITY
Three weeks have passed and after Alice did what she promised, she went silent. Distancing herself from family, Ellie, Nala, and the world.
The phone rings and it goes by unanswered. Two minutes later it repeats in the same manner. By the third sequence, Ellie speaks up,” Martin,” she says to the well-dressed lemur at the dining room table, “answer the phone please. Can’t you see Alice is not going to do it?”
Martin answers on the last ring, “Alice’s phone, Martin speaking. …yes…, I see… let me check,” he puts the phone on mute, “Alice…,”
There is no response.
“Alice, are you in? Someone would like to speak to you about an urgent matter.”
Alice is motionless and is ignoring all her surroundings and forms of communication. That is until she feels a sharp pain in her leg that causes her to jump up and throw back the blanket in response to it, “what the hell, Ellie,” she yells grabbing her lower leg.
Ellie is standing with a large, very sharp, number two pencil and the tip is covered in blood. Next to her a pencil-sized wound puncture oozing blood slowly, “answer the phone.”
“How dare you stab me! Is that a pencil,” Alice questions angrily.
Ellie raises the pencil, insisting that she will do it again if Alice doesn’t cooperate.
Alice stops her action, “Don’t you do it.”
“Then, answer the phone, please,” Ellie says politely.
“Fine,” Alice speaks through clinched teeth.
“So, you are in, Alice,” Martin adds.
“Apparently so,” Alice returns sarcastically.
Martin unmutes the phone, “Alice will speak to you now,” then hands the phone to Alice.
“Alice shakes her head as she accepts the call, starring and squinting reluctantly at Ellie as she speaks, “Hello?”
“Hello, Alice,” a soft female voice says quietly, “you don’t know me, but I knew your mother.”
“My real mother or the monster that raised me?”
“Your biological mother.”
“How do you know my mother?’
“You could say I know her like you know Eloise.”
“Come, again,” Alice looks at Ellie.
Ellie shrugs.
“What do you mean by that?”
The voice continues, “does Eloise talk to you?”
“How? I mean, how do you mean?”
“I mean, do you carry on conversations with her? Is she a sentient tattoo, like Nala?”
Alice looks at Nala.
Nala shrugs.
“How are you doing this,” Alice says, slightly agitated.
“Doing what?”
Alice sighs heavily holding the phone away from her, then returns to the conversation, “Umm… I did not get your name. May I ask who is calling?”
“My name is Callisto, but your mom called me Callie. I am her tattoo, and yes, I look like Alice from the books before you ask.”
Alice drops the phone inadvertently hearing the words. She is silent for a few minutes, but the voice on the other end, begs for her to rejoin their verbal chat, “are you still there, Alice?”
Alice picks the phone up and regains her focus, “what do you mean exactly, when you say… her tattoo?”
“Exactly that.”
“My mother is no longer with us. She died.”
“Yes, I know,” Callie speaks with a bit of sorrow in her voice, “she has been dead for a long time now and I truly miss her.:
“Me too,” Alice says solemnly with tears forming in hers eyes.
“I am hoping you can help me,” Callie maintains.
“How can I…, help my mother’s tattoo?”
“You sound like you’re on the fence about this and about helping me.”
“I would say, nowhere near it, to be honest.”
“Fair, but I know that you are the only one that can save me.”
“Save you? From what?”
“Before I answer that, what would you do for Eloise?”
“I’m not quite sure I follow.”
“Okay, let me put it another way, if you die, what do you think happens to Eloise?”
“I suppose she would die too,” Alice says looking at Ellie putting away the pencil.
“You would think that, but the real answer is, no.”
“What??”
“When you die, she doesn’t. None of your tattoos do.”
“So, are you saying you’re calling me from my mom’s casket?”
There is a long pause, “yes.”
“Why now? Why call me now?”
“I will answer that one after the why save me question. The reason to save me is to free me from the darkness and loneliness,” Callie says sadly.
Alice shakes her head at the thought, “I’m not sure I am the one to talk to about feelings and therapy. I am still dealing with my own issues.”
“Not that kind, Alice, I mean literally.”
“Oh,” Alice speaks softly.
“Now onto the why now question. You can thank Elliott for that.”
“Who?”
Ellie pipes in, “Nebuchadnezzar!”
“The Cheshire?”
“One in the same,” Callie says with confidence.
“How did he help? It is hard enough to get a straight answer out of him.”
“True, but he used dream magic to try to control you and that worked as a beacon, well, sort of.”
Alice looks at Ellie and Nala.
They shrug.
Alice exhales, “how would I help free you?
Callie continues, “before I answer that, I want you to know that helping me will get weird for those on the outside looking in.”
“I have seen weird, so that is not an issue,” Alice says with a slight giggle.
“What I am saying should not be taken lightly, Alice. You will have to do things you have never even dreamed of doing.”
“Noted, how do I help?”
There is another long pause, “you have to exhume your mother’s body from her burial site.”
“No,” Alice says without hesitation.
“I said, you have never done it before.”
“You are asking me to unearth my mother’s final resting place, so that you can see some light?”
“No, that is not it at all. You must either burn your mother’s remains or remove a part of her body with me on it and burn it. Something small will suffice, like her hand.”
“Oh, hell no,” Alice adds with vigor, “what is wrong with you? I cannot do that to her, to her memory.”
“Alice,” Callie speaks respectfully, “I get it, but your mother died before she could reverse the ritual and change the spell to release me. The only way for me now is to be incinerated.
“I’m going to hang up now; you can keep talking if you want to.”
“Wait, please don’t hang up,” Callie pleads.
Alice is silent, but still on the phone listening.
“Your mother knew about the properties of the ink. She knew you’d be alone, so she left the ink for you to have a tattoo forever friend too. So, you would never be alone.”
“What do you mean she knew?”
Ellie speaks up and whispers to Alice, “I don’t think I want to be burned alive and turned to ash.”
“No one does, Ellie,” Alice whispers back.
“Burning to ash is not the only way to free living tattoos, you can reverse the magic of the ink by performing a small ritual.”
“And how would we do that?”
“If you help me, I can show you how the ritual is done.”
Alice is hushed for a few moments, “you said you are using dream magic correct?”
“That is correct.”
“Can you let me think about your request a couple days?”
“I have waited this long, another day or so will not make a difference. How long?”
“A few days, then reach back out with the dream magic to contact me for my answer.”
“I will,” Callie pauses, “and Alice, this ritual is the best way to fix your tattoos. I hope you will consider all the facts I have presented.”
“Of course.”
“Now, it is time for you to wake up.”
“What?”
The alarm on Alice’s phone goes off and she silences it quickly, “man that was the weirdest dream,” she adds.
“Morning sunshine,” Ellie sounds off louder than normal.
“Too loud, Ellie.”
“Sorry,” she pauses, “so, you gonna help her?”
“Help who, Ellie?”
“Callisto.”
Alice’s eyes widen, “you know about that?”
“Yep, dream magic is powerful stuff when you know how to use it, and that lady, knew how to use it.”
Alice gets up and adjusts her pajamas.
Ellie uses the opportunity to ask Alice a question that is also on her mind, “What did she mean by fix me? Am I, I mean, are we broken?”
“No, Ellie, you are not broken. She is saying that the magic used to create you wasn’t used the right way.”
“Does that mean that the magic that made me was the wrong kind?”
“No, but the person that created you was. She thought she was ready to be a master tattooist, turns out that was not true.”
“Not real clear on this one,” Ellie says softly.
“She lied. Only to me though. She had no idea how powerful the spell to create you would be.”
But…, what makes me wrong?”
“You’re not wrong, Ellie.”
“The master tattooist that fixed me said I was and that she had to fix me or I would destroy the world; destroy you…,” Ellie stops talking for a moment, “is that what makes me wrong then?”
“You are not wrong, or a mistake, or anything like that. You are not anything other then what you are, Ellie.”
“…But she said…”
Alice interrupts, “remember when I told you not to make anymore tattoos on my body without asking my permission?”
“Yes.”
“Did it take away your ability to do it?”
Ellie thinks for a second, “I don’t believe so.”
“So…, when the master tattooist fixed…”
Ellie interrupts this time, “can we use another word other than fixed?”
“Sure. When she adjusted the magic of the ink used to make you, she made you into something good instead of something bad.”
“I could still be bad deep down. I could hurt you, Alice.”
“Never gonna happen.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Because the magic used was fixed, umm… adjusted, before sunrise. If it had gone any longer than that, you would have never been good. You would have possessed me and done God knows what else.”
Ellie looks at Nala, then back at Alice, “you made that last part up, didn’t you?”
“No, I did not… I…., wait…, too much of a stretch?”
“Yes. You forget that you are our host and what you know, we know. So, lying to us never really works in your favor. If I’m being honest.
“So, why can’t I know when any of you are lying to me?”
Ellie shrugs.
“Tough break, Alice,” the Cheshire grin says appearing and disappearing after its words are spoken.
Alice goes into the kitchen without saying another word, grabs a very large coffee mug and stares at it.
Ellie stares at it too and after a couple moments they both realize the severity of what happened in the dream. Together, almost in unison they say, I think your/I’m going to need a bigger cup.
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