Page 33 of Madness

I never truly had that. From a young age, I begged for scraps of attention from my parents, and I never felt loved.

I thought that acting out would get me some of their attention, even if it was negative, but they never showed up when my acting out went a step too far.

“Bander?” Red asks softly.

She approaches me hesitantly, like a startled animal, but I smile softly at her and gather her into my arms.

Pressing a soft kiss to her red locks, I breathe in her scent and curl my body around hers.

My towering height practically engulfs her, and she meagerly pounds her fist against my chest, “Can’t breathe!” she muffles against my sternum, and I chuckle, releasing her.

She glares, but it’s half-hearted at best.

“Are you staying?” she asks.

“Can I? I’m not interrupting?”

“Not at all. Let me finish this part, and we can cuddle,” she says, pointing to the bed. I obey happily.

Her mattress is soft, and my body sinks into it. The smell of her clings to the covers, and I pull them over myself while she finishes her work.

I don’t sleep while we cuddle; instead, I happily watch her as she dozes in my arms.

Our time together in this place is so limited that I savour every moment, and being in solitary means, I get to sleep when I finally retreat to my cell.

Removing my eye, I put it in the glass of water she keeps beside her bed strictly for me, and I close my eyes for a moment.

I can hear her shuffling around the room, the sound so comforting that I allow myself to daydream for a moment about what our life could be like if we ever managed to escape Wonderland.

We are all counting on Jameson to do this right, not wanting to risk the hunt that would happen to bring us back here because it wouldn’t just be us.

Hare would have to come, too, and based on the mural on my Atropa’s wall, we would have four others tagging along.

Only one person has ever escaped Wonderland, and they never gave up searching for her. Nowshe’s dead, and her book sits locked up in Jameson’s safe in his office.

He is fully aware of the details of the book's contents, and we have contingency plans in place should we need to get Red out of here if things take a turn for the worse.

However, the plan stays in place for now—it has to.

Chapter Twelve

I’m called into the warden’s office.

The hallways twist and turn as usual, but the knowledge that I’m about to face the Jabberwocky for the first time since my first day here has my nerves shooting adrenaline through my body.

I knock on his door, and the sound is loud and echoey in the large hallway leading to his office and the infirmary.

“Come in!” hecalls out.

I enter, and the large space is intimidating, but I square my shoulders and smooth down the blue T-shirt I’m wearing.

The Jabberwocky shadow looms over us, cast over the wall, and I watch it from the side of my eye, waiting for the delusions to twist it and have it strike.

“Take a seat, Al,” he says, gesturing to the chair on the opposite side of his desk.

There’s a chess board on his desk, and the game looks half-finished.

The red and black pieces are enchanting, and they look as if they were hand-carved, as does the board on which they sit.

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