ETTING   OME   O   LFANDRA

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Anton's Journey chapter 3 - Pool of Tears

Once again, Anton found that a fall was accompanied by pain.
 After he'd tripped backwards over the log, instead of landing on soft earth, he kept falling - the earth gave way beneath him, and he fell into blackness. But this time, instead of landing onto hard ground, his fall was broken by the wet slap of water, as he plunged beneath its surface.
 Swiftly rising to the water's surface, the pain began for Anton; clawing at his contorted face he tried in vain to rid himself of the piercing stinging sensation in his eyes. It felt like his entire face was on fire, and the burning taste of salt clogged his nose and muzzle. The water also was icily cold, and given the fact that he was near-blinded, he had trouble keeping his head above the water.
 Finally, in an act of will, he forced his eyelids open to get his bearings at least. He only knew that he had to get out of this water. Unfortunately, this would prove to be a hard task, given the scene that lay before him.
 In every direction there was water. Water as far as his eye could see... and sky. This was what surprised Anton most.  He thought he'd fallen into an underground cavern or suchlike. In fact, he could see no trace of the woodlands from whence he came. The sky itself was dramatic, a myriad of blues, clashing with dark, rolling black clouds that seemed to swirl and twist in turmoil. Unnatural, like everything else he'd discovered here. But what troubled his mind most was the incident with Rabbit. Had it lured him here? As of yet, he had no reason behind how he'd gotten here. Did it know how to travel through thick air? If so, he cursed himself for not extracting the information from the creature when he had the chance. Now perhaps he'd never get home.
Fluid trickled from his eye. And no, he wasn't crying. The water stung darnit!
 What also bothered him was the ease at which Rabbit had beaten him. Back home, his fighting skills had earned him *some* repute, but he'd never known anything like the way that rabbit had bested him. Growling to himself silently, he swore that he'd not make that mistake
twice.
 Sighing to himself, Anton pondered which direction he should swim. There were no discernable landmasses anywhere to be seen. He could only assume that he was still in Wonderland, given he bizarre nature of the landscape. It mattered not; he would have to swim in a direction, whatever the case. Taking his chances, he swam ahead.
 Of course, after the first few hours, he began to grow tired.
 As the muscles in his body gradually began slowing down, Anton remarked how curious it was that the sun never changed it's position in the sky. Or, he could only assume that there was a sun that never changed position, as between patches of black cloud he could most clearly see blue sky, where the light level remained constant. But even if the light was not dwindling, Anton's hope for survival was. Once again, the fact that Weres were not quite superhuman was clearly highlighted to him, as his pauses for breath became more and more frequent, until finally, he came to a  stop, floating in the water. And still, in all the time he'd swam, no island appeared on the horizon, nothing whatsoever to indicate that he'd been making progress. His temper flared up inside him at the hopelessness of it all.
 "Curse you!" Anton shouted aloud, to the unhearing nothing around him. "Damn you to hell!"
 "Well I never. How rude!" A small voice said behind him.
 Once again that day, Anton turned round to be greeted by a surprise. Swimming a few paces behind him was a mouse. A big mouse at that, it's length as long as Anton's body, longer counting it's whiskers. A quick swimmer, it soon sped past him, and showed no sign of stopping.
 "I don't see how one can be damned to hell anyway." The mouse called out irritatedly behind it, "This is it, for most people."
 As the mouse was moving away at great speed, Anton took the decision that despite the absurdity of it all, he should be seeking this creature's help. "Wait! I need to know the way out of this water!"
 "And I suppose you want me to tell you, eh?" The mouse said, still not stopping.
 "Well... I don't see anyone else around to ask." Anton said, swimming now to catch up.
 "That's the trouble with your type. You don't see what's really around you." It squeaked.
 "Does every creature in this land talk in riddles?" Anton sighed, "I don't have the time for this."
 "You mean, you don't have the patience."
 "And you're testing it right now. Show me the way, rodent!"
 "Well I never! I never did like dogs!" And with that, it took off faster than ever, trying to escape him.
 "Hey! Wait up!"
 "I'm not helping you!"
 "Oh yes you are!" Now, as fast as the mouse was swimming, Anton's limbs were faster in water. As the mouse swam ahead, Anton gained more and more distance on it, until finally...
 "No! Let go of my tail!"
 "Make me." Anton grinned, showing the mouse his set of teeth.
 "I cannot help you. She'd kill me."
 "Who? Who would kill you."
 "Her. She. Now let me go!"
 "Not until I get a straight answer for my troubles." He said, yanking the tail harder.
 "You should know. Isn't it obvious? It is she who cried this pool of tears. Her who brought about these changes in Wonderland. And she who means to kill us all."
 "Alice? What has that spoilt little girl got to do with anything that happens here?"
 " Like I said before. You don't see what's really around you. Stop looking. Start seeing." And with a splash of water, which stang his eyes, the mouse was free from his grip, it's tail gone from his hands. When his vision finally cleared, Anton was floating alone again, lost in the pool of tears.
 "Stop looking, start seeing?" Anton said, shaking his head,
"This world is as confusing as it is strange." He also reminded himself that talking aloud to yourself was the first sign of madness. He prayed whatever sign came next would not manifest.
 Stop looking... start seeing.  He felt sure that this was a lifeline the mouse had thrown him. There was something he was missing here, an important piece of the puzzle gone astray. If only he could find dry land...
 He'd been looking for dry land.
 That was it! That was the piece of the puzzle that he could not find before. It was simple really. He had to stop looking for dry land, and start seeing dry land.
 "And if that's not the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, I don't know what is. It makes no sense. I can't just open my eyes and 'see' dry land, if it's not there..."
 But there had to be something around here. That mouse went somewhere, and Anton needed to know where.
 Trying to clear his mind of all self doubt, Anton closed his eyes. In his mind, he pictured a dry, sandy beach.. waves crashing gently on the shore. It would be there when he opened his eyes, it would be there... even if it's stupid, the beach would be there...
 Of course, when he opened his eyes, there was no beach in front of him.
 It was beneath him, under his feet.