MISC: The Great Alice, Chapter 7: The Down Time

[Andrew Perron]

                             The Great Alice
                             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                         Chapter 7: The Down Time

   Alice reached the end of the hall and noticed a confessional booth.
She looked around, checking to see if it was safe, and dashed into the
booth.

   "Ah, I see that--"

   "WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN ME OF THAT HUGE THING!?" yelled Alice.

   "h-huge thing?" stammered the mysterious person.

   "Yeah, that huge beast!"

   "Oh... you weren't supposed to see one of those yet," the mysterious
person answered.

   "Well that's just great! Who knows what else is in here? I barely
survived against that thing! If it wasn't for the energy skates I just
got--"

   "Wait, did you say energy skates?" interrupted the mysterious person.

   "Yeah, energy skates," said Alice.

   "Oh, I think I know why one of those things appeared," said the
mysterious person. "They were supposed to appear when you got the lazer
gun. I think because the energy stakes are made of energy, they count
for the lazer gun thing. Yeeeeeah. Sorry about that."

   Alice was understandably taken aback by this. She was quite speechless
for 30 minutes. Only occasionally making noises with her mouth
attempting to form words but ultimately failing to do so.

   Finally, the mysterious person spoke up. "At least when you fight them
again, they'll be weaker...?"

   "You're the worst guide ever," blurted Alice.

   "I know," sighed the mysterious person.

   Alice practically stomped out of the confessional. However, she
noticed that she was no longer feeling pain from the huge beast's
attack. "I guess being in the thing healed me. That person is at least
somewhat useful."

   Alice walked around carefully, quickly peeking over any corner she
came across. Then she ran back to the confessional.

   "Hey, can you make a bed? I mean as in create a bed out of nothing.
Because I just want to lie down and not think about fighting shit?"

   "Sure! Just look at the wall behind you," the mysterious person said.

   Alice looked behind her too see that not only was the wall gone, but
that a big room had appeared in its place. It had a canopy bed that was
almost entirely neon pink. "Can it be a different color? Because it's
hurting my eyes."

   "Oh, sorry." The mysterious person made a finger-snapping sound. The
bed turned green.

   "Maaan. I love pink, but at least this doesn't bother me," Alice said
as she flopped down on the bed. Then a thought popped into her head.
"Hey, who are you anyway?" Alice asked the mysterious person.

   "Oh! Uh, it doesn't really matter right now."

   "Why not?" Alice asked.

   "I... don't really want to talk about it right now."

   "Okay then," said Alice. "What should I call you, then?"

   "Uhhhhhh... Oh, I like the word sink!" said the person who wants to be
called sink.

   "Why don't I call you Pandora, because you've unwittingly unleashed a
monster on me," said Alice.

   "Uh, well, I guess that works," said Pandora.

   "So anyway, what are your hobbies?" asked Alice.

   "Huh?"

   "Since it seems like we're going to be together for a while, we might
as well get to know each other better," said Alice.

   "Oh, well... I've been on the internet a lot," said Pandora.

   "Wait, so does that mean you're human?" asked Alice.

   "I don't want to talk about that," Pandora said quickly.

   "Well, who do you talk to on the internet?" Alice said.

   "I'm not comfortable with saying that either," Pandora said.

   Alice gave thought to what she was going to say next to salvage the
situation. Finally, she settled on "Do you find roleplaying relaxing?"

   "What?" a confused Pandora said.

   "...ya know what. I'm just going to sleep for while," said Alice, to
avoid making the situation any more awkward. It didn't really help.