I've officially give up trying to upload this story on other websites. Wattpad didn't feel right with me and also I couldn't get enough reviews to keep me motivated with continuing this story there. That's why I am back here...
Yes.
I'M BACK!
One thing I want to say is a big, Big, BIG THANK YOU to all of my readers who have followed, reviewed, and favourite me or my stories! You don't know how touched I am even after years of absence from , you guys still read my old stories and support my writing.
Gosh, I'm choking up *sniff*
Anyway, as for this story, I've been working on it for... years. It took a long time to plan the story's concept etc. Plus ALL characters here are original characters made from my heart and soul! So no copying or me be VERY ANGRY! :|
I decided to start without cutting this first chapter, just to see how things go. If you guys prefer shorter chapters, then let me know cause I can't stop my fingers from typing at times. Thank you again, and if any of you actually read this message, you get a BIGGER thank you and even a cookie! Let's get into the story! :D
Mind's Wonderland
Reality
The sky was an uneasy red, with wispy clouds rolling in the crimson like a gory version of Van Gogh's Starry Night. Bare tree branches reached up to the bleeding heavens, like corpses silently pleading for mercy. A lone wind howled through the dead forest, rustling a clearing full of red spider lilies.
Something lay in the middle of the blossoms, immobile. Dainty slippers cladded petite feet and a gothic dress clothed the developing torso. Arms were spread out, each covered by elbow gloves. Dirty blonde hair sprawled on the ground, mangled bangs masking the eyes and a ribbon pinned limply to the head.
The face was ghostly pale. Cheeks stained with tears.
And the lips.
Cracked lips, frozen in a deranged grin. It was a girl, in her bloom of youth, lying in the field. Lying lifelessly in the field, with her delirious smile to the bleeding sky.
Suddenly lanky humanoid figures appeared like the shadows they are, towering over the body. Empty white eyes stared at the girl before spindly limbs reached out for her.
The wind fell quiet as sounds of a meal crawled through the air.
A silhouette stood on a thick bare branch, with an egg-white moon behind him. Menacing triangular ears protruded out of his skull. Indigo eyes watched impassively at the shadows gathering in the clearing. A heavy sigh emitted from his lips.
"Looks like Alice has failed, again"
A train screamed as it rushed past a station. Inside, pivoted grab handles swung to the train's movement as passengers shifted both impatiently and uncomfortably around each other. Soft murmurs, coughs and muffled music from headphones emitted into the cramp air. Next to one of the train doors, a girl in uniform stood with a small paperback clutched open in her hand.
Slowly, she raised her head from pages to look outside the glass panels of the door. Buildings competing to be the tallest, whirled past in a grey blur.
This world is stupid.
Her caramel brown hair was swept into a side ponytail and her fringe was pinned to the side. Pools of lavender stared coldly from behind her frames, out to the cityscape.
This is a monochromatic world.
A mechanic voice from the train announce system mumbled the upcoming station. Passengers readied themselves. The girl closed her book, reluctantly before slipping it safely in her bag and removing her spectacles.
I hate this world.
As train slowed down and the metal doors opened, passengers filed out into a crowd with the mechanic voice overhead, announcing the station's name. Black suits and uniform coats stood stark against white blouses. Faces in the crowd were ashen and blank as they walked out of the station into the streets. Soles of shoes cluttered onto the dark grey pavement, creating white noise. The girl walked in the midst.
Only through books, can I escape this world and to a much better one.
She tightly clutched the straps of her bag, which held her precious paperback. A name tag dangled from the strap.
Stopping at the lights, she momentarily closed her eyes, shutting off the sight of black and white. Yet, the roar of an overhead plane made her eyelids open. She raised her head among the lowered ones. The grey sky, streaked with a single line of white, reflected in her bright pupils.
If I had a wish, just one wish, it would be to take me away from this world.
The lights went off, with the green pixelated man indicating to walk. The crowd shifted into motion, walking around a girl in uniform, staring at the sky. A breeze blew through the grey cityscape, sending the name tag dancing. The name inscribed in neat handwriting, read 'Ai Takamiya'.
The chime of the bell interrupted her daydream. Ai blinked once, only to find herself in her classroom; the teacher desperately reminding students to study on the recently touched subject while classmates hurriedly packed up for recess.
Clouds lazily drifted by from the window where she sat. Her book lay in front of her, completed. Pulling her gaze away from the endless grey, Ai watched the scene of her classroom, from her desk.
Boys either hurried out of the classroom doors in a great big rush or gathered in groups, pulling electronic consoles, or discussing the latest featured visual novel. Girls gathered in gossiping groups, exchanging quiet news before erupting in giggles and existing the classroom to eat.
No one came to Ai.
Nor did she approach anyone.
It was the same scene as yesterday. And the day before. And the one before that day as well. Every day was the same; the monochromatic scene of students wrapped up in their personal lives or their existence revolved around the hypnotic screen of their handheld device.
Finally, exasperated form the gradient of grey, Ai stood abruptly from her desk and walked out of the classroom using the back door.
She left, unnoticed.
The sweet taste of chocolate spread across her tongue as the thin biscuit stick broke, as it met Ai's teeth. The biscuit stick grew shorter and shorter in a matter of a few seconds, before disappearing between her lips. She instinctively pulled a fresh stick from the box, hidden in her skirt pocket, while walking through the school hallway.
Chocolate was one of her few favourite things, besides books. Having it as a coating on Pocky, made it even more enjoyable to her. Its sweetness mixed with a hint of bitterness reminded Ai of her nostalgic childhood before-
A memory flashed in Ai's mind, where a voice laced with static rasped out from the answering machine.
"Please call, when you have time".
The Pocky stick snapped as Ai harshly bit down on it, with the memory thrown back into the depths of her head. A mixture of anger and betrayal began to simmer inside Ai. 'Why did I remind myself of that?' she fumed, 'I need to think of something else to preoccupy my mind or else I'm going to go mad from boredom.'
Ai Takamiya simply cannot tolerant being boredom. She loathes it.
Being a second-year student in high school, many would be preoccupied with studying or contemplating on their future but Ai would rather allow her mind to wonder elsewhere, away from the suffocating school rooms that forces the pressuring thoughts into students' heads.
An overhead sign came into view, with the kanji for 'library' printed on its clean surface. Ai halted in her tracks. The library was often her stowaway since it was usually vacant, unless exams were near.
She glowered at the sign before finishing the stick in her mouth. 'Maybe they have new books ordered in,' she thought before sliding the door open.
Sunlight filtered in through large windows, making the dust particles in the air glow like pixies. Tall wooden shelves lined themselves like soldiers in the centre of the area, with chairs and tables scattered about in the remaining space.
A grimace tugged at Ai's face. It was the same old library. What else did she expect? For herself to be magically transported to a fantasy world by simply opening the library door? She sighed at the childish nature of her imagination as she stepped in, sliding the door to a close behind her. Libraries cannot materialise their fictional characters, no matter how hard they try.
Ai bruised herself into browsing the shelves. Her fingertips ran along the book spines as her eyes carefully scanned the titles. She could almost hear the whispers of the books, begging her to read them. Regrettably, she had already read a quarter of these shelves' contents.
Soft bubbles of laughter drifted into the air, drawing Ai's attention from the shelves to the nearby windows. A group of girls were seated outside, under the shade of a tree. Suddenly one of them pulled out a thin rectangular object from their pocket. Everyone posed and smiled. There was a flash of light from the phone, before the group huddled around the screen to see the selfie. Their laughter came bubbling up once more.
"We should take another one!"
"Yes, a funny one this time!"
"Funny face guys!"
Ai allowed her gaze to linger on the girls, before turning back to the shelves. "Narcissists," she scoffed. Yet there was a small pang in her chest.
She never had real friends before.
No one had taken an interest in Ai nor did she do same. What only existed between her and her classmates were small exchanges of greetings and words; good mornings, can I borrow something, see you later's, thank you's.
Short.
Brief.
Ephemeral.
She became someone in the background, only to be sought out for someone's benefits then forgotten once more. And so, Ai became an observer of the world around her.
A 'stupid world'.
Suddenly, a flash of blue caught the corner of Ai's eye. There on the nearby tables, lying plainly in sight, was a book. Her brows furrowed in confusion.
When was that book placed there? Did someone pass by and put it there? No, if someone did then I would have heard them… Then how?
She slowly walked over to the table and lifted the book in her hands. The book's fabric cover was peacock blue and calligraphic writing was printed in its surface, reading The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland.
Ai's eyes lit up. This was a famous classic, written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, under the pen name of Lewis Carroll. Oddly though, the author's name was nowhere printed on the cover. Also, with Ai's regular browsing, she had never once seen this book on the shelves, until now.
Taking a seat, Ai began to flip through the book. She had never read the book word by word but she was familiar with the plot.
One summer afternoon, naïve ten-year-old Alice followed a white rabbit down a hole to a place called Wonderland, where she encountered a variety of different characters. In the end, she wakes up to find her adventures was a dream or a figment of her imagination.
Ai stared at the illustration depicting Alice waking up, before leaning back on her chair to give a sigh.
"Well, wouldn't that be nice?" she said aloud, to no one in particular, "To escape from this world and go to, Wonderland." There was a silence as her words floated in the air above her. Suddenly the nearby window was blown open by a strong gust of wind, taking Ai by surprise. "What…?"
The sound of trees rustling engulfed what silence remain as leaves blew in, and the gust turned into a wailing gale. Ai scrunched her eyes closed to keep them from watering as her ears rang from the roar of the trees' canopy, the whistling of the wind, and the sound of the book's pages flapping madly.
Then, all was quiet.
As Ai slowly opened her eyes, her heart skipped a beat. Everything was bathed in an eerie purple light. The sky was an ashy violet and the trees were stripped bare of their leaves, reverting them into skeletons. She stiffly looked back down to the book that lay in her lap.
An illustration of the Cheshire Cat, grinned back up at her.
With a yelp caught in her throat, Ai leapt from her chair, allowing the book to collapse to the ground. Dry leaves crunched under her shoe as she ran to the window. The girls had disappeared from the lawn below.
It was quiet.
Very quiet.
Ai forced herself to breathe evenly. It didn't help calm her rattling heart. Where did everyone go? Did the bell ring? No, she would have heard the bell. Then how…? Ai swallowed the raising lump in her throat.
"Hello? Is anyone here?"
Her voice bounced back with chilling clarity. Not even the librarian had replied. Forcing her feet to move, Ai walked in between the shelves. Their tall shadows were cast onto her small figure, as she eyed the library door.
There had to be someone here. No one can logically disappear from the campus in a matter of seconds. Ai's finger trembled as she grasped the door handle. She took a deep breath.
I'm not scared. I'm not scared. I'm NOT scared.
She slid the door open.
The corridor was dark with skeletal shadows of trees casted onto the floor from the strange purple light. Her shoe soles rang loudly, as Ai walked down. Her mind fighting to ignore the dark.
There will be teachers in the staff room. I'll go there and ask them where the students went. Yeah, that will work. That will-
Her trace of thought was interrupted, by a voice.
A child-like voice, singing a tune.
Tra-la-la-la-la~
The adrenaline rushed through Ai's veins like ice, as her heart pounded loudly in her chest. The voice was coming from behind her.
Tra-la-la-la-la~
The tune resonated through the empty dark corridor. Was it getting closer?
Tra-la-la-la-la~
Stiffly, Ai turned around with the thumping of her heart ringing loud in her ears. And there, she saw…
A stuffed pink rabbit.
It was walking the opposite direction, in a swaying gait as if its body weight was not balanced. As it walked, it was humming the little tune. If weren't for the surroundings, Ai would admit, it looked cute.
"A toy…?" The words left her before Ai could snatch them back. She flinched as it turned around, cocking its head to the side. Its red pupils sparkled with child-like curiosity and mirth.
Almost life-like.
Suddenly, it turned and bolted off with startling speed. Impulsively, Ai ran after it. "Wait!" Questions swam around her head; how is this rabbit pink? Is it a toy? How can it walk then? How can it sing? Toys don't have eyes like that! How? HOW?
Ahead, the rabbit turned a corner and Ai found herself pumping her legs harder. She skited around the corner, just in time to see a nearby classroom door slide to a close. It had gone in there. Puffing, Ai approached the door and slid it open.
The classroom was empty. There was no rows of desks or chairs. Only the teacher's pedestal remained glued to its usual station. She blinked. How could the rabbit disappear so quickly in such an empty room?
Ai began searching in all the possible hiding places in the classroom, inside the pedestal, in the cleaning closet and the compartments of the back shelves. The pink rabbit remained elusive.
'Where did it go?' Ai wondered as she began to slowly walk back to the door. She sighed and shook her head. Why did she even give a chase in the first place? She had better return to checking the teachers' staff room.
That was when, Ai felt her feet give way.
It was as if time slowed to a stop, as she stared down at the black abyss, yawning under her. When her mind snapped back to motion, it was too late. Time caught up and Ai plummeted down into the darkness. A scream ripping from her throat.
Say goodbye to reality.
Sooooooo... I hope you enjoyed that.
To those who did read the VERY early stages of this story, I apologise if it was similar. I would really appreciate if you can leave a review, follow or favourite. Any of those would give me a drive to continue this story :)
I hope to hear from any old readers too!
Storm Skyress out! \(w)/