Sophie, after watching the shocking medieval performance of President Sanchez was now asleep. Sleep came naturally to Sophie, even in troubled times. Adults kept reminding her how lucky she was. Each time she woke, she only vaguely remembered her visits into her strange dream world. Reading Alice in Wonderland before dozing off always brought her to a good and happy place.
Wonderland had its share of villains, but by now they no longer scared her. Her life experiences were, honestly much more stressful. Sophie was sound asleep in her first class seat as the Light Drive began to warm itself up and create zexs. Light from earth’s orbiting satellite at departure hit the plates creating push, green light and a rip between the Cold and the Purple. Now, to slow down the ship, the light was sent from mars.
Sophie did not care about such things.
Dreams had always been a mystery to scientists and theologians alike. Dogs, cats, and even horses slept, and at some point during sleep, the brain wandered as if tired of the solitude of the dark within itself. There was a purpose to sleep and dream, that was uncontested. Library shelves were filled with different theories as to why dreams existed; none were correct.
Dreams are in fact a different facet of reality. In a dream, everyone, from the homeless to the king is an equal. The paraplegic here danced and lost ones returned to life. Dreaming was for most a blessing, but for the depressed, a curse. Dark dreams, nightmares, were an old world accessible only through dream. The role of nightmares was also unclear. They helped the brain maintain a high level activity needed by our world.
Sophie was now sound asleep in the Airbus A2070. She had given way to her fatigue reading her favorite chapter of the book. In her dream, she found herself sitting at the long table surrounded by the entire cast of fun characters. She loved the book. These creatures were her only friends. In her dream, in this place, she wasn't the famous Sophie, she was Alice, a young girl entitled to be young and vulnerable. Here she was silky, threw tantrums and even cried.
She loved her white dress and pulled on it before sitting down. Next, she surrounded by a thick forest filled by hundreds of colorful birds, grabbed the elephant-shape tea cup and drank. She offered her furry friends some of her chocolate chip cookies. She had been here, at this table, too many times to count. Since she left earth, she tried to come here three times a day. A large purple cat popped-up in the chair next to her. The cast of characters looked at each other, but no one spoke. This was Sophie's dream. They drank, ate and laughed for a while as a needed break from the mature content she had been forced to watch.
Then, to add to the delusion, a strange green portal of light, a rupture in space with uneven edges appeared. It was strangely odd even in Wonderland. Here, doors were not unusual but Sophie never dreamt of fire or energy. Inside the portal could be seen the other side of a world and it was purple color.
"Yes?" said the rabbit.
A gentle firefly, gold and red with sparkling wings flew out into Sophie’s dream reality from the Purple. The little firefly was alive, it moved around the table inspecting in turn each creature one after the other.
"What is it?" asked the large white furry creature to her left.
"I would say, I would say, who are you?" joked the giant caterpillar.
The flying creature did not seem hostile. It was inquisitive. The rabbit did what rabbits do, he swat at it, but thankfully missed.
"You want tea?" asked the caterpillar sending large rings of smoke the way of the intruder.
The firefly stopped moving. "Where am I?" resounded a boy's innocent voice. It could speak. This was Mall-I’m from the Purple.
"You are in Wonderland, do you work for the Queen?" asked the dressed-up Sophie. She caressed her sleeves and pointed to a frame of the Queen attached to a tree. Here, Sophie could play a role and be the young girl she wanted to be, elegant and gracious. She got up from her seat, and saluted the visitor pretending to remove and wave an invisible hat.
"What, where is this?" questioned the boy. Mall-ik could somehow see this world. It had new colors, and he could communicate. He knew he was in deep trouble. The Metil was not supposed to be here. Before Sophie could answer, the firefly began to vibrate and buzz as if animated by fear. "Sorry," it said, "I am so sorry." The insect left a streak of red as it flew back through the portal of light from which it came. Behind the creature, the rift stayed open but was it was closing quickly.
"Alice, go after it!" This was Wonderland after all.
"But the rift is too small. I cannot pass through it."
"Take the shrinking potion, you have some left." The white rabbit was correct. "It's in your pocket." She liked the twist to the story. The change in the dream was welcome. As she drank from the tiny bottle, the rift moved closer to the ground. Within seconds, she was the size of a bug and was standing in front of the green light and looked into the Purple.
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"Good luck," wished her friends as Sophie leaped into the unknown.
The girl expected many things, but where she landed was not one of them. This was no longer Wonderland. The world around was formless; a simple diffuse purple. Here there were no trees, no ground, just the lilac color. In the distance were bordeaux colored patches. Her body was gone, but that was fine. She was used to playing computer games in which she had no body. Each time she visited her father, she was also formless. She did not panic, instead she looked around for something or someone.
Behind her was a tall black mirror that reminded her of the shape of the gate through which she just walked. Instinctively, she knew this was in the world of the firefly. Around her, she saw small pellets of green shiny metal entering this world and flying out in every direction from the black mirror and whizzing into the purple.
Then she saw it. Floating in the distance was the little red dot. It reminded her of the thing she had seen a couple of times floating in space from her seat in the ship. That was odd. The firefly no longer had wings or even a form. Sophie had a sixth sense and felt like the firefly had just seen her. It began to pulse, shiver and then try to move slowly away.
"Wait!" called Sophie. The creature panicked. The pulsing of the creature began to flicker. It was moving erratically in every direction as it did back in Wonderland. "Wait!" Sophie repeated, this time with a milder tone. She could hear the creature's thoughts. It knew it was in trouble; it wanted Sophie to go away. "Talk to me," she tried to whisper instead of simply thinking. Her words came out much stronger than hoped. The sound resonated so strongly, her voice sent shock waves in the purple in every direction pulsing away from her like a tsunami. The wave hit the creature before she could act. It knocked out some of the rocks forming it.
Sophie heard it cry out in pain.
Wounded, it stopped buzzing frantically. The creature was now barely pulsating; it was hurt.
"I am sorry. I am sorry," it kept repeating. The creature was genuine. "I am so sorry." Sophie felt awful, she had hurt it.
The Earth girl was afraid to talk or even think. She looked away and said and said as gently as she could. "Who are you? Is this Wonderland?"
This time her voice did not create the wave. The small creature was alive but confused. "I don't know. Don't hurt me."
"What is your name, I am Alice. What are you doing in Wonderland?"
"My name is Mall-ik. Don't kill me." The creature was afraid. "What is Wonderland?"
"We are in Wonderland," explained Sophie. He did not find the strength to contradict her. "I am really called Sophie, who are you?" Sophie felt more comfortable with her real name. The time for playing was over.
"Sophie?"
"Yes."
"The creature from the other side of the rift?" it asked.
"Yes, I suppose." In her back the portal was still open, it was still pouring the warm energy. By the word “rift”, clearly the creature meant the door.
"Oh, poor me, I am in so much trouble. I did not mean to spy on you. I am sorry. I must go. I forgot to report the rift!" It began to slide away. Sophie had no trouble moving in the purple space and was able to keep up with the Metil. "Please..." it implored. His words were touching.
"Who are you?" asked Sophie. "Quickly, I will grow bigger soon, the effect of the potion will wear off." Sophie was still partly asleep. She was referring to the temporary effects of her shrinking potion from Wonderland. The young Metil's confusion was total.
"Sophie, please return to your ship. The rift is temporary, it will close soon. You will be lost here in my world." Sophie somehow felt the creature's concern was legitimate. It feared for her well-being. "Please go back before it's too late!" it insisted.
Sophie started to wonder. Things were not normal. Something was off; this place was no Wonderland. "Can I just take the next door?"
"You cannot!" it exclaimed, "Please, please, please, I beg you." He was genuine. "I am already in so much trouble. I will be blamed for this."
"Do you serve the Queen?"
The quantum creature was confused. He knew of no royalty. The person from the other world had followed him and was talking nonsense. In a courageous move, the young Metil, appearing to Sophie as a firefly, changed direction and began moving back toward the rift. He would sacrifice himself to guide her home. He was to blame. Sophie's mind followed in tow. There was nothing else here.
Mall-ik wanted her to come closer. "I saw your memories. Your father, Laurent needs you. Return home!"
"He does," she admitted. This was no longer a fun dream. She did not like to be reminded of her father's condition. The wounded creature kept moving toward the rift. By some miracle, the zexs shooting out of the portal kept pouring out but missing them.
Mall-ik continued. "I am sorry. My creators are also extinguished. They are..." he picked the right word. "Dead. I understand your pain. You must be with him; the one father."
The little creature seemed to struggle as it advanced against the pouring flow of light coming out of the rift. Sophie on the other hand was floating as an observer. As they got closer to the door, she began to distinguish shapes inside the rift. She saw the stars in her world against the darkness of space. This glass mirror was a door to her world.
"This is you, the one in gold. Can you please go back?" said Mall-ik. Sophie did not see any gold. All she saw the Airbus floating in silent dark space.
"Will the Queen have your head?" asked Sophie without much control over the words. Her mind was fogging. She knew this was no longer Wonderland, but as she returned home, she felt a connection with her real body, and her sleeping mind. She was asleep.
"Yes!" Replied Mall-ik. "The Queen..."
He really needed her to go. She did what Alice would have done, and passed from the Purple into her world. She was falling asleep, within the dream.
"What is your name?" was her last words to the alien.
"Mall-ik," he said from a distance. Then she had returned.
***
"Welcome back. Where were you?" asked the caterpillar.
"With a new friend," said the girl now wearing a purple color lace dress.
Sophie finished her dream peacefully but things were definitely not getting simpler.