“Alice?! Alice! What on earth?”
Alice heard her mother’s voice and reached out for her. She couldn’t see, the world had suddenly gone black.
“Mum! Mum! I can’t see you!” Alice touched her eyes and felt that they were still open. She threw herself and started screaming, “I can’t see! Help me Mum! I can’t see!”
Alice’s mother took her into her arms and quieted Alice. But when her mother tried to stroke Alice’s hair she felt the beetles crawling under Alice’s scalp and screamed, “What are these things?!”
Alice was too scared to explain so Alice’s mother grabbed her arm and dragged her into the house where she called the doctor for an emergency visit. When the doctor got there he examined Alice with a frightened expression on his face.
“What is it?” Alice’s mother demanded as Alice waved her arms around.
The doctor shook his head, “This is the tenth one I’ve seen this month. I’ve heard something from the local church that girls have been sneaking out in the middle of the night, and eating mushrooms in the fields. They think it’s the work of the devil.”
Alice’s mother pursed her lips. She always ruled her family with a religious fist of iron. They went to church every Sunday and prayed at every meal, “Alice would never.”
Alice whimpered as she accidentally hit the doctor in the face, “But I wasn’t! I was chasing the rabbit! It led me to the dolly store!”
Both the doctor’s and Alice’s mother’s eyes grew wide. Alice’s mother took one of Alice’s waving hands, “What about the dolly store?”
“The funny man took me inside. He was going to tell me a secret. But then the man who talks backwards strapped me into a chair and they made me eat an ugly mushroom…”
“I’m calling the police!” Alice’s mother roared as she reached for the phone.
The doctor took his tongs and started prying the white beetles from Alice’s head. She had very little hair left. As he pulled each beetle out, the doctor reassured Alice, for it is a very painful thing to have bugs pulled out from under your skin. He then threw them on the floor and squashed them under his shoe before they could scurry off to plague someone else.
Once the doctor had killed all the beetles the police had arrived and were questioning Alice’s mother. She led them to where Alice was and the policemen cringed when they saw Alice. She had patches of thin hair on her head and her eyes were completely dilated because she was blind.The police then drove to Butterfly Kisses and arrested the shopkeeper and the dark- skinned man. Later that day they were guillotined in the square with Alice’s mother holding Alice by the hand. Her father was throwing cards again, but only the heart-suited cards.
The End
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