Reverie
Prologue
Alice ran down the hall quickly, the echoing voices chasing behind her as she tried her best not to trip over her bloodied, tattered dress. She couldn't keep track anymore, she had been to Wonderland so many times now – It had become overly impossible to keep track of the encounters, not just because of the numerous visits in her dreams, but because each had become even darker, more dangerous. She tried to lay awake each night, but she would drift away and enter into the hell again. No matter how fast she ran or where she would try to hide, something or someone would find her. She stopped at the end of the hall, it was a dead end.
"Looks like it is game over Alice." The voice echoed and a crescent smile ripped through the reality of Wonderland, grinning with blood dripping from the fangs. "You thought that you would win in a game of cat and mouse, did you?"
"Stand back!" Alice reached to her side pulling a blade from a sheath, both she had found in a previous exploit of Wonderland. Her heart pounded violently and she screamed out. "I'm not afraid of you!"
"Oh, how outstanding, you've decided to stand up for yourself?" The Cheshire Cat had faded back into the reality of Wonderland, but his grin still remained. "It was about time, I was beginning to get tired of these dull halls."
Alice stepped forward with her blade at the ready, she began to sweat more and more with each step. She held the blade to the cat's neck, he chuckled and gave her a wink.
"No response?" The cat chuckled again as he closed both eyes and the swirls on his body began to glow. "Dearest Alice, I didn't come to kill you."
Alice held the blade tighter and pressed it against the cat's neck, waiting for blood to drip out. She waited a few seconds, focusing fully on the blade, slowly pressing harder and harder. She began to tremble as nothing happened, she stopped and pulled the blade back.
"You're nothing but an illusion!" The cleaved the blade towards his neck, his head popping off and floating away into the sky before his entire being disappeared in a cloud of white smoke. She sighed and sheathed her blade slightly, holding it as she walked down the hall again. She muttered under her breath. "It's been awhile since I got here, I should wake up soon."
After a few more minutes of walking she reached a large door, she shivered a bit and put her hand on the handle. After a deep breath she pulled it open and peeked in, bones lay scattered across the floor in a room that looked like a dungeon. Weird symbols were carved in each brick that built the room. She opened the door fully, quickly entering and slamming the door behind her before sliding down to the floor. She was exhausted, it felt like hours of constant running.
"That damned cat!" Alice muttered into her hands as she pulled the sheath up over her head. She pulled the blade out, only to check if it was clean from any trace of blood. "All that running, only to find out that it really was an illusion!"
She threw her head back as she rubbed her forehead and groaned, sweat still dripping down her face. After having a moment to relax, she stood and looked about the room. Chains hung from the wall and blood covered the bones scattered across the floor. Then she noticed that no other door was connected to this room.
"A dead end?" Alice was confused, it was nearly impossible to come to a dead end in Wonderland. "Very intriguing..."
After resting for a moment, Alice stood and gently slid the sheath's strap back over her collarbone for the blade to rest comfortably at her side again. Walking back to the door, she grabbed the rusty handle with one hand as the other reached for her blade. Turning it slowly, she peeked around the corner, searching for any signs of dangerous activity. She opened the door fully and slipped into the room, closing the door behind her. Yet, something was weird about this room, it was quiet and nothing was really that out of the ordinary.
The floor was clean black and white tile, a grandfather clock in the corner with a gently swaying pendulum, a bare wooden table in the middle of the room with matching chairs and many other regular household items. She smiled and sat in one of the chairs, looking around the room wearing a content look on her face.
"Wait," Alice jumped up from the chair and looked around the room noticing there was still only one door. "Another dead end?"
She became furious and slammed her fist down on the table, she quickly ran to the door and turned the doorknob. Locked.
"Fuck!" Alice screamed and pounded on the door. "This use to be a hallway!"
Alice began to panic at the thought of being locked in such a small room, especially in Wonderland. She stopped as she began to notice that the grandfather clock's minute hand was moving clockwise very quickly, but then she noticed something else. The hour hand was ticking counter-clockwise every time the minute hand passed by the twelve.
"Each minute moves so fast, but the hours are draining away my dear Alice." Another voice began to echo through the room. "There's never enough time in the day anymore for-"
"Shut your mouth!" Alice stood, instantly unsheathing her blade and facing the grandfather clock. "Show yourself, I don't care who you are, I'll kill you for trapping me here!"
The grandfather clock moved on hinges like a door and someone stood in an opening in the wall. As he stepped forward and the light revealed his being, Alice was stunned. His voice was so familiar, but he was no one she had seen before. He wore a vest and slacks, looking very clean cut with hair that just gently was pushed to the side. He smiled and flicked his head forward a bit, two long white ears perked up.
"Who are you?" Alice stood back slowly and stared, Wonderland had never been this way before and only one thing came to her mind. "Are you the white rabbit?"
"Ah, well yes I am." The man walked forward a bit, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pocket watch connected to a chain. "Yet, you should know, you really are late. Don't you think the queen will get mad if you keep her waiting much longer?"
"Queen?" Alice thought slightly before becoming angry once again. "That isn't important Mr. Rabbit, the real question is why aren't you a rabbit!?"
"Your late Alice, it's very important." The man's voice became more gruff and the room began to shake. "Wake up Alice."
Alice woke up in her bedroom with a servant at her door with breakfast on a carrying tray. The servant gave her a gentle smile and left the tray on her lap as she sat up in bed. She looked out in the hall and saw her mother standing there with an angry look on her face.
"It was just a dream." Alice thought to herself for what seemed the millionth time. "It was nothing but a dream."