Sorry if it's a bit random, I just wanted to write a kind of dark parody of this story.

If you don't like it or like it, review and tell me why, I'm really hoping for some good constructive criticism- believe me, I've heard it all before. Heh.

Enjoy!

xxx

Chapter I- Wake Dreaming

Arin was fifteen, or, she would be at midnight.

Midnight was a weird time to be born- in fact it was about 11:58, but Arin thought that midnight sounded more exotic. So she sat in her room, her chin on her knees.

Her dad was still out 'working' as he put it, mum had made it all special with cake and candles and presents and even her little brother Stevie had given her a pet rock. A gift that Arin would have appreciated more had Stevie not been thirteen.

Arin waited, looking at her digital clock- 10:40.

Huh.

She rolled over on her side.

Midnight, aka 11:58, seemed so far away when she was all by herself, her mother had crashed out on the sofa and her brother had a sugar rush from the cake and was playing video games at lightning speed- refusing to move from his room.

Honestly.

Arin lay on the bed, her long dark hair spilling over the pillows, her eyes cat-green in the darkness. She was an attractive girl- perhaps pretty if she tried to be. But she didn't. So she was attractive. 'Beautiful' was pushing it. But she had interesting eyes and a sharp mind- although she was often clumsy and unreliable.

"It's 10:45." She said to no one in particular.

No one in particular answered- but, seeing as he or she was in fact no one in particular, Arin failed to hear whoever no one in particular may be.

Arin closed her eyes and sighed.

xxx

Suddenly, Arin jolted awake at the sound of a thump. She looked at the clock.

11:00pm.

So she hadn't slept for long and hadn't imagined the thump.

She looked over across her room and was surprised to see a figure sitting on the chair beside her computer.

She was also scared.

"H-hello!" She said automatically. Then: "What are you doing in my room?"

The figure looked up and for the first time, Arin saw his face. It was delicate and small with big, round emerald green eyes, white hair fell over his face in a long fringe.

But also, the figure had long, fluffy, white rabbit ears that flopped over his eyes as well- he wore a candy-stripe waistcoat, breeches in a light beige, smart boots, a white undercoat and a bow tie.

The rabbit boy couldn't have been more than eighteen, but he looked at her gravely. "I'm late."

He said gloomily and with that he produced a large pocket watch from his waistcoat. He looked at it again and sighed. "Seriously late."

"I...see." Said Arin.

"Do you?" The boy looked up. "Do you really see?"

"Um...no."

"Because," The boy continued. "The saddening thing is, I carry around this giant oversized pocket watch and I'm always late."

"Maybe you should try being early."

The boy's rabbit ears perked up. "Yes!" He suddenly exclaimed as if the thought had just occurred to him. "Being early! Of course!"

He then beamed at her. "You're smart."

No, Arin struggled not to say. You're just dumb.

"You're welcome." She said hastily, her thoughts flashing to mum and Stevie. "I really think you should go."

"But I just got here."

"Where there's an entrance- there's an exit." Arin said and made shooing gestures.

The boy sighed. "Sorry, I'm being awfully rude. My name is James Whyte."

"Nice to meet you. Arin Hesston."

"Yes." James got to his feet. "Well better get you out of here then."

Arin blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, sorry. Yes. You would be anxious." James offered her a hand. "I work for Her Majesty the Queen of Hearts of the Deck Kingdom. Please allow me to escort you to the Card Tower."

"Maybe some other time."

"Her Majesty requests your immediate audience."

Arin blinked a few times. "I'm dreaming, aren't I?"

James nodded. "Yes, I'm afraid. Now come along."

"No. I'll wake up first."

"Ah," James looked sheepish, his rabbit ears twitched. "That's the funny thing actually..."

Arin's eyes narrowed.

"Don't you know that once a girl wishes for love truly and deeply in her soul, her Wonderland will come for her? It doesn't matter how long it takes, we'll get there eventually, actually, in your case: we're two years late."

"Oh." Arin said.

"Like I said," James was gloomy again. "I'm always late."

Then he brightened. "But now it's time for you to be in your own Wonderland and I'm your official transport!"

There was a small silence.

"Go away." Arin eventually said.

"Alright." Agreed James. "Let's hop to it."

"Wait! I meant by yourself-!"

James snatched Arin's wrist and pulled her toward the door.

How am I going to explain this to mum? Arin wondered. Hi, mum, meet James Whyte, my new rabbit-eared friend- he works for the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland and he's here to take me to the Card Tower. Get him a piece of carrot cake, would ya?

"Here we go," James whispered. "You'll never find a place like your own Wonderland, Arin! Let me take you there!"

The door flew open and Arin felt her feet leave the ground with a soft brush. She stared at the dimness of the hall which was now a black-as-pitch doorway into a place that she knew she didn't want to be in.

Arin tumbled in and fell away like autumn leaves off a tree.

She waited to hit the ground, seeing only a sea of faces before her. She caught cat ears, a sword, more bunny ears, a gun, mouse ears, a heart sceptre and a top hat. Under the rim of the top hat sat two perfectly shaped ice-blue eyes and a glint of a silver earring and a cruel smile.

"What's happening?" Arin murmured as she was thrown to the floor.