Alice awoke with a jolt, cold and gasping for air alone in the woods. Her boney fingers drawn to her neck where she felt a faint scratchy, tingling sensation. Alice stumbled to her feet and perceived through dim light and shaky sight her surroundings. It was dusk. The trees whispered to each other in the soft, chilling breeze eagerly discussing Alice, fascinated by her presence. A light mist found its way through the nosey trees and settled softly on the moss below. Alice’s hazy mind could not remember where she was or why. She looked at her hands for answers, either for clues or purely by impulse. They were dirty and scratched but the blood was not fresh. Alice now aware of herself, remarked that her dress was torn and one shoe was curiously missing. She acknowledged the fact but was simply too tired to care.

As the mist percolated through the trees and settled upon Alice’s fragile figure so too did a feeling of dread, hopelessness. It sat on her chest, its presence so tangible you could almost touch it. Hopelessness was Alice’s only possession, her only company in the darkening woods. Alice could not think of a single thing in this so-called existence that was real to her. The very woods that she stood in were not real, not to Alice. The life it housed did not interest her and so, because she did not want to perceive its presence, it simply did not exist. Her faithful friend Hopelessness only permitted Alice to see the world through dreadful-tinted glasses. Time, date, location are things that binds us human beings to this earthly plain. Alice was not concerned with being earthly, she was not concerned with being at all. She was bound here, to this lonesome place in the woods by Hopelessness and all its friends.

Alice stumbled forward sliding her numb fingers on the bark, which would appear to be rough in texture. Her mind was fuzzy and revolved around a sense of injustice, although she could not say why. She stood on twigs as she moved but they did not break and made no sound. Alice reached the ridge which signified the end of the woodland. The trees, regarding her below, warned Alice that she belonged entirely to the woods which were not real. Reminded by Hopelessness sitting proudly on her shoulders and whispering in her ear that she will not find her purpose here, or anywhere for that matter, Alice shuffled onwards only to stop at a puddle. Her dark eyes drawn to her reflection, which was scarcely visible as the wind rippled the water. The dark skies not allowing the moon to show Alice what she is or is not.

Standing on that road somewhere presumably on this planet, Alice felt as through she would never belong anywhere or to anyone. The feeling was strangely familiar, and Alice searched her mind for the answer but her friend whispered in her ear ‘it’s no use, don’t even bother’. With a sigh, Alice’s wandering gaze landed upon her shoeless foot. Its blueness struck her. She wriggled her toes but they were grotesque and it saddened her. Alice’s meandering thoughts were rudely disturbed by car headlights. The car hurling down the narrow road with a menacing growl startled Alice. The bright yellow spotlights blinding her. In a futile attempt to shield herself, Alice raised her hand to her face. The intensity of the light corroded at her dull flesh. She watched as her hands, almost in slow motion, began to dissolve and turn into mist which floated away, deserting her. It spread from her hands to her face, across her bruised neck and down her chest. Alice watched, exempt of feeling, as she faded away into the dark misty night, into nothing, into the void, only to awaken with a jolt, cold, breathless and alone in the woods.