We're All Mad Here

~Wally + Artemis~

Wally comes home most nights as early as he can. He doesn't like leaving Artemis waiting, especially after what happened a few months ago.

But one night he's running late. Traffic was bad on the freeway, and the stoplights down Redwood Avenue didn't help much. So when he pulls into the driveway of his Palo Alto home, he's hoping Artemis is already in bed.

Instead, he finds the kitchen lights still on. The refrigerator is cracked, he sees, as he gently calls Artemis' name. He slides his hand along the dirty counter, noticing a puddle of liquid on one side. It's a very dark red, almost like blood, too red to be Norman's business or a chemical spill.

Odd.

He pokes his head around the corner wall, and finally finds her.

She's seated in the living room on the brown couch, her legs folded beneath her. An untouched piece of chocolate cake sits on the coffee table, amongst the various dust-gathering magazines. In her right hand, she's clutching a glass of red wine in a death grip. Her eyes are glued to the television.

Wally follows her gaze to the plasma screen, and his chest squeezes when he sees what she's watching.

It's Alice in Wonderland, the original Disney masterpiece, in remastered high definition. It's rather gorgeous, Wally has to admit, as if the pictures and characters pop out from the screen. Young Alice, lovely little Alice, is currently creeping her way through that dark and awful forest, where the Cat takes her by surprise.

The Cheshire Cat.

"Artemis," he begins, but she holds up her left hand to stop him. With her right, she takes an impressive swig of red wine.

"I want to see the rest," she sputters, after the alcohol has burned her sufficiently.

But he can hear the crack in her voice. He can hear that uneasy tension, that horrific memory bubbling to the surface. He can sense in Artemis' voice the funeral umbrellas and the goodbye that she never got to give her sister. She isn't over it. She won't be over Jade's death for a long, long time.

Wally stands at the edge of the couch, watching his wife rather than the television screen. He waits for a few minutes. He waits until the Cat and Alice have had their little number, have spoken their speak, have taunted We're all mad here and grinned that nightmarish grin. It's when Artemis' eyes tear up that he cuts it out.

He scoops the remote off of the coffee table and presses "Power." The TV instantly shuts off, leaving a deafening silence and an abrupt blackness in its place.

The glass of red wine falls from Artemis' shaking hands, because she's started to silently cry again. Wally catches it—he's still a speedster, retired or not—and places it on the table. Then he lifts her up, carries her bridal style and lets her rest her head against his chest.

"Come on, babe," he whispers. "We're going to bed."