I woke up at an awful noise. It was destroying my ears. I opened my eyes and sat on the infirmary's bed.

A man about 40 years old was between me and Jack's bed. I could only see the man's back, and he was hiding Jack. I could only see a little bit of his funky black hair. I couldn't know if he was okay. The terrible sound was heard again. I covered my ears. The man hummed and turned on himself. He was playing a violin. That's the noise I heard, I realized. The man noticed me and stopped playing.

"Oh, did my hymn to joy wake you up?" he asked, a big smile on his lips.

He had a short light-brown braid, brown eyes, and the beginning of a beard.

"Yeah, you could say that..." I answered. I slowly put my hands down, hoping he wouldn't start playing again.

"Want me to play a song to cheer ya up?" He nicely proposed. "You seem kinda gloomy."

I shook my head vigorously and got out of bed. I got around the musician and went beside Jack. He was sleeping, bandages covering every inch of his chest and shoulders. He was still pale, but he looked a lot better than yesterday. Thank god! He had survived. I felt a wave of relief in my body. I let out a sigh of contentment.

"Are you one of Jack's friends?" asked the man. He sounded surprised.

"Uhm, yes."

I hadn't met him long ago, appreciated Jack. He didn't lie and said clearly what he was thinking. Elliot was honest too, but I had a strange feeling about him. That his boss tried to kill me didn't help at all. I wasn't sure I could trust Elliot anymore. Did he receive orders to kill me? I focused myself on Jack. Jack had always been nice and friendly, even if he left me alone to wander in another world. It was sure fun to discover a new world, except when my life is in danger. But when it was, Jack had come save me...

Jack had protected me when Blood tried to kill us. And at what price... I hoped he hadn't been injured definitely.

"I didn't know Jack had any friends," continued the man, according his violin.

"What do you mean?"

It seemed impossible someone like Jack didn't have any friends. This world was full of people!

"Every since he got this role, he was depressed and wouldn't talk to others. But the last two days, he was happier and more smiling than I've never seen him before."

The last two days... That would be right about the time I arrived! Was I so much fun that he wasn't depressed anymore? Still... Why was he sad?

"Oh dear!" exclaimed the musician.

"What is it?"

"I forgot to ask for your name! It is so unworthy of an Amusement Park director!

He made a drama face and played a couple of noted on the violin. Strangely, it was beautiful! Nothing like I had heard before.

"No, still not right..." he muttered. He adjusted his violin again. When he played again, the terrible notes from before came back. "There! Perfect! I am Gowland, by the way."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Zoe Marshall."

"Welcome, Zoe, to my Amusement Park! I know you-"

Gowland wanted to continue, but a faceless man dressed eccentrically -there seemed to be...antennas? to his costume- came inside the infirmary and whispered something I didn't hear to Gowland.

"Oh my," said Gowland. He had a worried look on his face. "I'm sorry Miss, but one of my attractions had a little problem and I have to repair it. See ya later!"

Gowland left the infirmary after the faceless. I sat on a chair near Jack's bed. Jack opened suddenly his eyes and faintly asked me:

"Did he leave?"

"Gowland? Yes."

Jack sighed of relief and tried to sit up.

"You shouldn't move!" I advised him, as I softly pushed him back on his back. "You're not healed yet!"

"I'm fine now that the old man left." He grimaced. "He's nice, but his music... It was making me worse than I am now."

I nodded. "So you were faking sleep all that time?"

"Yep. If I had been awake, he would have improvised a small concert for my "well being". And that would be awful. No, awful is not enough to describe it."

"I'm glad that you are feeling better. Thank you for protecting me back there."

"And I'm glad you consider yourself as my friend." He smiled happily, eyes closed. "But don't worry 'bout me. I heal quickly. I'll be okay in a day or two. Just don't go back to the Hatters, okay?"

I promised him I wouldn't go back. I don't think I'll ever go there again. I value my life. Jack told me to ask Gowland for a room to sleep. But I didn't want to leave yet.

"Hey! I've got an idea!" exclaimed Jack, his ears up. He sat up on the bed. I didn't stop him this time. If he wanted to aggravate his condition, free to him. He wasn't in danger of death anymore.

"What is it?"

"Would you like to visit the Amusement Park together tomorrow? I'll be fine by then, and you didn't get a chance to try the roller coasters yet, because of my injury."

"Yes, of course. But don't push yourself too hard, okay? If you don't feel well tomorrow we can always report our visit."

It was impossible Jack would be healed by tomorrow. This was a serious injury. I had only accepted to lift his spirits. I didn't particularly like roller coasters.

A faceless doctor came in to check on Jack. I let him place and stepped back. He gave some kind of medicine to Jack, took his vital signs and started changing Jack's bandages. Jack seemed to be able to sit without too much pain. I was going to look somewhere else to not see Jack's probably gruesome injury when I noticed there wasn't any injury. Jack only had a little fresh scar near the left shoulder and two medium scars on the chest, under the right shoulder.

There was no way three bullets only left scars after a day!

Jack noticed I was staring at him blankly, mouth open of surprise, and said:

"What's the problem Zoe? I told you I'd be fine. Or maybe you never saw a boy without his shirt?" He stick his tongue out and gave me a teasing smile.

The doctor put small adhesive bandages on his scars.

I still couldn't believe it. How could his body heal so fast? It was inhuman.

The doctor left, as silent as he came. I sat beside Jack, on my bed. He had told me he would be fine, but I hadn't believed him until now.

"Say, Zoe," started Jack. He brought his knees to his chest and circled them with his arms. "What is your world like?"

"My world? It's more... High-tech than here."

"What do you mean?"

"Well..."I tried explaining him what was cars, computers and televisions. Jack was completely absorbed by my words. He didn't quite understand the utility of cars, because in this world everything was close, so we could always walk. My cat-eared friend was amazed by the concept of computers; He compared them to "portable-libraries", which was kind of true. He was interested by televisions, but found that filming things was much more fun.

"So you say that these little boxes can capture what you do and replay it?" asked my friend, completely fascinated. He looked like a child discovering a new toy.

"Yes. It is a little more complicated than that, but you understand the basics."

"That is awesome!" he exclaimed, a gigantic smile on his lips. "It's a memory box!"

I couldn't help but laugh. He was so passionate about something so ordinary in my world! Jack took my hands and begged:

"Tell me you have one with you!"

I hated to break his enthusiasm, but I still told him the truth.

"No, I'm sorry."

"Oh..." He was so disappointed it was cute. His kitty ears were down and I could almost see him as a cat. I smiled to him softly, softened, and tried to give him hope:

"I can always come back with one another time."

"It's not that simple..." He hesitated and tightened his teeth. "This country is ruled by a set of arbitrary rules, you see. You can't just travel between worlds like that."

"How come?"

"It's...complicated." He grimaced and put a hand behind his neck, as if he was sorry. "You can't really understand." He shook his head.

"Why not?"

Jack ignored my question and changed back the subject to my world. I decided to drop the travelling between dimensions idea and continued telling Jack about Earth.

I told him I was adopted when I was a baby, that my parents were very nice people, but the last 10 years they abandoned me for my younger brothers, also adopted. I mentioned my school, the sports I liked to do -running and swimming-, the books I liked to read, even if Jack hadn't read one, and a lot of other little random things about myself.

Then I asked Jack what was his family like. Very bad idea. His face darkened and all his enthusiasm and happiness of before was gone.

"Could I not talk about my family please?"

I didn't know what happened between him and his siblings, but it was sure bad. I accepted his demand. He seemed to have painful memories about them.

Jack instead told me about his favorite activities.

"I like to play games, sword fight and talk with people, I guess." He thought a little, then continued: "But what I like better is to hang out with friends."

Jack was a very social person, but he didn't push me around. He was always asking my opinion, and observed my reactions as if he was afraid I might leave him or lie to him. What was strange was that Gowland said he didn't have any close friends. But I had the feeling Jack was enjoying talking and having fun with me. He could have easily made friends. Maybe Gowland was wrong. He probably didn't know Jack enough.

We talked like that and played cards till it became dark outside. Jack was always carrying cards in his pockets, and he knew a crazy amount of different games. It had been an eternity since I had fun like that. On Earth, I was always alone and didn't socialize much. I preferred concentrating on studies, and when school was over, I read books or drew. I never really liked any person I've met. They didn't talk to me, and I didn't talk to them. No one ever made the effort to know me better. Except Jack. He didn't care if I was silent, or if I was different than others. He always enjoyed my presence.

I heard Nightmare's voice in my head: "you are different. Many people here will be drawn to you because of this difference." I discarded that thought.

If we had met in my world, and that he was a normal guy -without the cat part-, my life would have been probably happier. Having a real friend with me during my hard times would have made my life easier and more enjoyable. If he had been there the times where I was alone, abandoned... I hadn't realized how much I was lonely before travelling to this world. You can't miss something you never had... I never cared about being alone, because I hadn't anyone to be with. But now... If only we had met before...

But if I think about all the "if", I would be here forever.

When the night had fallen, I said goodbye to Jack. He was disappointed I left so soon, but I was tired of my day filled with emotions. I didn't know how much time had passed since I woke up, but I was pretty sure I had spent the equivalent of a day with Jack. It was nice having someone to talk to. I left the infirmary and searched for Gowland. I couldn't see very well the attractions because of the darkness of the night. After a few minutes of wandering in the Amusement Park, still opened and packed with happy faceless people, I heard the horrible but recognizable violin music of Gowland. I followed the noise till I found him, giving a small improvised concert to a couple of wincing faceless employees. He stopped playing when he saw me and the faceless people profited of the occasion to escape their horrible musician boss.

"Zoe! What's up Miss? Did you come to listen to my music?" Gowland announced with enthusiasm.

"No, I was about to go to sleep, and I wondered if I could borrow one of your rooms."

"Of course! I always have some spare rooms for invitees of mark!" He whistled at a passing faceless man with long blond hair. The man approached Gowland, listened to his instructions, which were to give me a room, and showed me the way.

We arrived at a big weird building in periphery of the Amusement Park. It seemed like a house, but at the same time a dormitory. The faceless opened me a room inside, which was very similar to the Hatter's bedrooms, except for the different colors. If the Mansion was of dark and rich colors, the dormitory was warmer, with pale blue and purple paint.

The faceless left me alone, without saying a word. The faceless people didn't talk very much in general, I realized.

I took off my clothes. My pants were dirty with earth and my shirt stained by Jack's blood. I washed them the best I could in the sink, with more or less success. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed the terrible condition that my outfit was in. I had lost my vest, which I had used to stop Jack's bleeding. Normally, I would have freaked out to find my clothes like that, but I had been so occupied with Jack that I didn't even notice.

I sighed. I would have to go buy some new clothes tomorrow in town. If I left early, I would be able to come back to spend the day with Jack. I guess I'll have to borrow money from Gowland. I decided to take a bath. My hair was a total mess and I was dirty everywhere. When I slipped in the hot water, all my stress disappeared. I felt I didn't have a proper bath or shower in forever.

After I was clean, I searched for a pajama in the closet. I found one in one of the many drawers. It was a little bit too big for me, but putting on something clean made me feel really good. I let the curtains open so that I would wake up as soon as the sun rises. I knew that time was messed up here, but even if I only slept a couple hours, it would be better than nothing. I laid down in bad and fell asleep.