Then he went to dinner with a girl. She kept holding his hand all night, showing him she liked him. She made him drive her home and spent a significant time at her doorstep, talking to him. At first he didn’t understand, until she neared and kissed him.
“Meow.” He moaned.
The girl backed off immediately, pretended she had school tomorrow and disappeared into her house.
“She’s definitely not a cat person.” he told himself.
Walking away, the Cheshire wondered about those strange human emotions. Holding hands, going to movies, kissing. Those humans sure knew how to enjoy themselves. They didn’t spend their days hunting for a rat to feed themselves and their families. And they didn’t spend much time evading imminent threats of predators, dogs, and passing cars.
Holy furs, grins, and purrs.
They didn’t even have fleas sticking to the backs of their necks, driving them crazy all day and night.
And most important, each and every one of them had a place to go home to at night. It was just silly.
Suddenly, the Cheshire heard someone call behind him, “Alice!”
The Cheshire turned and saw no one. But the voice continued, “Alice. I love you.”
The Cheshire’s eyes rolled. Was he getting madder than he already was?
“I need to tell you why I came back for you, Alice.”
Enough, the Cheshire thought. What was going on?
Then the headache started. He clapped his hands over his ears, but the voice persisted. He finally realized whose voice this really was.
It was Jack’s. The Cheshire was listening to Jack’s thoughts. About none other than Alice.
The Cheshire grinned. A big grin. It was time to listen to why Jack had really come back for Alice.
Chapter 14
THE FUTURE
The place I just left turned out to be a compound of some sorts. Safe and sound from the mad world outside.
Here in the streets, it’s a circus of insanity. It's like a kindergarten for adults. People drive cars into each other and laugh at the injured passengers. Others are vandalizing every other building they come across. There are a bunch of what look like protestors gathered in the streets. They're holding signs that read: We want our brains back.
And that's just what I am capable of comprehending from a brief look.
I stop the car, too worried to get out, still trying to understand what's going on. Is this the real future? What about the place I came from?
I turn back and see my neighborhood behind the gate is protected by a fortress wall. Surveillance cameras everywhere. Several signs with warnings stretch across the walls. Don't come near or you will be fried like toast.
Farther to the left, there is a bigger sign. It says: The Wonderland Compound.
I remind myself that I am lying on a couch in the Inklings bar a few years back in time now. Does this mean the Inklings has been turned into this protective compound in the future?
Why?
Turning back, I stare at the mad world in chaos and realize I am staring at where Big Ben once stood. The building still has a clock, but it's not Big Ben anymore. It's a giant building, shaped like a mushroom.
I decide to drive further into the mad streets of London. It's not easy, considering the crazy people rapping on my car, demanding that I stop.
But I manage. Maneuvering left and right. A building is on fire next to me. A march of naked people with tattoos on their chests: Government! Give back our brains!
What happened here?
I arrive at what once was the British Parliament in Westminster Palace. It's not that anymore. It's something scary.
I slow down and stare at it, unable to believe my own eyes. But it's hard not to know what it has turned into.
A circus.
A fluttering flag before the tent reads: Ladies and gentlemen, mad and madders, come watch the freaks who call themselves sane and rational.
I halt to a stop, needing a moment to let it all sink in.
We didn't really win the war, did we? We lost it. Big time. And the Wonderland Monsters turned the circus around on humans. Now the insane watch the sane for entertainment an d freak shows.
A slight look to the right and I see the Queen of Hearts’ face, full profile, drawn on the vertical length of a ten-story building. The drawing makes her look taller, thinner, and not as ugly as she really is. Underneath her painting there are more words to read: In Her Majesty's Bonkers Service!
I let out a shriek inside my car. This is the worst future for mankind.
Another horde of protestors walk toward my car. Those are different and most nonsensical. They hold up signs that say: We volunteer to have our heads off. All in the name of the Queen.
They keep advancing and pointing at my car. They want me to let some of them in. I pull the roof of the car on and lock myself inside. But then they pull out their Bandersnatch guns and are about to shoot me. I put the car in reverse and hit the accelerator.
It doesn't work. An ambulance, driven by a madman, crashes into my car from behind.
I need to find a way out of this.
Chapter 15
THE PRESENT: OXFORD
The Cheshire was going mad — well, at least madder than he already was.
Jack's voice in his head was killing him. At first he thought he could know why Jack came back for Alice. But the little piece of information didn't present itself. Instead, Jack turned out to be in real love with Alice, thinking about her all the time. Remembering how they met. All those late night phone calls. The walks. The talks. And the romance.
The Cheshire felt like he was going to vomit from the clichés and cheesiness. Humans pretended they were superior in their feelings toward each other.
But then the Cheshire remembered the youngsters he'd just met and gone to the movies with. Maybe he really had to give humans a chance.
At least guys like Jack.
How was it possible to really think about someone this way? How was Jack benefitting from loving a girl who’d killed him?
It drove the Cheshire mad. But he decided he had to figure it out. Starting with sorting Jack's mind out.
Like a cabinet full of curiosities, he wanted to locate Jack’s memories with Alice. The memory in the bus where where she killed him and the other students.
Chapter 16
THE FUTURE: LONDON
Running wild in the streets, chased by a horde of mad people, I glanced at what once was the Big Ben again. Not only does it look like a weird mushroom made of what looks like marshmallow bricks, but it has a cuckoo bursting out of it when the clock strikes. The cuckoo has a husky voice, shouting, “We’re all mad here!” three times.
There is much more madness that surrounds me, but I try to focus on two things. My survival, and finding a way out of London to Oxford University.
Pictures of the Queen of Hearts are everywhere. A few statues too. One of them shows her chopping off a flamingo’s head. The following words are carved underneath: She finally did it!
I take a left onto what I think will lead me to the road out of here. The madmen are right on my tail. From the signs I believe Great Britain is now called the Great Republic of Wonderland, just like Tiger told me.
And that’s not all. There are maps on the walls of buildings. Maps of the empire of Wonderland. Apparently Black Chess colonized the rest of the world like the British Empire of the past. Mushrooms are Black Chess’s trademark, planted in every country they set foot in, as a marker of territory.