It wasn't a very remarkable road. It actually looked rather like the one near home.
"Really," said Alice. "The only thing that's even slightly remarkable about it is that it's yellow."
For Alice doubted if she had ever seen a road made up of yellow bricks.
"But what is it doing here?"
She had discovered the road on her way to the Mad Hatter's to return his pocket watch. At least she thought it was a watch. It looked almost the same way a watch should look if you ignored the strange and unintelligible markings that decorated its outer casing. But what made her truly doubt its usefulness in telling time was that it had no numbers. None. In their place were things that could have been small pictures. But no pictures that she could make sense of.
The Hatter had believed that Alice would be able to talk the numbers into returning ("Tell them one of your stories! That'll bring them back!"). At the time Alice had nodded her head and agreed, having learned in the past that it was usually best to go along with the many games and hair brained schemes that often cropped up in this place, and well, the man was Mad after all, but really wondered how she was to do it. She couldn't see any numbers. Perhaps there really weren't any there at all. She'd only be talking to herself in the end. And she wouldn't want that.
The Cat had once told her that talking to yourself was one of the first signs of madness. And you need your wits about you in the Wonderland.
Which is why the appearance of the road was so bothersome. Alice had long been used to Wonderland's...spontaneous nature. It had been many years since that fall down the rabbithole and it no longer surprised her to turn around and find doors that had not been there at first glance or deadends where there had once been clear paths. She had even grown accustomed too the unfortunate habit of certain denizens to appear out of thin air.
But this road was different somehow...
"Somehow, indeed."
Alice turned to the voice but already knew who it was. A certain denizen with an unfortunate habit she had grown accustomed too.
"What do you mean Cat?" asked Alice.
He stared at her, all Cheshire smiles. But he didn't seem happy. Over the years Alice had realized, that the Cat would smile whether he was amused or not. It was as though he had no control. She vaguely wondered if it hurt to smile all the time. She made a note to ask him about it later.
"I mean? I'm not. I said. And what I said...well you're probably right."
"Right?"
"About that road. It's different. It doesn't belong here."
"Doesn't belong? But how can that be?" asked Alice. Was that why it bothered her? Because she knew deep down that it had no business here?
Yes, but there was something else...
The Cat was staring at the intrusive road that lied behind her. Suddenly, its fur began to stand on end.
"Look."
Alice turned. Something was happening. The road was still there but it was different from before. It was as though she was looking at it through a fogged glass, details were becoming difficult to see. When it began distorting, warping everything that lied beyond it, Alice backed away until she felt herself standing side by side with the Cat.
"Oh my. What is going on?" She thought she saw something flickering in and out of sight in the distance. It was green and seemed to be made of buildings. A city?...
"The worlds are changing," the Cat said, startling her.
"Worlds?" asked Alice. What on earth was he talking about? "Do you mean other places within-"
"No," he breathed, eyes narrowed. This was not a happy Cheshire Cat. He was still staring at the road, watching its progress. "No. The worlds beyond."
How strange this all was to Alice. Never in all the time she'd spent in this land had she ever heard of places outside of it. And to be honest she had never really given it much thought. There was only her real home and this home, the Wonderland.
"It would be terribly exciting," said Alice, "To explore those places. Perhaps I'll try to see them for myself, if this path would only keep still for a moment."
But even as she spoke, the distorting stopped. The flickering city blinked once more before disappearing altogether. Even the yellow road, Alice saw, was beginning to fade away, until it was as though it was never there.
Then the silence came.
It unnerved Alice and not without good reason. While she wasn't aware of it, it was an indisputable fact that never in it's history had there been 'quiet' in Wonderland. Except once. Just after it's creation. For about two minutes. But that was so long ago that no one can remember if it had ever happened.
As far as Alice was concerned however, this was the first time. It scared her.
"Leave."
Alice looked at the Cat, surprised. Why did he sound so angry?
"Leave now," he whispered. "And do not return until it's safe."
She was about to ask him what for but before she could, her world lurched forward. It felt as though she were falling. She closed her eyes and threw her hands out in front of her expecting to fall to the ground.
She never did.
She opened her eyes. She was in her room, at home. She lowered her arms slowly. How had she gotten here? Was this the Cats doing?
"Meeooowwrrr." Dinah had padded into the room and had begun twining herself between her legs, welcoming her home.
Alice sighed and picked her up.
"Oh Dinah," she said. "Strange things are happening. Stranger than usual."
She hugged the small cat to her chest. It purred in contentment, oblivious to her mistress's quiet distress.
Inside her pocket the Mad Hatter's watch ticked. The bigger hand was where the number eight should be. But of course there was no number eight. Only a picture. If you looked closely you think you might be able to make out some of the furnishings of a bedroom. If you looked closer still you could imagine you saw the hangings of a window rustling with the night breeze and the figure of a small girl sleeping against the pane.
There is the distinct possibility that the picture doesn't show any of this at all, but whatever the case, what is certain is that right at that moment, worlds away, Wendy Moira Angela Darling, woke from her dreams and screamed.