[X] Answer the last riddle. It sounds like you're in the clear, but no need to take chances. He's not the easiest fellow to understand.
-[X] Minor
[X] Go through his door.
-[X] …One more question first though. What if I want to leave?
Diamond 3 vs. Club King
Gateman wins Minor
Four and one. Perhaps that means addition, which means that there are five in total… Just one more until you're done. "Someone burned a mansion down, Alice."
Fire. "A room of money, one of paintings, and another of jewels. All rich and beautiful, they are worth a fortune each! So which does the policeman save first?" Does he know about what you did? Was that why he asked you that? The thought chews a bit at you, and you think about how long you have before you finish at last. This is clearly a trick question… "The one he's closest to."
He raises an eyebrow, his eye widening. "Wrong! Just one wrong, out of four and one. Perhaps you do know what a cloud of sand is." Taking his halberd, he slams it down on the ground, and the great metal door slides open,
pulling at you with a strange sort of gravity. Inside it are endless shelves and chairs, some of which are floating inside it. A clock strikes, signaling the passing of the sun. Looking down at the rabbit-hole, you feel slightly nauseous. "One last question… what if I want to leave?"
"
Alice can't." He says. "Wonderland welcomes you! What have you to be sad about?"
At the end of the door is only a pale light. It pulls at you, and your hair flies towards it.
There's still another option. Isn't there? But no, there are none other. And it's too late now. You sigh, releasing your anxieties, releasing your grades, your brother, the fire you set… why worry about them now, when this is so close? Feels so real? You close your eyes, and you fall.
It feels like forever and it feels like half a minute. You plunge through the shelves, each lined with memories. A worn book, titled
Eragon. A PlayStation. A photograph of a family smiling near the Leaning Tower of Pisa. A stuffed bunny, its ears flopped down without any stuffing in them. A red scarf. A soccer ball. A cookbook. So many memories… you feel like you know some of them… a picture of you taken at Thanksgiving. Your mother stands, her hands on the shoulders of your brother. He's eleven in the picture, and seems a bit embarrassed. His yellow hair drapes down his shoulders, long and wavy, dyed purple at the ends. You're fourteen in the picture, and your face is still round. You wear your carrot hairpin proudly, and stand stiffly. Father is to your right, and to his right grandmother, who died a few years ago. How must they be getting on? Are they aware you're gone yet?
The picture passes from your eyes as you fall, and break past the shelves, past the light, and then you're in a sky, seeing a green and purple land underneath you. Four castles mark its corners, with one ruined palace in the center. After a while, the borders of the land simply fade into mist. The sky is perfectly baby-blue, with white cotton-candy clouds, like something drawn by a child.
You wonder if landing will hurt from this far up.
That wonder which you saw upon waking
[] The Court of Spring and Wildflowers
[] The Forest of Mirror Shards
[] The Church of One
[] The Silent Bazaar
