Chapter One: Guitars and Rabbits
"Joel! Five more minutes!"
Joel rolled his eyes at his friends. His mum never let them carry on past 6. He set down his drumsticks and brushed his hair back out of his eyes. He and his two best friends had set this band up when they were back in Year 9, and they had practised every Wednesday and Saturday afternoon since. Joel, the youngest, had just turned 18.
His friends knew this was the signal to leave. Ben and Jack packed away their guitars, and put the amps back in the corner of the garage where they belonged. The drum kit stayed where it was. It was Joel's pride and joy; his father had bought it for him when he was 15, right before he passed away.
"Well, see ya Monday then guys". Joel smiled at them as they both climbed into Ben's car. It was nothing special, just a battered old VW Golf, but it somehow suited him. They pulled out of the driveway, already blaring Green Day out of the nearly broken speakers.
He walked back into the garage and started collecting the empty crisp packets and biscuit wrappers scattered across the floor. They left such a mess every time, and he knew his mum wouldn't be best pleased if he didn't clear it up.
"Joel! Dinner!"
"Yeah, coming Mum, just clearing this up".
He loved his mum. He was an only child, and had had a fairly straightforward upbringing. He knew that she wasn't dealing at all well with the passing of his dad. She blamed herself, said that if they hadn't had that row, he wouldn't have been driving the bike so fast…
Suddenly, there was a crash at the back of the garage. Joel spun round to see what had caused the noise, and out from behind his drum kit shot a white rabbit… Only this rabbit was wearing a waistcoat. Joel dropped what he had in his hand and ran outside. There was no way that rabbit was dressed! He stood there in disbelief for a split second, before running after it as it hopped down the side of the house and out into the field behind it. Joel couldn't believe what he was seeing. He reached the edge of the garden and jumped over the gate, and ran after the rabbit. It was all he could do to stop himself yelling to the rabbit to stop. This was crazy enough, without adding to it. The rabbit seemed to wait for him every time he fell behind, and Joel took this as his cue to keep following it. They ran across the field until they reached the forest at the edge. The rabbit stopped, and turned to look at Joel, who was still making his way across the field, panting and clutching his side from all the running he had done. Joel looked at the rabbit. That was definitely a waistcoat! He had a strange looking object hanging from the pocket. The rabbit nodded to Joel, looked at the object that was apparently a pocket watch, and hopped off through the trees. Joel followed after a few moments hesitation. He had lost sight of the rabbit now, but kept walking anyway, somehow hoping he might be able to catch up. He had no idea what direction the rabbit went, and the dirt path that had formed where people rode their bikes and walked their dogs had run out.
He had never liked these woods, he had feared them as a child, he always felt that the trees were watching him and whispering amongst themselves. There were strange looking bugs scurrying across the floor, and brightly coloured birds in the trees that had piercing black eyes that almost seemed to look right through you. He noticed that some of the trees had signs on them, nonsensical signs sending people every which way but the right one. It was now that Joel realised he was lost. Looking around for some hint of where to go, he noticed a faint glowing light coming from between the trees. 'That will do', he thought to himself, and started making his way towards it.
It was so hot between the trees. There seemed to be no air anywhere. Joel was getting closer to the light now. With every step he felt his chest tighten and his head spin. He had no idea what was doing this to him, he knew he didn't like it, but still he kept pressing forwards. He knew in his mind that he wanted to find that rabbit, and find out why such a creature would need a pocket watch or indeed a waistcoat. The light was getting brighter now; it almost seemed to engulf every conscious thought he was having. He tripped over something on the ground, that he presumed later to be a rock or a tree root, and felt his head hit the floor. He looked up as the light was getting brighter, and from the centre of the light he could just about make out the shadow of a man in a top hat. He couldn't fight this anymore, his eyelids were getting heavier. He closed his eyes as the world around him faded slowly into nothing.