‘Oh! Oh! We found Wonderland! Haha!’
Nathan’s voice still echoed out loud in Kaien’s head. He just could not stop wondering and thinking about what Nathan said yesterday.
“Wonderland. . .” whispered Kaien to himself. ‘How come everything is dead outside, but inside everything is so lively?’ he thought.
“Kai. . .”
“Hurm?” Kaien responded as though he just woke up from a long dream. He did not realize Allen had woken up and was staring at him with weak eyes from the bed. “Allen, did I wake you up?”
“No. . .” said Allen, weak. “It’s been a while. . . Cough! Cough! Since I woke up. . . Cough!”
“You still need to rest. Here, drink this.” Kaien helped Allen drink water and asked, “Do you want to eat anything?”
“No, it’s ok,” replied Allen and lay down on bed again. He didn’t want to do anything or go anywhere. He looked at Kaien and asked, “Kaie. . . Are you ok? Cough! Cough! You looked so serious before.”
“Really? I’m sorry. I just think about little stuff.”
“You think too much. Cough! Cough! Tell me about it.”
“I know. I couldn't help it. You should sleep,” Kaien tried to change the subject. “If you sleep now, at night, you should feel much better. Then, you could join everyone for dinner. They miss you.”
“Ok. Cough! Cough!” Allen agreed. After all, he had something want to tell everyone. “Tell me a story. Cough! Cough! I want to hear your voice while I sleep.”
“Hmm. . . Fairy tale ok?” asked Kaien and Allen smiled and nodded weakly. “Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland, ok?”
“It’s my favorite, but could I request something else today?”
“Ok, anything for the patient,” Kaien gave in while Allen was getting sleepy. “Hmm. . .” “Once upon a time. . .” Kaien began. “An angel and a devil fall in love, but it does not end well.”
“What happened?” asked Allen after a long pause from Kaien.
“I don’t know. Hehehe. . .” laughed Kaien. “Chaos is an angel who fell in love with a devil.”
“It’s a sad story.”
“Really? How does ‘chaos’ become a ‘sad’ story?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you should write the story,” suggested Allen. "Then you could 'see' what really happened."
“Maybe,” said Kaien, thinking. When he looked at Allen, he had already fallen asleep. “Sleep well, Allen.”
Still sitting next to Allen’s bed, Kaien gave a thought to Allen's suggestion, about writing the story. ‘Not a bad idea. At least it would take his mind away from the real life issue, thinking about his dead wife for a while,’ Kaien thought.
Kaien went back to his room to start writing something in his book, but he just realized how messy his bedroom was. Clothes and books everywhere on the floor, untidy bed, scattered papers and messy table. He was just really bad at keeping the room clean. Usually his wife would do it for him and at times like this, he missed his wife the most.
‘No point thinking and wishing for my wife to be here’, Kaien thought. He let out a heavy sigh and thought that if he didn’t do laundry, soon or later he would run out of clothes to wear. He began to pick up his clothes just to drop them back a few seconds later. He did not know where the laundry room was, so, he decided to ask Dominique first then pick up his clothes later.
Kaien looked around the room and thought about where and how to start cleaning the room. ‘How could simple things like cleaning a room be so complicated?’ he thought. Kaien looked at the scattered papers and thought it must be from his bag when he was looking for the medicine yesterday. He picked the papers one by one and put them on the messy table.
Suddenly Kaien remembered the books he took from the library. If he was not mistaken, he took the diary he found with him. He quickly looked around the room, looking for the black shiny leather book.
“Where! Where is it?” asked Kaien, more like shouting to himself.
“Here. . .” answered a gravelly voice.
“Who? Where?” Kaien asked no one. He looked around him and thought he had heard a voice. No one in the room, and yet the voice sounds so near. His instinct told him to look under the bed and he did. There was the book he was looking for. The black shiny leather book. The diary.
Kaien took the diary and sat on the classic chair near the fireplace. He randomly flipped open the diary and it was on the same page he read that night. He reread again,
.……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Tearsday
No one here. I’m so lonely.
Why am I sick?
Father and mother said they were trying to protect me, but…
.……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
‘So, someone is sick. I wonder if she or he is fine now. Does he or she need help?’ Kaien wondered. He just couldn’t help it when he knew someone was sick. He just couldn’t ignore them. He wanted to help the person, whoever wrote the diary.
Maybe, just maybe Kaien would find out the diary’s owner if he continued reading it. He flipped to the next page. Blank. He flipped again. Blank. If there’s another blank page, Kaien decided he would just throw away the diary. Slowly, he flipped open the next page and there was an entry.
.……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Wasterday
They said I would die soon.
Father said everyone will die someday.
Mother said she won’t let me die and she will find a way.
She promised. . .
.……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Kaien flipped to the next page. Blank. He let out a heavy sigh. Whoever had written this diary was really testing his patience? Kaien took a deep breath and flipped again. Another black page as he expected. The next page after that was another entry, longer than before.
.……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Thirstday
A tall man with a pair of sharp scary eyes came to visit today.
He said I don’t have to die and I could stay here.
Forever.
As long as I behave and be a good boy.
I’m happy.
Mother is happy.
Father is not happy.
Why?
.……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
“So, it’s a boy,” Kaien whispered. Kaien closed the diary and put it on the table. Still deep in thought, he walked slowly to the window which was in the opposite fireplace. Dead pine trees were everything he could see from the window. His gaze went to the pine trees with suspicion.
Kaien turned his face away, thinking of something. Then he looked outside again. This time he was looking around at the gate’s direction, hopefully he could see glimpses of the gate from where he was standing. He whispered to himself while eyes still looked around, “A tall man. . . sharp scary eyes. . .”
Thump
The loud sound made Kaien jump a bit and turned away from the window. He looked around the room, but no one other than himself was there. He scanned the room looking for the source of the sound and noticed that the diary had fallen on the floor.
Kaien stared at the diary in mute horror. A moment later, a smile curved on his lips. “Bullseye?”
.....…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….....
“Good evening, Dominique,” greeted Kaien when he saw Dominique in the hallway.
“Good evening, Kai.” Dominique responded, glumly.
“That’s great. You call me ‘Kai’,” said Kaien, happy. “Walk with me.”
“You didn’t talk much today. Something wrong?” asked Kaien when Dominique just stayed quiet along the way.”
“I always like this.”
“Don’t be like that. You can tell me anything. Talk to me.”
“I think I talked too much before. So, I decided it's best if I don't say anything about anything today.” He stayed quiet while Kaien hummed a strange tune until they arrived at the garden’s door. Dominique suddenly asked, to change the subject, “What are you doing here?”
Kaien turned abruptly to look at Dominique, surprised at the question. “If that’s what you decide, then nothing I could do to change it. Heh. . .” Kaien answered with a chuckle but did not answer the question. Dominique raised his right eyebrow at him and he said, “I was looking for a laundry room earlier, but then I decided to look at the ‘Wonderland’ that Nathan talked about. It must be a beautiful and happy place and I wish to know all about it.” He opened the door that he believed would lead to the garden. To his surprise, it was indeed the door to the garden, the door to ‘Wonderland’ if he must admit. “This is really a beautiful garden, Dom.”
“Do you like it?”
“Very much,” said Kaien, walking around the garden. “What else do you have here, Dom?”

“Berries, apples, . . .” Dominique said while following Kaien.
“No, no, that’s not what I mean,” Kaien interrupted, which only received a puzzled look from Dominique. “I mean in this house. There was a big library, garden, piano and what else do you have here?”
“Oh, hmm. . . Theater room, if you would like to watch a movie. Gym and indoor pool if you would like to have some exercise.”
“Theatre room? That sounds nice!” exclaimed Kaien in disbelief. “A movie after dinner would be nice. Hehe.”
“I would prepare the room for you. Any particular movie you want to watch?”
“Anything that you have in mind would be fine with me,” Kaien replied, a smile never left his face. “I would tell Benji and Nathan. Allen should be fine enough by that time too. And I hope you will join us. By that, I mean sit with us.”
“Certainly, if that’s what you wish for.” Answered Dominique with a bow. “Anything you need?”
“Nothing. I just wonder. . .” Kaien paused, obviously struck by another thought. Then he asked, “We have everything we need here, don’t we?”
“Yes, I suppose.”
“It’s like a ‘prison’ here, am I right?”
“. . .”
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. The best way to keep the prisoners from escaping is to make sure they never know that they are in prison,” said Kaien, smiling. “Right, Dominique?”
“Right.”