Alice In Red by Rebekah Dare (free ebooks for android .TXT) 📕

Prologue
“You need to marry me, Alice. You’re being ridiculous. I can give you everything your heart desires!” Alice throws a glare towards the dark haired boy in front of her.
“I don’t need anything you could give me. You have money. Nothing else.” Alice sniffs, and tries to turn away. Patrick grabs her shoulders.
“If you don’t marry me, I will make sure your life is miserable,” he growls. Angry, she turns to retort, but is silenced by the ferocious look in his eye. She gulps, trying to gain her composure.
“Patrick, no true man would ever try to convince a woman to marry him by threatening her,” she says quietly. She tries to pull out of his grasp, but he holds tight. “Let go,” she whines, pulling at his fingers.
“Alice?” a bemused voice calls out. Alice turns, as best as she can, to see a dark shadow walking towards her.
“Henry!” she cries. Out of the corner of her eye, she see’s Patrick roll his eyes. Alice bites her tongue. Patrick could be such a jerk. Thank God Henry was here. “He won’t let me go!” Instantly the hands on her arms disappear, and she rubs them, getting the feeling back to the tips of her fingers. Henry is now next to her.
“What were you doing to her?” he says, exuding a silent anger. He gently guides Alice away from Patrick with one hand, pushing her slightly behind him. Immediately Alice wraps her arms around Henry before he did something stupid.
“I’m fine. Patrick is being a baby. He wants me to marry him.” As upset as Patrick was, Alice knew he was just upset at being rejected. He was very sweet. Kind of quiet at times, but smart. Henry was just being too protective. Alice didn’t really want to get married; she just wanted to live alone with some books. And maybe a cat. And some sewing supplies.
“Oh,” Henry relaxes into Alice’s grip, and she quickly releases him. She knows Henry’s feelings for her. And Patrick’s. She stands in between the two boys, one dark haired, the other fair haired, and both wishing her on their arms. She puts one arm over both of them, very lightly.
“You guys are such amazing friends to me. Let’s keep it that way, shall we?”
***
“Alice, where’s your mind?” Eliza asks her. Alice starts, placing a hand on her heart.
“In the stars,” she replies honestly. “Where’s yours?” she closes her book, and looks at her friend. Eliza frowns.
“In not nearly as pretty of a place,” she says quietly. “I’m thinking of home.” Alice frowned and placed a hand on Eliza’s pale arm. She knew how difficult Eliza’s home life was, with her parent’s always fighting, and the family’s lack of money. It was a shame Patrick wouldn’t propose to Eliza.
“I’m thinking of leaving the town.” Alice looks at Eliza’s exhausted face, her hands folded in her lap. She looks at the ceiling. “I don’t even like it here,” she continues in a tiny voice, taking her sights off the ceiling and putting them onto Alice. Alice stands and hugs her. “Would you go with me?” Eliza says suddenly, eyes gleaming.
Alice laughs. “I couldn’t go with you. My family is here. My life is here.” She spreads her arms. “Unless that was all gone, I could never leave.” Eliza stares at her.
“Is that so? Hmm. You do have more out there for you,” then picks up her sewing and continues.


Chapter One
Dong. Dong. Dong.
Alice barely glances up. Another one, she thinks sadly. Another one as a plaything to The Wolf. Morosely, she stood from her crouching position, away from her little sister's dress-to-be. Alice stretched out her long, thin fingers, still tight from sewing.
Dong. Dong. Dong.
"Alice!” she hears her mother cry. She always wants me there. Always wants me to see another dead person. Inwardly, Alice sighed. She preferred to be alone, with her constant thoughts, but her mother always wanted her to see the danger of their village. To make sure that Alice knew to be careful.
I’m always careful, thinks Alice. She should be worried about Abigail. Nonetheless, Alice snatched her old cloak off the hook by the door, and walked into the snowy early morning. She glanced at the sky. The moon was still up. Alice felt fidgety. Nervous. Couldn’t the wolf strike twice?
“Alice!” the call came again, from the fields. Who would be in the fields now? On a night where it had been the full moon? Alice groans quietly. Abigail would be crying. She wouldn’t sleep. “Alice!” the cry is more of a shriek.
“Alice, come here,” a deep voice says. It doesn’t seem to be said all that loud, but she hears it.
Poor Abigail. If Father is there too, she MUST be. She’ll be positively hysterical. Dear girl, she can sleep in my bed with me, tonight. Mother is always busy, and Father’s working… Alice decides from now on, they will have to be closer.
She’s close enough to see the crowd of people, in a circle. A few people turn to look pityingly at her. She frowns. It must be someone she knows. Alice speeds up. The crowd parts for her.
Silence. Agony breaks through her body. “Is…is…” her voice cracks. “Is that…?” She drops to her knees. It’s Abigail. It’s her little sister.
Suddenly Alice’s world is different. It’s not fair. It’s not kind. There is no one looking out for her. She reaches out a hand, brushing back the dark hair of her sister. Her hand trails the length of the strand, and ends up on a puddle of blood. There’s blood everywhere, Alice realizes.
She’s gone. I can never become closer to her. She’s gone. She’ll never get that dress I was making her. She’s gone… She’s gone…. She’s gone… The word is pulsating, throbbing along with her heart. Alice can’t even cry. She just wants to curl up next to Abigail and bleed. Bleed until she’s all gone. Because then she wouldn’t have to deal with this. Have to deal with… Alice stares at her face.
Abigail’s dark eyes are open. What did she see? thinks Alice. As she breathed her last breath, what did she see? The wolf, tearing her own body to shreds, or an image inside her head? Someone she loved? Her family?
Questions are wheeling wildly throughout Alice’s head. There’s screaming. Who’s screaming? Alice thinks angrily. Who’s screaming when they should be mourning?
But it’s Alice screaming. Arms are suddenly around her, pulling her away. She fights. She wants to be next to her sister. She wants to be with her. Then she collapses into whoever’s arms are holding her. Alice doesn’t even bother looking up. She just buries her face in their chest and cries. Wails. Screams some more. Just sobs, hands locked around fabric. More people surround her, hugging her. She smells honeysuckle. Her mom. Woods. Her father.
Then she’s angry.
“Why was Abigail outside? What were you doing? You’re always busy! Were you too busy to notice your daughter steal away on a full moon?” Alice’s voice is raised ridiculously high. “Did nobody, not even one person, happen to glance out their window as they closed it? Not one person in Vollmond peeked out and saw a dark haired girl scurrying towards the fields under a full moon?!” Alice has struggled her way out of everyone’s grasp. She see’s Eliza.
“What happened?” Eliza says fearfully. “Who died?” Then she see’s Alice, the normally calm Alice, with tears streaming down her cheeks, hands balled into fists, and the collapsed body of a girl with long dark hair. “Is that…?” Eliza breathes. “Oh, Alice!” she cries, rushing to her friend. Alice shoves her aside.
“Leave me alone.”
“Alice?” two voices say in unison. Henry and Patrick have appeared too. Where have THEY been? Alice thinks.
“What happened?” Henry said, immediately at her side. Alice tries to walk away, back towards her sister. Henry grabs her. Alice relaxes, and as soon as the grip on her relaxes, she darts out of his grasp, turns around, and sends a punch towards his jaw. Alice will do anything to get back to what used to be her sister. Patrick springs forward, and Alice turns away from Henry, who’s rubbing his jaw, and has backed away.
“Get out of my way, Patrick,” Alice demands. Patrick just grabs her shoulders.
“We don’t know what happened, stop punching people!” Eliza is instantaneously next to her. Her mom and dad are next to her.
“Relax, Alice!” Eliza tries to console her.
“Don’t tell me to relax! My sister is DEAD!” Alice shrieks. Her mom tries to hug her.
“Honey, you’re causing a scene—“
“It’s not your fault—“
“What can I do—“
“I’m so sorry for you loss—“
“Please, accept my condolences—“

AHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

The din ends. Everyone is quiet.
“The wolf,” someone whispers.
“Would he strike twice?”
“Why would he strike at all? We left the food,” someone else whispers.
The whispering continues. But there’s nothing else. No thudding of animal footsteps, no screams. Just…. Dawn sounds.
Dawn?!
Suddenly, everyone is staring at the sky. It’s orange. The moon is gone. How long has it been gone? Alice glances at Eliza, Henry and Patrick. Where had they been? Why had the whole village gathered, but not them?
“Alice?” It’s then she notices that everyone had migrated, and was now surrounding her. They all stared fearfully, like they expected her to break down again.
“Uhm. Yes. Right.” She hangs her head. “Let’s attend to Abigail.” Her voice cracks, but she raises her head, steels herself, and lifts her shoulders. “She shouldn’t just be laying there, in the snow and…blood.
Why my sister? Why her? She was so young. So, so young. He just… killed her. Why? Animals don’t kill for sport or fun. They kill for food. To eat. So the human in this werewolf… is very strong.
Alice takes a step toward what was her sister. The entire crowd moves along with her.
Ready to constrain me? Alice wonders. I don’t see why. Alice stands over Abigail, cold wind biting her bare skin. Slowly, she drops to her knee’s once more.
“Darling, let’s move her, shall we?” Alice looks up from her sister’s pale face. She catches the eyes of those around her. She nods. No one moves. Then someone is next to her, placing their arms under Abigail, lifting her off the ground. Blood drips from her lifeless body, making small circles on the snow.
“I’m very sorry,” the person holding Abigail whispers in her ear. She looks up. It’s Daniel. A quiet boy she used to be friends with when she was small.
“Thank you…” she mutters. Alice doesn’t think she can watch anymore, so she begins to trudge back to her house, friends and family following her.
“Alice, do you want me to stay?” Henry is suddenly in front of her, strong hands resting on her thin shoulders. Alice doesn’t know what to say. She nods slightly.
“Oh, Alice, I’m so sorry!” a familiar voice calls. Eliza.
“Hi, Eliza.” Alice see’s her cottage, and she speeds up. She bursts through the front door, and collapses into the nearest chair.