I am not Alice...


written April 2000

I am not Alice,
not innocent, not lost, not all alone in a strange new world, in need of comfort and companionship and the security of the familiar.

No.

I am a cynical and wilful smart-alec hedonist who knows every back alley on the map and knows exactly which one she's in at every moment.

The willing explorer, not the nervous commuter. The pack leader, not the trailing handwringer. The protector, not the protected.

I am not a heroine.

Heroines triumph over evil. Some even do it themselves.
The more enlightened heroines prefer to merely triumph over stupidity, or maybe even ignorance. So, you see, the more innocent, good and passive the heroine, the greater the triumph.
She is incapable, and yet she won.
Pure goodness can't be beaten.

I don't triumph.

I am.

I am not the sweet girl afraid of the dangers of the night.

Because I know that I am the most dangerous thing in it.


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