There was a moment where time froze, and when the clocks started ticking again, Alice was gone. The court stood still for a moment, all involved looked to each other, completely confused.
The Queen of Hearts, dazed, screamed, hitting her husband with her scepter. "Where… Where is she? Find her! Find her now!"
The card soldiers scattered, spears in hand, falling all over themselves, confusing the court and jury. They're fear and scrambling caused a rush of red and white among the crowd.
In a flash, the jury bolted, trying to avoid the queen's wrath as she fumed about the missing girl.
"I want her found," the queen howled, "Find her or you'll all suffer the consequences!"
With that, she was alone, and all in Underland were terrified, but all had one thing on their mind. Find Alice.
Dead tired, Emma slid down her bathroom wall, her body sore and aching. She didn't want to get up. She didn't want to wake up in the morning. She didn't want to go to callbacks tomorrow. She just wanted to sleep for the rest of her life.
Theater auditions were killing her. She didn't even want a part, but she didn't have a choice. The smiling portrait of her parents, the "actors" of their generation, stared daggers at her. She was the natural prodigy. She was the one destined to the stage, to a life of glory and fame.
But all of it was slowly killing her. The constant practice, the dance lessons followed by voice coaching. The bouts of binging and fasting for parts, and the complete lack of communication with anybody outside of the theater circle. That is what killed her.
Standing, Emma saw her journal on her bed, the document that contained all of her thoughts and actions, and decided to ignore her pills for the night, not entirely sure what would happen if she didn't take the,.
At least she would have something to write about.
The gel pen gliding across the yellow page gave her a little comfort, knowing it was the only place for any feeling or thought could be voiced, and she felt much better, though she did feel herself falling asleep slowly as she wrote.
With a startling crash, Emma awoke and bolted up, looking about her room. Her heart raced, unsure of what would cause such a sound in her tiny bedroom.
She got out of bed, grabbing her quilt and wrapped it around her shoulders. She didn't know how to react when her bedroom was in perfect order, until there was another noise, a smaller one coming from her closet.
This wasn't a situation Emma thought she would ever find herself in. She stared at the closet door, terrified of what she would find in there. She knew she shouldn't open it, and that she should run to her parents bedroom down the short hall or at least call the police with her cell phone, but for whatever reason, she couldn't. Instead she slowly stepped towards the barrier between her and whatever laid behind that door, and the fear in her heart grew with every footfall.
Being compulsive wasn't usually in her nature, but there was something, far in the back of her mind, that told her she had nothing to worry about. She was relying on this part of her brain. She was hoping that her ignorance wouldn't be the cause of her death.
With a slow turn of the doorknob, Emma flung it open, and she would have never guess what was behind this door.
About a head taller than her, a man with white hair stood, who looked even more frightened than her. In any other situation, Emma would have been mortified, but the fact that he had two, long white rabbit ears brushing against her ceiling caused her to be a little more confused than afraid.
"Alice…" the man murmured, "Oh my… Alice!" He lunged at her, wrapping his arms around her tightly. "Oh, I've been looking for you everywhere."
Emma, in complete confusion stood there for a moment, trying to analyze what the rabbit man from her closet was saying. Alice? Who was Alice? Why was he calling her Alice?
"You must have the wrong person-" Emma began, but was quickly interrupted.
"You've been gone for so long, I doubt you even remember me anymore. Time passes so quickly here." He looked at her, a smile on his pale face. "My name is Wilbur, remember? I'm your best friend."
A man, over six feet tall with rabbit ears was calling himself her best friend. In that moment, Emma realized why she took the pills she did. They kept away the strange dreams, which she was caught in right now.
"I'm not Alice, sir, my name is Emma."
Wilbur, if that was really the illusion's name, knitted his eyebrows together, unsure of what she said. "But you are Alice, I know it. Your hair is Alice, your eyes are Alice… Even that scar on your nose is Alice!"
A little concerned that the scar she was trying to hide for years was a little obvious now, covered her nose for a moment. Anybody could say something like that, couldn't they? But, since it is a dream, she could play along, be Alice for the time being…
"If I am Alice, and I admit to you that you are my best friend, what will you do?"
"Take you back with me, of course! We all miss you so much!" Wilbur took a step back from her, nodding as he spoke. "It's been so dull without you, and I can't stand to leave you here again. I've missed you so, so much."
"Take me where?"
"To Underland, or, Wonderland, as you kept affectionately calling it. Oh Alice, please come with me." He grabbed her hands. "It would would mean so much to me if you did. I promise, nothing bad will happen."
That statement made Emma step back a bit. What kind of dream was this playing out to be? Would something bad happen to her? It's not that it was a concern of hers, as it was a dream, but she had the strangest feeling she shouldn't follow this Wilbur character.
"You'll protect me?"
"Of course!" Wilbur laughed, "I will protect you with my own life."
After a couple of seconds of debating, Emma nodded, "Alright. We'll go."
Wilbur pulled her into to hug her again, "Oh how brilliant! Thank you, Alice! It will be so nice to have you back." He grabbed her hand, leading her over to the full length mirror on the wall. "We must go! We're so late, so, so late!"
"What are we-"
"Come on!" Wilbur smiled, putting his hand toward the glass. To Emma's amusement, it did go through. They were going through the mirror, the looking glass her grandfather called it, to whatever strange world Emma's lack-of-drug mind was creating.
Author's Note: Thank you for stopping by! It's truly an honor. This is my first actual writing relating to Alice in Wonderland that isn't completely sappy, so I've decided to upload it in hopes that somebody will enjoy it. I'm still debating between a few plot points, so the story isn't completely concrete, so if anybody is interested, it would be great if somebody would comment on something they'd like to happen, preferably by Private Message. Also, I write relativity short chapters, so unfortunately it's going to either progress very slowly or very quickly. It all depends on how I feel about writing it. Please leave constructive criticism, as it can only be beneficial, or just a nice review if you'd like! Thank you again!