Alice

'A hoo ha ha ha ha… Ahoo Ahoo… ha, ha, ha. That was entertaining.'

'She's arrived then, Alice.'

A murky world appears before my eyes, hazy and viewed deliriously.

'Ugh. Not yet, not yet. Leave me be Amelié.'

'Wake u-up Alice.'

'Amelié?'

'A hoo ha-ha. No Alice. Now! Up! Get up-get up-get up! We're late Alice. If you miss this then you'll soon miss your head.'

My eyes opened once more to view this dark world. A large stopwatch gleamed, hovering ever so slightly above my face. Its face however was not a recognisable one. Cracked and defaced, the skill of the maker was gone and all that was left now were the damage of age, threatening to shatter, to let the woes of life rain down upon my naïve face. It jerked out of my view and in its place; red-raw eyes appeared instead, bloody ruptures pulsing with madness. It was an easy thing to see, the insanity behind those eyes, it was imploding onto itself, laying waste to whatever lies inside. A stark contrast it was to the startlingly white fur surrounding the eyes. An incredible hue of holiness compared to that of the devilish gleam of madness. All in a second. Slow to react, I flinched away from the stare. In a single leap, the whole figure came into view. Small, dressed in a once beautiful waistcoat, now tattered and worn. A white rabbit.

'Alice… Wake u-p. Up! Up! Up! But watch you don't slip.'

'What are you?'

'But my dear, isn't obvious? Isn't it clear? For you not to know, it's really quite queer. I am a rabbit dear. The rabbit.'

Well this is peculiar. A rabbit, talking? I wish Amelié was here, she would be so calm and before the rabbit could do anything, it'd be dead, neck snapped.

'Fine then Rabbit, I'll get up.'

'Good, good, good.'

The stopwatch swung from side to side in the rabbit's excitement, this way, that way. A splinter here, a splinter there. I stood up, to the height of the rabbit. Yet another change.

My feet moved me forwards towards the dancing rabbit. My polished black shoes came away with a schlurp. Looking down, a different sheen of polish lay across my shoes, not something I wanted to think about. My pretty blue dress ruined as well. My mother's birthday present to me, ruined.

'Alice! Alice! Alice! Come on! No time to spare.'

Trying to forget the stains, I stepped forth again another step closer to the insecurity that may be my only salvation out of this crazed world. In a quick step, the rabbit darted away without a word, sprinting almost faster than my eye could see. There goes my choice

My instinct threw me along the path, tearing down it after the rabbit. My humanity feels as though it's fading, trusting a mad rabbit with everything I had, thinking of nothing but survival. I followed the flapping waistcoat as the rabbits laughter floated towards me over the flowing currents.

'Ahoo aha haha. Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness, Alice. But I stopped checking for that after I saw all the hair on the back of my hands.'

As he talked, I felt my chattering jaw slow to a stop. What is becoming of me? Steeling myself, I shushed my racing mind and instead looked around in the hope of normality in my surroundings. But what normality is there to be found in the slow realisation that you're running through a rabbit hole with nothing but dry earth to comfort you. It is a surprise then to realise that we're no longer in a tunnel. Instead, tropical colours fill my view with light bearing down upon us. After being stuck in the rabbit hole, seeing the light again is a blessing to the soul. My eyes fall onto the giant sentinels of wisdom and wood that surround us at our every step. All sorts of wonders flashed across my view: animals peeping out of bushes. Bushes covered in close to neon bright flowers sprouting of at every angle. Amelié would've loved these, they are so beautiful. The rabbit stopped.

'Rabbit, Rabbit? Why have we stopped? Rabbit?'

The Rabbit lifted his front legs off of the floor. Suddenly tense and alert, the stopwatch froze, the waistcoat stilled. The nose twitched and the eyes widened. Silence fell upon, drowning out all noise. Creating a place devoid of life of which at the centre we were the ones that lay still.

'Rabbit?'

'Alice, Alice come quickly, we have to go now, we have to go quietly. Alice please.' The Rabbit's spoke in hushed tones and his eyes softened into a pleading look.

'Oh I don't know Rabbit, why should I?' Bargaining my luck for some information.

'We have to leave now, before he finds out you're here.' He looked worried and his eyes had faded into a dull ache. He was scared.

'Fine then, let's go Rabbit.' He turned to start running again. When the grin materialised out of the air.

'Going so soon? What's the rush-with a clock like that, how could you ever be late? Hmm, come now Rabbit. You're so bad with meeting new people.'

By this time, I could see the body and tail of the creature form into the air.

'You know why I'm in a rush, you can feel it too. He's coming. If I don't get Alice hidden away then what'll become of our hope? You of all creatures should know this.'

The creature's face started to come into view.

'Oh, are you a cat by any chance?'

'Yes my dear, pleased to meet you. I am the Cheshire Cat. World renowned yarn catcher.'

The now fully formed cat bowed, with a top suddenly in one hand and a cane in the other. Its eyes opened wide to view me, dark gouges of trickery in a pool of calming green. His grin widened too, showing line after line of impeccably well sharpened mountainous teeth. The grin stabbed up into the air, towards his ears. Everything about this cats features was wide, especially that grin. But what a grin it was though.

'Alice we have to go, let's go. Alice!' The Rabbit grabbed my arm to pull me out of the mesmerising eyes. Pulling me out of the puzzle behind its eyes. Pulling me out of my misconceived reality. The Rabbit kept pulling and pulling until we were out of the clearing. But his voice remained.

'Tata Alice, I hope you enjoy our kingdom. Enjoy while your thoughts last.'