Inside the horror scene of a kitchen, Alice stands in front of the shadow-like figure towering over her. Anxious and cautious Alice musters up the ability to speak to the figure that insists she calls it Malice.
“Malice?” A confused Alice asks.
Malice just stares at her not saying a word. Still unsure of what to make from all this Alice turns around towards the corpse in front of her.
“What’s going on here?” Alice questioned.
“Justice. Retribution. A new beginning.” Malice answers. Each word spoke with whispering and sinister overtones.
Hearing the way Malice speaks gives off an uneasy feeling for Alice. She starts to feel a bit of fear when the shadow spoke. Alice wants to ask more except the fear of what more the shadow may say prevents her. In some strange sense, Alice knows what the shadow is talking about however she can't quite place what she means exactly. Instead, she stares back at the man trying to recall anything that happened before her waking up. The image of the corpse can scar any sane person and yet Alice is focused on it.
"Who is this?" Alice wonders, her eyes still glued on the corpse.
Malice stares at Alice in silence from behind when suddenly it speaks.
“What a beautiful dress. Whoever gave it to you must care for you deeply."
What would normally be a heartwarming compliment now just feels unnerving. Alice takes note of this and looks at the dress once more feeling the happiness she has never gotten in her life. She completely ignores the body in front of her and even shows a small smile. However, it appears blood has gotten on the dress at some point.
Her eyes widen with shock and anger as she slams her fists on the kitchen counter inadvertently squishing the severed eyeball that was previously on it. Regardless of this action, it doesn’t faze Alice. Her long jet-black hair covering her face entirely, fists still clenched on the kitchen counter. Soon the kitchen begins to rumble. The rattling of kitchen utensils inside cabinets is heard and cups and dishes begin to fall shattering on impact. It’s not long until the whole house begins to shake. Furniture in the living room begins to rise off the ground and the static-filled television explodes. Even the corpse in the kitchen begins to rise.
Malice who is just watching everything go down in silence, not moving once from the spot where it was first spotted is not affected by this phenomenon. The mysterious knife with markings also seems unaffected as it's still on the ground where Alice first dropped it. Soon Malice focuses on Alice who’s still by the counter with her hair covering her face.
“Why…” Alice asks in a soft tone. There’s a bit of shakiness in her voice.
The house continues to shake.
“Why?” Once again asked by Alice now with a bit more fire and anger in her tone.
The house begins to shake more violently.
Malice continues to stare not speaking a word. Alice’s clenched fists begin to shake in anger. Shortly after, Alice lifts her head and begins to unleash a loud and terrifying screech causing complete mayhem in the house.
Almost every window and mirror in the house begins to shatter. Furniture is thrown across the room or out of the windows. Cracks begin to form throughout the house. Lights start flickering on and off and the ceiling fan in the living room crashes onto the floor. The corpse is thrown against a wall with force creating a hole in the process. You can hear the bones in the body breaking as it was flung like a ragdoll.
Alice begins to levitate, her head facing the ceiling with her mouth slightly open. Her hair moving away from her face revealing her eyes now glowing like Malice who is still unaffected and watching. While in the air it’s not long until her eyes change back to normal. She then drops to the floor on top of the knife with strange symbols cutting her stomach slightly through the dress with her hair hanging over her. The house looking much worse than its original state is filled with nothing but silence.
Malice slowly moves behind Alice standing directly both behind and over her. The dead silent home is soon broken by the sound of weeping.
“One thing…” A distressed Alice says with a tear slowly making its way down her cheek and onto the knife below her.
“I had one thing that was pure…one thing out of happiness…now tainted.”
Malice looking down at the weeping Alice places its hand on her shoulder. The touch of Malice somehow calms her down as she finds a strange feeling of comfort in the shadow. Although only a shadow, Alice can feel the pressure Malice has on her especially when it speaks again.
“Happiness is always taken from us. But there is no reason we can't take it back.”
"Please..." Alice begs while wiping her tears. "Help me get my happiness back"
Malice moves in front of Alice and shrinks in size to look her in her teary eyes. "It's why I'm here."
"What are you?" Confused Alice questions.
Alice feels pressure on her cheek while staring into the eyes of Malice. She begins to calm down.
"Go clean yourself up, Alice"
Alice grows a bit frustrated as this is not what she asked for. Despite her frustration, she gets up and listens to Malice. The strange comfort Alice finds in the shadow is what makes her listen to Malice. This won't go by Alice just yet, more questions keep popping up however, it's just too much to handle at once. For now, she'll go along with whatever is going on. Maybe this is a very bad dream where she will wake up and go on with her normal life. The thing is though, was Alice's life normal, to begin with? Even if Alice is in a dream why would she want to wake up?
Enough thinking she wipes the tears off her face turns around and walks to the bathroom going through Malice in the process. Malice stands completely still as Alice walks through it. When Alice leaves the kitchen, Malice looks down at the knife noticing both the blood and tear from Alice being absorbed into it.
As Alice walks into the bathroom she immediately looks at herself in the mirror which is somehow still intact. She stares directly into her own eyes questioning who she is. Alice knows she's going through changes. The girl in front of her isn’t the same Alice, yet she doesn’t mind at all. In fact, she loves this new Alice. The sensation flowing through her body when she was levitating felt unreal, a feeling of power and control. Sure she can question it, but what's the fun in that? Alice wants to keep this dream lasting as long as she can. She looks down at her hands covered in blood and gives an almost sinister smile. Alice knows there's a reason for her bloody hands, but she doesn't care. She rinses the blood off her hands and finds a mark at the bottom of her right thumb. The mark appears to be branded onto her. Once again Alice doesn't seem to care and instead focus her attention on her dream dress which now has drops of blood and a tear in the mid-section.
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Alice completely unaware of the cut she has sustained while falling onto the knife decides to take a closer look at it. Without hesitation, she takes off the dress and throws it into the tub filled with water behind her. Now only in her bra and underwear, Alice moves her eyes towards the cut only to be caught off guard by the scars around her body. Burn marks on her upper chest, bruises near her wrists, scars on her forearm, and what seems to be whip lashes on her back.
Puzzled at first, Alice didn't know what to think of these scars. She stares at them trying to recall any type of memory that caused these scars, yet the only thing she can recall would be the emotions she felt while looking at them. The look of disgust, anger, hate, and regret. Not this time. This Alice brushes these scars off as nothing more than a thing of the past. She proceeds to look at the cut on her stomach but to her surprise sees that it has vanished. Looking back at the mirror she sees her scars are gone as well. Alice is bewildered, these scars seem to be with her for years with some looking like it could have been there since she was a kid. All of them are now gone except the mark on her thumb and Alice is left standing there wondering what to do now.
Suddenly Alice feels empty as if something was taken from her. This causes Alice pain and even a sudden shift in her energy making her tired. Shortly after she collapses on the floor trembling. On the bathroom floor shaking uncontrollably, Alice tries her hardest to stand but to no avail. Alice’s vision begins to blur, and everything seems to close in on her. Darkness creeps on Alice slowly appearing all around her. She begins to accept this fate of what looks like death until she sees an opened bottle of pills under the bathroom sink. Using all her strength Alice crawls towards the pills. Now in her hand and on the floor, she musters up a bit more strength to sit on the toilet.
Only four pills left in the bottle she pours the rest onto her hand. Wild thoughts run rampant through Alice’s mind as she stares at the pills. Emotions of depression and sorrow fill her head. However, one emotion speaks louder than others and that’s the fury she's hidden. There's a chance Alice can get the happiness she desperately yearns for and she's not gonna let it go easily. Alice closes her hand and tosses the pills at the tub and watches the pills sink to the bottom along with the dress. She sits on the toilet alone with nothing but her thoughts. Alice decides not to dwell on this too much and powers on as she leaves the bathroom abandoning the pills and her dream dress at the bottom of the tub.
She enters a bedroom and picks out a light blue dress she found in the closet and lays it out on the bed. Seems out of place to have in a bedroom like this. The bedroom is just in bad of shape as the rest of the house. Smells of cigarettes and alcohol fill the room with a barely functioning lamp giving off an uneasy atmosphere. The dress is the only good thing to look at until Alice realize how hideous and out of place it’ll look on her and puts in back. Changing into all black clothes, she now wears a tank top with jeans and sneakers. Walking towards the dresser she finds a familiar-looking necklace with a small pendant in the shape of a symbol unknown to many people. She picks it up and holds it in front of her. This necklace belongs to her, it always had since birth. She never knew who gave her said necklace, but she’s always worn it to keep her safe. Without thought, Alice wraps it around her neck and head towards the door.
Before leaving the room, she steps on a picture frame. Alice picks it up and sees a picture of a woman with bright blonde hair and blue eyes with a man with his arm wrapped around her. The man has a similar branding mark on his thumb as well, same spot as Alice. You can clearly see the misery in this woman’s face in this photo in contrast to the man’s face which is filled with joy. She takes the photo out of the frame and flips it around to see words written on the back.
“JOHNNY AND ALICE’S WEDDING”
Her heart skips a beat as she read those words. She knew her appearance changed somehow but she didn't knew it was this much. Aside from that, the man in the photo is her husband and yet she doesn't remember him. The look of joy on the man's face in contrast to the look of misery on Alice's can tell stories. Alice looks at the mark on her thumb and the mark on the man's thumb. She slowly begins to remember more of this man until the empty feeling she felt in the bathroom returns, breaking her out of her thoughts.
Alice struggles out of the room to rejoin Malice who has still been standing in the same spot. Unbeknownst to Alice, the mysterious knife is now gone. Before Alice has a chance to speak Malice can see the state Alice is in.
“You feel weak without me, don’t you?” Malice questions Alice.
“What?” A puzzled Alice asks. “How’d you- “
“Because I grow weak without you as well.” Malice interrupts. “We’re inseparable Alice. The longer we are apart from one another the weaker we grow. I need you as you need me. This is your life now as this is my current existence. I am bounded to you until you leave this world.”
“Why are you here Malice?” Alice demanded, not caring for the answer she’ll receive.
“To protect you. To give you the happiness you desperately begged for your whole life.” Malice replies in its usual whispered tone.
“But I don't understand.” Alice asks.
“Your whole life you struggled with pain, abuse, depression. You were weak, always looking for a way out but even then didn't have the strength to do it. You finally went past your breaking point and decided to take a stand however, you couldn't do it alone. Which is where I..or we come in, the evil lurking deep in your heart and mind taking action for you. Well...more or less.” Malice answers, however leaving more questions to be asked.
“But..what do you mean? I don’t remember-“
“Of course you don’t.” Malice interrupts. “This is the price you pay when you call us. Amnesia and of course...services.. But all that will come when the time is right.
Alice is frustrated as every question she asks leads to more questions. The only thing she can do now is just going along this crazy world she has entered.
“What happens now?” Alice asks Malice.
“For now, whatever you desire.” Malice replies. “Like I said we are bonded together. Wherever you go I’ll follow behind under your command.”
Alice thinks about what she was just told and questions Malice once more.
“If we’re bounded together why didn’t you help me in the bathroom?”
Malice points below Alice.
“Look.” Malice instructs Alice.
Alice looks down to notice her shadow is missing. Left speechless she just stares at the ground wondering what happened to it.
“You didn’t summon me towards you.” Malice explains. “I’m surprised it took you this long to notice. You asked me who I was, I assumed you just figured it out the second you felt me.”
“I... I just...” Alice trying to find the right words to say. “You just feel so familiar…”
Malice gets closer to Alice.
“I’ve been with you your whole life. Only now you decided to call for me.” Malice states. “Close your eyes and picture me back with you. Once you feel safe and secured open them”
Alice listens to the shadow and closes her eyes. It takes time for her to feel ‘safe and secured’. It comes to the point where she soon begins to think she’ll never have this feeling. Eyes still closed Alice feels a strange sensation flowing through her. She finally opens her eyes to see Malice is gone.
Alice looks behind her but no sight of Malice. She can only see the destruction she has left. Thoughts begin to run rampant through Alice’s head again. Nothing but rage, fury, and even revenge are taking over. She tries to fight this, but the thoughts are too loud. The best thing for Alice is to leave the house and mayhem she has caused for good.
Alice begins making her way to the entrance of the house. As she opens the door she pauses and looks at the man in the kitchen one last time and notices the mark on his thumb, her eyes glowing slightly.
“Happy Anniversary Johnny.”
Alice slams the door behind her leaving the soon-to-be crime scene for good with her shadow at her side again.